US politics – Congress matters

So long as national party operatives view the Florida lawmaker’s seat as safe, there is little incentive for GOP leaders to engage.

The explosive events could reflect broad backlash to GOP governance. Or they might be just another outgrowth of political polarization.

Lindsey Langston, winner of the 2024 Miss United States contest, filed a police report in Florida. Mills denied wrongdoing.

The House Oversight Committee chair was required to send the subpoenas after a Democratic-led subcommittee vote in July.

Ahead of a critical spending showdown, the two leaders’ relationship is almost nonexistent.

Trump hasn’t ruled out clemency for the disgraced member of Congress from New York.

The measure is also expected to add trillions to the federal deficit.

“This Independence Day, President Trump and Congress made the working family tax cuts law,” their ad states.

With eight weeks until the government shutdown deadline, competing factions of lawmakers are starting to define their ultimatums.

The Senate’s contentious confirmation of Emil Bove to a lifetime judicial appointment shows how a painful moment in the chamber’s history still looms large.

The folksy Louisiana Republican says he’s not the go-along-to-get-along type.

The chamber’s leaders hope to strike a compromise with House lawmakers before federal cash stops flowing on Oct. 1.

The Senate has finalized an agreement to take action on three fiscal 2026 spending bills, breaking a multi-day impasse that prevented the first government funding bills of the yearly appropriations cycle from coming to the floor. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins requested Friday to tie together the Military Construction-VA and Agriculture-FDA bills. Under the agreement, a third bill to fund Congress itself will be voted on separately. No senator objected, and votes on the so-called minibus are expected to begin swiftly Friday afternoon. Current government funding runs out on Sept. 30, and lawmakers are expected to pursue a stopgap funding deal because the 12 annual appropriations bills will not be ready in time. This package is unlikely to become law but, if passed, will be used as a basis for future negotiations between the chambers and parties. Collins stressed on the floor that the three measures “were approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.” It was the second attempt in two days to try to assemble a package of spending bills. An earlier request for a four-bill package, also including Commerce-Justice-Science measure, was derailed Thursday night by a single objection dealing with the FBI headquarters location. The deal also tees up votes on a sizable roster of amendments offered by senators of both parties. The separate vote on congressional funding was set up at the behest of Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who objected to the amount of spending in the $7.1 billion bill and wants the chance to vote against it separately.

The scheduled congressional deposition of Ghislaine Maxwell, a co-conspirator of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is indefinitely postponed, House Oversight Chair James Comer said Friday. In a letter to Maxwell, Comer said he would agree to delay the meeting after her lawyers earlier this week requested a postponement in the planned Aug. 11 testimony citing a pending Supreme Court petition regarding her case. Maxwell’s attorneys also made a number of requests in order to facilitate her cooperation with the Oversight panel’s questioning — some of which Comer rejected outright Friday. Comer said his committee was “willing to continue to engage in good faith negotiations” but would not grant her congressional immunity, which her lawyers had requested. The committee, he added, also would not send her team the questions in advance, another demand of Maxwell’s lawyers. “Your testimony is vital to the Committee’s efforts regarding Mr. Jeffrey Epstein, including the 2007 non-prosecution agreement and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s death,” Comer wrote. But he agreed to delay the interview until after the Supreme Court rules on her appeal, which claims that her 2021 sex trafficking conviction was barred by Epstein’s earlier plea deal. That’s not likely to happen before the court begins its annual term in October.

The Senate will try to break an impasse Friday to advance three spending bills in hopes of showing progress after days of discord. A separate holdup over presidential nominations, meanwhile, could come down to direct talks between Democrats and the White House. A patchwork of objections from senators on both sides of the aisle have held up the spending legislation for days and foiled a plan for what some had hoped would be a four-bill package. But members expressed new optimism Friday that a second, more limited attempt could move forward. It’s one of two pieces of major business Republican leaders are hoping to wrap up before the Senate starts its traditional summer recess. In addition to the spending bills — where they are keen to show some progress ahead of the Sept. 30 government shutdown deadline — they also want to confirm a broad tranche of President Donald Trump’s nominees. The nominee conversations appear more dicey, senators said, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday that he has put Trump officials “into conversation directly” with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s team. Top White House staffers were also in the Capitol on Thursday night after Thune met with Trump at the White House. “This is how this is ultimately going to get resolved,” Thune said. Meanwhile, GOP senators said leaders are running traps on a possible deal that would advance the smaller package of spending bills. Under the pending proposal, leaders would seek unanimous consent to tie together the fiscal 2026 spending bills funding the Veterans Affairs and Agriculture departments, as well as military construction projects and the FDA. A third spending bill, funding Congress itself, could be voted on separately. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said Friday morning she expects a unanimous consent request on some constellation of those three bills. The Maine Republican is eager to show progress on bipartisan spending bills before the Senate leaves for its lengthy August recess. Upon their return, members will have only a handful of session days to make further progress ahead of the shutdown deadline. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) has made clear he will object to including Legislative Branch funding in the package and wants the chance to vote against the $7.1 billion bill. It’s the smallest of the 12 annual appropriations bills, but Kennedy maintains it still costs too much. “They agreed to my proposal,” he told reporters Friday. “They’re going to have one vote on [Military Construction–VA] and [Agriculture-FDA] together and separate vote on [Legislative Branch] so I can vote no. Then they’ll marry them up later if all three pass, as they probably will.” Coming to a nominations deal could be much trickier, given Trump’s determination to get all of his 150-plus pending nominees confirmed quickly. Trump on Thursday said on Truth Social that the Senate “must stay in Session, taking no recess” until all of the nominees are confirmed. Even if senators stay in Washington, that goal will be all but impossible to meet absent Democratic cooperation. Democrats under Schumer are exploring whether to quickly confirm a smaller subset of nominees in exchange for other concessions, such as the release of government funding they claim has been illegally “impounded” by the Trump administration. Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.

House Republicans are beginning to face rowdy town halls as they try to sell President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending law. Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin had a hostile crowd Thursday night, with jeers and boos from the audience, according to local media reports. Democratic organizers in particular spoke out against Steil. Attendees pressed him on topics spanning from Trump’s tariffs to immigration. “It’s completely fine that we disagree,” Steil said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and urged attendees to “help us engage in a more productive dialogue.” NRCC Chair Richard Hudson discouraged GOP members from holding in-person town halls earlier this year amid backlash to the Trump administration’s DOGE cuts and Republican plans to cut Medicaid spending. But Hudson and the NRCC recently started advising members to aggressively sell Trump’s big domestic policy law to constituents over August recess — though they didn’t explicitly mention town halls. Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska is holding a town hall in his district on Monday. In an interview this week, he predicted it could be another unruly crowd if it’s “along the lines” of his last in-person town hall, which included heated encounters with constituents over the GOP megabill and Trump. Asked if he expected questions on the GOP’s Medicaid spending cuts in the megabill, Flood said: “I do.”CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the name of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Senate’s summer exit is getting complicated as lawmakers brace for some weekend work. Tensions are running high over government funding negotiations. And Senate leaders have yet to seal a deal to advance dozens of President Donald Trump’s nominees as Majority Leader John Thune shuttles between the White House and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Here’s the latest on where things stand. Funding meltdown — The prospects for two major appropriations bills are dimming after a flurry of drama. The odds of including the Commerce-Justice-Science bill in an appropriations “minibus” withered late Thursday night. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who has used the bill as a platform to fight the Trump administration’s plans for keeping FBI headquarters in Washington, objected to including the CJS legislation in the broader funding package. Van Hollen wants the agency’s campus to move to his home state of Maryland, per a prior agreement. Van Hollen’s hardball tactics rattled Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the lead appropriator on the bill, who teared up as he spoke about it on the floor. Moran said he knew “no path forward” that would allow Van Hollen to amend the bill to address his FBI concerns. “Our appropriations process is fragile,” Moran said. The Agriculture-FDA funding bill is still a contender for inclusion in the package. But Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she’s seeking answers first from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins about USDA’s plans for a major reorganization under Trump. The Senate’s legislative branch funding bill still faces a snag with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). Thune is optimistic the Senate will at least get military and VA funding through before recess. “We’re trying to work out the rest of the package,” Thune said late Thursday. “And the Dems are now sort of changing their demands with regards to amendments, etc., so we’ll have to see if we can land it early tomorrow morning.” Noms, noms, noms – Thune met with Trump on Thursday to update him on his talks with Schumer to confirm the president’s nominees. It’s the biggest factor threatening to keep the Senate in town longer, given the need to secure unanimous consent to speed up confirmations. Trump isn’t signaling that a deal is in hand. In a 9:52 p.m. Truth Social post Thursday, he wrote, “The Senate must stay in Session, taking no recess, until the entire Executive Calendar is CLEAR!!!” (Trump separately lashed out at Maine’s senior senator, saying, “Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins.”) Thune staff and Schumer staff are exchanging paper. Senators believe, if it were just up to them, the two leaders could get there. The bigger question is whether any deal they strike can get Trump’s blessing, including Democrats’ demand that the president unfreeze funding for certain agencies. “It would be easier if Chuck Schumer and Donald Trump would talk, bare-knuckled New Yorker to bare-knuckled New Yorker,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. What else we’re watching: — Republicans eye rules revamp to confirm Trump picks: Senate Republicans are heading toward a potential rules change in the fall to speed up confirming Trump’s nominees. Thune would need support from nearly all Republicans, and it’s not clear he has that yet. — Mullin plots security boost for senators: Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who leads work on legislative branch appropriations, says he’s still working through potential security protocols for lawmakers back home, after House leaders unveiled increased funding for their members’ residential security. The Oklahoma Republican had previously said a “test program” could be unveiled as soon as August. “We’re working with Jennifer [Hemingway], the Sergeant-at-Arms, and working through some protocols that may take place and working with state police,” Mullin said. “But yes, we’re very much looking into it.” Jordain Carney contributed to this report. 

The Delaware first-term lawmaker says Democrats must work on their image.

President Donald Trump is going after Republican Sen. Susan Collins despite hopes among some in the party that she will run again next year and help the GOP hold the Senate. Trump, who has privately discussed finding someone to run for her seat should she not seek reelection, attacked the Maine senator’s voting record in a post on Truth Social. The senator has voted against two of Trump’s signature legislative achievements this year — the domestic policy megabill and the measure to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and public media funding. “Republicans, when in doubt, vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins,” Trump said. “Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong.” Democrats have targeted Maine seat as one of a small number of opportunities to pick up a Senate seat in 2026. The party has carried the state in every presidential election since Collins was elected in 1996. Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has yet to announce whether or not she will run for reelection. CLARIFICATION: This post was updated to reflect that Democrats have carried Maine in recent presidential elections, but not every electoral vote.

GOP megadonor Paul Singer was the largest donor to a super PAC seeking to oust Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) last month, according to a filing submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday. The group, MAGA KY, raised $2 million between its launch in late June and the end of the month: $1 million from Singer $250,000 from hedge fund manager John Paulson $750,000 from Preserve America PAC, a super PAC tied to Miriam Adelson that backed President Donald Trump last year Trump allies launched the super PAC last month after Massie voted against Trump’s signature “Big, Beautiful Bill.” The Kentucky lawmaker has also criticized the president on a range of other issues including war powers and the Epstein files. MAGA KY has spent $1.2 million so far on ads opposing Massie, according to AdImpact, as the group aims to take him out in next year’s primary. Massie, who has staved off primary challengers before, has raised just over $1 million this year, and he ended June with $1.7 million in the bank. It is not yet clear which Republican might be favored by Trump to challenge him.

Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley on Thursday officially launched his campaign for the North Carolina senate seat currently held by retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. Whatley decided to jump in the race after Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, passed on a possible bid, POLITICO reported last week. “I am humbled and excited to begin this campaign, and I would be honored to earn your vote, your support, and your prayers,” Whatley wrote Thursday afternoon on X. President Donald Trump announced his support for Whatley in a social media post last week, simultaneously throwing his weight behind Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters to take Whatley’s spot at the RNC, where Gruters currently serves as treasurer. “Mike would make an unbelievable Senator from North Carolina,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He is fantastic at everything he does, and he was certainly great at the RNC where, in the Presidential Election, we won every Swing State, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a landslide!” Whatley’s decision sets up what is likely to be a costly battle for Tillis’ seat, with former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s campaign already breaking fundraising records in its first 24 hours. Democrats see the state as a promising window to pick up a seat in next year’s midterm elections with Cooper — who has won statewide six times — likely to lead their ticket.

The conservative group Americans for Prosperity is launching a $6 million campaign to support messaging in support of the megabill, including digital and TV ad buys, touting some of the bill’s popular provisions. AFP’s plans, shared first with POLITICO, includes a new 30-second spot that touts “growing our economy” and “keeping our country safe,” as well as events with lawmakers across the country over August recess, the group said. Putting money behind the effort to defend the megabill, already a top target of Democrats ahead of the midterms, will help “make sure this good policy is also good politically for the lawmakers who supported it,” AFP Managing Director Kent Strang said in a statement. The August recess will be key for Republican members as they go back to their districts to sell the bill. A recent memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee provided members with talking points on the bill, telling them “the best defense is a good offense.” “We’re already seeing some opponents spread misinformation for their own political gain,” Strang said. “That’s why it’s so important to go keep our foot on the gas to highlight the bill’s success.”

Senate Democrats have a chance to show their voters they can effectively stymie President Donald Trump as Republicans work to advance spending bills and a flurry of nominations. But publicly and behind closed doors, the Democratic Party is grappling with whether to resist or — in Minority Whip Dick Durbin’s words — seek a “quid pro quo.” Inside Democrats’ lunch Wednesday, senators talked through potential September strategies. Among the ideas they are floating is securing policy wins, like preserving soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act tax credits, or getting a commitment from Republicans not to pursue more rescissions. Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) fiery protest on Tuesday, urging his party to “have a backbone” in dealing with Trump, could preview the potential progressive backlash if they cut a deal. Some Democrats, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are questioning why they should agree to help the administration fast-track filling its ranks at all, though plenty of other Democrats would disagree. The party is pushing back at Trump in smaller ways as it tries to reach consensus. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Homeland Security Democrats invoked a little-known law this week trying to force the release of files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — an issue Republican leadership has avoided putting on the floor. The immediate stakes of Democrats’ strategy are limited to the fate of their August recess for the moment. But how they move now could set the stage for the bigger looming test: averting a Sept. 30 government shutdown. They don’t want a repeat of the spring showdown where Schumer infuriated Democratic activists by helping to advance a GOP-written funding bill. “The Republicans can roll us once, but we sure as hell shouldn’t let them roll us a second time,” Warren said in a brief interview. What else we’re watching:  — Stock trading ban bills face heat: Speaker Mike Johnson has been privately pushing back on an effort from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) to force a vote on a bill banning stock trading for members of Congress, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the effort. Meanwhile on the Senate side, Trump is attempting to quash a similar effort from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). — Jeffries in Texas: Hakeem Jeffries plans to hold a news conference in Texas with Democrats in the Texas House delegation at 11 a.m. after state Republicans unveiled a new proposed congressional map that would provide their party with five new GOP-leaning districts. — TSA bill updates: A bill to put guardrails on TSA’s facial recognition program will likely be back on the menu soon after it was unexpectedly dropped from the agenda during a Senate Commerce markup Wednesday, according to Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen. “We expect it to come up on the next markup,” said Rosen. Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

They are facing key decisions this week over how readily they should cooperate with Republicans — and an even bigger test looms on the horizon.

In wake of searing criticism from President Donald Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley defended his legislation that would ban stock trading among lawmakers, the president and vice president. In a Truth Social post Wednesday afternoon, Trump called the Missouri Republican a “second-tier Senator” and criticized his bill as a win for the Democrats and “so bad for our Country.” Hawley’s bill was advancedby the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday morning in a 8-7 vote, with Hawley the lone Republican voting with Democrats. “Listen, I want the President to sign the bill, so I’m happy to do whatever it would take to get him to say, ‘Yes, this is good,’” Hawley told reporters following his excoriation by Trump on social media. “I want results.” Hawley, who reiterated his “love” for the president, emphasized that Trump is not covered by the bill. Indeed, while the stock trading ban would go into effect for the executive and legislative branch elected officials immediately, Trump would not be required to divest his holdings for the remainder of his term. He also said he was open to making changes to get Trump on board with the measure so that it could be signed into law. “He’s not covered by the PELOSI Act, but Nancy Pelosi is,” Hawley said. The name of the bil was previously the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, named for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose family trading has come under scrutiny. The California Democrat has said she supports Hawley’s bill. The bill was renamed during the Homeland Security markup to the HONEST Act.

Pat Leahy saw it coming. In the throes of a 2007 scandal that seems quaint by modern standards, the then-Senate Judiciary chair issued a warning to all presidents: If you repeatedly sidestep the Senate to jam political loyalists into temporary U.S. attorney posts, you are violating the law. He was particularly concerned about “double dipping” — an effort by presidents to circumvent legal time limits on unconfirmed U.S. attorneys by creatively reshuffling personnel. “It is not designed or intended to be used repeatedly for the same vacancy,” Leahy said at the time. Fast forward to 2025: President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are seeking to shatter that check on presidential power, finding new ways to carry out the “double dipping” that Leahy warned against: In Washington, D.C., after Trump’s initial pick Ed Martin failed to win Senate confirmation, Trump simply appointed a second interim prosecutor, Jeanine Pirro, to a successive 120-day slot. In northern New York and Los Angeles, Bondi maneuvered to put Trump’s expiring U.S. attorney picks into “acting” roles that would give them another 210 days on the job without Senate confirmation. And in New Jersey, the Justice Department went nuclear after district court judges appointed a career prosecutor to replace Trump’s favored pick, Alina Habba, as temporary U.S. attorney — a power the courts have had since the Civil War. An aggressive effort to keep Habba in place has already disrupted a handful of criminal cases in New Jersey. With a largely compliant, Republican-led Congress, Trump has faced minimal pushback. But the campaign presages battles to come, particularly in blue states where Democratic senators still wield significant sway over who can be confirmed as permanent U.S. attorneys.It’s the latest expression of Trump’s effort to shrug off traditional constraints on presidential power and relegate Congress to bystander or cheerleader. And it was a concern that animated Congress’ decision to pass the 2007 law checking the president’s power to unilaterally install U.S. attorneys in the first place. A Justice Department spokesperson said the moves by Trump and Bondi to reshuffle U.S. attorneys are rooted in a pair of federal laws creating “separate mechanisms” to appoint different types of temporary office-holders. Those statutes, however, don’t speak to whether presidents and attorneys general can deploy those mechanisms in back-to-back succession. POLITICO caught up with Leahy, who’s living a peaceful retirement in Vermont, and asked about recent developments in the U.S. attorney saga. His main message: The Senate needs to stand up for itself and its power of “advice and consent” for all officers of the federal government. “No senator should have to go back home and have people say why the heck did you let this person come in as a U.S. attorney,” the former Democratic senator said. “Republicans and Democrats agreed with me on that, that we had to have some say in the matter. We can’t tell the president who to appoint. But we can certainly tell them who not to appoint for our states.” Habba’s case, in particular, may test whether that longstanding history can outweigh the gravitational force of a president intent on rejecting it. “The Senate seems to have forgotten that it’s an independent body,” Leahy lamented, “and if it fails to act that way, the Senate suffers but the country suffers.”

Under pressure from Congress, President Donald Trump’s administration has reversed course after halting spending at the National Institutes of Health. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had been clamoring for cash to flow while warning that the White House budget office’s decisions have been contributing to a chaotic state of affairs that agitated elected officials in states where jobs rely on NIH dollars. Budget officials at NIH announced internally Tuesday that the White House was barring the agency from disbursing funds on things like research and training. Following a swift outcry on Capitol Hill, the Office of Management and Budget then confirmed that all NIH funding for biomedical and public health research had been released, chalking up the freeze to “a programmatic review.” Congress’ top Democratic appropriators, Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, called on the White House to end the freeze late Tuesday night. “This administration is lying about waste, fraud, and abuse at NIH to justify attacking medical research,” Murray said in a statement. The pausing of that money also followed a letter last week where 14 Republican senators asked White House budget director Russ Vought to release the funding signed into law by Trump in March, citing the slow disbursement to research centers across the country. The funds for research released from the freeze Tuesday do not fully address the widespread delay of disbursements across NIH that lawmakers have called on OMB to address. Suspending the funds, the lawmakers warned, “could threaten Americans’ ability to access better treatments and limit our nation’s leadership in biomedical science,” and “risks inadvertently severing ongoing NIH-funded research prior to actionable results.” Over the weekend, Vought said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that NIH needed a “dramatic overhaul” and that “we’re going to have to go line by line to make sure the NIH is funded properly.” Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Democrats agreed to exempt President Donald Trump to advance GOP Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill.

Democratic Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois is expected to announce Thursday he won’t run for reelection in 2026, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss his plans in advance. Davis — at 83, one of the oldest members of Congress — plans a news conference Thursday morning where he is also likely to make an endorsement for what is expected to be a highly competitive race. The 15-term lawmaker represents downtown Chicago, its growing West Side and some western suburbs. He is known as a champion of civil rights, affordable housing, prison reentry and health care issues — as well as having a sonorous voice and calm demeanor. While the deep-blue district has long been considered a Black seat — it includes a portion of Chicago’s South Side, the traditional heart of the city’s African American population — that population has declined due in part to gentrification. While African Americans still have a 42 percent plurality, the white, Latino and Asian populations are fast-growing. State Rep. La Shawn Ford has already announced he’s running and is expected to get an endorsement from Davis. Others who have announced they’re running include former County Commissioner Richard Boykin, businessperson Jason Friedman and Marine Corps officer turned comedian John McCombs. Walter Burnett Jr., who until recently was a Chicago alderman, and state Rep. Kam Buckner are among many other potential candidates expected to enter the race. Davis’ announcement adds to an already unusually turbulent 2026 congressional landscape in Illinois. Four of the state’s 17 House districts are poised to be open seats, with two Democratic incumbents — Reps. Robin Kelly and Raja Krishnamoorthi — running for the Senate seat being vacated by Dick Durbin. Davis serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and has served in leadership roles in the Congressional Black Caucus. Before he was elected to Congress, he served as a Chicago alderman and a Cook County commissioner.