House GOP leaders are punting a reauthorization vote for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that they had hoped to hold next week until mid-April, with a GOP hard-liner revolt over warrantless surveillance threatening to tank the legislation, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to discuss the conference dynamics. GOP […]
The White House on Friday published a long-awaited policy wishlist for artificial intelligence regulation that it hopes Congress will codify into law. The light-touch federal framework blends the Trump administration’s effort to create a national AI rulebook on issues like political bias within models and reducing barriers to innovation with protections for children and teens […]
Get ready for a rare working weekend in the Senate with no break in sight. Majority Leader John Thune is keeping senators at the Capitol the next few days to continue debating an all-but-doomed elections bill and advance nominees. Senators may have to work through the following weekend as well if the Department of Homeland […]
Congressional Republicans are confronting serious doubts they can pass Iran war funding on their own, especially as the potential price tag balloons into the hundreds of billions of dollars. The alternative — relying on a handful of Democrats to push it through the Senate — doesn’t look any more likely as Middle East hostilities expand, […]
A group of lawmakers are set to introduce legislation Thursday to examine the use of artificial intelligence in federal courts, according to bill text obtained by POLITICO. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), along with Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), are preparing to unveil the bipartisan, bicameral Research and Oversight of Artificial Intelligence in […]
Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggested Thursday the Senate will not go on recess as planned at the end of next week if the Department of Homeland Security isn’t funded by then. “We need to get this resolved and it needs to get resolved, you know, by the end of next week,” Thune said. “I […]
Darren Indyke, Jeffrey Epstein’s lawyer and a co-executor of his estate, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he had no knowledge of the convicted sex offender’s crimes and rejected aspersions that he knowingly facilitated Epstein’s trafficking, according to a copy of prepared remarks obtained by POLITICO. The attorney’s defensive posture in the […]
The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Thursday to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be the next Homeland Security secretary, after the Oklahoma lawmaker clashed with committee Chair Rand Paul in a surprisingly tense Wednesday confirmation hearing. The vote — eight senators voting in favor and seven against — fell mostly along party lines, with […]
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) endorsed Rep. Kevin Hern’s bid for the open Senate seat in Oklahoma to replace Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Thursday, as Republicans look to avoid a messy primary in the red-leaning state. Thune called Hern a “proven conservative leader” and supporter of […]
Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday Congress has to “adequately fund defense” amid the military campaign in Iran as he declined to rule out a possible $200 billion emergency Pentagon infusion. Johnson spoke shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to rule out a supplemental spending request of that size at a morning news conference. The […]