Congress

Marco Rubio left the Senate. But he’s still part of the club.

Published

8 months ago

January 8, 2026

As senators woke up Saturday with questions on President Donald Trump’s audacious decision to order the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, one of their old colleagues was ready with answers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked the phones in the wee hours of the morning and, in the days since, has played an outsize role in not only formulating the administration’s strategy in Venezuela but explaining it to skeptical lawmakers wary of a protracted military commitment.

That outreach has been to his former Republican colleagues as well as Democrats, including those who see him as a rare Trump official with whom they can maintain a trusted and respectful relationship amid profound policy disputes.

“Although I may disagree with him on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis … he has shown extraordinary competence,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democratic leader, said in an interview. “I voted for him in this position; I still have confidence in his abilities.”

Others said they respected his particular expertise on issues in Latin America while also raising doubts about the strategy for Venezuela he is laying out in public and in private briefings — which for now involves propping up interim president Delcy Rodriguez as a de facto U.S. puppet.

“You can talk to Marco about — ‘Tell us about Delcy.’ … He knows all of that, and he can give you a sense of who they are and what they’re up to,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a former colleague on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Kaine complimented Rubio for putting a renewed focus on the Americas, while quickly adding that Trump’s self-proclaimed “Donroe doctrine” is the “wrong kind of attention.”

Rubio returned to his old stomping groups Wednesday as part of a delegation of senior Trump officials who briefed lawmakers on the weekend military operation. There his status as a figure of special consequence who has taken on increasingly significant roles in the administration was on display.

“He’s the one in the center — he’s the one that starts it, no notes,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 2 GOP leader, said in an interview describing the briefing. “To me, he’s a mature, experienced, reliable voice as secretary of State, and — specifically for this part of the world — he knows the issues, he knows the people, and that brings a lot.”

Also on display was Rubio’s membership in the rarefied club of senators and former senators.

He hugged and briefly huddled with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in view of dozens of reporters. A grinning Rubio came up to cameras afterward and joked to reporters, “I’m against everything he said.”

Schumer, who like most Democrats has been a persistent critic of the administration, offered no praise for Rubio but stopped short this week of disavowing his previous support for Rubio’s nomination as secretary. Asked Tuesday if he regretted his vote, the New York Democrat said he was “deeply, deeply disappointed in Marco Rubio even before Venezuela and even more so now.”

Rubio took in stride the criticism from Schumer and other Democrats that he and other Trump administration officials have not fully thought through their strategy.

“I used to be a senator, too — that’s what you always say when it’s the other party,” he told reporters Wednesday. “The bottom line is, we’ve gone into great detail with them about the planning.”

The Senate voted 99-0 hours after Trump’s Jan. 20 swearing-in to confirm Rubio — the only nominee who got through on Day 1.

At the time Democrats praised Rubio as a qualified foreign policy hand. They believed he shared some of their views and would work with them on key global matters such as helping Ukraine defeat Russia and strengthening the NATO alliance.

But since then, Rubio has rankled his former Democratic colleagues at times as he worked with Trump to upend America’s foreign aid infrastructure and back the president’s often erratic policy priorities — ranging from his attempts to force a peace deal in Ukraine to his ongoing push to take over Greenland.

Those tensions have at times spilled out into the public.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Rubio during a committee hearing last year, “I have to tell you directly and personally that I regret voting for you for secretary of State.” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said at the same hearing that she found “Senator Rubio to be a bipartisan pragmatic partner” but “I don’t recognize Secretary Rubio.”

That said, lines of communication have stayed open. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who worked closely with Rubio on the Intelligence Committee, bristled this week at the administration’s decision not to notify top congressional leaders about the Venezuela operation in advance. But he credited Rubio for reaching out soon after.

“My phone had been hacked a few months back, and I had a new number,” Warner said. “So he did try to reach me, but it was after the strikes had started.”

Rubio did manage to reach many of his former Republican colleagues — including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, with whom he had sometimes clashed over national security issues when they served together.

As news of the U.S. raid began to trickle out, Lee posted to X shortly after 3 a.m. with a skeptical note: “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”

Less than two hours later, Lee posted again, saying he had spoken to Rubio: “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack. Thank you, @SecRubio, for keeping me apprised.”

Rubio also reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson soon after the operation launched, as well as chairs and members of key committees.

“He is a gift to America right now,” Johnson said Wednesday.

“All members are comfortable with him — certainly those that served with him, which is just about everyone here,” Barrasso said. He added that Rubio was confirmed unanimously “because people knew him and respected him.”

Democrats who worked with him in the Senate had a more nuanced assessment as they emerged Wednesday from their closed-door briefing with the Trump officials. They raised deep concerns over the administration’s strategy for Venezuela, but they also said they were in no way surprised by Rubio’s role in developing and promoting it given his long opposition to dictatorships in the region.

“Marco has been evangelical on Latin America for a long time, for a long time — I mean, he’s, you know, a pretty classic neocon who believes that America will generally be greeted as liberators,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), another former Foreign Relations colleague. “I didn’t vote for him because I thought he was going to suddenly agree with me on the importance of military restraint overseas.”

Added Kaine, “At the end of the day, he’s going to do what Trump tells him to do.”

Meredith Lee Hill and Daniella Cheslow contributed to this report.

Congress

Hakeem Jeffries blasts Republicans over ‘unfettered’ data center growth

Published

1 hour ago

August 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Republicans Monday for being “pro-data center without any restraints,” making his strongest rebuke yet of the tech industry’s massive infrastructure buildout as it becomes a key issue in midterm campaigns.

“Donald Trump and Republicans are divorced from reality,” Jeffries said at a Capitol Hill news conference. “They think that the affordability crisis is a hoax. Donald Trump and Republicans have made clear they love inflation. Donald Trump and Republicans have told the American people directly, ‘We don’t think about your personal financial situation.’”

“So the Republicans — it should come as no surprise — are pro-data center without any restraints,” he continued.

His criticism of Republicans’ approach to artificial intelligence and the infrastructure needed to power it comes amid a groundswell of voter frustration in key battleground districts about the impact of data centers on their communities.

Jeffries told Blue Light News earlier this year protecting consumers from rising electricity costs associated with the data center boom would be a priority on Democrats’ should they win the majority.

President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Monday that communities that reject data centers will end up “backwards and poor.”

Jeffries specifically hit Republicans for policies embedded in their sweeping 2025 tax-cuts-focused domestic policy bill.

“House Republicans voted to preempt state and local authorities from regulating data centers at all,” Jeffries said. “And every single House Republican but one or two voted to unleash data centers on the American people in an unfettered fashion. That’s facts, right there.”

He specifically blasted vulnerable Republican Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and David Valadao of California for voting to “give tax credits to people building massive data centers in communities across the country, particularly in rural America, without restriction.”

“They can try to run away from their votes right now,” Jeffries said. “We will not let them hide.”

Congress

Top trade official to RSC

Published

5 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will speak at the Republican Study Committee’s weekly lunch Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the plans. The visit to Capitol Hill comes as more lawmakers express concerns about the burgeoning trade war President Donald Trump is escalating with Canada just months before the midterm elections.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) will also be speaking to the group of House conservatives.

Congress

Capitol Agenda: Johnson faces pressure to cut out early

Published

9 hours ago

August 31, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House is back in session, but it might be a short one.

Speaker Mike Johnson is looking to tick off the lone essential item on the chamber’s to-do list in lawmakers’ first days back: a Senate-passed, shutdown-averting spending bill.

A handful of other priorities are caught up in partisan battles and Senate limbo. Rebel factions in a thin House GOP majority continue to threaten Republicans’ plans of opening the floor for debate. And many Republicans are simply eager to get back home to campaign ahead of the November midterms rather than endure more headaches in Washington.

Together, those dynamics have fueled open speculation among members and aides that House leaders will call it quits until mid-November much sooner than the currently scheduled Oct. 1 exit date.

“So many people are having to run back and forth to campaign,” Rep. Morgan Griffith told reporters Thursday. “I think we can get some other things done [beyond the spending stopgap], but the big bills will probably have to wait until after the election.”

Johnson’s planning to put the spending bill on the floor Tuesday under a fast-track method, since there are reasons to believe it will pass without much drama.

The House agenda for this week also includes a vote from Republicans on a resolution condemning socialism — a political swipe at Democrats. And a potential vote is on tap to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards for alleged inappropriate conduct toward two female staffers following an Ethics Committee recommendation. Edwards attempted to clear his name last week ahead of the expected vote.

Other House priorities are stuck in the Senate or at a stalemate:

Key House Democrats believe the Senate-passed Russia sanctions bill gives too much authority to President Donald Trump, making it unclear it can pass.

Adoption of a budget blueprint for a fresh GOP party-line spending package is stuck amid competing demands from defense hawks, fiscal conservatives and some GOP senators who still aren’t convinced the bill is needed. Senate Republicans don’t expect the budget measure to be brought to the floor before the election, according to five people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

The Senate is expected to focus in September on confirming Trump nominees and holding a vote on cryptocurrency legislation, as well as trying to advance a bill to overhaul college athletics and the Senate version of the farm bill.

With those items deep in negotiations, there’s little incentive for House members to hang around to see if the Senate will play ball once it returns Sept. 14 for a brief three-week session.

Both chambers are already scheduled for recess next week following the Labor Day holiday, and many Republicans are expected to travel to Dallas then for the GOP’s midterm convention.

What else we’re watching:

— LAWMAKERS JOCKEY FOR E&C SPOTS: Lawmakers are already lobbying leadership to secure at least eight empty slots opening up on the powerful Energy and Commerce panel next year. Democrats Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Maxine Dexter, Jill Tokuda, Eric Sorensen and Luz Rivas have thrown their hats in the ring so far. Meanwhile, Republican Reps. Bob Onder and Brad Knott are working to convince leadership to put them on the panel.

— MILITARY WIDOWS STUCK IN BILL BRAWL: Military widows are caught in the middle of a bigger battle over how veterans should get compensated for their service. That House brawl over veteran benefits could ruin the last, best chance for widows to fix a decades-old law that strips away support benefits if they remarry. House lawmakers are eyeing mid-September for another vote on the legislation after a July vote was derailed amid opposition. If that’s successful, Senate Republican leaders have promised to fast-track the bill in an effort to send it to the president’s desk by the end of the year. If House lawmakers can’t, the measure will likely be shelved until at least the next Congress.

Mia McCarthy, Jordain Carney, Kelsey Brugger and Leo Shane III contributed to this report.