Congress

The brief but busy reign of Sen. George Helmy is coming to an end

Published

2 years ago

November 28, 2024

Sen. George Helmy, a New Jersey Democrat, is making his brief tenure at the Capitol a busy one.

Last Monday, Helmy was on the Senate floor to give a complex speech about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The remarks were based on a trip to the Middle East he took during the roughly 12 weeks he’ll be in office after Gov. Phil Murphy picked him to fill disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez’s vacant seat.

The next day, a day after walking the tightrope of Middle Eastern politics, Helmy was back to make joint remarks with Sen. Katie Britt, the Alabama Republican. They are both backing bills to rein in social media companies because of their effects on children’s mental health.

While the two may not agree on much else, she praised the Democrat.

“You hit the ground running, I hope the people of New Jersey and America know that,” Britt said. “This man got to work before Day 1.”

Helmy was sworn in on Sept. 9 and he’s expected to step down soon after election results are certified so Rep. Andy Kim, who won a full term, can fill the remaining days of Menendez’s. It will be one of the shortest-ever tenures in the upper chamber since senators started being directly elected 1913 — with about two dozen former senators sitting less than the roughly 90 days Helmy likely will have, according to the Senate Historical Office.

But Helmy’s hardly been a placeholder or seat warmer.

Helmy is expected to step down soon after election results are certified so Rep. Andy Kim, who won a full term, can fill the remaining days of disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez.

During his nearly three months in office, Helmy has sat down with 30 or so of his Senate colleagues; sponsored or cosponsored more than 30 pieces of legislation; drawn attention to issues as far-flung as refugees in Gaza and public housing in Atlantic City, New Jersey; and done the constituent casework that remains the bread and butter of a well-run Senate office. And he took an official trip to Jordan, where he saw warehouses stocked with pallets of food and supplies just miles away from starving families, an absurd outcome among other conditions that he said “should appall every one of us.”

“Being one of 100 requires you to raise your voice,” he said in an interview shortly after his floor speech on Gaza.

Other short-term senators have left a mark too. Former Sen. Carte Goodwin, the West Virginia Democrat who was appointed to fill the remainder of Sen. Robert Byrd’s seat in 2010, voted to extend unemployment benefits for more than 2 million Americans and helped confirm Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

The last senator named to fill a New Jersey seat, Republican Jeffrey Chiesa, voted to confirm Samantha Power as UN ambassador and unsuccessfully sought to build about 350 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico. Chiesa served about two months longer than Helmy will have but, partly because of previous commitments, missed an above-average 15 percent of votes in that time — including one to confirm James Comey as FBI director.

Helmy aims to leave a legislative record that compares to people who have served a full term, or at least get the ball rolling on things that, like the legislation with Britt, may pass in future sessions.

Helmy is also the sole Arab-American in the Senate right now. He said his Gaza speech, indignant over manifold tragedies, aimed to acknowledge complexity by supporting Israel’s existence and self-defense prerogatives, but he condemned blockades that have kept aid from innocent people at death’s door.

“You can say all that because that is true,” he said.

Within minutes of the speech, he said he was getting texts from other senators thanking him.

“That’s what you do, is you raise your voice, you speak the truth and you spur and stir conversation,” he said. “These things matter to people. It’s the old RFK saying — you create these ripples of energy that little by little create massive waves of change.”

His plan from the beginning was to sprint through his time in office with a staff drawn from Menendez’s team, former Sen. Harry Reid’s office and Murphy’s front office, which he once oversaw as the governor’s chief of staff. Back in New Jersey, he was known as Murphy’s hyper-competent top aide and, before that, was state director for Sen. Cory Booker, now New Jersey’s senior senator.

Helmy says he still prefers to be “the guy behind the guy or gal.” So with “senator” in front of his name, he’s acting like a “super staffer” on Blue Light News.

“There’s nobody I’m not willing to talk to,” he said. “I’ll go find senator staffs off the floor and talk to them about what we’re trying to do.”

Congress

McConnell to remain in rehab, will skip Fancy Farm picnic in Kentucky

Published

27 minutes ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Monday that he will remain in rehab as he continues to recover from a June fall that left him briefly unconscious.

In a statement, McConnell shared that he is “working hard” to return to a full schedule but remains in “intense physical therapy.”

The Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) confirmed that medical staff visit the senator daily to discuss “all aspects of his rehabilitation care” but added he is “not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to office.”

“Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls,” the OAP said. “His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility.”

McConnell, 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 following the fall and what he described as a “mild case of pneumonia.” In a letter to constituents earlier this month, he said that while he was briefly knocked unconscious, he did not suffer any broken bones, a stroke or a heart attack. It is unclear when McConnell was discharged.

But his continued rehab stay means McConnell will miss Kentucky’s premier political event: the annual Fancy Farm Picnic.

“There’s no place I’d rather be on the first Saturday in August than with the good people of western Kentucky, feasting on pork and mutton,” McConnell said Monday. “I hate that I’ll miss the fun this year, but I’m sending my best wishes to the St. Jerome community for a successful picnic.”

McConnell, who is retiring when his current term concludes in January, has faced a series of health challenges in recent years. In 2023, he froze twice while speaking to reporters. He has also experienced several other falls and, at one point, used a wheelchair as what his office called a precautionary measure.

Congress

Trump tells Thune to keep Senate in session to pass SAVE America Act

Published

3 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump ramped up pressure Monday on Majority Leader John Thune, telling him to keep the Senate in session until a GOP election bill passes.

“John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to ‘leave town’ until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER, where Republicans can then quickly pass everything they ever dreamed of,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Monday.

Democrats, he added, will nix the filibuster themselves when they regain power “and can’t believe how lucky they got with this Senate leadership. Remember, stupidity always brings LOSING & DEATH!”

Trump’s Truth Social post comes after he urged supporters last week to call Thune about the SAVE America Act, then said Friday that he wanted Senate Republicans to adopt a blueprint for a $95 billion party-line spending bill, which would include some election-related funding, before they leave town for the August recess as planned on Aug. 6.

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said over the weekend that they believed the Senate should stay in town until the election bill is passed. Lee has previously called for the Senate to stay in session through prior recesses to pass the SAVE America Act but has not forced the issue on the floor.

Despite Trump’s pressure campaign, the elections bill doesn’t have the votes to pass the Senate and there isn’t enough support within the Senate Republican conference for nixing the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for most legislation to advance.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Thune tries to focus as Trump fumes

Published

5 hours ago

July 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

John Thune has a long to-do list, a shrinking runway for getting it done and a president in the peanut gallery.

The Senate is back Monday with only two more weeks — more realistically, eight legislative days — in town until the chamber leaves Washington through mid-September.

The majority leader wants to clear a government funding stopgap, a long-stalled Russia sanctions bill and dozens of nominees, but he’s also facing pressure from President Donald Trump and some of his right flank to make progress on the SAVE America Act, a GOP election bill that doesn’t have the votes to pass.

It’s the latter that will be the biggest headache for Thune after Trump told Senate Republicans to adopt the blueprint for a $95 billion spending bill, which would include election-related funding, before leaving for August break.

Most GOP senators, however, don’t expect that to happen — and the budget blueprint doesn’t have the 50 votes it needs right now among Senate Republicans to be adopted despite Trump’s public overture.

Then, over the weekend, Sen. Mike Lee signaled he opposed the Senate leaving for the recess without passing the election bill. Lee could force a vote if he wants to on whether or not to adjourn — though he’s previously tweeted about how the Senate shouldn’t leave and then done nothing about it. Sen. Rick Scott also posted Sunday that he stands with Lee in opposing a recess until SAVE America is passed.

Lee also fired off a warning for Thune, saying the fate of the election bill “could impact” the November Senate GOP leadership elections. Thune is running again for leader and most GOP senators believe he’s secure in his job. But a few, granted anonymity to speak candidly, have questioned if Trump, who is fuming behind the scenes, would target him after the midterms, especially if Republicans lose the majority.

Thune will have to balance those questions this week, while trying to move the agenda he views as actually accomplishable.

On that front, senators will take a vote Monday night on Jay Clayton’s director of national intelligence nomination (more on that below) and they could pass the Russia sanctions bill as soon as this week, if they can get a time agreement. This week is also key for Judiciary senators to decide whether to advance Trump’s attorney general pick Todd Blanche. And senators are working around funeral arrangements for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Likely waiting until next week: A vote on a bill to fund the government into December as bipartisan talks proceed positively, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. An initial vote on cryptocurrency legislation, known as the Clarity Act, is also likely to be punted to next week, but Democrats, so far, aren’t on board.

What else we’re watching:

— JEFFRIES MAKES HIS CLOSING MIDTERMS PITCH: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke at an event in Pennsylvania’s swingy Lehigh Valley with Gov. Josh Shapiro and House candidate Bob Brooks to make his closing argument for why voters should hand his party the gavels 100 days from the midterms. His message? Affordability. Affordability. Affordability. The minority leader’s latest commitment to lowered costs gives a clearer preview of how Democrats would govern in the majority.

— FLOOD SEES FRAUD-BUSTING IN RECON 4.0: The head of a GOP group representing some of the House’s most vulnerable members this fall seems confident the party will tackle a fourth reconciliation bill with fraud-busting provisions. Republican’s Recon 3.0 budget framework is still facing an uncertain future in the Senate after being adopted by House lawmakers last week. But House Main Street Caucus Chair Mike Flood said in an interview he believes House Republicans do another party-line bill after the midterm elections. Read the full Q&A with Flood on PoliticoPro.

Riley Rogerson and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.