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Congress

Schumer unveils Democratic committee rosters as party looks to counter Trump

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2 years ago

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Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced Thursday his caucus’ committee assignments for the incoming Congress, a part of Democrats’ game plan on how to counter the nominations and legislative priorities of incoming President Donald Trump.

The list formalizes a number of new Democratic leaders atop panels: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) for Agriculture; Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) for Banking; Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) for Environment and Public Works; Martin Heinrich (N.M.) for Energy; Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) for Foreign Relations and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) for Budget, among others.

Here are the rosters:

Senate Agriculture Committee

  • Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), ranking
  • Michael Bennet (Colo.)
  • Tina Smith (Minn.)
  • Dick Durbin (Ill.)
  • Cory Booker (N.J.)
  • Ben Ray Luján (N.M.)
  • Raphael Warnock (Ga.)
  • Peter Welch (Vt.)
  • John Fetterman (Pa.)
  • Adam Schiff (Calif.)
  • Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Senate Appropriations Committee

  • Patty Murray (Wash.),  ranking
  • Dick Durbin (Ill.)
  • Jack Reed (R.I.)
  • Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)
  • Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
  • Chris Coons (Del.)
  • Brian Schatz (Hawaii)
  • Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)
  • Chris Murphy (Conn.)
  • Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
  • Martin Heinrich (N.M.)
  • Gary Peters (Mich.)
  • Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
  • Jon Ossoff (Ga.)

Senate Armed Services Committee

  • Jack Reed (R.I.), ranking
  • Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)
  • Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
  • Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
  • Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
  • Tim Kaine (Va.)
  • Angus King (I-Maine)
  • Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)
  • Gary Peters (Mich.)
  • Tammy Duckworth (Ill.)
  • Jacky Rosen (Nev.)
  • Mark Kelly (Ariz.)
  • Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Senate Banking Committee 

  • Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), ranking
  • Jack Reed (R.I.)
  • Mark Warner (Va.)
  • Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
  • Tina Smith (Minn.)
  • Raphael Warnock (Ga.)
  • Andy Kim (N.J.)
  • Ruben Gallego (Ariz.)
  • Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.)
  • Angela Alsobrooks (Md.)

Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee

  • Maria Cantwell (Wash.), ranking
  • Amy Klobuchar (Minn.)
  • Brian Schatz (Hawaii)
  • Ed Markey (Mass.)
  • Gary Peters (Mich.)
  • Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)
  • Tammy Duckworth (Ill.)
  • Jacky Rosen (Nev.)
  • Ben Ray Luján (N.M.)
  • John Hickenlooper (Colo.)
  • John Fetterman (Pa.)
  • Andy Kim (N.J.)
  • Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.)

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

  • Martin Heinrich (N.M.), ranking
  • Ron Wyden (Ore.)
  • Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
  • Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
  • Angus King (I-Maine)
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
  • John Hickenlooper (Colo.)
  • Alex Padilla (Calif.)
  • Ruben Gallego (Ariz.)

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee 

  • Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), ranking
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
  • Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
  • Ed Markey (Mass.)
  • Mark Kelly (Ariz.)
  • Alex Padilla (Calif)
  • Adam Schiff (Calif.)
  • Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.)
  • Angela Alsobrooks (Md.)

Senate Finance Committee

  • Ron Wyden (Ore.), ranking
  • Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
  • Michael Bennet (Colo.)
  • Mark Warner (Va.)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
  • Maggie Hassan (N.H.)
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
  • Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
  • Tina Smith (Minn.)
  • Ben Ray Luján (N.M.)
  • Raphael Warnock (Ga.)
  • Peter Welch (Vt.)

Senate Foreign Relations Committee

  • Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), ranking
  • Chris Coons (Del.)
  • Chris Murphy (Conn.)
  • Tim Kaine (Va.)
  • Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
  • Cory Booker (N.J.)
  • Brian Schatz (Hawaii)
  • Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
  • Tammy Duckworth (Ill.)
  • Jacky Rosen (Nev.)

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), ranking
  • Patty Murray (Wash.)
  • Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)
  • Chris Murphy (Conn.)
  • Tim Kaine (Va.)
  • Maggie Hassan (N.H.)
  • John Hickenlooper (Colo.)
  • Ed Markey (Mass.)
  • Andy Kim (N.J.)
  • Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.)
  • Angela Alsobrooks (Md.)

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

  • Gary Peters (Mich.), ranking
  • Maggie Hassan (N.H.)
  • Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
  • John Fetterman (Pa.)
  • Andy Kim (N.J.)
  • Ruben Gallego (Ariz.)
  • Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Senate Intelligence Committee

  • Mark Warner (Va.), ranking
  • Ron Wyden (Ore.)
  • Martin Heinrich (N.M.)
  • Angus King (I-Maine)
  • Michael Bennet (Colo.)
  • Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.)
  • Jon Ossoff (Ga.)
  • Mark Kelly (Ariz.) 

Senate Judiciary Committee

  • Dick Durbin (Ill.), ranking
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
  • Amy Klobuchar (Minn.)
  • Chris Coons (Del.)
  • Richard Blumenthal (Conn.)
  • Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
  • Cory Booker (N.J.)
  • Alex Padilla (Calif.)
  • Peter Welch (Vt.)
  • Adam Schiff (Calif.) 

Senate Aging Committee

  • Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), ranking
  • Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)
  • Mark Kelly (Ariz.)
  • Raphael Warnock (Ga.)
  • John Fetterman (Pa.)
  • Angela Alsobrooks (Md.)

Senate Budget Committee

  • Jeff Merkley (Ore.), ranking
  • Patty Murray (Wash.)
  • Ron Wyden (Ore.)
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
  • Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
  • Mark Warner (VA)
  • Tim Kaine (Va.)
  • Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
  • Ben Ray Luján (N.M.)
  • Alex Padilla (Calif.)

Congressional Joint Economic Committee

  • Maggie Hassan (N.H.), ranking
  • Amy Klobuchar (Minn.)
  • Martin Heinrich (N.M.)
  • Mark Kelly (Ariz.)

Senate Rules Committee

  • Alex Padilla (Calif.), ranking
  • Amy Klobuchar (Minn.)
  • Chuck Schumer (N.Y.)
  • Mark Warner (Va.)
  • Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
  • Jon Ossoff (Ga.)
  • Michael Bennet (Colo.)
  • Peter Welch (Vt.)

Senate Small Business Committee

  • Ed Markey (Ore.), ranking
  • Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
  • Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)
  • Cory Booker (N.J.)
  • Chris Coons (Del.)
  • Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
  • Jacky Rosen (Nev.)
  • John Hickenlooper (Colo.)
  • Adam Schiff (Calif.)

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee

  • Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), ranking
  • Patty Murray (Wash.)
  • Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
  • Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
  • Maggie Hassan (N.H.)
  • Angus King (I-Maine)
  • Tammy Duckworth (Ill.)
  • Ruben Gallego (Ariz.)
  • Elissa Slotkin (Mich.)

Senate Ethics Committee

  • Chris Coons (Del.), ranking
  • Brian Schatz (Hawaii)
  • Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)

Senate Indian Affairs Committee

  • Brian Schatz (Hawaii), ranking
  • Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
  • Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.)
  • Tina Smith (Minn.)
  • Ben Ray Luján (N.M.)
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Congress

Trump needles Cornyn as Blanche remains blocked

Published

17 minutes ago

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July 31, 2026

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President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.

Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.

“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.

Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.

“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”

On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.

“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.

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Congress

Capitol agenda: The Senate’s fly-out agenda takes shape

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2 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

By

Senate Republicans are prepping a jam-packed — if somewhat optimistic — agenda for their final week before summer recess.

Majority Leader John Thune wants to move stopgap funding through Dec. 11, bipartisan Russia sanctions legislation and a bloc of nominees — perhaps including attorney general pick Todd Blanche.

He’s also under pressure from President Donald Trump, administration officials and many of his GOP colleagues to adopt a budget resolution — the first step in unlocking another party-line spending bill.

Leaders are prioritizing the stopgap, though. Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) expects continuing resolution text to be unveiled later today, she told reporters Thursday, and an initial vote is expected Monday evening.

Still TBD: Collins wants to use the funding patch to block the Trump administration from putting political appointees in charge of approving grants — a demand Democratic senators are also making.

The decision is in Thune’s hands. He acknowledged a “handful of issues” are still under consideration with the CR, and said he’s “hoping both sides can come together and figure” them out.

As for the sanctions bill, leaders of both parties are still trying to work out a deal to fast-track the legislation amid concerns from some Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that it gives Trump too much tariff power.

In addition to the nominees package, Thune also hasn’t ruled out an initial vote on the landmark cryptocurrency bill both parties have spent months negotiating or teeing up a bipartisan college sports overhaul now in final stages of talks.

But the big question is whether Republicans can take a major step toward another reconciliation bill by advancing a budget resolution.

Thune met Thursday with Budget Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who said he was “optimistic in terms of how things are kind of coming together.”

Republicans anticipate giving a number of Senate committees instructions for the bill, setting up a lengthy and politically painful process ahead of adoption despite pushes for urgency from the White House.

Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was the latest official to head to Capitol Hill to try and light a fire under top Republicans. But GOP senators don’t necessarily see the urgency.

“The hard part is the president wants to be able to move fast, like an executive can move, and we’re a legislative branch,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). “It doesn’t move that fast.”

What else we’re watching: 

— BLANCHE TEETERING: Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general isn’t dead yet. But it’s certainly on life support. The acting AG met with Cornyn and Tillis Thursday at NRSC headquarters, and one person familiar with the discussion said the group was “working collaboratively now.” But it would now be difficult to confirm him before August recess under Senate rules.

— FARM BILL TEXT:  Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman said his farm bill legislative text — originally expected Thursday — could come Friday or Saturday. The bill, which is expected to include language allowing year-round E15 sales and a potential compromise on postponing GOP-led cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is set to be marked up Thursday.

Jordain Carney and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.

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Congress

Former MLB star Mark Teixeira to hit campaign trail with GOP leaders

Published

5 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

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House GOP leaders are planning to bring former MLB star Mark Teixeira, one of their top candidate recruits this cycle, out on the trail in battleground districts over the summer recess sprint.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise will host a fundraiser with Teixeira in New York City on Aug. 20 with Speaker Mike Johnson as a special guest, according to three people with direct knowledge of the event, granted anonymity to discuss plans that have not yet been made public.

It’s part of a New York swing where Teixeira and Johnson will also hit nearby stops in GOP Rep. Mike Lawler’s 17th Congressional District and for Mike LiPetri, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

Teixeira is running to replace GOP Rep. Chip Roy in Texas’ 21st Congressional District. He won a World Series title with the Yankees in 2009 and also played for the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels before retiring from professional baseball in 2016 after 14 seasons.

Because Teixeira has little chance of losing in the deep-red seat, Republican leaders are hoping to harness his star power to boost their candidates in the most competitive races. They’re planning for Teixeira to help campaign in a wider swath of battleground districts in August and through November, including likely stops in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

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