Congress

The Senate has met a problem even a ‘gang’ can’t solve

Published

11 months ago

October 22, 2025

When Washington first woke up to a government shutdown earlier this month, there was one hope for a quick exit: A bipartisan clutch of rank-and-file senators were at least talking.

There was reason for optimism. Past groups had evolved into “gangs” that had figured out some of Capitol Hill’s most intractable disputes.

But that’s not the trajectory so far. Three weeks into the shutdown, there are no signs that the conversations are anywhere close to generating a solution to what is now the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.

“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), who has been involved in the conversations that sprang up as Congress barreled over the funding cliff in early October but have since stalled. “I don’t see that there’s a path forward at this point.”

Senators don’t even agree on whether there are still bipartisan talks taking place at all, let alone on what it would take to break the stalemate. If they agree on anything, it’s that they aren’t a gang, and they aren’t negotiating.

It’s a stark shift from early 2018, when a Senate gang helped negotiate a deal to end a short shutdown during President Donald Trump’s first term. They built on that with a series of bipartisan deals — including multiple coronavirus relief bills and an infrastructure agreement under Trump’s successor, Joe Biden.

But the Senate has changed dramatically since then. Dealmaking senators such as Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) have retired, hollowing out the corps of lawmakers with any experience crossing the aisle.

The personnel drain has been exacerbated by the sharp battle lines that have been drawn by party leaders as well as deep frustration with an administration that has taken a sledgehammer to a government funding process that once provided a basic framework for bipartisanship inside the Senate.

“Right now … there’s not enough trust between us,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who has a long history of negotiating with Republicans.

He and others noted the challenges for the would-be negotiators are vast and involve figuring out how to bridge sweeping policy and political divides.

The shutdown impasse isn’t only about government spending; some Democrats have demanded that any off-ramp deal include an extension of key Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year — potentially leaving millions uninsured, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

Democrats say they want a bipartisan negotiation on extending the credits, while Republicans say they won’t negotiate while the government is closed down. None of the would-be dealmakers have strayed from those positions set out by their respective party leaders.

The Senate’s bipartisan talks have instead focused on what would happen after the government reopens. Lawmakers involved have floated several ideas, including the possibility of having a vote to reopen the government followed immediately by a vote on an extension of the insurance subsidies.

But that hasn’t been enough to get Democrats to bite. Asked Tuesday if lawmakers were close to finding a path out of the shutdown, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) replied dryly, “Not that I have seen.”

Asked why senators haven’t broken out the “talking stick” — the device the 2018 shutdown-solving group used to manage their bipartisan meetings — Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a perennial gang member, argued that there was little incentive in either party to break ranks at the moment.

“Both sides think there is political advantage in sticking with the positions that they have,” she added.

The senators aren’t completely throwing in the towel, and some of their colleagues still see the sputtering bipartisan talks as the best path out of the shutdown. But there are simmering flashes of frustration from Shaheen and others in the group that what is needed is hands-on involvement from top leaders to break the stalemate — including from Trump.

“I think he’s an important part of it,” Murkowski said.

Senators believe they are nearing a crucial juncture: Trump will leave Friday for a weeklong trip to Asia, and there’s some private grumbling on Capitol Hill that he’s been too deeply engaged in foreign affairs as the country lumbers deeper into the shutdown. Coming to a deal to end it will be difficult as long as he is out of the country, they think.

But most Republicans don’t believe Trump should come to the table until after the government is reopened — and GOP senators left a lunch with the president at the White House Tuesday pledging to remain unified behind their funding strategy. Democrats, meanwhile, have been emboldened by the “No Kings” rallies against the Trump administration over the weekend as well as encouraging polling that appears to back up their shutdown stance.

Even as senators downplay hopes that a bipartisan gang will ride to the rescue, the rank-and-file group is taking care to keep lines of communication open given the freeze-out between Democratic leaders and the White House. A Tuesday request to Trump from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for a meeting was quickly swatted away by the White House, in keeping with the wishes of top GOP leaders.

Some cross-aisle outreach continued this week, according to three people familiar with the matter granted anonymity to disclose private discussions. And while there wasn’t much public progress to show for it, Shaheen said Tuesday it hasn’t been a total wash. But, she added, they needed help from higher powers.

“I think people have moved on both sides,” she said, but it was essential that “the leaders in both houses and both sides sit down with the president and negotiate an end to the shutdown. I think that’s in everyone’s interest.”

Congress

Appeals court’s Capitol steps ruling may signal trouble for Trump on media ban

Published

58 minutes ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday on demonstrators’ access to the steps of the Capitol could bode poorly for President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban three media organizations from the White House.

The majority opinion, written by Trump appointee Neomi Rao, concluded that the East Steps of the Capitol are a “nonpublic forum” — just like most areas of the White House grounds, including the press facilities. While the government may impose restrictions on access to those nonpublic areas, the limits must be “viewpoint neutral,” apply “objective, workable standards” and not permit officials to exercise “unbridled discretion over a forum’s use,” the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel concluded.

“A regulation that grants the government arbitrary control over who may speak invites the suppression of disfavored viewpoints and undermines the First Amendment’s core protections,” wrote Rao, who was joined in the majority by Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee.

The ruling, on the eve of a hearing over restoring White House accessfor Blue Light News, BLN and MS NOW, reaffirms the D.C. Circuit’s longstanding First Amendment precedents at an inopportune time for Trump. The president has explicitly described his ban on the three outlets as a punishment for publishing what he calls “fake news.”

“Fake News people and publications that only write negatively, and who violate our National Security by writing false and defamatory stories with unknown ‘sources,’ shouldn’t be allowed access to the most important Office anywhere in the World,” Trump said on social media Monday.

The outlets have said their access was revoked because the White House objected to their reporting and that the ban “threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

The D.C. Circuit would hear any appeals in the litigation over Trump’s media ban, and Trump has in fact already said he anticipates filing an appeal, presuming that he will be dealt a defeat in district court.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The D.C. Circuit’s Tuesday ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by Patrick Mahoney, a clergyman who sought to hold prayer vigils and demonstrations on the East Steps of the Capitol several months after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, which resulted in new access restrictions. His permit was denied in part based on Capitol Police regulations that prohibit public demonstrations on the steps unless they are sponsored by a member of Congress.

Though the case has inched through the courts for years, Tuesday’s ruling resolves a key question, labeling the Capitol’s East Steps a “nonpublic forum” for which congressional authorities may restrict public access — in part because lawmakers use those steps to enter and exit the building.

But allowing members of Congress to sponsor gatherings on the steps creates an arbitrary system, the majority concluded.

“Because the protection of unpopular speech and advocacy is central to the First Amendment, we cannot leave it to the selective enforcement of members,” Rao wrote.

Notably, Rao’s opinion cites a D.C. Circuit ruling last year that concluded “it would be unreasonable to control access to White House press facilities through standardless discretion.”

The third judge on the panel, Clinton appointee Judith Rogers, dissented, but her opinion was even more protective of free-speech rights.

Rogers said she agreed with her colleagues that the “selective exception” for demonstrations sponsored by lawmakers was unconstitutional. However, she said she would have held that the lower portion of the Capitol steps was a public forum where the government was obligated to permit protest activity.

Congress

Ohio stations ignore Max Miller’s legal threat, run Democratic challenger’s ad

Published

3 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Ohio television stations are so far choosing to ignore a legal threat from GOP Rep. Max Miller and broadcast an ad from his Democratic challenger centered on the allegations of domestic abuse Miller faces from his ex-wife.

A lawyer for Miller demanded that Cleveland-area television station WKYC not publish “false, malicious, and defamatory statements” in a Thursday cease-and-desist letter first reported by Blue Light News.

WKYC ran the ad Tuesday morning, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact, as did two other Cleveland stations, WEWS and WOIO.

The 30-second ad from the Poindexter campaign and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee depicts a local sheriff listing the accusations levied against Miller levied by Emily Moreno, his ex-wife and the daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Miller has repeatedly denied the abuse allegations.

“The ad mentioned is filled with lies,” Miller spokesperson Abigail Angelos said in a statement. “Each of the statements in the advertisement are entirely unsubstantiated and contradicted by evidence.”

Representatives for the three TV stations did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Poindexter responded to the legal threat by tearing up the cease-and-desist letter in a campaign video.

Before the ad, Poindexter had focused his campaign on his working-class background and cost-of-living issues. Now the campaign has gotten intensely personal: The Democrat is on air publicizing Miller’s family dispute, while Miller’s campaign is lobbing accusations about Poindexter’s past run-ins with law enforcement in an ad paid for by the NRCC.

NRCC spokesperson Zach Bannon said in a statement that Poindexter is “completely out of touch with Northeast Ohio” and is a “life-long criminal” who is “fully embracing the radical far-left socialist agenda.”

Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

Congress

GOP Senator wants to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. over Russian-funded wedding

Published

5 hours ago

September 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A Senate Republican from Utah is asking the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr. following reports that the president’s son had parts of his wedding paid for by a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sen. John Curtis’ request, which comes following a news story by ProPublica, marks a significant break with President Donald Trump from a member of his own party.

“Questions have arisen about the relationships of President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., with foreign business figures and the acceptance of significant gifts. These include a lavish wedding afterparty, on a private island, provided by Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, who reportedly traveled to China as part of a delegation accompanying Vladimir Putin shortly before giving the gift,” Curtis wrote in a letter dated Sept. 21 to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

“These concerns are compounded by Donald Trump Jr.’s active promotion of family-backed cryptocurrency ventures, his continued pursuit of international real estate deals involving direct meetings with foreign heads of state, and his reported investments in defense contracting,” Curtis added.

Curtis, also noting the profits the Trump family has made through cryptocurrency deals, indicated this incident is part of a broader pattern where the relatives of U.S. presidents can improperly leverage their proximity to power.

In addition to probing Trump Jr., Curtis asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who over the years found himself enveloped in numerous self-dealing scandals. Both men, he said, should testify “regarding their past business dealings, relationships with foreign individuals and entities, gifts, or other benefits they have received, and any instances in which their relationship to the President was invoked or understood to provide value.”

“The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president. Nor should congressional oversight begin and end when control of the White House changes hands,” Curtis said.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday, but it’s unlikely that Trump, who demands loyalty from the GOP, will consider the bipartisan nature of Curtis’ request to be anything other than a personal affront.

Trump said in a statement he has “no idea who Umar is” and that he has “never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day from the wedding.”

Kremlev is president of the International Boxing Association and received an Order of Friendship medal from Putin for his “contribution to international sport and his commitment to the global boxing family.” He’s also been sanctioned by the Ukrainian government for his ties to Putin.

A spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Republicans confirmed Grassley was in receipt of the letter but could not commit to investigating the matter. The spokesperson noted that hearing dates are extremely limited through the end of 2026 and investigative hearings usually take months of background work before they can be scheduled.

It’s sure to be an issue Democrats pursue if they win the majority in either chamber next year. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote to the White House and Donald Trump Jr. last week demanding information about the president’s son’s ties to Kremlev.

Cheyanne M. Daniels contributed to this report.