Congress

Luna signals she will end revolt, vote to allow the House to debate legislation

Published

3 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna is signaling she will vote to reopen the House floor Tuesday after a weekslong power struggle with Speaker Mike Johnson over a partisan election security bill known as the SAVE America Act.

In an X post Monday night, the Florida Republican suggested she would support a procedural rule that will finally allow the chamber to consider legislation, including a bill to fund the State Department and a measure to make daylight saving time permanent — a major priority for her home state as well as for President Donald Trump.

Luna said she would do so now “on the condition that Speaker Johnson attaches the SAVE America Act and all appropriation bills and all must-pass bills here in the House and ensures it is sent to the Senate in one bill.”

Johnson has, in fact, committed to facilitating a process this week that would attach the GOP election bill to the State Department funding package, which Luna and other Republicans believe will force the Senate into submission. Republican leaders, however, do not have the votes to pass the SAVE America Act, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune has been clear he will not facilitate a rules change to jam parts or all of the legislation through.

“If John Thune strips it out in the Senate that will be on him and the entire country should be watching what he does,” Luna wrote on X, urging his state party and constituents to “censure” or challenge him in a primary.

But while Johnson may have solved one problem for now with Luna, he still has a handful of hard-liners who refuse to vote for a rule until leadership promises them a vote to crack down on immigration. Leaders are currently discussing what legislative proposals they could put on the floor to pacify these holdouts.

It’s still not clear whether the House will be able to move on any major legislation this week.

Congress

Democrats divided on whether to make daylight saving time permanent

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Top House Democrats used a Monday evening leadership meeting to debate whether to vote for legislation on the floor this week that would make daylight savings time permanent.

The bill, known as the Sunshine Protection Act, advanced overwhelmingly in the House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this year as part of a package to reauthorize surface transportation programs. House GOP leaders have chosen to bring it up as a standalone measure in a sign of momentum for the long-debated legislative proposal.

But members of both parties have concerns about the implications of adding more sunlight to the evening hours by ending the twice yearly practice of resetting the clocks. And the emerging schism among Democrats is the latest sign the legislation might be in trouble — if not in the House in the coming days than in the weeks ahead as the measure winds its way through the Senate.

One person who attended Monday’s Democratic Steering and Policy Committee meeting, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said discussion about the Sunshine Protection Act dominated about two-thirds of the allotted time and that members were “very split.”

A second person granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting said “people have different positions.”

Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Rep. Nanette Barragán of California spoke out against making daylight saving time permanent, according to the first person — with Wasserman Schultz raising concerns about child safety and Barragán pointing to medical research opposing the change on the basis it would be harmful to sleep patterns as well as mental and physical health.

Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke in favor of the legislation inside the meeting, said the first person with knowledge of the discussion, while Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not weigh in.

Pallone also shared his position during a meeting of the House Rules Committee earlier Monday, asserting that “a big majority” of Americans want daylight saving time and that resetting the clocks is deeply unpopular.

“I don’t really know anybody who wants to change the clocks anymore,” he said.

This is a topic that has been debated for years but has failed to gain traction — in part because of such strong opposition among lawmakers from some agriculture-heavy states who say the change would make it so that farmers would be unable to see daylight in the winter months until nearly 9 a.m.

Rep. Mary Scanlon (D-Pa.), a member of the Rules Committee, agreed that Americans are fed up with resetting the clocks but argued medical and science professionals overwhelmingly endorse permanent standard time, which would allow more sunlight in the morning hours.

She introduced an amendment — which failed — that would have replaced the bill with her legislation that she said would make standard time permanent, allowing states to opt for daylight saving time instead. Barragán said in a statement she supports that amendment.

Congress

Ron Johnson is full speed ahead on Reconciliation 3.0

Published

4 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Ron Johnson doesn’t know when he will officially take over as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, a post left vacant by the sudden death Saturday of Sen. Lindsey Graham.

But the Wisconsin Republican is wasting no time getting ready.

“I’ve already met with Lindsey’s staff this afternoon,” Johnson said soon after arriving at the Capitol on Monday.

He acknowledged the gravity of his longtime colleague’s loss and said he understood the need to “take one step at a time.” But he also said he is hoping to quickly pick up where Graham left off on a new party-line budget reconciliation bill — something Johnson has advocated for more than a year and is now getting a fresh push from President Donald Trump.

The president wants the legislation to send $350 billion to the Pentagon and enact a litany of other GOP priorities ahead of the midterm elections.

While Graham was keen on delivering the defense funding by hook or by crook, Johnson is a veteran deficit hawk who told reporters Monday evening that identifying the maximum number of spending offsets “would certainly be one of my objectives” for the developing legislation.

Johnson said he is already in ongoing talks with House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), who is planning to advance a fiscal blueprint for the GOP-only bill as soon as this week. Some Republicans are eyeing billions of dollars in savings from targeting purported fraud in Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs to offset any new spending.

Johnson said he hasn’t seen a draft of the House budget blueprint, which must be adopted in both chambers to unlock the party-line reconciliation process, but expects to be in touch with Arrington and White House officials as the process progresses.

“It’s a team sport,” he said. “I just want to do everything I can to organize the effort so we can succeed.”

Johnson said he is also vetting a House proposal related to voter-ID legislation from Rep. Bryan Steil, the fellow Wisconsin Republican who leads the House panel overseeing election matters. If found to comply with strict reconciliation rules, it could serve to partially sidestep the Democratic filibuster of the SAVE America Act — the GOP elections bill that Trump has repeatedly pushed Congress to pass.

“I’ve already given that to Budget Committee staff to kind of get their opinion on it,” Johnson said of Steil’s proposal. “I mean, in the end, it’s going to be the parliamentarian that rules.”

Congress

Darline Graham Nordone’s swearing-in

Published

4 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Darline Graham Nordone, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister, will take the oath of office to fill her brother’s seat at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss unannounced scheduling.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her Monday to fill the vacancy for the rest of the year. She is not expected to seek the Republican nomination for the subsequent term.