Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) found himself under intense scrutiny amid questions about whether he was strong enough to counter a more assertive second Trump administration. While the spotlight has since faded a bit, the angst is being felt in the Democrats’ 2026 primary elections.

Republican leaders are rapidly running out of ways to pay for President Trump’s agenda as GOP lawmakers shoot down various proposals to cut spending or increase revenues.

Without finding some new ideas, the GOP risks adding trillions of dollars to future deficits by passing Trump’s agenda, something many conservatives are loathe to do.

Outside observers are expressing pessimism the Republicans will land on ideas that have enough support to get passed into law.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who finished in second place to President Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, has distinguished himself from MAGA World by declaring his skepticism of long-term tariffs, remaining a hawk on Russia and coming out against proposals to tax the rich.

By calling out tariffs as “taxes on American consumers” and sticking to his view that Russia poses a serious threat to U.S. interests, Cruz may be laying the groundwork to run against Trump’s heir apparent, Vice President Vance, in a 2028 Republican primary.

Things are about to get uncomfortable in Washington for Google.

Top Republicans in Congress are leaning hard on the tech giant to make its content policies friendlier to the GOP, after winning that fight with social media companies Meta and X.

Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz of Texas and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio are now putting pressure on Google and its parent company Alphabet, which owns both the internet’s dominant search engine and the popular YouTube video platform.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) said he is traveling to El Salvador on Wednesday to check on the status of a deported legal resident. 

Kilmar Abrego Garcia made headlines after being removed by the Trump administration in an “administrative error” and sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT maximum security prison to be detained. 

“Following his abduction and unlawful deportation, U.S. federal courts have ordered the safe return of my constituent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States,” Van Hollen said in a Tuesday statement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson was forced to postpone a scheduled Wednesday vote on a plan that will serve as a vehicle for legislation to extend President Trump’s tax cuts before they expire at the end of the year. Hours of arm-twisting could not convince a contingent of House Republicans, concerned about mounting debt, to go along with a Senate-passed resolution with a low floor for spending cuts. They are right to resist.

Cracks are growing between congressional Republicans and President Trump over his tariff policy, with some lawmakers looking to strip him of his unilateral tariff authority and others seeking briefings from the White House on the strategy amid growing economic tumult.

The U.S. Senate on Friday was set to start a marathon session aimed at eventually handing Republican President Donald Trump sweeping legislation to extend tax cuts and achieve budget reductions in the face of staunch Democratic opposition.

Late on Thursday, the Senate narrowly voted to open debate on a budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning on October 1. The 52-48 vote was needed to unlock a fast-track procedure for pole-vaulting the costly tax cuts over blockades that Democrats normally could erect in opposition to the legislation...

The Senate GOP budget plan designed to usher President Trump’s sweeping domestic priorities into law is getting an ice-cold reception from Republicans in the House, where conservatives are balking at the low levels of mandated spending cuts and the heightened deficits that could result. 

Several Republican senators joined Democrats to pass a resolution that would block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare rebuke of the president’s trade policy just hours after he announced plans for sweeping import taxes on some of the country’s largest trading partners.