Senate Judiciary Advances Blanche for AG as Chamber Races to Pass Stopgap Funding Bill Before August Recess
In its final week before the month-long August recess, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination to the full Senate, while senators separately advanced a bipartisan stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded through December 11 and avert a pre-midterm shutdown.
The Senate is in its last week of work before a month-long August recess, and two major storylines dominated activity over the past 48 hours: a contested attorney general nomination and a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Blanche's nomination in a 10-12 vote along party lines Tuesday, with all Republicans voting in his favor and all Democrats against, after the vote had been postponed last week when Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina withheld their votes until the Justice Department modified a settlement agreement with the IRS. Blanche is President Trump's former criminal defense lawyer and currently serves as acting attorney general. The committee vote was a marked turnaround for Blanche, who just days earlier appeared at risk of seeing his nomination stall over concerns about the Justice Department's controversial $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund." According to NPR, Blanche rescinded that fund in a push for confirmation.
His path to the floor remains uncertain. In the hours after the committee vote, Collins said in a statement she would not vote to confirm him, writing that the Department of Justice has become increasingly political and that Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department's independence. GOP leaders in the Senate hope to hold a final confirmation vote for Blanche before leaving for the August recess at the end of the week.
On government funding, Senate leaders reached a breakthrough. Senate leaders struck a bipartisan agreement to keep the government funded past the 2026 midterm elections, announced Sunday by Appropriations Chair Susan Collins and Vice Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash. Funding currently expires at the end of Sept. 30, triggering a full government shutdown on Oct. 1 if Congress fails to act; the continuing resolution would keep funds flowing at existing levels until Dec. 11. The Senate voted 89-4 on Monday to take up the bill and consider amendments, an encouraging sign that something could get done before the chamber heads to recess.
The Senate measure differs from the House version. The House passed a separate CR on July 21 that extends funding through Dec. 4, 2026. The Senate version also delays the Office of Management and Budget from finalizing its federal financial assistance proposed rule and prohibits any similar measure from being issued before Dec. 11 — a provision Democrats sought over concerns the rule would put political appointees in charge of grant approvals. The House, which is already in recess, will return later in the month to take up the Senate's proposal.
The broader appropriations picture remains unresolved. Of about a dozen bills that need to get done, the House has passed just three and the Senate none, and Congress is scheduled to be in session only about four weeks in September. The Senate also worked through a slate of nominations this week, including cloture on Dr. Erica Schwartz to lead the CDC and several Treasury Department picks.
Highlights: - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 on Tuesday, along party lines, to advance Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general after he rescinded a controversial $1.8 billion Justice Department "anti-weaponization" fund. - The Senate voted 89-4 on Monday to take up a bipartisan continuing resolution funding the government through December 11, 2026, roughly two months ahead of the September 30 deadline. - Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Appropriations Committee, said she will vote against Blanche's confirmation, citing what she called the growing politicization of the Justice Department.