Congress

This deal could avert a shutdown — if Congress decides to take it

Published

1 year ago

September 10, 2025

If they squint, lawmakers can see the outlines of a bipartisan deal that could avoid a government shutdown later this year. But bringing an agreement into focus — and enacting it into law — will be no small task.

The general parameters floated by multiple factions in the House and Senate is to couple, by the end of the year, an extension of federal health insurance subsidies that are set to expire on Jan. 1 with government funding through September 2026.

But no one is willing to lock in that agreement yet, and getting there could take several more months of negotiations. There also are plenty of stumbling blocks that could keep it out of reach: GOP hard-liners oppose extending the subsidies. Democrats, meanwhile, aren’t yet aligned on what it would take to give President Donald Trump even a few more weeks of funding.

It’s all but guaranteed that Congress won’t be able to reach a broader deal this month, meaning even in the best-case scenario lawmakers will soon need to vote on a stopgap that would buy time to strike a larger deal. Looming over it all is Trump, who already wants to fund the government into next year — past the health insurance cliff. GOP leaders believe they will need him to unequivocally endorse any agreement to get it through Congress.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a top appropriator, noted Tuesday that any such deal would end up in a “push me, pull you” situation.

“It will probably kill Republican votes in order to add Democrats,” Womack said about the idea of extending health care subsidies as part of a package to keep federal agencies funded.

But it could be the only possible solution to the parties’ dueling dilemmas. Republicans are under pressure to cut a deal on the subsidies as they grow increasingly concerned about the political climate heading into next year’s midterm elections.

Their signature “big, beautiful” bill is underwater with the public, due in large part to changes it made to Medicaid, prompting an attempted rebrand around the new law’s benefits for “working families.” Nearly 20 million Americans rely on the soon-to-expire subsidies.

“I think it’s bad policy, bad politics to let them lapse,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a critic of the GOP’s Medicaid cuts, of the health insurance credits.

Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are under mounting pressure from their members — to say nothing of their voters — to put up a big fight against Trump and congressional Republicans.

“There’s no good faith, and we have not been at the table effectively, and the damage that’s being done to American families is so great that we’ve got to be in a fighting mode,” said Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.).

Winning an extension of the insurance subsidies — tax credits that were created under President Barack Obama as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act and greatly expanded by President Joe Biden under the 2021 American Rescue Plan — could give the party something to rally around.

There are signs that key elements of each party are moving toward a possible accord. A group of House Republicans that includes some of the conference’s most vulnerable incumbents, for instance, has already come out with a proposal to extend the tax credits. Top GOP leaders have not ruled out a deal, though they have suggested a straight extension of the subsidies would be a nonstarter.

At the same time, Democratic leaders have started suggesting health care will be the main battleground for the fall funding fight, and key voices on the party’s aggressive left flank have generally endorsed the strategy — with some caveats.

Each side has malcontents who could scuttle any deal, however. For Republicans, it’s conservative hard-liners who are in no mood to back costly extensions of a Democratic health care program. At the very least, they are warning that the tax credits would need to be subject to new income caps or fraud prevention measures.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the House Freedom Caucus chair, laid out a litany of problems with the subsidies Monday during a closed-door meeting of House GOP leaders and senior Republicans. But those in the room left believing Harris had left some wiggle room for a deal — even as other hard-liners declared themselves a hard no on any extension.

Asked about the potential for a broader deal that included a fraud crackdown, Harris said he would have to see the particulars. “If it’s by itself — no,” he said. “No, just cut it off.”

By Tuesday morning, House Democratic leaders were hearing an earful from members who are spoiling for a showdown with the GOP, returning to Washington after six weeks of hearing from constituents back home telling them to show Republicans more backbone. Trump’s decision late last month to unilaterally cancel roughly $5 billion in previously approved spending only deepened Democrats’ anger.

Lawmakers lined up at microphones during their weekly caucus meeting to share frustrations with Trump’s decision to thumb his nose at Congress’ funding powers. Some also vented about Democratic leadership’s focus on health care amid the funding battle, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private discussion.

“If we could have negative numbers, that would be the percent of trust that most of us have in the Republican caucus right now,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

Leaders in both parties don’t have much time to figure out their next move. Republicans aren’t in agreement among themselves, much less with Democrats, on what an extension of the health care tax credits would look like. And that issue is intertwined with the pressing decision on how long to punt government funding past the fast approaching Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.

The conservatives want a patch that goes until at least January, if not for the full 2026 fiscal year; the White House aligned itself with that timeline Tuesday, pitching a Jan. 31 end date. That would decouple the health care fight from government funding — preventing Democrats, and some of their own GOP colleagues, from using an earlier deadline as a leverage point.

“What I don’t want is a CR that goes through right before Christmas,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in a brief interview. “We get an omnibus … it’s blown out with thousands of earmarks, and it’s a waste of money.”

Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are proceeding carefully after the last funding fight back in March ended in an embarrassing and frustrating Senate surrender. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, flanked Tuesday by members of his leadership team and top Democratic appropriator Patty Murray, put the onus on Republicans to at least meet with them about how to fund the government past the end of the month.

Senate appropriators are discussing a short-term spending patch until Nov. 21 linked to three full-year funding bills for Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and the operations of Capitol Hill. Murray (D-Wash.) warned Tuesday she would “not vote for a funding bill that I had zero say in drafting.”

Democrats are also navigating internal divisions over whether to make the expiring health tax credits a red line now, in exchange for their votes on a short-term patch this month, or closer to the end of the year.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said it was his sense that there could be a “straightforward” stopgap for now, saving the insurance issue for a “comprehensive” deal later. But Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said now was the time to stand firm.

“I think we need to have a high price, and so that price could be saving the ACA,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

But it’s Trump who might be the biggest wild card. He has not personally weighed in on the funding fight or a possible extension of the Democratic health care law he once tried, and failed, to repeal. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet spoken to the president about the subsidies, but he added that other GOP senators are in conversation with the administration about the end-of-year deadline.

Many GOP lawmakers are openly warning that Trump risks political disaster if action is not taken to at least partially continue the tax credits — and they are urging their more conservative colleagues to entertain a deal, sooner or later.

“What they have to learn is what everybody else has to learn in life — that you don’t get your way 100 percent of the time,” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.).

Benjamin Guggenheim, Meredith Lee Hill and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

3 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

3 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.

Congress

Sanders, AOC, Merkley propose bill to ban Flock cameras

Published

9 hours ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday released text of legislation intended to ban the use of Flock surveillance cameras and other license plate readers.

Flock has faced severe public backlash against the surveillance technology following reports that police officers misused the technology to track women, and it has the largest network of license plate readers across the U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) hosted a hearing last month probing its potential misuses, although the company’s CEO Garrett Langley did not appear.

The latest bill, unveiled Friday and named the Ban Flock Act, would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers or accessing data from the technology and prevent federal grants from funding states and local governments that use automated license plate readers.

“At a time of growing concern about the unchecked power of artificial intelligence, Flock is eviscerating the very notion of privacy by installing tens of thousands of cameras in communities across America without their consent,” Sanders, who has positioned himself as a leading progressive voice on AI technology, said in a statement. “We cannot allow America to become a surveillance state where a handful of AI oligarchs profit by giving the government the power to track our every movement.”

Ocasio-Cortez similarly condemned the surveillance capabilities of the technology and said the bill would “enforce our constitutional right to privacy and protect Americans from both corporate and government surveillance.”

“No one should have this unchecked surveillance power at their fingertips,” Merkley added.

Republicans have introduced similar efforts to regulate license plate readers, such as Hawley’s Stop Flock Abuse Act, which would require audits and limits on unauthorized searches.

Flock did not immediately respond to a request for comment.