Congress

Senate trudges through vote-a-rama to ready a backup budget

Published

2 years ago

February 21, 2025

Senate Republicans are on track to adopt their budget resolution in the early hours of Friday morning — a bid to show support for a “Plan B” if House GOP lawmakers can’t unite around their more expansive vision for a party-line package necessary to enact President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda.

Senators had voted on more than 10 amendments to their budget resolution before midnight, with plans to continue their “vote-a-rama” into the night. Democrats are using the marathon amendment process to score political points, hoping it will pay dividends in 2026.

“Families lose, billionaires win. That is the proposition at the heart of the Republican budget resolution,” the Senate Budget Committee’s top Democrat, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, said on the floor. “We will see tonight that Democrats vote against irreparable increases in the deficit, and Republicans vote to explode the deficit.”

Democrats have so far used the amendment free-for-all to repeatedly force their GOP colleagues to go on the record against protecting Medicare and Medicaid. They also offered amendments on stopping hedge funds from buying single-family homes, supporting wildland firefighters and rehiring federal workers who have been fired in the first weeks of the Trump administration.

Senate Democrats will be able to hone their attacks on Republicans’ party-line ambitions later, when GOP leaders in the chamber craft the actual reconciliation bill to deliver on Trump’s biggest policy priorities. The budget resolution, just 62-pages long, merely lays out the framework for the final product, which would allow for $150 billion in new defense spending and up to $175 billion in new spending on border security, plus require billions of dollars in savings from education, labor, energy and agriculture programs.

“One can predict where they’re going based on the numbers that they’re providing. Sure does look like Medicaid cuts in what they’re pushing for, and not small Medicaid cuts either. Huge Medicaid cuts,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a brief interview.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered an amendment to block Republicans from enacting tax cuts if the GOP cuts even $1 from Medicaid. At one point, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) attempted to give Republicans some cover, putting forward his own amendment that would establish a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to protecting Medicare and Medicaid. A Senate Democratic leadership aide was quick to counter, in a memo to reporters, that the proposal would in effect raise the age of Medicare eligibility and “carve out populations Republicans deem worthy and cut benefits for everyone else.”

Democrats also characterized the Senate Republican budget as a plot to bankroll tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, and even their GOP counterparts wanted to talk about taxes. But the plan doesn’t set up tax cuts, with Senate Republicans arguing that should be tackled later in the year in separate legislation.

“While we aren’t considering tax policy as part of this reconciliation package, it’s important to set the record straight at what’s at stake in the upcoming tax debate,” Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said.

In some cases, Democrats were successful in getting Republicans to take the bait — to a point. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), for instance, backed Democrats in their attempts to allow floor votes on two amendments seeking to bar tax cuts for the wealthy in a final bill. Collins is a key target for Democrats in 2026, when she faces reelection.

While the budget measure GOP senators are working to adopt would lay the groundwork for a party-line package of energy policy, defense spending and border security investment, Trump is insistent on a more sweeping piece of legislation that also includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts. The House budget would lump all those priories together in what the president has called “one big, beautiful bill.”

Now the pressure is on House GOP leaders to show that they can rally enough support for that grander plan, which would require balancing the demands of fiscal conservatives with those of moderate Republicans unwilling to back deep cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP food assistance.

Ultimately, Senate Republicans are bracing themselves for the distinct possibility they’ll have to do this all again in the not so distant future, if House Republicans are able to advance their own budget resolution next week that would achieve the more expansive bill Trump has explicitly endorsed.

But Republicans did have one diversion Thursday night: The intense USA v. Canada hockey game was playing on a television inside the GOP cloakroom.

Congress

Trump boosts a New York ally in a tough race

Published

11 minutes ago

October 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SYRACUSE, New York — President Donald Trump came to New York on Friday to help a Republican win an uphill race for governor. But his visit was also a reminder of the complicated role he plays in his party’s fight to keep control of Congress.

Trump rallied alongside GOP gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, calling on New Yorkers to fire Gov. Kathy Hochul and, referring to the state attorney general, “her totally corrupt sidekick, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James.”

“Your city and state are dirty, filthy places, and everybody wants to leave,” he told some 5,000 attendees at a convention center in downtown Syracuse — which, he noted, was “a short distance from the beautiful shores of Lake America.”

“You gotta get your act together, and I tell you what, Bruce Blakeman will get your act together,” Trump said.

For Republicans, the president’s appearance underscored a political dilemma that extends beyond New York: Even as Trump increasingly appears to be a drag on their ticket, they need his loyal supporters to energize their base. While voters have soured on the president’s handling of the economy and costs, he remains a potent force in turning out MAGA voters — even in an otherwise Democratic-dominated state.

“The targeting of where the president goes is not a random exercise,” Marist University pollster Lee Miringoff said. “They’re looking to stir the base without stirring the opposition. They’re picking and choosing, that’s not uncommon. For him to come to New York to help the turnout upstate is a positive for the Republicans and his base.”

Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, hasn’t distanced himself from the president — nor have most of the top officials in New York’s GOP. Nearly every Republican running a competitive congressional race in this half of the state came to Friday’s rally, eager to make their presence known.

“I’m always happy to be with the president,” said Anthony Constantino, who’s running in a nearby red district that’s inched into toss-up territory. “He’s the leader of the free world, and I’m excited to have a great relation with him.”

Some GOP operatives, however, have quietly grumbled that their candidates need to start creating some distance from the president. Republicans from other parts of the state like Rep. Mike Lawler decided that campaigning in their districts was more valuable than trekking to be seen with Trump — as did several down-ballot candidates in Central New York. Democrats, notably, have been just as eager to highlight the visit.

“This is supposed to be a swing district. And the feedback I get is that the president is very unpopular,” said Democratic Rep. John Mannion, who represents Syracuse and the surrounding Central New York area. “He still certainly will have his core base of supporters, but I do think he’s lost support here compared to what he had around the 2024 election.”

Blakeman, for his part, isn’t worried about Trump’s drop in popularity.

“Kathy Hochul should be worried about her drop in popularity,” he said before taking the stage in Syracuse. “She’s the most unpopular governor in the history of the state of New York.”

Trump’s visit came against the backdrop of a darkening political environment for New York Republicans.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement shot a man in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, stirring fresh condemnation of Trump’s aggressive deportation policies. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who has a surprisingly warm relationship with the president, called on him to cease all ICE activity in the five boroughs. Hochul stressed that the shooting took place with a five-year-old child present and demanded that federal authorities “provide answers.”

Immigration is one of several areas where Blakeman has hewed close to the Trump wing of the party throughout his campaign.

“I’m outraged with Kathy Hochul for taking sides with somebody who was a convicted felon, someone who was an alleged drug dealer, a gang member,” he said Friday about the shooting in Manhattan.

While Trump’s speech repeatedly careened back to the rhetoric one could expect from any of his rallies — boasts about the stock market, complaints about ‘Dumocrats’ — he did manage to seamlessly blend almost all of Blakeman’s oft-used talking points into his stump speech.

“Since Hochul took office, she’s raised your utility rates 48 times, and energy prices in New York have skyrocketed 100 percent,” Trump said. “If Bruce Blakeman gets in, he will cut your electric bills by 70, 80, 90 percent.”

The climate outside of deep blue New York City is also turning increasingly hostile to the GOP. Constantino, who’s running to succeed Rep. Elise Stefanik in upstate New York, trails his Democratic foe Blake Gendebien by 4 points, a Siena Research Institute survey released Friday morning found. A Blue Light News poll showed that nationally one in four Trump voters believe Republican candidates should break from the president in order to win in November.

The wisdom of appearing with Trump has been debated by Republicans throughout the country at a time when gas prices are high and a foreign war drags on. And New York Democrats aren’t viewing the presidential visit as a concern.

Much of Hochul’s messaging this year has focused on making sure New Yorkers know Blakeman and Trump are friends. Her most-aired TV commercial features a puppeteer saying one Republican would do the other’s bidding.

“Puppets are my life. You tell them what to say, they say it,” the narrator says. “But that’s not what you want in a governor.”

Earlier in the day during an MSNOW interview, Hochul dismissed the rally.

“It’s obviously a very political event,” she said. “It seems like a last-ditch effort to breathe some life into a campaign that’s on life support.”

Despite his low approval ratings with voters, Trump’s visit stands to light up a Republican base that Blakeman will need to turn out next month to help him defeat Hochul.

Polling has shown the governor leading the GOP nominee by as much as 18 points in this deep blue state. Yet some Trump supporters maintain the president can help generate much-needed enthusiasm for Blakeman, especially in areas of upstate New York where the Long Island native is not well known.

“We actually have the ability to win these elections, but I just don’t see the enthusiasm out there,” Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar said. “Hochul has won the day as far as being a terrible governor, but now we’ve got to get our people out to vote.”

Winning is still a tall order for Blakeman — especially in a tough national political environment where polls show GOP candidates in red states like Texas, Ohio and Kansas struggling against Democratic challengers.

Republicans have not won statewide in New York since George Pataki secured a third term in 2002. Since then, the GOP has lost all levers of statewide power, and Trump’s tariffs as well as his decision to launch a war in Iran have not helped him fulfill his campaign pledge of addressing voters’ cost concerns.

The president’s political woes aren’t going unnoticed.

Privately, Republican operatives grumbled that the president’s visit put swing seat candidates in an uncomfortable spot.

“There’s a lot of commiserating between folks within the party structure — why is this happening? Why is he doing this?” said one Republican operative who was granted anonymity to freely discuss the dynamic. “Then you’ve got the blind loyalists who say, ‘Yay Trump’s coming’ — people who are too politically dumb to understand the ramifications of it.”

Yet the head of the Republican party kept his message very much in line with Hochul’s.

“Please pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump told Central New Yorkers.

Congress

Chris Murphy plans midterm travel blitz, fundraising for Nixon in Florida

Published

4 hours ago

October 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Chris Murphy wants Democrats to go big for Angie Nixon in Florida’s Senate race — and he’s pushing to raise some “serious money” to help.

“I do believe that we’d make a big mistake if we slept on Florida,” the Connecticut Democrat told Blue Light News on Friday. “I know it feels like a longer shot, but I just think this year is looking exceptional.”

Murphy plans to hit the trail with Nixon as part of a campaign swing for Senate candidates over the next three weeks that will take him through North Carolina and Florida, as well as events with Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. Murphy will serve as a surrogate for El-Sayed in the spin room at his next debate, and said he’s “just a big believer” in the Michigan Senate nominee.

Murphy’s bullishness about a blue wave comes as Senate Democrats are pushing the boundaries of a midterm battle map that is shifting further into red territory. The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC has dropped roughly $5 million apiece into Texas and Kansas over recent days, and the minority leader has included Kansas and Mississippi in his pitches to donors.

“If I were in charge, I would definitely put some resources in Florida,” Murphy said. “When you have an exciting candidate like this, it’s a good long-term investment” in growing Democrats’ activist base.

Still, Murphy stressed he’s “not making any formal recommendations” on where Schumer or top Democratic campaign groups should move their money.

“They’ve got so many mouths to feed,” Murphy said. “That’s why I’m going to try to step up and do some work on my own.”

Murphy, who is considered a potential 2028 presidential contender, has spread roughly $2.5 million across candidates, campaign arms and other organizations this cycle. That includes transferring more than $500,000 to Democrats’ three top campaign arms and 25 state parties.

Prominent Democrats have been ramping up their attention on Florida. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has funneled $250,000 toward Nixon’s campaign, along with other resources. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) also told Blue Light News he hopes to campaign with Nixon.

But Democrats across suddenly competitive red states are clamoring for more cash and Florida is an expensive state, complicating the chances of a significant investment from national groups.

Nixon also faces an uphill battle against GOP Sen. Ashley Moody in the Sunshine State. A progressive state lawmaker, Nixon aligned herself with the Democratic Socialists of America over the summer in a state where many voters, especially those with ties to Cuba, reject such an ideology. Also, Republicans in Florida have a 1.5 million voter registration advantage over Democrats.

Congress

Democrats drop $5M into Kansas Senate race

Published

7 hours ago

October 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats’ top super PAC is pushing into Kansas.

The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC is launching a $5 million statewide television ad blitz starting Saturday through Election Day — the latest sign that Democrats believe the Senate map is shifting onto red turf.

SMP had signaled in recent days it could get involved in the race, telling Blue Light News late last month it was “actively thinking” about whether to wade into the state where Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in nearly a century but where Adam Hamilton narrowly leads GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in recent polls. Internal SMP polling that found an increasingly competitive race factored into the group’s decision to spend. It will also run digital ads.

“The gap is closing in Kansas,” SMP spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement. “We are committed to ensuring families understand Marshall’s real record of making health care and basic goods more expensive for working Kansans.”

Republicans are scrambling to shore up Marshall. Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super PAC aligned with Republican leadership, has booked over $10 million in ads through Election Day in the state, per ad tracking firm AdImpact.

SMP’s first ad attacks Marshall for joining Senate Republicans in voting to table a Democratic-led amendment last year to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Senate later approved legislation to release the files by unanimous consent. It’s the latest in a slate of ads from Democrats hitting their Republican rivals over the late, disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. Marshall’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senate Democrats’ plunge into the state comes as the midterm battle map is undergoing a major realignment. Georgia and North Carolina — primed to be two of the cycle’s premiere battlegrounds — are tilting left to the point where national Republicans are retracting spending in both states and Democrats are starting to follow suit, freeing funds on both sides to shift elsewhere.

Republicans are racing to reinforce incumbents across what was once safer red turf. SLF has also pledged $5 million to bolster Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina.

Democrats, meanwhile, are starting to spend more in red states. SMP has dropped over $2 million on digital ads in Texas. Schumer, the Senate minority leader, has included Kansas and Mississippi in his pitches to donors.