Recess Countdown
August is oh so near. With their summer recess beckoning, lawmakers will try to pack as much must-do work as possible into the week ahead.
Jack Fitzpatrick reports that there could be an effort in the Senate to pack a few spending bills into a “minibus” package. Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she’d like to get action on a two-, three-, or four-bill combo.
When Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was asked about quickly dispatching all four of the spending bills that have made it through Collins’ committee, he said “Hold that thought.”
On the House side, the Appropriations Committee’s schedule calls for a subcommittee markup Monday of the Financial Services bill. Then the full committee would vote on the Interior bill Tuesday, the National Security bill Wednesday, and the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations Thursday.
For more on the week ahead, including planned oversight hearings and what this summer’s dustups may tell us about what to expect this fall,
check out this morning’s edition of Congress Tracker.
See Also:
- Vought, Senate GOP at Odds Over More Partisan Spending Push
- Senators Advance Funding Bills Despite FBI Headquarters Rift
- House Passes Defense Funding Bill, Advancing Top GOP Priority
- Transit Cut, Aviation Boosted in Spending Bill Headed to Floor
- Republicans Work to Advance Spending Bill Targeting Renewables
Minus One
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) will formally resign from Congress Sunday night, temporarily narrowing the House Republican majority to 219-212.
Look for Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) to set primaries for Oct. 7 and a special general election for Dec. 2 in Green’s 7th District, a Republican-leaning swath of west-central Tennessee that picks up part of Nashville.
Green is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Republicans will move quickly to fill that vacancy. The GOP Steering Committee is planning to make its recommendation next week. Contenders include Reps. Carlos Giménez (Fla.), Michael Guest (Miss.), Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.), and Clay Higgins (La.).
— Greg Giroux
Texas Reconsiders
Re-redistricting is a key part of the president’s plans for Republicans to retain control of the House, an effort that begins Monday when a special session of the Texas legislature is scheduled to convene.
President Donald Trump told reporters this week that he’s spoken with Republican lawmakers about shifting boundary lines to add as many as five GOP-favoring seats. (Right now, Republicans hold 25 of the Texas delegation’s 38 seats.)
“We are going to fight this disgusting power grab and stand up for our constituents,” said state Rep. Chris Turner (D). That brings us to how Democrats might fight back. Denial of a quorum is one way for an outnumbered political party to thwart legislation, so Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned lawmakers not to leave the state.
“If Democrats ignore their duty to their constituents by breaking quorum, they should be found and arrested no matter where they go,” Paxton, who’s also a US Senate candidate, wrote on X. “My office stands ready to assist local, state, and federal authorities in hunting down and compelling the attendance of anyone who abandons their office and their constituents for cheap political theater.” Read More
Eye on the Economy
Inflation-watchers will pay attention today when the University of Michigan releases the preliminary results of its July consumer-sentiment survey.
Those opinions matter, because people who feel confident about being able to afford vacations, cars, appliances, and everyday groceries make different purchasing decisions than those who worry about their near-term finances. And less buying means less business for companies, and less work for employees.
Many businesses have opted to hold off on price increases so they don’t have to do so multiple times and risk antagonizing their customers, Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a note this week.
A rise in prices “will likely weigh on consumer demand in the coming months – and we do expect to see a pullback in goods spending as a result,” wrote Royal Bank of Canada economists Michael Reid and Carrie Freestone.
Next week we’ll see a couple more signposts about the direction of the economy, with updated figures on home sales and orders for durable goods.
And time is short for trading partners to cut deals to avoid the tariffs that the US has said it will unilaterally impose on Aug. 1. Those levies will be separate from any anti-dumping duties, such as the 17% levy imposed earlier this week on tomatoes from Mexico and the newly announced 93.5% tax on imports of Chinese graphite, a key battery component.
With a vote on whether to lower interest rates coming later this month, look for more criticism and accusations directed at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The Fed is designed to be independent, with firing power restricted to malfeasance in office. Now, Trump and his allies are complaining about Fed building renovations costing more than was anticipated when the bids went out. “It’s possible there’s fraud involved with the $2.5 billion renovation,” Trump said. Read about Powell’s latest response.
See also:
- Tariffs Risk Igniting Inflation Even Though Effects Muted So Far
- Summers Warns of ‘Massive Inflation Psychology’ From Trump Rates
- Trump Urges Supreme Court to Reject Challenge to His Tariffs
- Daly Says Fed Shouldn’t Wait Too Long to Start Cutting Rates
- Trump U-Turn Spurs Talk of a Grand Bargain with China on Tech
Greenlighting AI
The White House is preparing policy guidelines for artificial intelligence that will call for easing regulations and expanding energy sources for data centers, Oma Seddiq and Stephanie Lai report. The directive is to be published in the coming days.
People briefed by administration say the proposal will be largely focused on messaging and limited to executive branch actions, with part of the plan going into effect through executive orders. Read More
Trump’s Diagnosis
The White House Medical Unit conducted a “comprehensive examination” after recent photos showed Trump with swollen ankles and a bruised hand, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing.
The conclusion: the swelling is related to chronic venous insufficiency, a disease that occurs when damaged valves inside the veins struggle to keep blood flowing from the legs back to the heart. Leavitt called it a “common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.” Trump is 79. Read More
He’s His Own Assistant
Trump may have found a way to bypass the Senate and keep his preferred prosecutor in office as a long-term temp.
John Sarcone’s term as acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York had run out. Now a spokesperson says Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him as “Special Attorney to the Attorney General” as well as the district’s “First Assistant U.S. Attorney,” which lets him fill the vacancy created by his departure from the top post.
The succession maneuver shows the administration’s willingness to strategically exercise its powers to keep people in roles who likely wouldn’t be confirmed by the Senate, Suzanne Monyak reports. Read More
Before You Go
Today was the deadline for getting a rescissions bill through Congress. Yes, they made it. The House cleared it, 216-213, after a Senate vote of 51-48, and it now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. In addition to cutting $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funds, the bill would end a swath of foreign aid projects and close the US Institute of Peace. Read More
Trump has changed his tune on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval, ” he said in a Truth Social post. And Bondi posted that the Justice Department is ready to go to court today to ask that the grand jury transcripts be unsealed. Read More
Full Slate Ahead: The short-handed NLRB has issued six published decisions since Trump’s inauguration, compared to 60 during the same six-month period in 2024. Now Trump has made two nominations which, if the Senate agrees, would give the agency enough board members to fully function, Robert Iafolla reports. Read More
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