Congress

Senate Republicans avoid clash with Trump over Fed firing

Published

1 year ago

September 3, 2025

Key GOP senators largely shied away from criticizing President Donald Trump’s move to fire Fed Gov. Lisa Cook as they returned from their monthlong August recess on Tuesday, even as they stressed the importance of an independent central bank.

“I believe in Fed independence,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee. Pressed by reporters about Cook’s ouster, he said: “It’s in the courts. I don’t know who’s right or who’s wrong.”

Trump moved last week to fire Cook, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, citing allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. Cook has sued to block her ouster, saying the president does not have the authority to remove her from the Fed board.

“The courts will make that determination as to whether or not he has that authority,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “But I think the independence of the Federal Reserve is absolutely critical. It’s critical to the president’s long-term economic success because he needs that board to be seen as independent if we want to keep our U.S. Treasuries in demand around the world.”

The Cook showdown comes as the Senate is gearing up to quickly advance Trump’s nominee for a separate Fed board seat, Stephen Miran. He is set to appear before the Banking panel on Thursday, where he will likely face a barrage of questions over the independence of the central bank.

Miran, who currently chairs Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, is making the rounds on Capitol Hill ahead of his confirmation: Rounds said he expected to meet with Miran Tuesday evening and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said she is set to meet with him on Wednesday.

“I look forward to supporting him, but I want to make sure he understands how important [Fed independence] is to the long-term success of the president’s economic plans, and to the long-term stability of the dollar,” Rounds said.

Democrats are calling for the Miran nomination hearing to be postponed amid the dispute over Cook’s ouster.

“I don’t know how you move forward when I think the president is trying to illegally fire a Fed member,” said Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat on the Banking panel. “I didn’t think I could get astonished and disappointed any more [in] my Republican colleagues who say they want to honor the Fed’s independence — or, for that matter, the business community, who seems like they bend the knee on every issue.”

Some Republicans are more explicitly backing Trump’s move.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) called the allegations against Cook “egregious.”

Asked about concerns over Fed independence, said Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.): “If they operate independently outside of the law, then that independence is not earned.

“There’s a legitimate issue here,” she said.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

2 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

2 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

7 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.