Talk of the Town
(WASHINGTON) — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is not expected to sit for a closed-door deposition next week, after the Department of Justice informed the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that its subpoena is essentially moot because it sought Bondi’s testimony in an “official capacity as Attorney General” — and President Donald Trump removed her from office last week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — Congress returns from its two-week recess early this week — thrusting lawmakers back into the debate surrounding the Iran war as the President Donald Trump’s strategy faces continued scrutiny.
House and Senate Democrats plan to force separate votes in both chambers on Iran war powers resolutions this week. These resolutions would call on the president to terminate the use of U.S. armed forces in hostilities against Iran or any part of the Iranian government or military unless a declaration of war or authorization to use military force is enacted.
Previously these efforts have narrowly failed, but as the conflict drags on and lawmakers continue to face questions about the president’s actions, additional Republicans could decide to support the efforts.
Expulsion votes possible for four lawmakers
The House could move as early as this week to expel several members of Congress.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida said she will force a vote to expel Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., next week amid allegations of sexual assault. Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales could also face a similar vote after he admitted to having an affair with a former staffer. And Florida Democrat Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is expected to face an expulsion vote, likely following a House Ethics Committee sanction hearing on April 21. The congresswoman was indicted on charges of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, which she is accused of laundering to support her 2021 congressional campaign.
Expelling a member of Congress — which is a rare occurrence — requires a two-thirds majority vote, a higher threshold than the simple majority needed to pass most legislation. Only six lawmakers in U.S. history have been expelled, including George Santos in 2023.
As the expulsion resolutions stack up, Democrats are also clamoring for the expulsion of Florida Republican Rep. Cory Mills, who has faced his own allegations of misconduct.
Speaker Mike Johnson has previously been opposed to expulsion efforts and has argued that lawmakers deserve due process.
Awaiting Johnson’s next move on DHS funding
Lawmakers return as the Department of Homeland Security’s partial shutdown drags on — hitting Day 66 on Monday when the Senate returns to session.
The partial shutdown is the longest in U.S. history.
Johnson has not yet acted on the Senate’s DHS funding bill, which stripped out funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
It’s not clear what Johnson’s next move will be to attempt to reopen the agency, as he balances threats to the gavel against an arduous path to fully fund DHS’ breadth of agencies via reconciliation.
The Senate plans to move forward with a narrow budget reconciliation bill to fund ICE and CPB for the next three years with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham leading the charge, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
Trump said on Friday that he met with senators Graham and John Barrasso to discuss the matter.
“Reconciliation is ON TRACK, and we are moving FAST and FOCUSED in keeping our Border SECURE, and getting funding to the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department to continue our incredible SUCCESS at MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Friday.
While reconciliation is a lengthy process that sidesteps the filibuster, Trump has demanded that the bill land on his desk by June 1 — an enormous challenge for Republicans navigating small margins in both chambers.
As the next legislative blitz approaches, House Republicans get a smidgeon of relief with the arrival of Rep.-elect Clay Fuller, who won a special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District earlier this month to fill the seat once occupied by Marjorie Taylor Greene. Fuller is expected to take the oath of office during the House’s first vote series on Tuesday, April 14.
The addition means that Johnson can afford to lose two GOP votes with all members voting and present.
Cabinet members defend their budgets
Trump’s FY2027 budget requests also take center stage as several Cabinet secretaries and administration officials are slated to testify before lawmakers including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Director of the United States Office of Management and Budge Russ Vought, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Secret Service Director Sean Curran and more.
Bipartisan backlash over Bondi
While first lady Melania Trump brought the saga around convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein back into the headlines, the GOP-led House Oversight Committee is not slated to hold any depositions this week as part of their ongoing investigation into Epstein. The Department of Justice said former Attorney General Pam Bondi will not appear for a closed-door deposition with the committee on Tuesday, April 14 — which has prompted bipartisan backlash from lawmakers on the committee. The next scheduled deposition is expected April 30.
Conservatives present challenge for Johnson on FISA
House Republican leadership are also aiming to put a clean extension of FISA Section 702, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on the floor for a vote sometime this week. The federal law sets out rules and procedures for gathering foreign intelligence through electronic surveillance, physical searches, pen registers and more.
Johnson and Trump have publicly backed a clean extension through October 2027. However, several House conservatives do not support a clean extension — presenting Johnson a challenge to pass the bill relying on help from Democrats, who are mostly reluctant to help Republicans and Trump accomplish anything legislatively.
Once the House passes FISA legislation, the Senate will need to take up the measure by April 20 — when the law is set to expire.
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(WASHINGTON) — Amid President Donald Trump’s repeated unsubstantiated accusations of rigged voting and calls to nationalize elections, an updated version of the GOP’s signature piece of election reform — now called the SAVE America Act — is set to reach the House floor for a showdown vote later Wednesday.
The original, called the SAVE Act, was sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, passed out of the House in April, but has stalled in the Senate since — attracting intense pushback from Democrats, who say the bill would damage voting accessibility and discriminate against low-income voters who are unable to get government ID.
Trump and top Republicans have argued the revised bill is necessary to protect the country’s election process before the 2026 midterm elections in November.
“America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World,” Trump wrote on social media. “We are either going to fix them, or we won’t have a Country any longer. I am asking all Republicans to fight for the following: SAVE AMERICA ACT!”
There has been no credible evidence of widespread fraud or substantiated claims of U.S. elections being rigged.
What is the SAVE America Act?
Republican lawmakers tout the SAVE America Act as the next step in securing what they call “election integrity.” The bill would restrict mail-in ballots, require photo ID at polling places and mandate states obtain proof of citizenship before registering a person to vote in a federal election.
Citizenship documents include:
This process would include mail voter registration applications, requiring people to provide documented proof to an appropriate election official before being approved.
The bill would also require states to scrub noncitizens from their current voter records and create programs to identify individuals who are not U.S. citizens by using data from various state agencies, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
On Election Day, voters would be expected to bring a valid photo ID which they would be required to present before getting access to the ballot box. If an ID does not have a photo, a voter would have to prove U.S. citizenship or provide the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number.
Along with ID requirements, Trump has called for restrictions on voting by mail, disallowing mail-in voting except for instances of illness, disability, military or travel.
Several high-ranking Republican leaders allege the bill would stop instances of noncitizens voting in elections, an issue they argue has damaged the credibility of election results.
Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting in federal and state elections, though some cities allow noncitizens to vote on some local elections.
“A number of states deliberately don’t want to check whether or not somebody’s here legally when they register, and then they mandate in some states that they can’t show picture ID. That’s a recipe for voter fraud,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said during an interview on Fox News. “…one person, one vote only matters if you’re having these protections like the SAVE America Act.”
Experts have long insisted that noncitizen voting is a rare problem. Voter roll audits before the 2024 elections in Georgia found only 20 registered noncitizens out of 8.2 million registered voters statewide. Nine of those actually cast a ballot.
The president has suggested noncitizen voting has allowed Democrats to win elections when they otherwise shouldn’t have, including unfounded claims that Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election.
“We need fair elections. We need elections where people aren’t able to cheat. And we’re going to do that, I’m going to do that, I’m going to get it done,” Trump said.
Why the controversy?
Implementing voter ID is not a novel idea in the United States. The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks 36 states that require voters to show some sort of identification at the polls.
Sentiment over voter ID is also recorded as mostly positive, with a Pew Research Center poll citing 83% of the 3,554 Americans surveyed as in favor of requiring all voters to show government issued photo IDs before voting.
In that same survey, 58% of respondents said they were in favor of maintaining mail-in voting.
Still, key Democrats on Capitol Hill have been strongly opposed to the bill, arguing it makes voting more difficult and less accessible.
“Our elections are key to our democracy. The SAVE Act would make it harder for registered, legal voters to vote,” California Democrat Rep. Mike Thomson said. “At a time when the president is talking about nationalizing elections, we must protect our democracy and every voter’s choice.”
Though the bill made it through the House with a 220-208 vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the bill would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.
“The Republicans’ SAVE Act reads more like a how-to guide for voter suppression. It goes against the very foundations of our democracy,” Schumer said. “Mark my words: This will not pass the Senate.”
Others, such as Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), argue Republicans are deliberately timing the change in voter rules before consequential midterm elections.
“Republicans will stop at nothing to interfere with the 2026 midterms — including leveraging ICE to gain access to sensitive voter information or pass their anti-democratic SAVE Act,” Padilla said. “We’re not going to let them get away with their attempts to suppress the right to vote.”
In the Senate, the bill would need to garner support from some Democrats in order to overcome a 60-vote threshold to advance over an expected Democratic filibuster.
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(WASHINGTON) — In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Colorado’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy” for minors as a violation of counselors’ free speech rights under the First Amendment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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