Congress

Senators consider taking legislative action on prediction markets

Published

1 month ago

May 20, 2026

Senators are signaling an appetite for pursuing legislation that would create federal standards for prediction markets that allow people to place cheap bets on sports — and just about anything else.

“There’s interest from members on the panel to move forward and get something on the books,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said Wednesday in an interview after she presided over a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on the topic.

She added she planned to confer with the full Commerce Committee chair, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), about a path forward.

The hearing, convened by the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, was billed as a fact-gathering exercise on the risks associated with popular online platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket — especially among young people — as well as sports scandals related to match-fixing and insider trading.

It came as House lawmakers are beginning their own internal conversations about cracking down specifically on the ability of lawmakers, their spouses and dependent children to exploit their insider knowledge to game the system across prediction markets, according to three people granted anonymity to share direct knowledge of the conversations.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Wednesday that House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) was “looking at” legislative options but details are still murky.

The Senate hearing revealed there could be strong industry pushback to efforts to regulate the prediction market space. For instance, Patrick McHenry — the former chair of the House Financial Services Committee who is now an adviser for the Coalition for Prediction Markets — argued prediction markets are already thoroughly regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

He also defended platforms like Kalshi and Robinhood, likening them to commodities futures that allow people to hedge against uncertain actions: “When grain futures came to fruition over 100 years ago, it was viewed much the same,” he said.

McHenry said he welcomed Congress’ input, but in an interview after the hearing he stressed the need to educate lawmakers.

“Part of this is just exposure on what we are doing — how these things function, what are these things doing to protect consumers,” McHenry said, adding that technology has allowed the platforms to be more proactive to find and penalize bad actors. “There has not been a significant education campaign prior to this year,” he said.

But senators also heard from Bill Miller, CEO of the American Gambling Association, who argued prediction markets were skirting rigorous rules established for sports betting and costing local governments tax funding.

“What we’ve seen is basically this tsunami created by prediction markets in a completely unregulated manner,” Miller said. “Yes, they are absolutely not competent to handle this, and … they are absolutely hurting tribes and states.”

Cruz appeared somewhat sympathetic to the argument.

“There is serious disagreement about whether the CFTC can unilaterally allow prediction markets to offer sports events contracts pursuant to the Commodity Exchanges Act,” he said in opening remarks Wednesday. “Many simply see prediction markets as a work around to state gambling laws. The courts are split. Ultimately, unless Congress acts, the Supreme Court may have to decide the issue.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

Mitch McConnell is still in the hospital after medical episode, his office says

Published

5 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.

McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said.

“Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”

The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.

The update comes after multiple outlets reported details of a first responder dispatch call indicating emergency medical personnel responded to McConnell’s home last month to treat an unconscious person who had experienced “cardiac arrest.”

Blue Light News has not independently verified the dispatch call.

The 84-year-old senator, who is retiring at the end of this term, has experienced multiple medical incidents in recent years. On two occasions in 2023, he froze while speaking with reporters. He has also suffered multiple falls and temporarily used a wheelchair, a move his office described at the time as a precautionary measure.

Congress

House Ethics says it doesn’t have information to share on lawmaker sexual misconduct settlements

Published

12 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House adopted a resolution Tuesday requiring the House Ethics Committee to release information on taxpayer funds used to pay out sexual misconduct settlements with lawmakers — but the committee now says it has no information it can share.

In a statement Thursday, the committee reiterated it does not manage sexual harassment lawsuits or their settlements; taxpayers have not footed the bill for those payments since 2018.

Since that time, according to the statement, “the Committee has not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, or other sexual misconduct by a Member.”

Instead, the bipartisan Ethics Committee said it was up to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to publicly release a list of each member who has received settlements for sexual misconduct allegations, as mandated by the resolution championed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

The committee, in the Thursday statement, said it “fully supports the release of information about sexual misconduct settlements and calls on OCWR to abide by [the resolution] and make publicly available information about Member sexual misconduct matters resulting in payment of taxpayer funds.”

Massie, in a text message Thursday, said “OCWR can release it.”

The OCWR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The bipartisan Ethics Committee has been under pressure in recent months to show it takes allegations of sexual misconduct against colleagues seriously. Two former House members — Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) — were forced to resign earlier this year amid serious accusations against them.

The renewed reckoning has prompted new questions about whether the House is up to the task of policing its own. The resolution earlier this week was adopted nearly unanimously, with just one member, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), voting “present.”

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said in an interview earlier this week that while he would support Massie’s resolution, the relevant “information was already out in the public domain.”

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

Congress

AOC endorses El-Sayed in Michigan Senate race

Published

15 hours ago

July 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign for Michigan’s open Senate seat on Thursday, a decision that comes as progressives look to capitalize off a series of recent high-profile primary victories in New York, Colorado and elsewhere.

Her endorsement could provide El-Sayed with a critical boost just over a month before the state’s Aug. 4 primary. The former public health official is locked in a heated contest against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow for the right to take on Republican Mike Rogers in the general election.

It also comes as El-Sayed has risen to the top of the pack in recent public polling.

Virtually any Democratic path to flipping the Senate in this year’s midterms would see the party hold the open Michigan Senate seat, with two-term Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) retiring at the end of his term.

The race has emerged as perhaps the largest battleground over the ideological future of the party. El-Sayed, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2018, has collected endorsements from progressives, while Stevens has the tacit backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with AIPAC also boosting her candidacy.

El-Sayed, Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview with The New York Times, is her party’s best chance.

“Despite our ideological differences and whatever disagreements there are in the party, every single one of us sees this moment as existential,” she said. “And I think many people are willing to put aside differences in order to give us the best chance at winning. And I think that Abdul gives us that right now.”