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SBA staff at Washington headquarters would shrink under Ernst bill

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Sen. Joni Ernst wants to make restructuring the Small Business Administration one of her first legislative acts as chair of the Senate caucus carrying out Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” agenda.

The Iowa Republican‘s bill that she will announce Thursday would require the SBA administrator to relocate at least 30 percent of workers at its headquarters outside the Washington metro area, according to a copy of legislation obtained by Blue Light News.

SBA would then reduce the office space at its headquarters by at least 30 percent, under her legislation.

“The empty SBA headquarters shows its employees clearly don’t want to work in Washington, so we are going to make their wish come true,” Ernst said in a statement. “Not only will they be closer to the folks they serve but it will give more Americans the opportunity to join the agency and bring new ideas and innovation.”

The bill comes after Ernst used the first meeting of the Senate DOGE caucus last week to hand out a report on remote and tele-working within the federal government. As part of that plan she floated moving more of the federal workforce outside of Washington, and consolidating government office spaces to save money. Ernst has already met with the DOGE team and sent them a letter late last month proposing potential areas for cuts.

The legislation is the latest example of Republicans gearing up to position themselves as vocal allies of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, an out-of-government effort spearheaded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. In addition to the Senate caucus, the House has started a bipartisan DOGE caucus. House Republicans will also create a new Oversight subcommittee, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), that will coordinate with DOGE.

Musk and Ramaswamy also met with House and Senate Republicans last week, where lawmakers pitched them behind-closed-doors on their ideas for how to shrink the side of the federal government or overhaul spending.

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Congress

Musk weighs in on Meta after Zuckerberg’s company donates $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund

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The tech billionaires are fighting for Donald Trump’s attention. At least, that’s what it looks like.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund, the company confirmed to Blue Light News on Thursday. And this morning, it seemed like fellow billionaire Elon Musk has taken issue with its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s potential involvement in the new administration.

“Concerning,” Musk said on X, responding to a post from conservative commentator Ashley St. Clair claiming — without evidence — that Meta is “actively censoring conservatives right now.” While it’s unclear exactly what Musk was referring to, the original post St. Clair was responding to was a video of a suited up Zuckerberg wakesurfing with an American flag announcing the $1 million donation from an account titled “DogeDesigner.”

It’s not unusual for corporations to contribute to presidential inaugurations, but neither Zuckerberg nor Meta donated to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017, or to President Biden’s fund in 2021.

The tech giant’s donation comes just weeks after Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump — an additional attempt from the company to mend relations with the Republican party’s MAGA wing after he banned the then-former president from the platform in 2021. Trump’s accounts have since been restored.

Trump and Zuckerberg’s fraught relationship is well documented. In Trump’s book, “Save America,” released in September, he claimed that Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election and that the Meta CEO would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again. In July, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that if elected, he would pursue “ELECTION FRAUDSTERS at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who you are,” before directly addressing Zuckerberg. “DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!”

Meta spokesperson Andy Stone declined to comment on Musk’s post. Spokespeople for Musk via X did not immediately respond for comment.

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House Dems broadly denounce UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting after Warren remarks

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Congressional Democrats broadly denounced the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Friday morning, after Republicans started accusing Sen. Elizabeth Warren of excusing violence.

“No one’s condoning this,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.). “Violence never is the right answer for anything. And it was a horrible murder, a tragic loss for his family.”

Warren this week condemned the shooting, but added that people “can be pushed only so far.”

“We’ll say it over and over,” Warren said on BLN’S “The ReidOut.” “Violence is never the answer. This guy [Luigi Mangione] gets a trial who’s allegedly killed the CEO of UnitedHealth, but you can only push people so far, and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”

In a statement to Blue Light News, Warren said, “Violence is never the answer. Period. I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.” Top Republicans denounced Warren’s comments and the walked-back rhetoric, with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) calling it “inappropriate and dangerous.”

Some House Democrats asked about the incident on Thursday pivoted the conversation to discuss policy options on health care or gun safety.

“I don’t really know that this is really a space that Congress normally weighs in on,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). “But at the end of the day, I think it’s an opportunity, because now people are talking about health care and to talk about the fact that this industry has honestly not been as helpful as it could be.”

“Violence is never the answer,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.). “We know that there are people suffering, there’s great challenges in healthcare. There’s great challenges, and people have, in fact, been wronged, but a process of governance is the way to address that, not violence.”

And Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) who denounced the murder, said the killer should be prosecuted and that “I do know that allegedly a ghost gun was used, and we should also ban ghost guns. There’s no reason for them beyond the streets.”

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Murkowski: ‘I’m not attached to’ Republican label

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Thursday she felt “more comfortable” with no party label than with “an identity as a Republican,” an escalation of the Alaska senator’s occasional bucking of her party as the chamber readies itself for a slew of confirmation battles over Trump administration nominees.

“I’m not attached to a label, I’d rather be that ‘no label.’ I’d rather be that person that is just known for trying to do right by the state and the people that I serve, regardless of party, and I’m totally good and comfortable with that,” Murkowski said during a discussion hosted by the centrist group No Labels at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

Later on during the discussion, Murkowski clarified that she is “still a Republican” and has “never shed my party label.”

“We’ve got a system in the Senate where there are two sides of the aisle, and I have to sit on one side or I have to sit on the other,” she added.

Murkowski, who has served as a Republican senator from Alaska since 2003, has occasionally defied her party and criticized its members’ willingness to kowtow to President-elect Donald Trump.

“I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I’m more of a Ronald Reagan Republican than I am a Trump Republican,” she said Thursday. “And someone said, ‘Well, you aren’t really a Republican at all.’ And I said, ‘You can call me whatever you want to call me.’”

Murkowski is seen as one of Democrats’ top hopes to block Trump’s most contentious Cabinet picks, alongside fellow centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

On Thursday, Murkowski predicted “it’s going to be hard in these next four years” because the Trump administration’s “approach is going to be: Everybody tow the line. Everybody line up. We got you here, and if you want to survive, you better be good. Don’t get on Santa’s naughty list here, because we will primary you.”

She pointed specifically to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), whose swing vote could sink Pete Hegseth’s bid to run the Pentagon.

Despite being “one of the more conservative, principled Republican leaders in the Senate right now,” Murkowski said, Republicans are slamming Ernst “for not being good enough” — and she said she is worried the Iowa senator could be primaried.

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