Congress

Key senators meet over dinner to discuss permitting deal

Published

3 weeks ago

May 20, 2026

Key Senate negotiators held a bipartisan meeting Monday night to discuss closing a long-sought deal on overhauling the federal permitting process for energy projects — a sign that talks are progressing despite the difficult odds in a midterm election year.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), a moderate Energy and Natural Resources Committee member active on permitting issues, organized the dinner meeting with committee leaders to “provide a forum to keep conversations moving,” according to a person granted anonymity to describe the private gathering.

Environment Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) also attended the gathering, along with the ranking members of each of these panels — Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, respectively.

Lee, in an interview Tuesday, called it a “good bipartisan meeting” and stressed “we’re making good progress” on an overhaul of federal permitting rules for energy projects of all kinds — from solar and wind farms to long-distance power lines to pipelines and gas export plants — in a bid to respond to spiking electricity and gasoline prices.

“It’s always good to get together with colleagues and talk,” Whitehouse said Tuesday, confirming his attendance, while cautioning that “the real work is being done in actual negotiations.”

Capito also claimed “good progress” and regular “engagement” with Whitehouse, Lee, Heinrich and Trump administration officials.

“I wouldn’t say we smoothed out the rough edges, but we all know what we want here, so that’s good,” she added, while also expressing hope they could reach a deal before lawmakers leave town for the monthlong the August recess.

Congress

Spy law on track to lapse after House rejects extension

Published

1 hour ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House failed to extend a key surveillance law Thursday, effectively ensuring it will expire Friday night over warnings from Republican lawmakers and national security officials.

The proposal, rejected on a 218-198 vote, would have extended Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act through July 2. It would have been the latest in a series of punts Congress has passed in recent months.

But a Democratic uproar over President Donald Trump’s decision to tap political ally Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence tanked any chances for passage. The extension — put on the floor under a fast-track method that required a two-thirds-majority vote — failed to garner even a simple majority, winning the support of only seven Democrats.

Nineteen Republicans also voted to reject a punt of Section 702, which allows U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on targets abroad without a warrant. Surveillance under the program also sometimes captures communications with Americans, and some lawmakers in both parties want to put safeguards on how that material is searched.

The House is not expected to vote again until June 23, effectively ensuring Section 702 will expire for the first time since it was enacted in 2008.

Many Hill Republicans believe, despite the congressional failure, the Trump administration can and will continue to operate the program, possibly under a forthcoming executive order. But tech providers could mount legal challenges to the program if it expires, and national security officials fear that could temporarily limit visibility into surveillance targets under the law.

Asked if an executive order would be enough to keep Americans safe in the interim, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in an interview, “Hopefully it is.”

“Anybody who votes ‘no’ is casting a dangerous vote to put American lives at risk,” Scalise said, adding that Trump and his national security deputies are “going to do what they have to do to keep the country safe.”

Scalise said the burden for finding a solution lies with the Senate “to figure out some kind of path.” A procedural vote in the other chamber that would have set up passage of an extension failed last week.

Negotiators there had been circling on a deal allowing for a three-year extension of Section 702 authorities, but those talks collapsed after Trump announced his intention to appoint Pulte, a housing official with no national security experience.

House Democratic leaders encouraged members to vote against the reauthorization Thursday, arguing “meaningful reforms” are necessary.

“Section 702 is a critical foreign intelligence authority, but we cannot in good conscience vote for reauthorization without significant reforms to protect both national security and the constitutional privacy rights of Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and other leaders said in a joint statement.

Congress

House Republicans huddle with Hegseth after Trump’s reconciliation demands

Published

1 hour ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A group of senior House Republicans gathered at the Pentagon Thursday morning to discuss the military funding portion of another party-line reconciliation bill with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger and others also attended the meeting.

It’s a sign conversations around “Reconciliation 3.0” are heating up after President Donald Trump signed the GOP-only immigration enforcement funding measure earlier this week.

It also comes after Trump Wednesday night called for the GOP to approve $350 billion in Pentagon spending alongside a partisan election bill known as the SAVE American Act — which has been stalled in the Senate for weeks.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, in response to Trump’s latest demands, noted that even some of the election measure’s most vocal Senate GOP advocates have said it can’t fit within the strict contours governing the filibuster-skirting, budget reconciliation process. And he didn’t commit to ultimately pursuing a third partisan package, either.

“We’re, as I’ve said before, open to using reconciliation if we make the calculation that we can achieve an outcome that [it’s] something we can get 50 votes for and 218 for,” Thune said, adding, “I’ve said before, at the moment I’m not sure what that is.”

Congress

Capitol agenda: Democrats’ H.R. 1 problem

Published

4 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Hakeem Jeffries wants “affordability” to be House Democrats’ primary legislative pitch heading into the midterms. But not all his members agree it should be “H.R. 1” if they win back the majority.

Other top Democrats interviewed this week said they hoped the party would prioritize other issues in a signature bill to kick off their return to power, including voting rights, anti-corruption measures and rolling back Trump initiatives.

“We must secure and guarantee the right to vote and to have free and fair elections because that is the basic premise of democratic society,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Judiciary Committee Democrat, said in an interview.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the group would like to see the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act revived in any new H.R. 1. Clarke said that she personally would prefer Democrats rally around “comprehensive immigration reform” as their first bill.

Even Democrats who want to prioritize cost-of-living issues have different perspectives on how to do it. Jeffries this week announced five affordability working groups, each led by moderates and progressives, to attempt to hash out the differences.

New Democrat Coalition Chair Brad Schneider told reporters last week that he wants the party to target President Donald Trump’s tariffs as their first action in the majority. The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ plan to lower costs would not touch tariffs at all.

What’s the priority for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is convening a health care working group with Rep. Terri Sewell?

“If I could wave my magic wand, we’d all have guaranteed health care,” she said in an interview.

What else we’re watching:

— TRUMP TRIES TO KICK-START RECON 3.0: The president is laying out twin demands for new party-line Republican legislation, directing lawmakers to deliver a $350 billion Pentagon cash infusion and to push through the stalled SAVE America Act election overhaul.

— DOOMED FISA VOTE: Republicans expect a House vote Thursday on a three-week extension of FISA Section 702 to fail, risking the surveillance program’s first-ever lapse after a Friday deadline. With the House and the Senate lacking a path forward, and the House leaving at the end of the day for recess until June 23, the spy authority is set to be in limbo until at least the end of the month.

— WHITE HOUSE AI STRATEGY: The White House is exploring a plan to block state-level AI laws by trying to attach preemption legislation to bills designed to shore up kids’ safety online. White House officials met separately this week with tech companies and kids’ safety groups to try to shore up support for the approach.

Mike DeBonis, Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney, Brendan Bordelon, Cheyenne Haslett and Gabby Miller contributed to this report.