Congress

Republicans take first step to move $95B party-line package

Published

1 day ago

July 16, 2026

Reconciliation 3.0 is on the move in the House.

House Republicans advanced their budget plan out of committee Thursday afternoon — the initial legislative step toward clearing their third party-line budget reconciliation package ahead of the impending August recess.

The House Budget Committee voted to approve a budget resolution along party lines, 20-14. The measure would unlock $95 billion for a GOP-only package to deliver funding President Donald Trump has demanded for the Pentagon, farmers and other priorities.

What the budget blueprint doesn’t contain is instructions to committees to find the vast savings that fiscal hawks were looking for to pay for the new spending. House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) tried to quell concerns from within his party about a lack of offsets required within the budget resolution by pointing to executive branch action.

“He declared war on fraud,” Arrington told the panel, referring to Trump. “He has a whole of government attack on that $500-plus billion a year in fraud.”

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance also tried to respond to hard-liners’ concerns by telling a gathering of House Republicans that his White House-based task force on fraud is already finding savings from social programs to offset spending. Fiscal hawks were not sold.

Some budget hawks including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) voted to advance the resolution in committee. Rep. Chip Roy (R) of Texas did not vote in committee. On Wednesday he told reporters “the stupidest thing to do would be to try to jam it through committee when you’ve got bigger problem[s] on the House floor.”

The budget resolution prescribes up to $73 billion for military and intelligence programs and $12 billion for farm assistance. It also opens the door for Republicans to put another $10 billion toward election-related matters including grants to states to incentivize strict voter-ID laws. That portion of the effort is an attempt to enact some of the controversial election security bill that Trump is demanding be passed before he signs any other legislation.

“Not one word on bringing down costs for the American people. Not one word,” ranking member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said of the nearly 50-page budget resolution. “Instead, we have tens of billions of dollars for the most unpopular war in American history.”

The $73 billion allowed for military and intelligence is about the amount the White House sought in another emergency funding request last month. But the defense total is far below Trump’s demand of $350 billion in new party-line Pentagon funding this year. Of the $60 billion in defense funding, some would go to the ongoing war in Iran and another portion to service member pay, which Pentagon officials have warned will run short in August.

The panel defeated all 14 amendments Democrats offered, including proposals to roll back a bevy of policies from Republicans’ earlier party-line policy bills. Those measures targeted cuts to nutrition assistance programs, energy programs, student loan limitations and changes to Affordable Care Act policies.

Other rejected proposals include language to bar any taxpayer dollars from going to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, barring funding for Trump’s White House ballroom and striking down Trump’s tariffs impacting agriculture producers. Multiple Democratic amendments focused on the conduct of federal immigration officers after several fatal shootings in recent days.

A floor vote on the fiscal blueprint is House GOP leaders’ next challenge in the arduous process of unlocking the filibuster-skirting power of reconciliation. Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to put the resolution on the floor next week, but that will require a serious whip operation to persuade deficit hawks to support the resolution.

On Wednesday ahead of the markup, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) brushed off colleagues who are looking for the package to be fully paid for, including the defense portion.

“When did you ever pay for a war? A lot of this is military expenses aimed at that war,” he said. “The point is that play’s been called. It’s time to put up or shut up.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

House GOP releases bill to fund government until after the midterm elections

Published

3 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders released text Friday for a bill to fund the vast majority of the federal government from the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 until after the midterm elections — bypassing the bipartisan appropriations process and daring Democrats to pick a shutdown fight months before voters head to the polls.

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he plans to put the legislation on the floor next week.

The measure would fund the government through Dec. 4 and, as Republican leaders promised, would not include additional policy riders or unrelated provisions.

The text released Friday also does not include President Donald Trump’s top policy priority, the partisan elections overhaul and voter ID measure dubbed the SAVE America Act.

Congress

Alan Dershowitz cancels on House Oversight ahead of planned Epstein interview

Published

4 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School who worked to craft the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, will not appear before the House Oversight Committee for his scheduled transcribed interview Monday, according to two committee aides granted anonymity to speak candidly.

Lawyers for Dershowitz told the Oversight panel he would not show up as planned and the committee has reached out to Dershowitz’s team to put another meeting on the schedule, said one of the aides.

Dershowitz is a well-known criminal defense attorney who has represented high profile clients such as President Donald Trump and O.J. Simpson. Many have contended Dershowitz’s work to get Epstein the plea deal in Florida allowed him to continue victimizing young women and girls for years until his subsequent arrest and suicide in prison in 2019.

The Oversight Committee continues to interview people tied up in Epstein’s web as part of its ongoing investigation. Jes Staley, a former JPMorganChase and Barclays executive, is set to sit for an interview with the panel July 23. The committee is also scheduled to have billionaire investor Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management, appear for a videotaped deposition Sept. 3 that will be conducted under oath.

Dershowitz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

How one moderate Democratic leader is bracing for Israel politics in the next Congress

Published

5 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Brad Schneider, the leader of the House’s centrist New Democrat Coalition, is trying to understand how his party became so divided on Israel.

Earlier this week, over 100 House Democrats voted for a Republican-authored amendment to a State Department funding bill that would have cut Israel off from U.S. aid. That amendment failed amid near-unified GOP opposition, but progressives celebrated the Wednesday vote as a seismic victory, saying the break with Israel was born out of years of fury inside the Democratic base over Israel’s treatment of Palestine and, more recently, its handling of the war in Gaza.

In the aftermath, Schneider, a pro-Israel Illinois Democrat, said he is searching for an explanation for how a “hastily crafted, cynically introduced” legislative proposal to cut humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza generated support among his own peers, who have largely supported the longtime ally.

Yet even as hard-left candidates topple incumbents around the country, an Israel-critical bloc of House Democrats will be more powerful than ever next term — and Schneider insisted in a Thursday interview that his party can unite on the fractious issue.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

On Democrats ultimately having similar goals: The goal in the Middle East in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to get security, stability, dignity and a holy peace for the people in Israel, in Gaza, the West Bank, in the whole Middle East. … What can we do that will advance peace? And what can we stop doing that has allowed the status quo? I think for many people, that was their intention in how they were voting.

How do we get to a place where members of Congress are sharing a common purpose and advancing peace for the region, recognizing Israel’s need for security as a Jewish, democratic state, recognizing Palestinian rights and their aspirations for sovereignty and a state of their own one day that’s living side by side in peace with Israel, not threatening Israel but providing a future for Palestinian children?

On Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voting against the amendment, while Minority Whip Katherine Clark voted in favor — and members being left to make their own decisions: I don’t think you’ll see cynical amendments [in a Democratic majority]. I expect what you’ll see is us … working on advancing the interests of American voters. … I think to do that, we need to work together, and leadership has to be coordinated and speaking in one voice.

… Hakeem Jeffries has kept the Democrats united. We have been able to legislate from the minority … and where there’s times and differences, he’s allowed those to be reflected without festering or ultimately tearing apart the caucus. I think next year [if Democrats win the House] you’ll see that leadership take a step up to the next level. There’s a difference between being minority leader and majority speaker.

On whether Democrats can find consensus next term with the influx of hard-left new members: I suspect we will not get unanimity. … I think where Democrats almost universally come down is how do we make the world safer, more secure for Americans and for our allies around the world.

On whether Israel’s divisive prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has pushed Democrats leftward: Netanyahu is not popular. I’m not a fan personally myself. I think it’s more than just Netanyahu. … They have to address the settler violence in the West Bank. I will always be committed to Israel’s security and safety. I believe addressing settler violence is critical for that.

On more Democrats disavowing money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: Members will do what they want. I’d like to see members doing more to advance peace rather than advancing their own personal careers.