Congress

Push for Labor nominee is latest threat to House GOP majority

Published

3 months ago

June 9, 2026

Some Republicans are privately lobbying to make a first-term House Republican the next Labor secretary — a move that would further imperil the party’s tiny congressional majority should President Donald Trump follow through.

Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia is the subject of the behind-the-scenes effort being waged by some Trump administration officials, fellow GOP lawmakers, lobbyists and industry officials, according to nearly 20 people with knowledge of the effort.

Moore has also privately expressed interest in the job during recent conversations with fellow Republicans, according to two of the people, who were granted anonymity to disclose private conversations.

Moore declined to comment. Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, said “when there is an announcement on a permanent nomination, it will be made by the President directly.”

Some Republicans expressed doubt that Trump would nominate Moore, given what it would mean for the GOP’s already tenuous grip on the House.

With the expected swearing-in this week of Rep.-elect James Gallagher (R-Calif.), Republicans can lose up to three votes on party-line measures where all members are voting. But Rep. Tom Kean (R-N.J.) has been absent for months with no firm timeline to return, and Democrats could add two more votes in the coming months when voters in California and Georgia fill vacancies.

As a former welder and one of a handful of elected Republicans with close ties to organized labor, Moore has fans in the GOP both on and off Capitol Hill. Some have suggested Trump could aim to have him start later in the year, when his absence would not have as much impact in the House.

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who chairs House Republicans’ labor caucus, said Moore would be a strong pick.

“I’ve seen first-hand his commitment to working Americans,” LaLota said. “He understands the struggles of blue-collar families, and his record makes clear that he would be an outstanding Secretary of Labor.”

The lobbying effort around Moore comes after the April resignation of Trump’s first Labor secretary, Lori Chavez DeRemer. She, too, was tapped after serving in the House and developing a reputation as a union-friendly Republican before a high-profile series of misconduct allegations against her and her top staffers derailed her tenure.

Moore is a member of a storied West Virginia political family that includes GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, his aunt. Despite serving only 18 months, he is viewed as a close White House ally — for instance, traveling to an El Salvador prison last year to vouch for a Trump plan to send migrants deported from the U.S. there.

But the idea that Moore could get the Labor job is getting sharp pushback from some White House officials who say Trump supports acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, and many Trump officials want to see Sonderling stay in the role.

“Keith Sonderling is doing a great job serving as the acting Labor Secretary,” Rogers said.

In his short time in office, Moore has helped spearhead bipartisan workers-rights legislation, co introducing a bill with Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), as well as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), related to employee labor rights. And while Moore sits at the House GOP leadership table as a member of the Elected Leadership Committee, he has clashed with top Republicans on labor and union issues.

In one instance, he joined with like-minded Republicans to derail a bill that would allow employers to exclude some voluntary training or certification hours from overtime calculations. “I was a welder. It’s what I used to do for a living. So I know these issues pretty well. I’ve done plenty of trainings and certifications and everything else in my life,” Moore said at the time. “I don’t like the idea … where they’re being forced, coerced towards voluntary training making no hourly rate.”

“We need to be standing up for the American worker, not making it more difficult for them,” he added.

Moore’s previous work with Democrats, as well as his own personal connection to a sitting senator, could help him get through the confirmation process. Chavez-DeRemer was confirmed last year with 67 votes, including help from more than a dozen Democrats.

But any Labor nominee will need to get through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who recently lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger and has since shown a willingness to block some presidential priorities.

“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 after the election when asked about nominees passing through the committee.

Myah Ward contributed to this report.

Congress

Leon Black defies House Oversight Committee, sues Congress amid Epstein investigation

Published

1 minute ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Leon Black, a billionaire investor with ties to the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, declined to show up for his scheduled transcribed interview Thursday with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — choosing instead to file a lawsuit calling the panel’s subpoenas for his participation “invalid.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the subpoenas served to Black compelling his testimony and demanding he turn over certain non-disclosure agreements go beyond the committee’s “delegated authority in seeking private information that bears no legitimate connection to [the committee’s] legislative purpose.”

Black’s escalation is likely to trigger a corresponding dramatic response from the Oversight Committee, where Republicans are still endeavoring to show they are taking their Epstein investigation seriously more than a year since its launch.

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said that Black’s deposition will move forward with an empty chair this morning and that he will talk to his members about next steps.

“It’s a shame Leon Black is hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people,” Comer said in a statement. “Our investigation is examining how the federal government for decades failed survivors of Jeffery Epstein and [co-conspirator] Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes and how Mr. Epstein sought to curry favor with influential individuals to avoid scrutiny. Mr. Black’s testimony is crucial to our investigation as he was one of Mr. Epstein’s fee paying clients and has several nondisclosure agreements.”

Democrats are also eager to send a strong message that those who defy the panel now won’t be spared if the party retakes control of the House in 2027.

“By refusing to testify today, Leon Black is now defying two Congressional subpoenas. Black gave Jeffrey Epstein over $180 million over six years. He funded Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of women. Multiple women have also accused Black of sexual assault,” said Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat who is poised to take the gavel if Republicans lose their majority in the midterms.

“His connections to Epstein and his unwillingness to cooperate are unacceptable,” Garcia continued. “We must hold him in contempt immediately.”

Black, who founded Apollo Global Management, appeared in a closed door session with the Oversight Committee earlier this summer to discuss his association with Epstein. As a result of that meeting, Black was slapped with a subpoena to produce certain non-disclosure agreements he signed with women tied to Epstein and told to come back for a second grilling.

The panel has been counting on the NDAs to shed further light on how Epstein and his network were able to sexually exploit women and girls and evade liability for decades.

Black has since produced one NDA between himself and a woman with whom he had an affair and to whom he paid $9.5 million. Comer called that insufficient, demanding Black turn over the others and threatening to pursue contempt proceedings if Black did not cooperate.

Black’s attorneys contend the subpoenas “would … expose women who value their privacy, who have no known or public connection to Epstein, who bargained for confidentiality and have refused to release it, and who have no ability to protect themselves and their privacy before the Committee.”

Susan Estrich, one of Black’s lawyers, in a statement accused the Oversight Committee of going on “a fishing expedition that oversteps its authority and completely ignores its responsibility. This is no longer about finding the truth about Epstein. It is about trying to destroy Mr. Black. We were left with no choice but to file this lawsuit in response to an abuse of Congressional power.”

Estrich added that Black continues to deny his knowledge of Epstein’s misconduct and “feels terrible for Epstein’s victims.”

Congress

House Republicans set to cut pre-election session short

Published

16 minutes ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republican leaders are set to announce Thursday that the final two weeks of the pre-election House session are canceled, according to two people granted anonymity to describe the decision ahead of a public announcement.

That means members are set to depart Washington no later than Sept. 17 and not return until mid-November. The House will recovene for one additional week of business after next week’s Labor Day break.

Leaders would recall the House for those canceled weeks if the Senate moves forward with a party-line budget reconciliation package in the meantime, the people said.

The decision comes as candidates agitate to get back on the campaign trail and as GOP leaders continue to struggle to maintain control of the House floor. Earlier this week, a procedural measure setting up votes on several Republican bills was poised to fail until two Democrats voted in favor, rescuing Speaker Mike Johnson’s agenda for the week.

Congress

Third Way rolls out “new economic bargain” platform for Dems

Published

4 hours ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Democratic centrist group Third Way is launching a “new economic bargain” platform as part of its ongoing effort to steer the party toward a more coherent and big-tent vision heading into 2028.

The platform consists of what it calls 20 “ambitious and ruthlessly pragmatic” ideas, shared first with Blue Light News, targeting working-class voters. The ideas include a health care Bill of Rights, ONE MORE, and government-backed car loans to lower the cost of car ownership and forcing AI companies to pay for their own expansion without passing it on to consumers.

“Now that the primaries are over, the big question for Democrats is: What are you going to run on in the general election in ’26? What are you going to legislate on in ’27? And what are you going to promise to do and deliver if you become president?” Jon Cowan, Third Way’s president, said in an interview. “And so we see this now as the pivot moment away from the primaries and toward the policy debate in the party.”

Cowan said the policy ideas provide an affirmative vision for the party, instead of just being anti-Trump, saying the agenda is aimed at “Democrats who want to be able to beat MAGA, because here’s the key thing: you can’t beat something with nothing.”

Earlier this year, the influential think tank launched a $50 million effort seeking to make sure a “combative centrist” emerges as the party’s 2028 presidential nominee.

Now, Third Way has elevated a dedicated staffer — Sasha Galbreath, a longtime House policy adviser — to establish connections between the group and staffers for potential 2028 presidential and vice presidential candidates. The group is already in conversation with at least 16 potential candidates and their staff, according to Cowan.

“The ideas primary is really only just beginning now,” Cowan said. “I think the pivot into September and the end of the primaries is actually when the real ideas primary to determine the future of the Democratic Party begins.”