Congress

Johnson tries to tamp down House GOP shutdown anxiety

Published

9 months ago

October 16, 2025

Speaker Mike Johnson is working to assuage worries within his conference about his strategy of keeping the House indefinitely out of session until Senate Democrats vote to end the government shutdown.

Johnson met Thursday afternoon to discuss the matter with Rep. Jay Obernolte, one House Republican who has been more vocal than most in his fears about the political optics of the leadership-driven gambit, which could make the GOP appear to be shirking its responsibilities.

The California lawmaker sat down with Johnson in the speaker’s office to relay his concerns, which have only grown since the shutdown began Oct. 1, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The House took its last vote nearly a month ago.

Obernolte recently pressed Johnson during a House GOP conference call, about when he would recall members to Washington. Johnson and fellow GOP leaders reiterated they would do so after Senate Democrats stop blocking the House-passed funding patch.

The mild-mannered Obernolte, a former state assembly member and mayor, is not normally a thorn in Republican leadership’s side. But he represents a district with five military bases that have been hit by the shutdown.

He indicated in a brief interview Thursday, following his meeting with Johnson, that he asked the speaker to consider reconvening the House. The speaker, Obernolte said, had “good answers” in response.

Obernolte declined several times to say whether he believed Johnson’s strategy of keeping the House out of session was the right decision.

“It was us having a discussion about the various decision factors,” Obernolte said of his conversation with Johnson.

“I think … Job One for everyone is to get the federal government reopened,” he continued, though he added he was hearing deep “frustration” from his constituents about the shutdown — which he cited as a reason for leaders to quickly find a solution.

While President Donald Trump found a temporary way to shift funds to pay troops for the Oct. 15 pay period, Obernotle said he’s still worried about future military paychecks, along with hundreds of furloughed civilian workers in his district.

“This is going to last, and it’s not fair to ask our federal workers to be working without a paycheck,” Obernolte said. “Frustration that the United States Congress is so dysfunctional that we can’t even agree on a way of keeping the government open on a short term basis — hear all of it on a daily basis.”

“I wish we could reopen the government … I think it sets a terrible example for our country,” he continued. “It’s terrible for our troops … It’s an altogether bad situation.”

As for possible offramps to end the shutdown stalemate, Obernolte said he doesn’t support directly tying an extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies to the House-passed stopgap, as Democrats demand. But he does support Republicans leaders talking more about possible future votes regarding the fate of the health insurance credits.

“I’m a pretty bipartisan guy. I don’t think we do enough talking across the other side,” Obernolte said.

Congress

Top Trump officials face bipartisan questions in first all-member Iran briefings

Published

47 minutes ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Lawmakers of both parties questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio and top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff Monday in the first broad congressional briefings on President Donald Trump’s Iran deal.

While Democrats asked some of the sharpest questions, participants in an afternoon conference call with House members said, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) at one point pressed the administration officials on the fate of Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium.

According to two people granted anonymity to disclose the private remarks, Witkoff and Rubio repeated assurances the administration has privately made to select lawmakers in prior briefings — that the goal is to negotiate a final deal that would prohibit Iran from keeping its highly enriched uranium.

The memorandum of understanding Trump signed earlier this month, they said, was meant to launch those negotiations. Witkoff, the people said, added that the technical team involved in that part of the talks was traveling from Switzerland to Qatar, where talks between the U.S. and Iran are set to happen Tuesday.

Democrats, meanwhile, pushed the administration for more details on what financial benefits Iran could reap under the memorandum — including proceeds from previously sanctioned oil sales.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) went back and forth with Rubio and Witkoff over the lifting of the oil sanctions, two other people granted anonymity on the House call said. The officials eventually cut off the conversation and ended the call.

At another point, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) raised concerns about Witkoff’s business interests in the Middle East as he’s negotiating with Iran, prompting a sharp defense from Rubio, those people said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Rubio and Witkoff about the oil sanctions during a separate all-senators call Monday, saying in a statement afterward that they “confirmed to me that Iran will reap billions in oil revenue while retaining dangerous leverage over the Strait of Hormuz.”

“If this is the administration’s defense behind closed doors, Secretary Rubio should make it under oath, in public, before the Foreign Relations Committee,” Schumer added, calling the briefing “delayed, deficient, and devoid of details.”

An administration official granted anonymity to speak candidly countered on Schumer’s characterization, noting that he had previously gotten a briefing of the deal as part of a group of top leaders engaged on national security matters. Schumer, the official said, had the opportunity to ask multiple follow-up questions on the Senate call.

A separate group of White House officials briefed top congressional leaders and key committee chairs in a classified briefing in the Capitol later Monday.

The administration has faced bipartisan skepticism over multiple provisions of the memorandum of understanding — particularly the lifting of oil sanctions and a $300 billion reconstruction fund that many Senate Republicans fear will help fuel Iran’s military and regional proxies.

Rubio and Witkoff sought to ease concerns about the slow reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — the critical trade route whose closure has sparked higher fuel and fertilizer costs. Both officials said more mine removal is required, and Witkoff indicated that Iran broke the terms of the Trump-signed deal by launching a drone attack on a passing ship over the weekend.

They also sought to assure lawmakers that Iran has received no money under the memorandum — especially not directly from American sources. Administration officials have previously pledged in smaller briefings that the reconstruction fund won’t include U.S. funds.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) called the Senate briefing a “productive conversation” but said “much of what I heard today is similar to what I heard last week” during a dinner at Vice President JD Vance’s residence.

Congress

Senate Ethics dismisses allegations against Ruben Gallego

Published

5 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed allegations of misconduct levied against Sen. Ruben Gallego, who stood accused by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of “campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature.”

The charges came following the resignation of the Arizona Democrat’s longtime friend, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who was forced to step down amid accusations of serious sexual misconduct. Luna, a Florida Republican, sought to implicate Gallego by claiming in an interview on CBS that a woman would come forward about an “incident that occurred between the two of them at the same time and the event was sexual in nature allegedly.”

But in a letter to Gallego sent Monday — which he shared in a public news release — the notoriously inactive Ethics Committee cited Gallego’s “prompt contact with the Committee following media reports of the allegations and appreciated your full cooperation with the Committee throughout the investigation.”

Gallego has maintained he was unaware of the allegations against Swalwell and said in a statement he was a victim of “right-wing conspiracies peddled by far-right activists like Anna Paulina Luna, the White House, and their allies.”

He continued, “I look forward to an apology from Rep. Luna for weaponizing the ethics process while refusing to investigate historic corruption that’s making life harder for families.”

Luna, in a post on X, defended her referral to the Senate Ethics Committee.

“The good news about DC is everyone talks, and eventually the reporters come forward with your texts,” Luna wrote on social media. “Do yourself a favor and keep raising for your legal defense fund. Once a creep always a creep, and you’re gonna need it.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s state. She represents Florida.

Congress

Rubio, Witkoff to brief Congress on Iran

Published

9 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Top deputies of President Donald Trump will brief Congress on the Iran peace talks in a Monday conference call — the first time administration officials have addressed a broad group of lawmakers since Trump signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Tehran earlier this month.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, will lead the briefing for all House and Senate members at 4 p.m., according to seven people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Republicans and Democrats have called for more transparency about the 14-point agreement inked on June 18, which initiated a cease-fire between the two countries. Since then, the U.S. and Iran have continued to engage in hostilities.