Congress

Push for Labor nominee is latest threat to House GOP majority

Published

4 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

Scalise heads to Florida to boost several GOP candidates

Published

5 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is heading to Florida to boost a raft of Republicans as the House GOP campaign arm launches new spending across the ruby-red state.

Republicans are working to ensure they prevail in a series of tight Florida races after they redrew several districts in their favor. Several GOP incumbents have warned the party needs to do more to help put out fires across these areas. Scalise is just the latest Republican leader who is looking to shore up candidates in once-thought-to-be-safe red territory.

Scalise will hold a GOTV rally Thursday with Republican Dan Green who is challenging Democratic Rep. Darren Soto in central Florida’s 9th District, according to an invite obtained by Blue Light News. Soto should be toast from the GOP redistricting effort, but he’s still hauling in significant fundraising and Democrats say their internal polling shows a tight race.

Over on the Gulf Coast, the National Republican Congressional Committee is also launching its first coordinated ad spending for Rep. Anna Paulina Luna on Wednesday. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, GOP governor nominee Rep. Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, who is also up for reelection, are appearing at a Saturday rally with Luna.

President Donald Trump won Luna’s district by 13 points and Democrats have tried and failed to target her before. But Republicans are warning the headwinds are stronger this year and forcing a tighter than expected race.

Republicans are also working to shore up key seats in South Florida. Scalise will be with GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar in the Miami area Friday, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, granted anonymity to share not yet public details. Salazar has raised alarm about Republican erosion with Hispanic voters in his district and other states over the Trump administration’s mass deportations.

Scalise will boost Ryan Elijah, the Republican who beat scandal-ridden Rep. Cory Mills in the primary in Florida’s 7th District, according to another person with direct knowledge of the matter, granted anonymity to speak candidly. The party feels better about the seat in recent weeks, especially more than they would have if Mills had won the GOP nomination.

The House Majority Leader will also hold events with Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast and Rep. Gus Bilirakis, according to the person.

Congress

Capitol agenda: The unknowns of a Sherrod Brown return

Published

11 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats may be rooting for Sherrod Brown’s comeback, but they are not exactly prepared for what’d happen next.

If Brown wins on Election Day, Democrats likely face an uncomfortable choice: break longstanding party rules to restore his seniority on powerful committees like Banking, Agriculture and Finance or potentially make him start over at the bottom.

Complicating the issue: Brown will immediately need to prepare for a grueling re-election fight in 2028 and his campaign could greatly benefit from two years with a high-profile gavel. That’s because this midterm is Ohio’s special election where voters are selecting a senator to serve out the remainder of Vice President JD Vance‘s term.

Brown’s post, therefore, may not only deeply impact Democrats’ policy agenda but could also play a key role in the party’s success in winning the battleground seat in 2028.

Some members are already suggesting the party should try to find a middle ground.

“Some accommodation that recognizes he would not be a rank freshman would make sense. But that’s distinct from handing him back a leadership role at Banking,” said Sen. Chris Coons.

The Ohio Democrat served as the top Democrat on the Banking panel for a decade. He was also a longtime member of Finance as well as Agriculture, where he would also be the most senior member if his previous service counted.

To give Brown a gavel on Agriculture or Banking could set up clashes with the Democrats now expected to lead their party on the panels: Sens. Michael Bennet and Elizabeth Warren, respectively.

It would also break Senate Democrats’ caucus rules, and precedent is not on Brown’s side when it comes to making exceptions.

Still, aides and lobbyists around the panels expect Democrats will be eager to give Brown some sort of perch.

Those close to him have been encouraging him to seek the Agriculture gavel. It’d allow him to deliver valuable policy wins for Ohio’s rural areas, influence the farm bill if it gets punted to next year and help guide the direction of cryptocurrency regulation.

Another possibility that avoids an intraparty clash: hand Brown a seat on Appropriations, which could potentially give him a subcommittee gavel and federal funding clout.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has avoided any firm commitments on Brown’s seniority, saying last month when asked: “Let’s win back the Senate first.”

What else we’re watching:

— OMAR RAID RAISES QUESTIONS FOR GOP: House Republicans — including Majority Whip Tom Emmer — have publicly cheered on the Trump administration’s investigation of GOP boogeyman Rep. Ilhan Omar. But the raid raises thorny questions for GOP leaders about how aggressively Congress wants to defend itself — regardless of party — from encroaching federal prosecutors. Lawmakers’ work communications are protected from prosecutors’ scrutiny, with few exceptions, under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause. That draws into question whether the emails, texts, and materials on Omar’s phone, which was seized in the raid, could legally be reviewed by Trump officials. So far, Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to weigh in on how the House’s legal team may defend Omar.

— TRUMP’S TRICKY FARM MONEY PROMISE: Trump’s move Monday to turn out GOP voters by promising to send farmers $8 billion in taxpayer money is already facing a reality check. The internal USDA taxpayer-funded account Trump is tapping doesn’t actually have enough money in it right now to make the payments, meaning Congress will have to approve new funds or the administration will have to take it from another program, according to three Trump officials granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Plus, farmers wouldn’t receive the payments until late November or early December at the earliest — well past Election Day, according to three people close to the plans.

Jasper Goodman, Grace Yarrow, Kyle Cheney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

This member is so frustrated with Congress he wants voters to sidestep it

Published

11 hours ago

October 21, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

At the end of one of the least productive Congresses in modern history, freshman Rep. Johnny Olszewski is so sick of the gridlock on Capitol Hill that he wants voters to bypass it entirely.

“It’s been a long two years,” the Maryland Democrat said in a Tuesday interview.

“One of the things that’s made it difficult as a new member is to see not only the dysfunction, but also the missed opportunities,” he added. “There are so many issues out there that Americans support that this Congress and frankly prior Congresses have failed to act on.”

Fed up with the lack of progress on popular policies like banning congressional stock trading, equipping police with body cameras or protecting in vitro fertilization, Olszewski is introducing a constitutional amendment Thursday, first shared with POLITICO, that would create a mechanism for voters to make federal law directly.

The measure would give voters 18 months to gather signatures from at least 5% of people who participated in the most recent presidential election in 25 states. Then any qualifying direct-democracy measure would be put on ballots for the next national election and need a 60% national majority to pass.

Votes to declare war or direct federal spending would not be eligible under the proposal.

“If we were acting, there’d be no need for this to come into play,” Olszewski said. “It would create a really important backstop for the American people to say, ‘You know what … irrespective of which party is in power, Congress is failing to meet not just our everyday needs but act on issues that we overwhelmingly support and want to see acted upon.’”

The amendment — which itself would require support from two-thirds of the House and Senate as well as three-quarters of states — is an incredible longshot and would create serious implementation headaches, but Olszewski — a former civics teacher — hopes his proposal will spark a discussion about congressional reform.

“I understand that any constitutional amendment is going to be difficult,” Olszewski said. “But I’m hopeful that at least for the lame duck session, this is an opportunity to create a conversation around the fact that we have been so gridlocked that we have failed to address the needs of the American people.”