Congress

No YOLO yet: Bill Cassidy insists he won’t be out for revenge against Trump

Published

3 months ago

May 19, 2026

Donald Trump got his revenge on Sen. Bill Cassidy. The Louisiana Republican says he isn’t planning to return the favor — yet.

Freed from political constraints after decisively losing his battle for renomination Saturday, Cassidy could — if he chooses — gum up major parts of Trump’s agenda on Capitol Hill. To start with, he holds what amounts to veto power over key nominees as chair of the Senate committee overseeing health care, labor and education and as a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee.

Cassidy, in multiple lengthy chats with reporters Monday around the Capitol, batted down any suggestion he is now liberated to challenge Trump head-on. But he also declined to say how he would handle tricky upcoming votes on the Iran war or an immigration enforcement bill and urged Washington to embrace bipartisanship.

“Am I going to deliberately push back on things? No, I’m going to do what’s good for my country and my state,” he said.

Asked about the nominees coming through the panel he chairs — which could include a new Labor secretary and FDA commissioner — Cassidy noted that there were already nominees who were not able to get through the committee.

“I’m going to continue to do what is best for my state and best for my country and try and make every decision with that consideration,” he said about whether his approach to the administration will change.

Those comments came after Cassidy delivered a withering, if veiled, condemnation of Trump in his concession speech, raising the possibility that he could become increasingly outspoken in his disagreements with the president over the next seven months.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks to supporters during an election night watch party Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Baton Rouge, La.

“Insults only bother me if they come from somebody of character and integrity. I find that people of character and integrity don’t spend their time attacking people on the internet,” Cassidy said during the speech Saturday night.

Cassidy largely avoided addressing Trump directly when speaking with reporters Monday. He declined to say, for instance, if he thought Trump had done something that constituted a high crime or misdemeanor during his second term. He was one of the seven Republicans to vote to convict the president on impeachment charges after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Instead, Cassidy said he wanted to “give a better vision of how we should do things” and signaled that’s an area where he will speak out on before his term ends in early January.

“I think people want me to say negative things,” he said. “I’m saying positive things, positive things that may reflect upon the current circumstance, but it’s coming from my heart about making my country a better place, and that’s my goal.”

Cassidy’s avowed attitude could be a sigh of relief for Senate Republicans, who need near-complete unity to confirm nominees or advance legislation through the Senate unless they can win over Democratic votes.

Republicans already have several members who are retiring, and while they generally vote with the party, former GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina have shown a willingness to break with the president on key issues.

“I don’t see him going in the way of a Thom Tillis, or something like that, to cause unnecessary problems,” said a former Cassidy aide granted anonymity to candidly assess the senator’s thinking. “I think he’ll continue to do what he’s always done, which is just kind of do what he feels is right. I would be surprised if he goes on the warpath.”

Saturday’s loss was the culmination of a politically tortuous year for Cassidy, who stifled his concerns and advanced several controversial Trump nominees — most prominently HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

He also told colleagues — and Blue Light News — last year that the White House had assured him Trump would stay neutral in the primary, something some GOP senators were privately skeptical about given the president’s mercurial nature and lingering anger over the 2021 vote.

Trump instead endorsed a primary opponent, Rep. Julia Letlow, as payback for Cassidy’s 2021 conviction vote. She won a plurality Saturday and will face former Rep. John Fleming in a June 27 runoff.

Cassidy said Monday he had no regrets over the conviction vote.

“I actually voted to uphold the Constitution — that’s a better way to put it,” Cassidy said. “That may have cost me my seat, but who cares?”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on concerns over Cassidy blocking legislative priorities or nominees.

A name plate and the seal of the state of Louisiana are seen outside the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Capitol Hill on May 18, 2026.

A former administration official from Trump’s first term said the president’s team understood the risks of not endorsing Cassidy and isn’t worried about the senator going into YOLO mode now.

“This is the outcome they wanted — I think that they had factored all of that in from the beginning,” the person said. “I don’t see any regret coming out of them. Cassidy would have been a thorn in the side all the way through the end. And, to be honest, once he got past an election, I don’t think he would care anymore, because who’s going to be gone first — Trump or Cassidy?”

The person added that Cassidy won’t be the only senator on his way out the door looking to block nominees from the president, suggesting the White House could keep acting officials in place until a new Congress is seated next year.

Several of his colleagues downplayed that Cassidy, who is known within the conference for being a low-key health-policy wonk, would suddenly reinvent himself as a major gadfly for Senate leadership or the White House.

But there are already signs that Cassidy might be freer with his post-election tongue.

Asked Monday about the Justice Department’s establishment of a controversial “antiweaponization” fund to pay settlements to people allegedly targeted by Democratic administrations, the senator said he didn’t see a “legal precedent” for it.

Cassidy’s delegation mate, GOP Sen. John Kennedy said, he is “very nonemotional in the way he makes his decisions.”

“He’s very analytical, and personally, I think Bill will just continue to do what he’s always done, just call it like he sees it,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune called Cassidy a “team player” who wants to “see our team succeed.”

“He’s got several months here in which he can be a real force for change and a factor in trying to get some things done, and chairs an incredibly significant, powerful committee here, and we look forward to continuing to work with him,” Thune said.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the committee Cassidy chairs, largely declined to comment on the race but noted that he’s got bills he wants to get through the panel before the end of the year.

“I’m going to be really nice to him,” Hawley said.

Kelsey Brugger, Calen Razor and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

Congress

White House, hemp lobbyists bet on shutdown politics to delay ‘diet weed’ ban

Published

9 hours ago

August 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump and hemp industry lobbyists are hoping to win a final vote on Capitol Hill next week to skirt a ban on intoxicating products — with shutdown politics as leverage.

Nine months ago, Congress cleared a bill to close a loophole created in 2018 that allowed the sale of some hemp-derived products containing types of THC colloquially known as “diet weed.” That ban is supposed to take effect in mid-November, or roughly 11 weeks, to limit overall THC levels in hemp products that can get people high — including gummies, canned drinks, pills and vapes.

But Trump and industry leaders successfully lobbied Senate leaders to add language to a government funding patch earlier this month to delay the ban until mid-December, with the administration promising instead to finalize regulations cracking down on how the products are made and sold.

Now House Republican leaders are aiming to clear that bill for Trump’s signature early next week, according to three people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions. And many GOP lawmakers are not pleased at the prospect of being rolled.

Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) told reporters last week that he expected House lawmakers would “iron out” some “sticking points” with the Senate-passed funding bill, “particularly the hemp issue,” rather than pass the legislation without changes — which appears to be GOP leadership’s current plan.

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) was more blunt: “it is morally reprehensible to threaten a shutdown over a loophole Congress agreed to close to less than a year ago,” he said in a statement Thursday.

Yet despite fierce pushback from lawmakers warning that the intoxicating products are harming Americans, hemp industry leaders are preparing for a victory, betting members of Congress ultimately care more about swiftly passing legislation to avert a Sept. 30 government shutdown before the midterms.

“Any effort to try to shut down the government — over a one-month delay on a hemp issue — I don’t think is going to fly well with most members of Congress,” Jonathan Miller, a top lawyer for the U.S. Hemp Roundtable advocacy group, said in an interview this week.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about its plans for imposing new rules on hemp products in the coming months. But the Trump administration is expected to need more time than mid-December to finalize regulations, so hemp industry representatives are discussing a “regulatory bridge” that would impose temporary rules while continuing to avoid a full ban, according to Miller.

That could include restricting purchase to adults age 21 and older, blocking imports from China, mandating certain manufacturing practices, cracking down on copycat products that look like popular candy or potato chips and requiring transparency in product labeling.

While lawmakers have been back home over their summer break, hemp industry leaders have fanned out across the country to make their case for this plan. “The hemp industry does not have an August recess,” Christopher Lackner, head of the Hemp Beverage Alliance, said in an interview this month of the group’s work to facilitate passage of the Senate-passed funding bill.

Trump administration officials have also been telling reluctant lawmakers they will use the one-month delay to work on regulations. “The White House has committed to me that they’re committed to regulate the industry,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in an interview this month.

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), who fought in the Senate to retain the ban as originally intended, said White House officials have said “they don’t want another extension, and I agree with that.”

In a statement, Ricketts said that “manufactured high-THC products like gummies and drinks are putting our kids in the hospital” and need to be taken “off our shelves.”

Some supporters of the ban say the White House and industry are just employing delay tactics to get to December, when lawmakers will face another pressure campaign to delay the ban while they are motivated to avert a shutdown before leaving town for the holidays.

“What they’re really after is to try to jam this on some must-pass, end-of-the-year funding,” Budd told reporters earlier this month. “That’s really what this is about.”

Budd fought to block the delay in the Senate as part of the government funding measure, but his amendment to that end was shot down 61-32 before the chamberpassed the legislation, sending it on for House action.

Trump personally called Budd after the senator filed the amendment and talked about creating federal regulations for hemp products, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe the private discussion.

Days later, Budd demanded a vote on the amendment anyway and continues to slam the hemp industry.

“It is clear that businesses that sell unregulated, intoxicating products will stop at nothing to protect their bottom line, even at the expense of children’s health and safety,” he said in a statement this week.

Besides lawmakers fighting to ban intoxicating hemp products, others are pushing alongside the White House and industry for federal regulations.

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-W.Va.) has crafted legislation that would direct the Food and Drug Administration to create federal rules for intoxicating hemp products and wants to see mandates for third-party testing, as well as new THC limits per serving.

Griffith told reporters Thursday the “deadline push” in the Senate-passed government funding measure “is not long enough” to finalize necessary regulations.

Since state limits for THC vary widely throughout the country and the federal government has taken years to step in since the hemp loophole was created in 2018, Griffith argued it makes more sense to regulate the intoxicating products than to enact a federal ban.

“That horse is out of the barn,” he said. “What we need to do is corral it.”

Kelsey Brugger, Amanda Friedman and Rachel Shin contributed to this report.

Congress

Trump’s MAGA Inc. to host first public event in battleground Michigan

Published

20 hours ago

August 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s $400-million super PAC is taking its first steps into the general election: hosting a public event in battleground Michigan, headlined by Vice President JD Vance.

Battleground Republicans have been clamoring for Trump’s MAGA Inc. to spend in competitive races. The Michigan event is an early indicator of how the massive group might seek to use its funds to help the party keep control of Washington.

Vance will be joined in Sterling, Michigan, on Monday by GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers, 10th District nominee Mike Bouchard Jr. and gubernatorial nominee John James, along with several other Michigan Republicans, according to an event advisory from MAGA Inc.

The GOP sees Michigan’s open seat as its best Senate pickup target this fall as Rogers faces former public health leader and progressive Abdul El-Sayed, who emerged from a grueling primary earlier this month.

“MAGA Inc. will be hosting events throughout the nation to ensure that Republicans retain control of Congress in order to finish cleaning up the mess the Biden-Harris-Pelosi-Schumer Democrats left,” said Alex Pfeiffer, spokesperson for MAGA Inc. “We’re not going back to their record inflation, open borders, and surging crime.”

MAGA Inc. is sitting on more funds than any other super PAC, and Republican donors and battleground candidates have been hoping it will unleash that money to help the party keep control of the House and Senate.

So far, the group has only spent only a few million dollars out of its massive fundraising haul, and its funds have largely gone to competitive Republican primaries. Most recently, it spent $827,000 on phone calls and text messages to boost Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) in the state’s special primary.

Congress

House Democrat moves to reverse Trump’s ‘Lake America’ order

Published

20 hours ago

August 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A House Democrat is already pushing back on President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.”

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said in an interview hours after Trump’s announcement that she plans to introduce a bill Monday that would nullify the name change. The one-page bill is titled the “Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act.”

“People do not understand how intertwined our two countries are,” Dingell said “And this is insane, this naming Lake Ontario ‘Lake America.’”

The name change is Trump’s latest escalation in a rapidly spiraling trade war between the U.S. and Canada. The White House imposed 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian imports earlier this week, inviting retaliatory levies from Ottawa.

Trump said in a Truth Social post Canada has been “Ripping Off” the U.S. for decades and that Canada is “easily the most difficult and unreasonable” country he deals with.

Trump’s renaming Lake Ontario throws another controversy into one of the country’s most consequential states ahead of the midterms. Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed has already attacked his Republican opponent Mike Rogers over the move.

Dingell said she has been working with Democratic leaders on a response to the tariffs, and separately collecting signatures on a letter to Trump that urges “your Administration to change its diplomatic approach with our closest ally, Canada, and recognize the importance of the United States-Canada relationship.” She said she has about 100 signatures from fellow House Democrats.

“I grew up in a small town called St. Clair, and when I got up and looked out my bedroom window every day, I didn’t see America. I saw Canada,” Dingell said. “We lived that close. Canada was as close to us as [the Cannon House Office Building] is to the Capitol.”