Congress

Schumer signals Democrats won’t pick a shutdown fight

Published

1 year ago

February 10, 2025

Senate Democrats are detailing how they plan to fight back against President Donald Trump’s administration — but it won’t include sparking a government shutdown.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to his caucus on Monday that detailed four strategies to counter Trump: investigations, litigation through the courts, legislation and party messaging.

However, Schumer pushed back against recent rumblings that Democrats might walk away from the negotiating table on spending bills, saying his party wants to avoid a “Trump shutdown” and supports bipartisan negotiations to try to find a funding deal. Republicans had accused Democrats of walking out on talks last week and some of Schumer’s members are warning the GOP can’t count on their votes to avert a shutdown.

“Democrats stand ready to support legislation that will prevent a government shutdown. Congressional Republicans, despite their bluster, know full well that governing requires bipartisan negotiation and cooperation,” Schumer wrote.

“Of course, legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes and Senate Democrats will use our votes to help steady the ship for the American people in these turbulent times. It is incumbent on responsible Republicans to get serious and work in a bipartisan fashion to avoid a Trump Shutdown,” he added.

Senate Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to get a government funding bill through their chamber. And while Speaker Mike Johnson could get legislation through the House without support across the aisle, he’s been forced to cut a deal with Democrats on spending repeatedly because of divisions among his own members.

But Democrats are facing intense pressure to jam up the Senate and fight Trump’s policies, including Elon Musk’s efforts to take a buzzsaw to the federal workforce and multiple agencies.

In addition to opposing Trump’s most controversial nominees, Schumer said in his letter on Monday that Senate Democrats will hold unofficial hearings to “spotlight … the rampant wrongdoing of the Trump administration.” Senate Democrats also launched a portal where whistleblowers can flag problems on Monday.

Democrats are also supporting litigation from states and “are actively exploring opportunities for the Democratic Caucus to file amici curiae that support their lawsuits.”

“A mere three weeks into the new Trump Administration and it is clear Trump’s promise of a ‘golden age’ for America seems to merely be glitter,” Schumer added. “Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon all of us to continue to work overtime to push back, to fight for American families, and to deliver real results to lower costs, protect communities and ensure accountable government.”

Congress

Senate easily advances stopgap funding deal past first hurdle

Published

13 minutes ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate’s stopgap funding bill to avert a shutdown on Oct. 1 has cleared the first procedural hurdle, putting it on track for passage before lawmakers leave for the August recess.

Senators voted 89-4 to advance the measure, which would fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels, with some exceptions.

In order for a passage vote to happen ahead of the summer break, Senate leaders will need to strike a bipartisan time agreement to fast-track the measure to a final vote.

“It is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation, and I hope it will receive overwhelming support from both parties in the Senate,” Majority Leader John Thune said in a Monday floor speech.

Senate passage would up a potential battle with the House, because the stopgap measure the House passed two weeks ago has key differences from the Senate version. Identical versions must be passed to actually avert a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year.

The Senate measure includes language to bar the Trump administration from putting into action a plan to make political appointees in charge of approving grants, a prohibition that would last for the length of the stopgap. It also has language sought by Democrats to ensure Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement don’t get any new funding under the patch.

“The bill allows us to continue negotiating a budget that won’t leave working families behind,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment about if President Donald Trump supports the Senate measure. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), an appropriator and administration ally, said Monday he had spoken to Trump earlier in the day and believed the president is “comfortable” with the Senate bill.

Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Jack Smith invited to testify before Senate next month

Published

3 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.

Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.

Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.

“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”

Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.

Congress

Chuck Edwards recommended for censure by House Ethics Committee

Published

3 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics Committee recommended Monday that lawmakers censure Rep. Chuck Edwards for engaging in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers” — cataloguing multiple episodes of sexual harassment by the married lawmaker.

Censure is the most severe punishment the panel can recommend short of expulsion, requiring targeted members to submit to a public shaming on the floor. The bipartisan panel said it plans to bring a privileged resolution to a vote once the House returns to session later this month.

A spokesperson for Edwards, 65, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a 15-page rebuttal, lawyers for Edwards said that the Ethics Committee “failed to demonstrate that either of the two staffers expressed discomfort to Representative Edwards regarding his conduct with them.” They also rejected the need for censure, noting that it has been used “sparingly in this context and directed only at matters of severe sexual misconduct.”

The panel itself released a trove of evidence including emails, text messages and photographs showing how Edwards had insinuated himself into intimate aspects of their lives.

Edwards, the committee found, made comments on the appearance of two young female staffers in his congressional office, telling them they looked “pretty” or “breathtaking” and made a comment on one staffer’s weight. He also lavished the young women with gifts, including purses valued at more than $1,000, as well as guns, shoes, flowers and one-on-one dinners.

Text messages from one of the women showed Edwards at one point sent her more than 20 containers of ice cream because, he said, she needed “a lot of cheering up!”

Sexual harassment is prohibited by House rules and federal law, and the committee found that Edwards violated “the spirit of the House’s prohibitions on sexual harassment and unwanted advances, as well as the requirement to act in a manner that reflects credibly upon the House.”

The report found Edwards brought one of the staffers to a holiday event at the White House, gave her flowers and texted her how he was “so excited about tonight” and that he pressured her to continue the night with him after the event. Edwards told the committee he accompanied that staffer to her home in Virginia because he “felt uncomfortable dumping a young lady on the street.”

Edwards also talked to that staffer and others about going to strip clubs in Washington, the report says.

The panel concluded that Edwards did not engage in sexual activity with either of the women, nor did he explicitly proposition them or other staff members for sex. Edwards, who is facing a competitive race for reelection in his western North Carolina district, cooperated with the probe, the committee said.

In one instance, the panel found, Edwards skipped House votes one night to decorate the second staffer’s Christmas tree. He also went out drinking and gambling with her. On another occasion, he recited a poem at her going-away party in his office and cried during that incident, making his staff noticeably uncomfortable.

When the second staffer left his office, Edwards helped her move back to North Carolina and sent her a handwritten letter in which he described her as “the most amazing woman” and that she had “written a complex chapter in my heart that I will never stop reading.”

Edwards told the committee that letter was not romantic.

“It was only to imply that we had a relationship on so many different levels — on a congressional level, on a professional level, on a friendship level, on a helping-one-another-out-with-our-chores-and-responsibility level,” he said.