SENATE UPDATE: Big Week in the Senate, Great Campaign Ad in Kentucky
Senate passed the $9 billion rescissions bill while Nate Morris launches another great TV ad in Kentucky
Last Week
Last week was one of the best of the year in the U.S. Senate!
The week began with the confirmation of conservative lawyer Whitney Hermandorfer to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (46-42). Hermandorfer — a former clerk to three conservative Supreme Court justices — is the first new appellate judge of President Trump’s second term.
The week ended with the passage of a $9 billion Rescissions Package to immediately defund dozens of foreign aid programs and Public Broadcasting (51-48). Gutting NPR and PBS is another huge win that Republicans promised for decades… and Donald Trump finally delivered.
Conservative Spotlight
BILL HAGERTY — Sen. Bill Hagerty’s (R-TN) GENIUS Act is officially the law of the land! In a huge win for economic freedom, President Trump signed Hagerty’s stablecoin legislation last Thursday. Hagerty — one of SCF’s priority candidates for 2026 — went head-to-head with Elizabeth Warren and the Left for months to win this historic fight. The GENIUS Act will ensure dollar supremacy in global cryptocurrency markets. And it keeps Trump’s longstanding promise to make the United States the world capital of digital asset innovation.
RAND PAUL — Did you hear? Joe Biden didn’t sign Dr. Anthony Fauci’s pardon! In fact, Biden didn’t sign thousands of the pardons his staff auto-penned at the end of his presidency. If Biden didn’t know about the pardons, they’re invalid. As soon as the news broke, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) reissued a criminal referral to the Justice Department to investigate the disgraced Fauci for perjuring himself before Paul’s committee.
NATE MORRIS — Nate Morris — the conservative rising star running to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky — launched a new campaign ad. In it, Morris calls out his moderate primary opponents for being soft on amnesty, just like their mentor, Mitch. Morris closes the ad with a gut punch at his RINO rivals: “I’m a Trump guy, not a McConnell boy.”
This Week
The Senate has one vote scheduled so far for this week: to confirm Terrance Cole to lead the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Several other nominations are also teed up for potential votes this week, including two more Trump judicial picks.
Finally, the Senate is expected to take up the first of the 2026 spending bills: Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies. This bill will begin funding President Trump’s rebuilding of our military after four years of neglect under Joe Biden. Congress passing individual spending bills can also prevent insiders from trying to pass a massive, porked-up omnibus package at the end of the Fiscal Year.
