{"id":17658,"date":"2026-01-13T13:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-powell-probe-stiffens-gop-spines\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T13:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T13:16:48","slug":"capitol-agenda-powell-probe-stiffens-gop-spines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-powell-probe-stiffens-gop-spines\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Powell probe stiffens GOP spines"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Justice Department\u2019s move to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is shaping up to be one of the Trump administration\u2019s most unpopular actions yet among Capitol Hill Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Republicans recoil:<\/b> The DOJ probe into Powell\u2019s June hearing testimony<\/a> is causing heartburn in the Senate, which controls the fate of his successor. After Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) threatened Sunday to vote against any nominee until the criminal investigation is resolved, other Senate Banking Republicans like Sens. Kevin Cramer (N.D.) and Dave McCormick (Pa.) joined in to signal their disapproval Monday.<\/p>\n

Cramer is no fan of Powell and called him a \u201cbad\u201d Fed chair. But he added, \u201cI do not believe, however, that he is a criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few Republicans are openly cheering the decision. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who referred perjury allegations against Powell to the DOJ last summer, is the exception<\/a>. Even other hard-liners who have long wanted to see Powell gone declined to comment on whether the probe was justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s way outside my jurisdiction,\u201d House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) told Blue Light News when asked if the probe was warranted.<\/p>\n

\u2014 A notable silence:\u00a0<\/b>Despite the critiques from members of his committee, Banking Chair Tim Scott has stayed mum<\/a>. It\u2019s not unusual for Scott, who declines hallway interviews, to stay quiet. But it\u2019s conspicuous as others in the GOP speak up on behalf of the Fed\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

Scott\u2019s silence contrasts with public statements from the likes of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who called for the probe to be \u201cresolved quickly,\u201d and House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.), who said it \u201ccreates an unnecessary distraction\u201d that \u201ccould undermine this and future Administrations\u2019 ability to make sound monetary policy decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the investigation would make it hard to confirm the next Fed leader, Thune acknowledged \u201cit could make it challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Powell’s staying power: <\/b>At this point, it seems almost certain Powell will stay on until his term as chair ends in May. Many expect him to leave after that, forgoing his longer term as a rank-and-file Fed governor.<\/p>\n

But that probability has dropped amid the DOJ’s probe, and Powell could stick around. And the likelihood that he might ever be prosecuted for his June testimony is remote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe kind of things we\u2019re talking about here is whether Powell lied when he said there were \u2018no rooftop gardens\u2019 when there will in fact be \u2018vegetated roof spaces,\u2019\u201d Victoria Guida writes in her latest column<\/a>. “Of course, the investigation might also cover the cost overruns themselves … but mismanaging a project is not in and of itself a crime.”<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 House math: <\/b>Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s margins in the House could pose a problem for party-line action this week, including passing the rule teeing up a final vote on the bundled State-Foreign Operations and Financial Services funding bills. <\/p>\n

The recent passing of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) brought the balance of the House to 218-213. But with Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.) recovering from a car accident and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) expected to be out indefinitely as his wife undergoes surgery, Johnson is facing some harrowing math.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dem joins GOP stock trading bill: <\/b>The new GOP-leadership-backed bill to ban lawmaker stock buying has its first Democratic co-sponsor, New York Rep. Josh Riley. The bill, drafted by House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), now has 71 GOP co-sponsors. <\/p>\n

The legislation is on track for a Wednesday morning markup. Senior Democrats who oppose the bill \u2014 which allows lawmakers to hold onto the stocks they already own \u2014 say they\u2019ll try to force changes.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Health care talks shape up: <\/b>The bipartisan group of senators working to craft an agreement to revive the expired Affordable Care Act subsidies is honing in on a potential compromise around abortion language. According to a Senate GOP aide briefed on the group\u2019s discussions and another person granted anonymity to describe the private talks, the lawmakers are considering increasing penalties and audits for insurance plans to ensure funds for abortion are properly segregated from funds for nonabortion health services.<\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department\u2019s move to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is shaping up to be one of the Trump administration\u2019s most unpopular actions yet among Capitol Hill Republicans. \u2014 Republicans recoil: The DOJ probe into Powell\u2019s June hearing testimony is causing heartburn in the Senate, which controls the fate of his successor. After Sen. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}