👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Michael’s List, Once Upon a Hill’s new free week-in-review countdown companion to Congress Nerd—from a reporter who roamed the halls, read the bills and raised the questions so you can understand the tortuous intersection of legislative process and politics and create the change you want to see.

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Programming note: Once Upon a Hill will be taking a breather for Thanksgiving week (Nov. 24–28). Congress Nerd will return to your inbox on Monday, Dec. 1, with the same sharp reporting and clear-eyed analysis you count on. Enjoy the holiday, and thanks so much for reading.

Now, on to the week that was.

10. The House passed a trio of disapproval resolutions under the Congressional Review Act that each move the Trump 2.0-era environmental policy further away from former President Joe Biden’s climate-first public lands policy by reinstating a development-first posture across federal land in the West and Arctic. The first resolution would overturn a Bureau of Land Management plan that reshapes how millions of acres in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin can be used. The second would roll back the Interior Department’s move to halt oil and gas leasing on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain. The final resolution targets a BLM rule that placed new conservation protections across large portions of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, limiting the footprint of new oil and gas projects—including around the area affected by ConocoPhillips’ Willow project. Read more…

9. The House passed two bills this week in the Republican Party’s broader fight over the District of Columbia’s home rule. The first would override D.C.’s local laws by requiring judges to impose cash bail in a wide range of criminal cases—a sharp departure from D.C.’s long-standing system that relies primarily on risk assessments and supervised release. The bill effectively replaces the District’s own criminal-justice judgment with Congress’s, despite D.C. voters and local leaders having no vote in the matter. Republicans argued the change is necessary to address rising crime, while Democrats countered that Congress is imposing a one-size-fits-all system that will jail more low-income residents pretrial without improving public safety.

The second bill would void D.C.’s clean-energy and climate standards, including programs designed to cut emissions, modernize buildings and shift the city toward renewable power. It directs federal agencies to disregard D.C.’s environmental rules and bars the District from enforcing them on federal property, which covers a large share of the city’s footprint. Supporters view the bill as a check on what they call burdensome regulations. D.C. leaders see it as Congress tearing up locally approved environmental policies that took years to develop. Read more…

8. The House this morning passed a symbolic resolution condemning socialism as a dangerous political and economic model, citing the historic failures of socialist governments around the world and the human suffering associated with them. The measure, which was approved by a 285-98–2 margin, doesn’t change the law or create new policy but fits into a broader pattern of Republican efforts this Congress to force high-profile votes on charged cultural or ideological questions.

It also comes as New York City elected self-styled democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as its mayor earlier this week and as the Democratic Socialists of America have intensified its efforts to recruit primary challengers to unseat establishment incumbents. (Related: Mamdani and Trump are scheduled to meet this afternoon in the Oval Office.)

House Democratic leadership did not whip—the formal process of influencing the outcome of a vote—the resolution but did note House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) opposed it as a blatant attempt to tie government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other policies that increase affordability for the American people to the authoritarian regimes mentioned in the bill. Read more…

7. A new poll this week showed Democrats leading Republicans by 14 points on the 2026 generic congressional ballot. The 55–41 percent gap is the widest since the summer of 2022. Meanwhile, President Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 39 percent, with 56 percent disapproving and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) strongly disapproving of his performance. Read more…

6. Indiana state lawmakers rejected President Trump’s latest demand for them to redraw one or both Democratic congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. The demand came on the same day a panel of federal judges blocked Texas from using the redrawn congressional maps that set off the redistricting wars Trump initiated to maintain Republican control of the House during the final two years of his second term. Read more…

5. President Trump on Wednesday signed a bill to require Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all documents in the Justice Department’s possession related to the late convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. The House approved the bill in a 427–1 vote the day before. Hours later, Chuck Schumer secured unanimous consent to pass it as soon as it reached the Senate. Read more…

4. The economy added 119,000 jobs and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent in September, which is a tick higher than a year ago. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said that because the shutdown halted data collection for October and the missing survey responses cannot be reconstructed, it would not publish an October jobs report. Read more…

3. Senate Republicans objected to a unanimous consent request from Democrats to pass a bill the House unanimously approved to repeal a provision in the government funding bill that ended the shutdown that would allow eight senators to sue the Justice Department over the Arctic Frost subpoenas. House Republicans were eager to distance themselves from a provision that appeared to be self-dealing, while at least some Senate Republicans seem determined to preserve it. Read more…

2. Democrats slammed a proposal Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced on Thursday that would keep the Affordable Care Act framework in place but would provide accounts that would receive federal subsidies directly instead of routing them to insurers. With millions of Americans already in open enrollment and facing sharp premium spikes if the ACA premium tax credits at the center of the recent shutdown showdown aren’t extended, Democrats argue it’s too late to introduce any new legislation aimed at repealing or replacing the ACA. In the meantime, House Democrats are a half dozen signatures away from forcing a vote on a bill that would extend the premium subsidies for three years. Read more…

Related: House Democratic health leaders introduced an updated prescription drug pricing bill on Thursday aimed at expanding Medicare’s negotiating power and shutting down loopholes created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Trump’s signature second-term domestic achievement.

1. After spending more than 50 days effectively sidelined during the record shutdown, the House returned to Washington for its first full week of legislative action. It quickly plunged into a series of censure and disapproval fights that underscored how routine formal punishment has become in an era of hyperpartisanship. Censure was a tool that was once deployed only a few dozen times across nearly two centuries, but now is a recurring feature of floor action, reflecting the broader polarization of the institution and the country it represents—and highlighting how much time the chamber is devoting to symbolic discipline even as it struggles to move major legislation on everything from the economy to foreign crises.

Lawmakers first approved a rare disapproval resolution against Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), formally reprimanding the retiring Illinois Democrat over the way he timed his retirement to benefit a preferred successor. They then turned to a Republican measure to censure Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands for allegedly “colluding” with Jeffrey Epstein by exchanging texts during a 2019 hearing, a charge she has denied. The effort failed on the floor after Democrats stuck together and a handful of Republicans balked.

A separate push led by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to censure Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.)—citing ethics complaints, past allegations of violence and questions about his record—was blocked when the House declined to allow an up-or-down vote and instead shunted related Mills resolutions to the Ethics Committee. At the same time, Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick’s indictment on federal fraud charges has already drawn a threatened expulsion or censure drive from Republicans, signaling that the next round of disciplinary battles may not be far off. Read more…

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Michael’s List, Once Upon a Hill’s new free week-in-review companion to Congress Nerd—from a reporter who’s roamed the halls, read the bills and raised the questions so you can understand the tortuous intersection of legislative process and politics and create the change you want to see.

Paid subscribers receive all my scoops, analysis and updates in their inbox each weekday evening that help them navigate the First Branch with the same clarity and confidence as the political and policy professionals who actually exercise power in Washington, online and everywhere in between. Upgrade your experience for less than 20 cents a day to join them.

Now, on to the week that was.

1) Congress reopens the government

After a 54-day recess, the House returned on Wednesday to pass the bill that finally ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Six Democrats joined all but two Republicans to send the package to President Donald Trump, who signed it within hours. The deal extends current spending levels through Jan. 30—giving appropriators roughly two months to finish the remaining nine annual funding bills—and folds in three of the 12 measures that cover military construction, veterans’ programs, the Agriculture Department, the FDA and congressional operations. It also reinstates the federal workers fired during the shutdown with back pay and blocks the Trump administration from carrying out any mass firings while the CR is in effect.

2) Eight Senate Democrats break ranks to end shutdown

The House vote capped a deal brokered by New Hampshire’s two Democratic senators—Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan—and Maine independent Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats. Five additional Democrats joined them, giving Republicans the 60 votes needed to advance the bill and break the funding stalemate. The eight immediately drew blowback from most congressional Democrats and much of the party’s base, who saw last week’s off-year election wins as a mandate to keep pressing for an extension of the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits. But the senators defended the agreement, noting that it guarantees a floor vote on an ACA extension by the second week of December and shields both SNAP and federal workers from being weaponized in the next round of funding talks.

3) Democrats vow to keep health care center stage

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has repeatedly refused to commit to a House vote—even if the Senate sends over a bill—and President Trump has again called on Republicans to repeal and replace the ACA, reviving an effort that famously collapsed in his first term after the late Sen. John McCain’s iconic thumbs-down. These two developments ensure health care will remain in the national conversation for the foreseeable future as both parties battle over the best policy solution. House Democratic leaders urged members this week to stay disciplined on Republicans’ refusal to act as open enrollment begins and families brace for premiums that could double, triple, or even quadruple amid a broader affordability crisis the president has downplayed. Democrats also filed a discharge petition to force a vote on a three-year subsidy extension—the same timeline Congress adopted in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act—but the effort is unlikely to secure the necessary signatures to trigger a vote.

4) Trump-district Democrat targets one of her own

Just before the funding vote, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez—who represents a Southwest Washington district President Donald Trump won by three points—filed a disapproval resolution aimed at fellow Democrat Jesús “Chuy” García. She argues García’s last-minute decision to retire rather than seek re-election was designed to clear the way for his chief of staff to succeed him. Garcia pointed to a series of personal events as the catalyst for his choice. As I scooped in Thursday’s Congress Nerd, House Democratic leadership plans to work against the resolution if Republicans bring it to the floor, a swift move meant to prevent the kind of corrosion of unity Democrats say they can’t afford heading into major year-end fights and the 2026 cycle. While Gluesenkamp Perez has a few supporters, some members criticized the resolution as an unnecessary distraction. One House Democrat I spoke with went further, describing it as “a Karen,” the online shorthand for women who police others’ behavior in an entitled way.

5) Grijalva finally takes the oath of office

Fifty days after winning her special election in a deep-blue Tucson district, Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) was finally sworn in on Wednesday as the first Latina ever elected to the House from Arizona. Speaker Johnson had refused to administer the oath during any of the House’s non-voting sessions throughout the shutdown, an unprecedented break with the long-standing practice of swearing in newly elected members as soon as possible so their constituents aren’t left voiceless. His delay effectively denied more than 800,000 Arizonans representation during the funding lapse and drew condemnation from Democrats who accused him of abusing procedural control for political gain. Moments after taking the oath, Grijalva became the crucial 218th signer of the bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote to release the Epstein Files, which Johnson says will occur next week. Under normal timelines, the final signature would have triggered a seven-legislative-day waiting period and put a potential vote on track for early December unless Johnson intervened through the Rules Committee.

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The best of the rest

6) Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is recovering from a fall during a morning walk near his home in the east suburbs of Pittsburgh. … 7) Reps. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) led dozens of Democrats in charging that the Trump administration is using U.S. beef policy as a political weapon instead of addressing families’ real economic hardships. … 8) The Supreme Court quietly shut down a bid to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision that guaranteed nationwide marriage equality. … 9) House Homeland Security Committee Democrats pressed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel for a briefing on a newly reported FBI directive that warns criminals are posing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. … 10) A group of Senate Democrats introduced new legislation to curb President Trump’s expanding use of the military inside the United States. … 11) A bicameral group of Democrats urged 19 Democratic governors today to end state data-sharing practices that allow ICE to access driver’s license records. … 12) Members of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition warned that the United States’ failure to participate in COP30 marks a dangerous step backward in the fight against global warming. … 13) Appellate judge Dianna Gibson adopted a map submitted by voting-rights groups that carves out a clear Democratic-leaning district in Utah centered around north Salt Lake County. … 14) Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and John Curtis (R-Utah) convened a bipartisan talk on political violence at Utah Valley University, where Charlie Kirk was assassinated during a speech two months ago. … 15) Labor Caucus co-chairs told Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol the company is reneging on its February 2024 deal to bargain with Workers United and is engaging in what they describe as union-busting. … 16) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) voiced support for Starbucks workers who walked off the job as part of a national strike aimed at pressuring the company to resume stalled contract negotiations. … 17) Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) led over 50 Democrats in pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to increase U.S. aid to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa. … 18) Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) announced that she will retire at the end of her current term, closing out more than five decades in public service to New Jersey and the nation. … 19) Democrats on the House Education Committee warned Education Secretary Linda McMahon that staff cuts in the Office of Postsecondary Education jeopardize aid for HBCUs, TCUs and MSIs. … 20) Reps. Nellie Pou (D-N.J.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) led a bipartisan appeal urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to restore the DOJ’s defense of the HSIs program. … 21) Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) led a group of Senate Democrats in formally objecting to the White House’s suspension of a rule that closed a major export-control loophole that allowed foreign firms linked to black-listed entities to access advanced U.S. technology. … 22) Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) reintroduced a package of bills aimed at protecting immigrant veterans from deportation and restoring access to the benefits they’ve earned through military service.

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to This Week in Congress, a preview of the week’s legislative storylines for the people who take the votes, write the bills, shape the agenda, move the message and run the campaigns—and those working to influence them.

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Now onto the week ahead…

The Main Event

The House is set to vote this week on a slate of crime bills aimed squarely at the District of Columbia, the latest front in Republicans’ campaign to weaken the city’s home rule authority. The package, which advanced out of the Oversight Committee last Wednesday alongside 10 other measures, would tighten sentencing laws, shield local police from council oversight, lower the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults and curtail the independence of the city’s judicial nomination process.

The crime votes will also land in a compressed and volatile calendar. With both chambers out next week for the High Holy Days, lawmakers have only this week and the final two days of September to avert a government shutdown. GOP leaders have floated the possibility of bringing a short-term funding extension to the floor, but the policy details remain murky and the path to bipartisan passage is even less clear.

The floor fight will occur just days after President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration in D.C. expired, a move that temporarily handed the federal government sweeping authority over the city’s public safety apparatus. Congress declined to extend the order, but Republicans are pressing ahead with their own legislative crackdown, seizing on the moment to argue that local officials can’t be trusted to manage crime without direct federal intervention.

All of this is unfolding against a national backdrop in which Trump is testing the limits of federal intervention in local crime policy under the banner of public safety. On Friday, he announced plans to send federal resources into Memphis and is eyeing New Orleans next—both Democratic-led cities in Republican states, where GOP governors are less likely to stand in his way. That’s a sharp contrast with Chicago, where Illinois leaders like Gov. J.B. Pritzker successfully resisted his push.

The political crosscurrents are complicated further by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s longtime voice in Congress. Norton has built her career on defending home rule, but this latest round of intervention has sparked whispers—and in some quarters, outright calls—for her to step aside. Critics say her advocacy lacks the vigor of years past, leaving D.C. without the full-throated champion it once had at precisely the moment its autonomy is most under siege.

Meanwhile, the Oversight Committee isn’t done. Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has summoned D.C.’s top leadership to testify at a September 18 hearing, setting the stage for a high-profile clash between Congress and the city’s elected officials. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, and Attorney General Brian Schwalb are all slated to appear in a lineup that guarantees a combative airing of how the District manages crime and governance, just as Republicans push their slate of bills to the House floor.

House Happenings

Beyond the D.C. crime package, the House will also take up several energy bills, including measures to expand cross-border infrastructure, reestablish the National Coal Council, and bolster grid reliability.

A hefty slate of legislation is queued up for fast-track consideration on the suspension calendar, with the Veterans’ Affairs Committee leading the way on more than a dozen bipartisan bills to expand telehealth, modernize claims processing, improve cancer care coordination and authorize new scholarships and digital services for veterans.

Other suspensions include a bipartisan extension of the Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer programs, water infrastructure and technical assistance measures from the Transportation Committee, and the “Miracle on Ice” Congressional Gold Medal Act out of Financial Services.

Senate Scenes

The Senate this week will take up a resolution to authorize en bloc consideration of presidential nominees (voting on them in groups rather than one by one) after Republicans went nuclear to cut the threshold for subcabinet officials from 60 votes to a simple majority in response to Democrats’ all-out blockade of Trump’s picks. It’s the latest step in the erosion of Senate norms that began when Democrats lowered the bar for judicial appointments and Republicans followed suit for Supreme Court nominees in the 2010s. Senators will then turn to the nomination of Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, while action on the FY26 defense bill is expected to continue with additional votes throughout the week.

Committee Watch

Monday

• House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization: Hearing on advancing VA care through artificial intelligence.

• House Rules Committee: Meeting to set floor procedures for the D.C. crime bills and several energy measures, including grid reliability, cross-border infrastructure and the National Coal Council.

Tuesday

• Senate Judiciary Committee: Oversight hearing to examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• House Agriculture Committee: Hearing on the state of the specialty crop industry.

• House Small Business Committee: Hearing on SBA lending and access to capital for Main Street businesses.

• House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education: Hearing on reforming college pricing for students and families.

• House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight: Hearing on where tax-exempt hospitals are spending their tax dollars.

• House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance: Hearing on the rising threat of malicious drone use.

• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment: Hearing on permitting reform under the Clean Air Act.

• Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism: Hearing to examine AI chatbots.

• Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety: Hearing on missing unaccompanied children and criminal sponsors.

Wednesday

• House Judiciary Committee: Oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance: Hearing on reauthorizing the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002.

• House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Economic Growth: Hearing on expanded school choice and alternatives to four-year college degrees.

• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee: Hearing to review recent events at the CDC and implications for children’s health.

• House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation: Hearing on the future of artificial intelligence.

• U.S. Helsinki Commission: Hearing on conspiracy theories, antisemitism and democratic decline.

• Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: Hearing on successes and opportunities under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act at the Department of the Interior and Indian Health Service.

• Senate Special Committee on Aging: Hearing on drug safety, supply chains, and risks to aging Americans.

• Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee: Hearing on strengthening services for veterans with spinal cord injuries.

Thursday

• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health: Hearing on policies to enhance seniors’ access to breakthrough medical technologies.

• House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet: Hearing on a national AI strategy.

• House Oversight and Government Reform Committee: Hearing on oversight of the District of Columbia.

• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee: Hearing on the state of K–12 education.

• Senate Armed Services Committee: Hearing to examine Defense Department nominations, including inspector general and assistant secretary posts.

• House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence: Hearing on unlocking the next generation of AI in the U.S. financial system.

• House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: Hearing on solutions to expedite broadband permitting.

ICYMI

I wrote about how the demands of rank-and-file Democrats for sprawling concessions from Republicans in exchange for their votes to keep the government open are colliding with leadership’s preference to keep the focus on preserving health care for millions of Americans.

I also explored the intense interest lawmakers have taken in the WNBA, as Connecticut’s delegation lobbies to keep the team in the state and House Democrats promote equity as players negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the league’s owners.

And for COURIER Newsroom, I wrote about how President Trump is considering addressing the affordable housing crisis the same way he’s taken on crime, immigration and trade—by declaring a national emergency—and how his decision could serve as another instance of the little patience he has for the ordinary way of doing business in Washington.

The Main Event

While congressional leaders resume work this week on a path to avoid a government shutd…

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