Congress

Thune warns Democrats about Russ Vought: ‘We don’t control what he’s going to do’

Published

9 months ago

October 2, 2025

Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn’t endorsing the slash-and-burn campaign White House budget director Russ Vought has planned for the federal government during the pending shutdown.

But he says Democrats have no one to blame for it but themselves.

“This is the risk of shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought,” the Senate majority leader said in an exclusive interview Wednesday in the Capitol, adding that “there should have been an expectation” among Democrats that Vought’s Office of Management and Budget could broadly target government workers and programs in a shutdown.

Thune spoke on the same day that several Republicans aired discomfort with Vought’s moves after the shutdown went into effect. Rep. Mike Lawler of New York spoke out against his decision to hold up major transportation projects in his state, while Reps. Blake Moore of Utah and Brian Babin of Texas spoke up on a private House GOP call with Vought raising qualms about potential mass layoffs.

Vought’s actions also risk being a distraction for Republicans, who have sought to stick to a simple message putting the onus on Democrats to reopen the government. Pressed on whether Vought was muddying the waters, Thune said, “The only thing I would say about that is yes, and we don’t control what he’s going to do.”

The White House has made no secret that its strategy is to inflict maximum political pressure on Democrats to try to get them to reopen the government. Vought warned ahead of the start of the shutdown that OMB would take aggressive steps beyond typical furloughs, where employees are brought back to work after the government reopens.

The budget office directed agencies in a memo first reported by POLITICO last to put together plans for reductions-in-force — or firings — of federal employees.Vought himself told House Republicans during the Wednesday call that those firings would start in a “day or two.”

“I can’t control that,” Thune said about decisions made by OMB. “But the Democrats ought to think long and hard about keeping this thing going for a long time, because it won’t be without consequence, I’m sure.”

Ten Democrats helped advance a GOP funding bill in March over concerns that a shutdown would only empower Vought and Trump. And one member of the Senate Democratic caucus, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), said he voted for the House-passed, GOP-led stopgap bill this week because he believes a shutdown would empower the administration to do grave damage to the federal bureaucracy.

But most Democrats have said Vought’s tactics are a bluff and that he is targeting funding that the administration would have otherwise targeted outside of a shutdown.

“President Trump has spent the year hurting families, killing jobs, and raising people’s costs, and now he and Russ Vought are gleefully using the shutdown they have caused as a pretext to inflict even more pain,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said in a statement on Wednesday.

“If Donald Trump and Russ Vought think these ugly intimidation tactics will work, they are sorely mistaken,” added Murray, the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Red, white and GOP hard-liner blues

Published

1 hour ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republicans finally cleared a runway this week to finish some of their top legislative priorities before the July 4 recess.

That is, unless a small band of hard-liners trip up those plans at takeoff.

Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping to move quickly to pass fiscal 2027 appropriations legislation, the annual defense policy bill and a kids online safety bill that has been years in the making. The movement comes after President Donald Trump instructed GOP hard-liners to stop holding up a procedural vote amid a protest from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and others that the Senate hadn’t passed Trump’s election security bill.

But Luna and other hard-liners are still threatening to tank the procedural vote that could delay the defense policy bill and other measures until they get concessions on the SAVE America Act, amid other demands.

Johnson, for example, had also promised hard-liners a vote before July 4 on a sweeping GOP immigration bill introduced in the prior Congress as H.R. 2, which is highly unlikely to happen.

Johnson for his part has said the House will “pass the SAVE America Act again” by folding parts of it into a third party-line reconciliation bill. But the slimmed-down version he’d need to pursue in order to meet strict Senate rules for the budget process is already being panned by hard-liners as insufficient.

That reconciliation bill is also already delayed. House Republicans aren’t on track to meet their goal of advancing its framework before the July 4 recess as members on the Budget panel balked over how to pay for the legislation in a closed-door meeting last week.

“Time is of the essence, given how many legislative days we have,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, who is sponsoring the kids online safety legislation, said in an interview last week. “If we lose a week, that would be important.”

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership is grappling with their own heated internal divisions this week. Members are split over supporting the adoption of an amendment to a fiscal 2027 spending bill from Rep. Thomas Massie that would end Israel aid and cut the overall foreign military aid program by $3.3 billion.

Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro did not instruct her colleagues on how to vote during a rare Sunday evening caucus call, two sources granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting tell Mia and Riley. Leaders did, however, criticize the amendment as poorly written.

One other item this week that could split members of each party: House lawmakers are also slated to vote on a rewritten war powers resolution from Rep. Rashida Tlaib to reign in Trump administration military actions in Lebanon. Leadership worked with Tlaib to come up with new language last month that is expected to garner more Dem support, but the resolution is still expected to fail without GOP votes.

What else we’re watching:

— SENATE GOP GETS ANTSY ABOUT NOMINATIONS: Some Republican senators are unsettled by Trump’s apparent lack of urgency in filling vacant posts, even as GOP control of the chamber beyond the midterms 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. “We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a member of Senate HELP, which oversees health, labor and other issues.

—RICK SCOTT SAYS HE’S JUST TRYING TO HELP: Fresh off his controversial Trump invite to a Senate GOP lunch last week, Sen. Rick Scott told Blue Light News in an interview he’s trying to make a mark — not trying to challenge Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Scott insists that neither his invitation to the president nor a letter he circulated afterward outlining how the Senate GOP should be preparing for the midterms should be seen as a prelude to a leadership challenge. The Florida Republican said he’s perfectly happy running the conference’s conservative Steering Committee and predicted Thune would easily secure another term as 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.

Meredith Lee Hill, Riley Rogerson, Alex Gangitano, Jordain Carney and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Congress

Republicans get antsy about confirmations as the Senate hangs in the balance

Published

5 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

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.

Congress

Rick Scott says he’s just trying to help

Published

5 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

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 hosts a regular Wednesday lunch for senators and invited Trump in that capacity.

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.”

Elon Musk was another of Scott's prominent lunch guests.

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.