Congress

Trump says Mike Paoletta will return as general counsel at OMB

Published

2 years ago

December 10, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he has asked attorney Mark Paoletta to be general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget.

Paoletta, a prominent Washington lawyer, served as legal counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence and later to the Office of Management and Budget in the first Trump administration. In the new administration, he will work with the cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency,” led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the president-elect said.

“Mark will work closely with our DOGE team to cut the size of our bloated Government bureaucracy, and root out wasteful and anti-American spending,” Trump said in a statement. “Mark is a brilliant and tenacious lawyer, who worked tirelessly to advance my Agenda in the First Term.”

Paoletta is a close friend of Justice Clarence Thomas and called Thomas “our greatest living American.” He also wrote a book on Thomas. Paoletta represented Thomas’ wife, Virginia “Ginny” Thomas, before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Paoletta is also helping Trump’s transition team with proposed Justice Department policies. He’s been an outspoken critic of the Justice Department, which he called the “most partisan and weaponized agency in history” in a social media post in October.

Congress

Blanche vote could be postponed, Cornyn says

Published

2 hours ago

July 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A crucial committee vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general could be postponed, Sen. John Cornyn said Tuesday, amid a struggle over changing a settlement agreement Blanche brokered between President Donald Trump and the IRS.

Cornyn (R-Texas) said a delay in the planned Senate Judiciary Committee vote Thursday is “being discussed but hopefully … won’t be necessary” as he pushes for ironclad modifications to the IRS settlement that created a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and immunized Trump from tax audits.

“If there’s not enough votes to confirm him, then Senator Grassley might decide to postpone it. But I don’t think that’s the No. 1 goal right now,” Cornyn said, referring to Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Cornyn said he had discussed the idea of postponement with other senators but not directly with Grassley. A spokesperson for Grassley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has also been undecided on Blanche’s nomination, have significant leverage. Due to blanket Democratic opposition, it would take only one Republican “no” to effectively kill Blanche’s nomination.

Cornyn and his staff have been talking to the Justice Department about modifying the settlement, and the senator insists he wants the changes in writing.

“They know what they need to do,” Cornyn said Tuesday about DOJ. “They just don’t want to do it.”

Congress

It’s Newt (and Russ and James)

Published

3 hours ago

July 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans will hear from White House budget director Russ Vought and President Donald Trump’s top legislative aide, James Braid, at their weekly Wednesday lunch. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich will also attend, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose private scheduling.

The visit from Vought and Braid comes as GOP senators struggle to coalesce behind a budget blueprint for a new $95 billion party-line spending bill that is backed by the White House.

Congress

Kids’ safety advocates draw red lines for Senate online safety package

Published

5 hours ago

July 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A coalition of 60 child safety groups is urging top lawmakers on the Senate Commerce Committee to take up robust online safety legislation in a markup tentatively expected next week.

In a letter sent Monday and shared first with Blue Light News, the bloc demanded that committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) only consider legislation with a “duty of care” standard that would require tech companies to mitigate harms they know their platforms cause children.

When the House passed a kids’ online safety package last month, it did not include the provision — an omission that the groups said neutered the bill and “would not actually make kids safer online.”

“This approach would immunize platforms from accountability for the design choices, such as engagement-maximizing feeds, autoplay, and algorithmic amplification, that drive documented harms to young people,” wrote the signers, which include Common Sense Media, Design It For Us, ParentsTogether Action and the Young People’s Alliance.

They also asked the senators not to preempt state artificial intelligence laws and to instead follow the House’s model, in which states could craft regulations stricter than the federal standard.

“Families who have lost children to online harms have spent years telling their stories to this Congress,” the coalition wrote. “And with each day Congress fails to act, more children are being harmed and are dying.”

Last week, Cruz and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who has been negotiating a safety-focused legislative package with the White House, met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Trump did not commit to throwing his political weight behind her effort after Cruz said it did not have enough support to clear the chamber.

Meanwhile, Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) introduced the Digital Age Assurance Act on Thursday. Modeled after a similar California bill, it would require operating system providers such as Apple and Google to collect users’ ages in an effort to ensure that children see only age-appropriate content online.

Cruz and Cantwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.