Congress
Trump ally Ronny Jackson weighs bid for top House Armed Services spot
Rep. Ronny Jackson, a conservative ally of President Donald Trump, is considering jumping into the race to fill the top GOP spot on the House Armed Services Committee after the midterms.
The three-term Texas Republican said Thursday he’d likely need to make a decision “soon” about joining the field — which already includes Reps. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) and Trent Kelly (R-Miss.). But he added that he won’t base his decision off other candidates or events, like this week’s Virginia redistricting referendum that threatens Wittman’s reelection.
“If I do it, I’m going to do it regardless of any other factors,” Jackson said. “It’s not going to be related to anything else that’s going on or anybody else that’s running.”
Dark horse: Jackson — a retired Navy officer and former White House physician — chairs the House Armed Services Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee. But two members with more seniority who are also subcommittee chairs, Wittman and Kelly, have already said they intend to run. Current Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is term-limited, could also seek a waiver to keep the top spot.
That would make Jackson a dark horse candidate. But Jackson dismissed concerns about his lack of seniority, pointing instead to his military record.
“That’s not the way we operate here in the House. And it’s not the way we operate in the Republican Party. Everything’s not based on seniority,” Jackson told reporters. “It should be the right person for the job, and if I feel like I’m the right person for the job, then I’ll put my name in the hat.”
“I may not have been here in Congress as long as some people, but I have 25 years in the United States Navy. That counts for something,” he said.
From the right: Should he run, Jackson would arguably be the most conservative of the prospective Armed Services candidates.
He notably led Republicans in pushing a contentious amendment to the House defense policy bill in 2023 to block a Biden-era Pentagon policy reimbursing troops who needed to travel across state lines to seek abortions following the reversal of Roe v. Wade protections. The proposal’s adoption resulted in Democrats opposing the defense bill. The amendment was later dropped from a final bill, but the Trump administration ultimately repealed the policy.
Trump ties: Jackson could leverage his close ties to Trump and the White House if he runs. He served as Trump’s physician during the president’s first term, as well as for former President Barack Obama before that.
Trump tapped Jackson to be Veterans Affairs secretary in 2018, but his nomination foundered amid allegations of unprofessional behavior during his tenure leading the White House medical unit, later detailed in a Pentagon inspector general investigation. The Navy later demoted him from rear admiral to captain in retirement.
Jackson cast the demotion as political retribution by the Biden administration. He was reinstated to the rank of one-star admiral last year by the Trump administration.
The Senate on Tuesday voted to cut off the U.S. military campaign against Iran, handing a fresh loss to President Donald Trump despite his attempts to convince lawmakers and the public that a deal to end the war is at hand.
Four Republicans broke ranks to help approve a resolution to block further military action unless it is green-lighted by Congress.
The war powers measure is largely symbolic — the resolution cleared Tuesday doesn’t go to the president to sign or veto. But the bipartisan 50-48 vote is a damaging milestone for the Trump administration: Both the Senate and House have now weighed in against the Middle East conflict that’s stretched on for more than 100 days. The same measure passed the House in early June after months of close calls.
The long-anticipated bipartisan housing bill is under threat from a Florida Republican who threatened to “shut the floor down” if House GOP leaders move forward with passing it Tuesday.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said Republicans instead need to prioritize passage of the SAVE America Act, the GOP elections bill that has been stuck in the Senate for months. Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled a Tuesday evening vote on the housing bill in hopes of sending it to President Donald Trump for a planned Wednesday signing at the White House.
Luna posted her threat on social media Tuesday afternoon and later specified in an interview that she would oppose procedural measures teeing up GOP-backed legislation going forward if party leaders didn’t abandon their plans to hold the housing bill vote via special fast-track procedures that would effectively sideline Republican hard-liners.
Luna cannot single-handedly block those procedural votes, but she said there is “a group” of lawmakers who would join her. She separately called on Trump to veto the housing bill in a bid to force the SAVE America Act to be added to it.
Johnson plans for now to proceed with the Tuesday evening vote on the housing bill, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations. If Luna and her unnamed allies follow through with their threats, they could derail a pair of appropriations bills set for House consideration this week and potentially freeze the floor indefinitely given the GOP’s razor-thin majority.
“I have been telling them,” Luna said of her complaints to GOP leaders.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is tentatively planning to have top tech executives testify at a July 28 hearing, according to five people with knowledge of the committee’s plans granted anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had previously summoned the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google to a hearing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, to discuss their online child safety practices, AI safety and other topics.
“Chairman Grassley looks forward to a productive hearing as he continues his bipartisan efforts to get lifesaving child safety legislation signed into law,” a spokesperson for Grassley told Blue Light News.
The hearing, which remains provisional, comes at a pivotal moment for the tech sector. Congress is actively debating legislation aimed at protecting children online, while courts and state attorneys general are intensifying pressure on social media companies over allegations that their platforms harm young users.
The list of tech executives the committee is eyeing to testify remains in flux but currently includes head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, according to the five people. Three of the people said Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and CEO of TikTok’s U.S.-based joint venture company Adam Presser may also be called to attend.
The four companies did not immediately comment on the proposed hearing.
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