Congress

‘Unforced errors’ weigh on GOP’s shutdown posture

Published

9 months ago

September 25, 2025

Republicans across the federal government are eager to hammer Democrats for making bold policy demands ahead of next week’s shutdown deadline. But they’re split on how to do it.

Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader John Thune, are trying to keep the message simple: The GOP wants to keep agencies open for a few more weeks while negotiations continue while Democrats are asking for unreasonable concessions.

Speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP are all in on a message focusing on how the Democratic wish list would undo Republican-passed provisions barring undocumented immigrants from accessing public services.

And then there’s President Donald Trump, who delved even deeper into the culture wars Tuesday when he accused the other party of seeking to “force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors” as part of the negotiations — an accusation that has puzzled even some fellow Republicans.

The diverging messages from GOP leaders comes after Trump reversed his decision to hold a White House meeting with top Democratic leaders — an about-face that came after Johnson and Thune privately warned him that it would undercut the party’s negotiating position.

Taken together, the visible cracks in the GOP front are raising internal concerns as party leaders face off against Democrats who are largely united behind a plan to focus on health care — particularly an extension of expiring insurance subsidies.

“There have been some unforced errors, clearly,” said one senior House GOP aide granted anonymity to speak candidly about Republicans’ strategy so far.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have seized on Trump’s cancellation of the meeting, with Schumer accusing the president of throwing a “tantrum” and Jeffries criticizing Johnson for sending House members home until after the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline.

“They’re not even pretending as if they want to find common ground,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol.

Trump’s attacks accusing Democrats of seeking to force taxpayers to underwrite gender-reassignment surgery came the morning after GOP congressional leaders counseled him not to meet with Schumer and Jeffries — something he told reporters over the weekend he intended to do.

Not only were Johnson and Thune worried about losing leverage if Trump opened negotiations with the Democrats, they were initially alarmed they might not be included in the meeting, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

In a lengthy social media post cancelling the meeting, Trump decried Democrats for refusing to vote for a shutdown-avoiding spending punt “unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.”

Most of those claims are rooted in a Democratic proposal to roll back parts of the Republican-passed domestic policy megabill that Trump signed in July. That law includes new curbs meant to keep noncitizens from accessing public benefits such as Medicaid, as well as other new verification requirements and border security funding.

His arguments on transgender surgeries, however, appear to stem from Democrats’ demand for a permanent extension of Obamacare insurance subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year and are currently used by more than 20 million Americans.

Five states require insurance plans to cover gender-reassignment surgeries and related health care for transgender enrollees, and top Trump advisers and outside groups argue that a straight extension of the existing federal tax credits would continue taxpayer support for those policies. They believe that argument should be a key GOP focus ahead of the potential shutdown, according to three Trump officials granted anonymity to describe the deliberations.

But some Hill Republicans were confused and caught off-guard by Trump’s focus on transgender politics. It also served to create headaches for a handful of the most vulnerable House Republicans, who are pushing for a one-year clean extension of the insurance subsidies. They include Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), a co-author of the proposal who has strong backing from House GOP leaders.

The White House further scrambled the GOP strategy late Wednesday when it circulated a draft memo instructing agencies to create plans for mass firings of federal workers if Democrats don’t relent and a shutdown occurs. That alarmed some Hill Republicans who saw it as an unnecessary provocation that, in the words of one, “would give Democrats an excuse to vote against” the GOP-led stopgap — and muddy their message that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who were unreasonable hostage-takers.

House Republican leaders, meanwhile, are much more comfortable hammering Democrats over illegal immigration — an issue they believe has the best chance of keeping their fractious conference united ahead of the looming shutdown. In interviews and social media posts, they’ve conspicuously embraced those arguments while steering clear of the transgender themes some of Trump’s top advisers are keenly focused on.

“House Republicans have already done the job of passing a clean, bipartisan bill to keep the government open,” Johnson posted on X Wednesday. “Now it’s up to Senate Democrats – who have long said shutdowns are bad and hurt people – to vote to fund the American government, or shut it down because they want to restore taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens.”

Some Senate Republicans have also mentioned illegal immigration — such as Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 GOP leader, who said last week that “Democrats would rather shut down the government than stop states from paying for free health care for illegal immigrants.” The Senate GOP campaign arm also knocked Democrats in key races, arguing they would vote with Schumer and force “American taxpayers to fund illegal immigrants’ government benefits.”

But Thune and other GOP senators have been most comfortable battling Democrats on process grounds, arguing that there is no reason to hold up a short-term funding patch and potentially shutter federal agencies over the insurance subsidies or any other policy dispute. Thune characterized Democrats’ demands Wednesday as “completely unhinged” in a BLN interview.

Asked about extending the expiring tax credits, Thune reiterated his and Johnson’s position to push off those discussions until later this year.

“It ought to be done in regular order,” he said, without repeating any of Trump’s arguments about transgender surgeries or illegal immigration.

Jeffries on Wednesday said it was Trump who was the “unhinged” one, citing his Truth Social screed Tuesday. He said the GOP has “no path forward” without Democratic cooperation.

“They’re running scared,” he said. “They have no defensible position, and that’s why, unfortunately, they’re marching us to a government shutdown.”

Congress

Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump on Monday

Published

12 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.

Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.

“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.

The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.

Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.

Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”

“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”

But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.

Congress

Sen. Thom Tillis rails against Trump’s fixation on voting legislation

Published

13 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.

In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.

“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.

Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.

“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”

Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.

Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.

It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.

Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.

“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.

Congress

Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump: ‘Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage’

Published

14 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”

“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.

“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.

The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.

“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.

However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.

“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”

Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.