Congress
The top Senate leaders aren’t talking. That’s a bad sign for a shutdown.
Any resolution to the shutdown standoff now gripping Capitol Hill will have to involve senators from both parties locking arms. It would probably help if the two top party leaders in the Senate would start talking to each other first.
Instead, a frosty pall has settled over the working relationship between Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, with the two Senate veterans bickering over the path forward for a shutdown-averting stopgap bill.
As of Tuesday evening, neither man had spoken to the other on the subject, with each saying the other bears the burden of actually starting any conversation.
The stalemate between the two, who have served in the chamber together chummily for decades, encapsulates the partisan tensions that have raised the odds that Congress will fail to act and government agencies will close at midnight Tuesday.
Schumer in recent days attempted an end run around Thune, going directly to President Donald Trump with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to demand a meeting. After the White House moved to arrange that meeting, Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson relayed their concerns to Trump, who then canceled it.
It’s just the latest instance of the two leaders, who are each balancing larger political pressures, not being on the same page since January. But now, with the stakes as high as they’ve been all year, some senators are hinting it’s time for a thaw.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he believed Schumer and Thune could “figure this out” if only they could figure out how to get a conversation started.
“When people have offices very near each other and know each other’s phone numbers, I don’t think they should, ‘You gotta call me’ — ‘No, I gotta call you,’” he said. “Both need to be talking.”
But so far Schumer and Thune appear dug in. Schumer’s view is that Thune needs Democratic votes and thus should be reaching out. Thune’s view is that there is nothing to negotiate at the moment given that Republicans are offering a “clean” seven-week funding extension similar to ones Democrats have supported in the past.
It’s not clear what would come of any conversations, with senators skeptical that either leader will readily move from their current positions. While the New York Democrat is demanding a “bipartisan negotiation” centering on health care — primarily soon-to-expire health insurance subsidies — the South Dakota Republican sees no reason to cut a deal now on something that won’t go into effect until the end of the year.
Thune accused Schumer of trying to take funding “hostage” to satisfy his base, while Schumer said Thune is blindly following Trump’s lead as the president appears stuck in “go-to-hell mode.”
“I don’t think they’ve been sharing hugs,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said about the two leaders.
The chilly relationship is a rather new development. Schumer and Thune have served together in the Senate for more than 20 years, including overlapping on the powerful Finance Committee. Even into the first Trump administration, Thune spoke about his regular run-ins with Schumer in the Senate gym.
Late last year, as Thune prepared to take over from Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as top GOP leader, Schumer took to the floor to congratulate him, saying that “we’ve done many bipartisan things here in the Senate together.”
But since Thune officially moved into the job in January, the two haven’t had a regularly scheduled meeting — unlike Thune and Johnson. And unlike McConnell, Thune hasn’t yet needed to lock arms with Schumer to deliver significant legislation — something the Kentucky Republican did on a debt ceiling hike, Ukraine aid and multiple rounds of federal help during the coronavirus pandemic.
Their biggest test, in fact, could be what comes after Oct. 1 — whether that’s finding their way out of a shutdown or notching the sweeping end-of-year funding deal envisioned by appropriators.
Thune said in a recent interview that, while he sits down with Schumer “occasionally” or they chat on the floor, their talks are “spontaneous” or driven by the “need of the minute.”
Their perfunctory working relationship has been on full display for their colleagues recently. They didn’t speak during a recent negotiation to tee up competing Republican and Democratic stopgap bills for a vote last Friday. They instead let top staffers, who have a good relationship and talk with each other almost constantly about routine Senate business, sort it out.
Thune has ceded most of the day-to-day talks over the larger government funding bills to Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is still optimistic about being able to strike a deal with the House on three full-year bills. But when asked about a shutdown-avoiding stopgap, she pointed back to Thune and Schumer: “I think that has gone to the leadership level.”
Thune and Schumer did speak on the Senate floor during unsuccessful negotiations around rules changes for nominations earlier this month. But Thune later joked that Schumer “couldn’t get out of that meeting fast enough.”
Both leaders’ political calculations are playing into the pas de deux. Schumer is under fierce pressure from the Democratic base to counter Trump and Republicans after caving under similar circumstances in March. (He and Thune did speak in the lead-up to that widely criticized vote.)
The New Yorker is now insisting Republicans will bear the brunt of the political fallout following a shutdown since they control both chambers of Congress and the White House. Speaking to reporters after the Senate voted down two dueling funding bills last week, Schumer said Republicans will “absolutely” be blamed, adding that “the world is totally changed from March.”
Thune, meanwhile, has to navigate Trump’s unpredictable machinations. Back in July, Thune, Schumer and their deputies sought to negotiate an agreement that would have expedited the confirmations of some administration nominees in return for the release of frozen agency funding. A deal was close, but Trump wouldn’t get on board, telling senators to go home instead — handing Schumer the opportunity to declare a small victory.
That unpredictability was underscored again by the White House meeting that was scheduled and then unscheduled at GOP leaders’ behest Tuesday. Thune also has to factor in that Trump has yet to sketch out a position on Democrats’ baseline demand: extending the health insurance subsidies that expire on Dec. 31.
The South Dakotan has been careful not to get ahead of Trump this year on legislation, knowing that if the president stakes out a different position it could put him, and his GOP members, in a politically awkward spot. Furthermore, he sees no reason to address a deadline that is still months away.
“Eventually, ultimately, the White House and Schumer are going to have to probably sit down,” Thune said in a brief interview earlier this month. “But I think right now what we’re talking about is short-term.”
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump is showing little urgency in sending nominations to the Senate even as the GOP’s control of the chamber beyond 2026 is increasingly in doubt.
There are more than two dozen federal court vacancies. Labor secretary, FDA commissioner and scores of other open positions do not have nominees, and a senior White House official said Trump is in no rush to fill them.
“Ultimately, we need to have the right people in those positions,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to describe internal thinking. “So if it’s acting for now, so be it. If [it] takes a little while to find that perfect person, then it takes a little while.”
That’s unsettling some Republican senators who are anxious to fill spots ahead of the midterms, a daunting task given the legislative calendar and host of competing GOP priorities.
“We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees health, labor and other issues. “We’d love to get at least one or two of them and get it in the next tranche.”
As far as judges, Tuberville said he wants to see “as many as we can get” nominated, adding, “I don’t know why we don’t have more.”
Trump’s apparent nonchalance — particularly over judges — is a marked departure from his first term, when he opined that appointing people to the bench might be the “single most important thing you do” as president. But as the Senate left for a two-week recess Thursday, there were only 10 nominees pending for 29 judicial vacancies.
The vacancies come amid ongoing tensions between the Senate and Trump, who has put pressure on the chamber to pass the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, going so far as to cancel a planned Wednesday signing of a bipartisan housing bill.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he “absolutely” wants to see the president nominate more judges before the end of the year. Texas has three court vacancies with zero nominees.
“And that’s one of his greatest legacies, both first term and second,” Cruz said of Trump.
Trump is on pace with his first term in total confirmations in part because Republicans changed the Senate rules last year to confirm slates of civilian posts at once by a simple majority vote.
One tranche confirmed in Mayincluded 49 nominees, from ambassadors to midlevel posts at various federal agencies. So far, 502 of Trump’s second-term nominees have been confirmed, compared to 509 at this point during his first term and 601 at the same point during former President Joe Biden’s term.
Federal judges and members of the Cabinet still have to be confirmed individually, despite the rule change for other posts.
Trump inherited only about 40 judicial vacancies for his current term, fewer than any president since Ronald Reagan. Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) previously complained that the White House hasn’t nominated more judges. More recently, though, he’s blaming his committee for not acting more quickly on the already pending nominees.
“Right now it’s hard for me to blame the White House when in the last three executive weeks, we were supposed to have meetings to vote judges out, we couldn’t have enough members present,” Grassley said in an interview.
A White House official said “Trump plans to nominate well qualified individuals to fill these vacancies.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he’s had “a couple good discussions” with the White House about a circuit court vacancy, which he expects the administration to fill. As a Judiciary Committee member, he can block any nominee that doesn’t get support from Democrats.
“If it’s somebody I support, I’ll vote for them. If it’s somebody I don’t support, I’ll vote no,” Kennedy said. “It’s an important spot. They know I’m on Judiciary, and they know I’ll vote no if I don’t agree.”
The Labor secretary and FDA commissioner picks, meanwhile, go through the HELP committee — chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his primary last month after Trump endorsed a challenger.
Republicans have been left in the dark about those nominees, some on the panel say.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said he’s heard “nothing at all” and “radio silence” from administration. Another GOP senator, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they’ve heard nothing from the administration about its thinking or plans for a Labor secretary nominee specifically.
The HELP Committee membership poses challenges for the administration. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) previously expressed concerns about Casey Means’ nomination as surgeon general before Trump pulled her, for example. And the dynamic between the president and the chair could be a hurdle, three people granted anonymity to comment on the process said.
“Why give Cassidy a platform to get back at DJT?” one of them said.
Another, a GOP senator, predicted Cassidy would “play games” with nominees who have to go through his committee.
“I really don’t think a lot of senators are in any mood to give the president any wins because they’re frustrated with him,” said the third person, who is close to the White House.
But confirming nominees before he leaves the Senate could be a priority for Cassidy, one of the few Republican doctors to push the administration toward public health nominees who align with established science on issues like vaccines.
A potential successor — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — is a critic of the vaccine and masking standards set during the pandemic and would likely set the committee on a different path.
Recent appointees such as Nicole Saphier for surgeon general and Erica Schwartz for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director are more mainstream than some past HHS appointees like Means and Dave Weldon, who was nominated for CDC director before the administration determined he didn’t have the votes.
Those nominees have been moving through the regular process, including meeting with Cassidy and other senators ahead of confirmation hearings.
Cassidy told reporters after he lost his primary that he would “vote for the good of my country and the good of my state.”
“There’s some nominees that have not gotten through committee for whatever reason, so that’s not anything new,” he added. “That’ll just be part of the process.”
A HELP Committee spokesperson added Thursday that Cassidy has voted for every Trump nominee and that the panel will “do its job to confirm qualified nominees and serve the American people.”
“Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” the spokesperson added.
The White House official said “Trump remains committed to nominating highly qualified individuals for a variety of posts that are aligned with the agenda the American people elected him to enact” and will continue to send nominees to the Senate, including to the HELP Committee.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview he had not spoken to the White House about their plans for some of the major picks under HELP jurisdiction but he encouraged the administration to send nominees.
“I think it’s always better to have people in permanent positions rather than temporary,” Thune added.
Megan Messerly contributed to this report.
Rick Scott swears he’s not up to something.
Fresh speculation about the Florida Republican’s ambitions erupted again in recent days after he invited President Donald Trump to address the Senate at an especially sensitive moment — and without Majority Leader John Thune’s express approval. Then, he circulated a letter outlining how he thought the Senate GOP should be preparing for the November midterms.
But Scott insists those who see this as a prelude to a leadership challenge have it all wrong. Sitting in his Senate office less than 24 hours after hosting Trump, he told Blue Light News he’s perfectly happy running the conference’s conservative Steering Committee and predicted Thune would easily secure another term as leader.
“There won’t be a vote,” he said, adding that he’s “fine” with Thune continuing in the position.
“Here’s what I don’t get,” Scott continued, expressing exasperation with the palace intrigue. “Other people get to put out their position. If I put out mine, then I want to be leader?”
What has become eminently clear in recent weeks is that Scott — after a long career in business, two terms as governor and nearly eight years as senator — just isn’t a back-bench kind of guy.
He has lots of thoughts on how the Senate should be run and a willingness to express them, even if it puts him at odds with Thune’s vision. The leader, who trounced Scott in a 2024 conference election, has largely avoided holding doomed votes that would split Republicans and, like many GOP senators, would like nothing more than to get past the monthslong intraparty fight over the SAVE America Act, the elections bill pushed by Trump.
“One thing we can do up here is, we can take votes,” Scott said. “Even if they’re not going to pass, we each show people where we are versus the other side. And so, one thing that surprises me is, why don’t we take votes? … Let’s show people.”
Scott’s incarnation as a conservative thought leader is only his latest attempt to stay in the thick of the action in a body where obscurity can be hard to avoid. His stint running the GOP Senate campaign arm ahead of the 2022 midterms was controversial and ended with Democrats beating historical headwinds and slightly expanding their bare majority.
He annoyed colleagues with his policy of not intervening in contested Republican primaries and infuriated some of them by promulgating a policy agenda through his personal political operation that they hadn’t agreed to.
That did not deter Scott from challenging then-Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after the election that year, garnering only 10 votes of 47. He tried again after McConnell stepped down as leader two years later. Scott won 13 votes in a three-way race, but Thune ultimately prevailed.
Thune, unlike McConnell, doesn’t have an openly antagonistic relationship with Scott. He said in an interview that the Florida Republican has done a “great job” as Steering chair. It is in that role that Scott convenes the weekly Wednesday senators’ lunch and invited Trump to attend.
“He brings people in that help inform our conversations and discussions about some of the major policy issues,” Thune said. “I’m very supportive of what he’s doing.”
One Senate Republican who was granted anonymity to speak candidly said that Scott had earned “street cred” within the conference for how he’s run the Steering Committee. He has brought in Trump, Elon Musk and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, among others, underscoring his connections with key luminaries in the contemporary GOP.
For now, the Steering position and his close ally’s return to the White House have given him renewed influence and a base of support outside of leadership, where multiple Republicans are viewed as potential contenders to succeed Thune if he decides to retire in 2028 or beyond.
Scott isn’t up for reelection until 2030, and he did not guarantee in the interview that he would stick around the Senate indefinitely.
“I’ve done this. I’ve tried different stuff,” he said. “So we’ll see.”
He had been the subject of past speculation about a presidential run but made clear in the interview he’s not interested in a Cabinet position because “I was 25 years old the last time I worked for somebody.” His future, he said, will revolve around the question, “Am I being productive?”
The GOP senator granted anonymity said he doesn’t think Scott will run for leader again in November but acknowledged that Scott is viewed as ambitious and that there’s “not a lot of ways to go up” in the Senate absent running for leader or president.
“Rick, appropriately, properly feels he’s got more to contribute,” the senator added. “I hope he feels a certain sense of satisfaction about his leadership on the Steering Committee because he really has made it great.”
For now, Scott’s sense of productivity has certainly been boosted by his dealings with and loyalty to Trump.
“President Trump works great with Senator Scott and has appreciated his efforts to advance the President’s America First agenda in the Senate — including urging a path forward for the SAVE America Act,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
A person familiar with the administration’s thinking, granted anonymity to speak candidly, attested to Scott’s “deep relationships” across the administration, pointing to Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in addition to the president himself.
“Trump remembers the people who were with him” between his two presidential terms, the person said, adding that Trump “also respects ‘successful’ people and Rick may be the most successful business person in the Senate.”
Last week’s lunch invitation grew out of a conversation between Trump and Scott, though the meeting did not go as Scott had planned. Notes from Scott’s introduction obtained by Blue Light News show he wanted to spark a policy-driven conversation focused on three issues: the future of the Senate filibuster, passage of the SAVE America Act and preventing another government shutdown.
Instead, Trump came into the closed-door meeting “pissed” over a symbolic vote the previous day on the Iran war, Scott said, and quickly got into a back-and-forth with retiring Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on that issue. Trump proceeded to mostly air his grievances at senators rather than engage in any productive back-and-forth, attendees said.
Still, Scott said, “something positive” came out of the meeting because hours later Republicans defeated a different Iran war powers resolution. And he predicted there would be a “renewed emphasis” on the GOP elections bill that Trump views as his No. 1 priority.
He pointed to three potential paths forward for the SAVE America Act: attempting a “talking filibuster” that would force Democrats to hold the floor in order to block the bill, breaking the voting bill up into pieces or trying to include it in a party-line budget reconciliation bill, which would require precedent-breaking moves many GOP senators oppose.
Only the talking filibuster option, Scott believes, has a possible chance of success, and he urged Thune and his other colleagues to consider it.
“I think the right way is, let’s put it on the floor,” he said. “Maybe we should take all of August and do it. It is the most important thing to Americans, and it actually is important.”
Many of his colleagues don’t share his optimism, and it could be difficult to get enough senators interested in voting to even restart debate on the bill given the high level of frustration within the conference.
Asked about that frustration, Scott cut in: “[Then] don’t do it. Hey, I’m just saying, here’s how I look at life — I’m one senator.”
Alex Gangitano contributed to this report.
House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.
Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.
“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.
The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.
Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”
Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.
Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”
“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”
But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.
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