Congress
Senate Republicans hint at clawing back hiring and firing power for Congressional agencies
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins thinks Congress needs to take charge in naming the heads of major legislative branch agencies, including the Library of Congress and Government Accountability Office.
“I think what we’re going to have to do with some of these organizations — like the Library of Congress, GAO — is have Congress appoint the head, to make it crystal clear that these are congressional entities,” the Maine Republican told reporters Wednesday.
The decisive words from a senior GOP lawmaker signal the growing appetite on Capitol Hill for Congress to claw back hiring and firing power for leaders of key congressional support agencies, which now rests with the president.
The new evaluation of the status quo comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s abrupt firings of the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, and the head of the U.S. Copyright office, Shira Perlmutter. Leadership of the library remains in limbo after Trump attempted to appoint allies from the Justice Department to leadership within the library.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative has also in recent weeks attempted to gain access to multiple legislative branch entities, including the GAO, which roots out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government; the Government Publishing Office; and Blue Light News office that fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues.
Collins described GAO as an “organization that serves and responds to Congress. And I do not think it’s appropriate for DOGE to be trying to reorganize it or enter it in any way.”
She said, however, that she has not been in touch with Musk or other DOGE officials about these efforts.
The president currently has the power to nominate a Librarian of Congress and the Comptroller General, the title for the head of GAO. Those nominees require senate approval. There is broad agreement on both sides of the aisle that firing power for those presidential-appointed roles lies with the president, but there is some bipartisan interest in changing that.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is the highest-ranking lawmaker so far to nod at the possible need for legislation to clarify and solidify Congressional authority over leadership of these key agencies under Capitol Hill’s explicit purview.
“There needs to be a consultation around this,” Thune told reporters last week. “There are equities that both Article One and Article Two branches have when it comes to the Library of Congress, and it might suggest that in future, we may need to delineate those more clearly.”
Congress made a similar move to solidify congressional control over the Architect of the Capitol role in recent years. It came about as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were pushing for removal of Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton amid revelations of misconduct and misuse of resources, but they had to wait for then-President Joe Biden to fire him.
“Just like we changed the rules with Architect the Capitol, we should change them here,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told reporters.
Klobuchar authored the bill that changed how the Architect of the Capitol is hired and fired, making it a Congress-only process and cutting out presidential involvement. Many Democrats in both chambers have voiced support for such legislation to apply the Librarian of Congress to the same standard.
Lisa Kashinsky contributed to this report.
The Senate is aiming to leave Washington for a five-week recess early Saturday after Republicans cut a deal with President Donald Trump to punt some of their priorities, including a framework for a party-line spending plan.
The Senate is trying to lock in an agreement that would set up votes on a college sports bill, a stopgap government funding bill, Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination and GOP voter ID legislation, according to a copy of an internal notice reviewed by Blue Light News.
The Senate would then leave Washington until mid-September.
Any one senator could object to the tentative deal, forcing it to be altered or dragging the Senate deeper into the weekend. Senators believe there are still objections to advancing the college sports bill. Democrats are also waiting to see if one of their own will prevent speeding up Blanche’s confirmation.
The breakthrough is a U-turn from earlier Friday evening, when Republican senators emerged from a closed-door meeting predicting they would have to spend Saturday trying to break a stalemate within the party about how to wrap final votes before recess.
Shortly after that meeting, Trump spoke by phone with Senate Republicans including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah about the path forward for the GOP’s lengthy to-do list.
During the call, according to Johnson, Trump agreed to punt a vote on a budget blueprint for a third party-line spending bill until later in the year. Lee, who has been pushing for action on the separate SAVE America Act, also agreed to drop his demand for a formal, roll call vote on adjourning given the understanding with the president.
“I think the conclusion of the conference – and we had a discussion with the president and he agrees – [is] don’t take the vote tonight,” Johnson said after the meeting in Thune’s office.
Republicans were in talks with the White House throughout Friday. A White House official granted anonymity said Friday evening that “we’re continuing to have productive conversations with senators to advance several legislative priorities.”
Senate Republicans confirmed dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees Friday, just before they leave for a five-week congressional recess.
Senators voted 51-47 to approve officials at the Departments of Defense, Energy, State and other agencies.
They included David Cummins to head the Transportation Security Administration, Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Hal Duncan to be OMB deputy director and Francis Brooke to be Treasury deputy secretary. Among the group were several ambassadors, including former Rep. David Brat to be ambassador to Australia.
Senate Republicans changed the chamber’s rules last year to be able to confirm lower-level nominees as a package instead of having to hold a vote on each.
After finishing the expedited procedure Friday, Senate Republicans estimate they will only have a small number of civilian nominees awaiting confirmation.
President Donald Trump said voters may seek to punish Republicans — but not him — in the November midterm elections, as GOP lawmakers sweat that affordability concerns and the war in Iran could mean Democrats flip the House and perhaps even the Senate.
“They’re angry at Republicans,” Trump said in an interview with Punchbowl News that aired Friday. “But they’re not angry at me. They’re not angry at me, but they are angry at Republicans.”
The GOP faces the prospect of heavy losses this November, as gas and grocery prices remain stubbornly high due in part to the White House’s five-month-long war in Iran. The administration’s guidance on campaign trail messaging has been “tone deaf,” House Republicans fear.
Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating has tumbled since he returned to the Oval Office last year, and even his biggest supporters have grown frustrated over his Middle East war.
And with a messy, jam-packed slate of primaries now all but in the rearview mirror, Democrats are determined to go on offense. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has 58 seats on its midterm target map that stretches into redder territory — while still facing an uphill climb to take the Senate.
Trump has a massive war chest at his disposal. His MAGA Inc. super PAC reached $400 million in June. The president told Punchbowl he plans to use it to “help Republicans,” but he stressed that he faces no pressure in this campaign cycle.
“I said to somebody, ‘Wait a minute, you don’t understand, I won,’” Trump said, referencing his 2024 presidential election victory. “I’m not campaigning.”
The biggest issue for Republicans this year? That Trump himself is not on the ballot, he said.
“If I don’t run, will those people go out and vote? And that’s the one thing I can’t tell, I’m going to ask them to,” he said.
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