Congress

Who are Johnson’s remaining GOP holdouts on the spending bill?

Published

1 year ago

March 10, 2025

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to muscle through a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown, but he doesn’t have the votes locked down yet.

President Donald Trump is pressing the small group of GOP holdouts to fall in line ahead of the Friday shutdown deadline, and House Democratic leaders are whipping all their members to vote against the bill that would fund the government through September.

“I don’t think House Republicans should expect any Democratic votes to get them over the line,” said one person familiar with ongoing conversations among moderate House Democrats, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

If only Republicans vote for it and there’s full attendance, Johnson can’t afford to lose more than one GOP lawmaker.

The hard no: Rep. Thomas Massie is the only House Republican who has definitively said he will not vote to pass the stopgap spending bill — and stuck to it.

The undecideds: Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) have said they’re on the fence. The speaker and Trump are pushing fiscal hawks who normally oppose stopgap spending bills to get behind this one, with the promise of funding cuts later on this year.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) have also indicated they’re undecided, but that they’re likely open to supporting the measure.

The flips: Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas), who GOP leaders were watching as a possible holdout, came out this weekend in favor of the plan, after Trump called for Republicans to support it. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) has also indicated that she’ll back it. And the House Freedom Caucus, which usually opposes stopgap funding bills on principle, have supported this plan.

House GOP leaders are planning to move the funding bill through the Rules Committee Monday evening. Senior Republicans don’t expect any GOP amendments or major changes to the measure. Johnson aims to put it on the House floor Tuesday.

Congress

Dershowitz to testify on Epstein ties

Published

49 minutes ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Alan Dershowitz is scheduled to speak with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 20 as part of its ongoing Jeffery Epstein investigation.

“I asked to be allowed to set the record straight and correct various misconceptions,” Dershowitz said in a text message. “I look forward to doing so.”

The prominent criminal defense attorney who once represented O.J. Simpson and President Donald Trump also worked on Epstein’s 2008 plea deal, which many have argued allowed Epstein — who died by suicide behind bars in 2019 — to continue to prey on young women and girls for another several years before his later incarceration.

The Oversight Committee is separately set Friday to interview investor Leon Black, whose business dealings with Epstein have been under congressional scrutiny for years.

Congress

Hegseth to brief House Republicans on White House goals for party-line package

Published

2 hours ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to give a classified briefing Wednesday to a group of House Republicans about the administration’s goals for military funding and another party-line reconciliation bill, according to three people granted anonymity to describe a private meeting.

The gathering will take place during the Republican Study Committee’s weekly lunch and be held in the House SCIF, underscoring the potentially sensitive nature of Hegseth’s planned presentation.

Lawmakers are expected to also press Hegseth on the agreement the Trump administration has reached with Iran to end the war.

Congress

Turek leads Hinson in Iowa Senate poll of likely general election voters

Published

7 hours ago

June 22, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Iowa Democratic Senate nominee Josh Turek has a narrow lead over GOP rival Ashley Hinson in a new internal poll of likely general-election voters.

Turek leads Hinson 47 percent to 45 percent in the poll, conducted by Global Strategy Group from June 8-11 among 1,000 likely general election voters. The poll shows that Republicans have a 10-point edge in voter registration (42 percent to 32 percent) and an electorate that voted for Trump by 9 points (50 percent for Trump to 41 percent for Kamala Harris).

But the polling also shows President Donald Trump’s favorabilities underwater across the electorate, with 45 percent favorable and 52 percent unfavorable. Among registered independents, Trump is upside down 28 points.

Turek is “significantly outperforming the state’s underlying partisan dynamics,” Global Strategy Group’s Matt Canter & Ramzi Ebbini write in a memo first obtained by Blue Light News. “Republicans maintain substantial advantages in voter registration and party identification, yet Turek enters the general election ahead of Republican Ashley Hinson, with stronger personal favorability ratings, overperforming a generic Democrat, and with clear opportunities to expand his coalition as more voters become familiar with him.”

Some Republicans have acknowledged a concern about Iowa.

“There are some issues there that we got to deal with — the biggest one is trade — trade and tariffs,” said a Republican close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the obstacles.

In his early general election messaging, Turek has leaned into farmers’ frustrations.

“Josh Turek is winning this race because Iowans are sick and tired of multi-millionaire politicians like Ashley Hinson who sell out working families while they get rich,” Turek for Iowa campaign manager Brendan Koch said in a statement first shared with Blue Light News. “We will spend the next 134 days connecting with Iowans in every corner of the state and across the political spectrum to send a fighter for the working class to the U.S. Senate.”