Congress
Senate Republicans eye vote on federal worker pay
Senate Republicans are eyeing a Friday vote on legislation that would pay some federal employees and active-duty troops amid the record-setting government shutdown.
Majority Leader John Thune said there was a “good possibility” that he would tee up a vote on the legislation from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
“We’re going to vote to pay federal workers,” Thune said.
The Senate tried to bring up Johnson’s bill last month, but it was blocked by Democrats. Republicans continue to discuss another potential vote on the House-approved continuing resolution, which Thune wants to use as a vehicle for an eventual larger funding deal.
The possible Friday vote comes as pain from the shutdown mounts, including a cascade of new flight cancellations and airport delays.
Thune added that he expects the Senate to stay in session this weekend, a step he’s avoided for the first five weeks of the shutdown.
“We will continue to proceed forward in hopes at some point that we’ll get a chance to vote — whether that’s today or tomorrow — on a package of bills that we have been negotiating with Democrats,” Thune said.
Some senators have privately grumbled about staying through the weekend without firm hopes for an agreement among the bipartisan group of senators who have been negotiating a way out of the shutdown.
“There’s a lot of people that have got other plans in terms of things they need to do,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “If they’re going to come here and sit, they’re not going to be very happy.”
Congress
House Republicans eye next week for housing bill vote
House leadership is eyeing the week of Feb. 9 for a vote on a bipartisan housing package, according to four people with direct knowledge of the planning.
Senior lawmakers have also been mulling whether to consider the widely supported bill under suspension of House rules, which would expedite passage of the legislation, said three of the people who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
However, plans for the bill are not locked in and could be subject to change as the House deals with a partial government shutdown.
The Housing in the 21st Century Act, which overwhelmingly advanced through the House Financial Services Committee in December, is part of a push by Congress to pass legislation that could address a growing housing affordability crisis. The bill includes 25 provisions that aim to increase the housing supply, modernize local development and rural housing programs, expand manufactured and affordable housing, protect borrowers and those utilizing federal housing programs, and enhance oversight of housing providers.
House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) said Friday that he’s pushing for the Housing for the 21st Century Act to receive a floor vote expeditiously.
”I hope that that bill can come to the House floor in just a few days. I really am pushing for that, I think it’s the right decision,” Hill said on Bloomberg Radio.
The Senate’s housing bill, the ROAD to Housing Act, passed the upper chamber as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act but may be put to a separate floor vote. If the House is able to pass its own version by a wide margin before the Senate, it could have additional leverage for negotiations with the upper chamber for a final bill. Hill and other House Republicans have said the Senate bill, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate Banking Committee, has a number of provisions that would not be acceptable among House GOP members.
Congress
Bill and Hillary Clinton now agree to testify before Congress
Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an Oversight aide said Monday evening.
It’s a remarkable reversal for the former president and secretary of state, who were adamant they would defy committee-issued subpoenas and risk imprisonment by the Trump Justice Department as the House prepared to vote Wednesday to hold them both in contempt of Congress.
After both skipped their scheduled depositions earlier this year, the Oversight Committee voted on a bipartisan basis in January to approve contempt measures for each of them.
Although both have said they had no knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, they have maintained that the subpoenas were not tied to a legitimate legislative purpose, rendering them invalid. They also complained the GOP-led exercise was designed to embarrass and put them in jail.
It is not immediately clear when they will appear and if the House will continue to pursue the contempt votes.
Congress
Top House Democrats split on funding vote
Senior House Democrats are going in different directions on a massive funding bill headed to the House floor as soon as Tuesday, underscoring the sharp divisions inside the Democratic ranks on the $1.2 trillion spending package.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Monday she would vote for the funding package when it goes to the floor Tuesday — breaking with a large swath of colleagues who oppose the measure over its extension of Homeland Security funding, including immigration enforcement operations.
“I will support this package,” DeLauro said during Monday meeting of the Rules Committee. She noted it secures funding for the five-full year, bipartisan bills and extends funding at current levels for DHS for 10 days.
DeLauro said without the DHS stopgap Democrats “won’t be able to bring the kinds of pressure” necessary to make changes to the full-year DHS bill they’re negotiating with the White House.
But Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Rules Democrat, said he was dead-set against the bill due to the DHS funding.
“I will not vote for business as usual while masked agents break into people’s homes without a judicial warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” he said.
Neither leader, however, is expected to vote for a key procedural measure setting up a final debate and approval for the massive bill, which passed the Senate on Friday. That measure, known as a rule, is also expected to tee up contempt-of-Congress votes on Bill and Hillary Clinton over their decision not to fully cooperate in a Oversight Committee probe into Jeffrey Epstein. GOP leaders are scrambling to build support for that measure as some in their ranks agitate for amendments, including the attachment of a partisan elections bill.
“Republicans have a responsibility to move the rule, which, by the way, includes a wide variety of other issues that we strongly disagree with,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday.
Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
-
The Dictatorship12 months agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
The Dictatorship5 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words
-
Politics12 months agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Politics12 months agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship12 months agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics12 months agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
Uncategorized1 year ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics10 months agoDemocrat challenging Joni Ernst: I want to ‘tear down’ party, ‘build it back up’


