Congress

Trump’s pick for No. 2 post at OMB clinches committee approval

Published

1 day ago

July 22, 2026

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the No. 2 position at the Office of Management and Budget scored initial committee approval Wednesday as Senate Republicans work to confirm him.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to advance the nomination of Hal Duncan to serve as deputy director of the White House agency known as the “nerve center” of the federal government.

The Senate Budget Committee is also scheduled to vote Wednesday morning to approve the nomination.

Duncan has been serving in the role in an acting capacity since late last year, when Trump nominated then-Deputy Director Dan Bishop to serve as a U.S. attorney.

During his Senate vetting this summer, Duncan said he couldn’t rule out the use of any “fiscal tools,” including the pocket rescission tactic OMB employed last year to unilaterally cancel billions of dollars in foreign aid without Congress’ consent.

Duncan has also expressed an eagerness to finalize the Trump administration’s plans to put political appointees in charge of approving or scrapping awards for federal grants.

Lawmakers in both parties have raised concern about the impending regulation to change the grant approval process. Most notably, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) called this month for White House budget director Russ Vought to nix part of the proposal and extend the deadline for public comment, which closed last week.

Democrats have noted Duncan’s relative inexperience compared to other former top OMB officials, many of whom served as undersecretaries of other federal agencies or members of Congress before taking on the role. Duncan graduated with a bachelor’s degree less than a decade ago and worked as a Republican congressional aide before joining OMB last year.

Congress

Senate adding Iran sanctions to Russia bill

Published

1 hour ago

July 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senators are adding financial penalties against Iran to a bipartisan Russia sanctions package they are hoping to move before the August recess, Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday.

“It was a late add,” Thune told reporters. “I think everybody’s fine with it because we would do it anyway. Iran sanctions is something we’ve had in place for the last 30 years.”

Senators have been trying to pass a bipartisan bill sanctioning Russia and buyers of its oil for months, but the effort has taken on new momentum after the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was one of the bill’s main champions.

President Donald Trump threw a curveball into the bill’s path over the weekend when he posted on social media that sanctions against Iran should be added into the bill.

Thune, however, said that he believes the Senate could pass the revised sanctions package before they leave for the August recess.

“I’ve been having conversations with Democrats and folks on our side, and I think we’re homing in on it,” Thune said. “So I’m hoping we can get it teed up, and then if we could get some sort of limited time agreement to help expedite it on the floor, that would help too.”

Congress

Mark Sanford launches Senate bid in South Carolina special election

Published

2 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former South Carolina representative, governor and onetime presidential candidate Mark Sanford entered the crowded race for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham’s seat on Thursday.

“We’re at a tipping point, and that’s why I’ve decided to run for the U.S. Senate,” Sanford said in a launch video. “I’d ask that you look at my record in Congress and as governor in watching out for your family’s future.”

Sanford, who left Congress in 2019, is a longtime fixture in South Carolina politics, known for his fiscal conservatism. He earned national notoriety after an extramarital affair during his time as governor and his criticism of President Donald Trump, including a short-lived 2020 primary challenge.

He is the latest high-profile entrant in a crowded field that includes Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator; Reps. Russell Fry and Ralph Norman; and businessman Mark Lynch, among others. President Donald Trump has already endorsed Graham, who was appointed to fill her brother’s seat for the duration of his term.

A special primary election will be held on Aug. 11 to select the Republican nominee for a full six-year term.

Sanford was first elected to Congress in 1994, in the same class as the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. He served for three terms, was elected South Carolina governor in 2002, and was reelected to the House in a special election in 2013. Sanford launched a campaign for his old seat this cycle, but abandoned the bid after a month to launch a debt-focused nonprofit.

A budget hawk, Sanford pointed to the country’s national debt as a motivating factor for his Senate bid now.

“I’m worried for our children because for the first time, America is borrowing from the future faster than we’re building it,” Sanford said in the video. “We’ll add about a trillion dollars to the national debt over the next 100 days, and if left unaddressed, that debt will crush our economy. It’ll wipe out our savings, and it could even destroy our republic.”

Congress

‘Figure out a way to get it done’: Scalise warns pressure is building on Senate GOP to move on reconciliation

Published

3 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans are warning it won’t be easy to advance the $95 billion budget resolution the House approved Wednesday — and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise on Thursday delivered a blunt response: That’s too bad.

“They can say all day long, ‘It’s going to be hard.’ Everything’s hard. Give me a lecture about how hard things are. That’s what I do every day,” Scalise told a small group of reporters. “They’ve got to figure out a way to get it done. They have to get that bill to the president’s desk.”

Fresh off narrowly muscling the budget plan through his chamber, Scalise said he talked to President Donald Trump recently and now expects the president lean heavily on the Senate GOP to adopt the blueprint — necessary for Republicans to be able to write and pass legislation through the filibuster-skirting reconciliation process.

Their bill would fund the Iran war, farm assistance and components of the GOP election overhaul package known as the SAVE America Act — Trump’s top legislative priority, which has stalled on Capitol Hill.

“He’s going to be putting a lot of pressure” on them, Scalise said of Trump.

“Those senators are going to go home, too, and they’re hearing the same thing,” he added, referring to what Senate Republicans could confront during their upcoming lengthy summer recess.

Scalise also argued that the $10 billion dollars in the plan to advance voter ID and citizenship requirements from the SAVE America Act will be politically toxic for Senate Republicans to ignore ahead of the midterms.

“We’ve packaged ‘SAVE America’ in a number of different ways, but a reconciliation bill is the most straightforward way where the excuse of the filibuster is no longer around,” he said.

“Democrats are obstructing everything. We all know that. A reconciliation bill is the one tool that the Democrats can’t filibuster, can’t obstruct,” Scalise added.

Senate Republicans don’t expect Senate Majority Leader John Thune to move the budget resolution before the August recess. He has also signaled he could hold it until Congress reaches a deal to fund the government ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown.

But many GOP senators don’t believe they would take up the budget resolution in September either, given the close proximity of the midterms — punting the matter until after the November election, when House Republicans have already promised their members they’ll pursue a fourth reconciliation bill focused on cracking down on fraud.

In any event, Scalise’s latest comments are sure to trigger another wave of backlash among key GOP senators, where the widely held belief is that pursuing another reconciliation bill at this time is nothing but trouble.

Thune said Thursday he doesn’t currently believe a budget blueprint for a third reconciliation bill has the votes to get through the Senate. With Sen. Mitch McConnell’s ongoing absence for health reasons, Thune can only lose two of his own members given opposition from Democrats.

“I can’t count to 50 right now on a budget resolution, but we’ll see. … The priority is funding the government, and so to me, that’s the thing we’ve got to keep our eyes on,” Thune said.

Many Senate Republicans are concerned that acting on another party-line bill at this time will expose vulnerable GOP incumbents to a wave of tough votes, including about food aid access.

And Thune has also said, time and again, the SAVE America Act doesn’t have the GOP votes to pass — and enough of his members are not interested in blowing up the Senate filibuster to force it over the line. He reiterated Thursday that the GOP election bill doesn’t have the votes within the conference, saying, “the math on that hasn’t changed.”

Scalise on Thursday morning batted away concerns from Senate Republicans that the package’s $67 billion for defense is insufficient and that the $12 billion in farm aid isn’t enough to cover farmers hit by Trump’s tariffs, weather disasters and the high costs of fertilizer and fuel. He also threw cold water on threats from farm state Republicans and defense hawks in the Senate to up the amount.

“I don’t expect that to happen,” Scalise said. “And you know, what will happen in the Senate? I don’t even try to predict that. I’ve got a tough enough job getting the House to do the things we need to do. And we’re delivering and doing our job, and now the Senate has to do their job, and I’m confident they’ll do it.”