{"id":19371,"date":"2026-02-26T13:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-gop-bets-on-immigration-fight-not-big-bills\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:01:51","slug":"capitol-agenda-gop-bets-on-immigration-fight-not-big-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-gop-bets-on-immigration-fight-not-big-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: GOP bets on immigration fight, not big bills"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Republicans are betting that Donald Trump just handed them a political lifeline on immigration. But when it comes to demands for legislative action, the president\u2019s big speech this week gave Congress little to do.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Reframing the immigration fight:\u00a0<\/b>The National Republican Congressional Committee huddled Wednesday to strategize how to best capitalize on the State of the Union moment when Trump asked lawmakers to stand if they agree \u201cthe first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,\u201d according to one person granted anonymity to discuss a private meeting.<\/p>\n

How the party deploys to underscore Trump\u2019s maneuver could be critical for GOP candidates. Many of them quickly amplified the clip \u2014 which showed Democrats seated and expressionless following Trump\u2019s rhetorical gambit \u2014 on social media.<\/p>\n

Republicans are underwater in polling on the economy<\/a> and immigration \u2014 two issues they used to own. But the made-for-TV immigration moment has given the GOP fresh political ammunition<\/a> ahead of the midterms.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Reality on Blue Light News:\u00a0<\/b>Trump\u2019s speech will have little effect on the congressional agenda<\/a> over the coming months.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s giving Republicans the freedom to focus on what they want. The Senate is expected to tee up a bipartisan housing bill at the end of this week. And Majority Leader John Thune hinted Wednesday that other legislation, like an energy permitting overhaul or a possible AI bill, could also be on the chamber\u2019s to-do list for the rest of this Congress.<\/p>\n

But Republicans also acknowledge there\u2019s little on Trump\u2019s wish list they can easily accomplish heading into the midterms with such thin majorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got effectively a zero-vote margin at the point that we are now,\u201d Speaker Mike Johnson said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve got to have near-unanimity among Republican priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2014 Clintons\u2019 deposition:<\/b> Around 19 members of the House Oversight Committee will be in Chappaqua, N.Y., to interview Hillary Clinton Thursday (and Bill Clinton Friday)<\/a> under oath and behind closed doors. It\u2019s the latest, and perhaps highest profile, set of depositions to take place in the panel\u2019s ongoing investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n

The former president and secretary of State, appearing in compliance with congressional subpoenas, have denied wrongdoing and aren\u2019t implicated in any illegal acts. Hillary Clinton has said she has no memory of meeting Epstein at all.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Democratic retreat:<\/b> House Democrats are heading into Day Two of their annual retreat. Thursday\u2019s agenda features breakout sessions on the cost of housing, groceries, utilities and the care economy, as Democrats try to sharpen their affordability messaging in their quest to flip control of the House in November. Speakers include historians Ron Chernow and Heather Cox Richardson and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene.<\/p>\n

Alec Hernandez, Dasha Burns, Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Republicans are betting that Donald Trump just handed them a political lifeline on immigration. But when it comes to demands for legislative action, the president\u2019s big speech this week gave Congress little to do. \u2014 Reframing the immigration fight:\u00a0The National Republican Congressional Committee huddled Wednesday to strategize how to best capitalize on the State of […]<\/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-19371","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\/19371","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=19371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}