Read more

IN THIS EDITION

• Blanche rejects Democrats’ claims of politicized DOJ

• Clark splits with Jeffries on Israel aid

• House GOP releases Reconciliation 3.0 blueprint

• Trump pushes ICE to resume traffic stops

• CBC backs independent investigation in Nolan Xavier Wells death

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Blanche rejects Democrats’ claims of politicized DOJ

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you.

Todd Blanche spent nearly five hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee today defending his record as President Donald Trump’s deputy attorney general and arguing he would lead the Justice Department independently if confirmed as attorney general.

Democrats weren’t buying it.

Instead, they repeatedly cast Blanche as an extension of Trump’s personal legal operation, pressing him on everything from the now-abandoned $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund and the blanket Jan. 6 pardons to the Epstein files, politically sensitive prosecutions and the Justice Department’s relationship with the White House.

Republicans, meanwhile, largely used their time to reinforce Blanche’s case while focusing on issues including the Jack Smith investigation, medication abortion, election integrity and immigration enforcement.

The hearing also unfolded against a newly uncertain political backdrop following the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was expected to support Blanche’s nomination in committee. If Democrats remain united in opposition, Republicans will have even less room for defections than anticipated, putting additional attention on senators including John Cornyn (R-Texas), who told reporters afterward he remains undecided, and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who appeared more satisfied with Blanche’s assurances.

The fund that wouldn’t go away: The anti-weaponization fund dominated much of the hearing, drawing questions from both Republicans and Democrats.

Blanche repeatedly insisted the proposal is finished.

“It is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund,” Blanche said. “The weaponization fund is dead. It’s not moving forward.”

He told Cornyn the Justice Department decided independently not to pursue the fund before informing President Trump and argued there was nothing left to debate.

Still, Cornyn remained skeptical.

Later, he told reporters he remains undecided on Blanche’s nomination because he still wants assurances the proposal cannot be revived—a notable sign the issue continues to complicate Blanche’s confirmation even after the department abandoned it.

Tillis, another closely watched Republican vote, struck a different tone, urging Blanche to “stick a fork in this turkey” by helping draft legislative language to permanently end the debate.

Democrats question Blanche’s independence: Democrats repeatedly returned to the same central question of whether Blanche would serve the Justice Department or President Trump.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) challenged Blanche on whether the DOJ operates independently from the White House.

Blanche responded that the Justice Department “like every single department in the executive is part of the executive,” while insisting elsewhere that he would faithfully follow the law.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) pressed him on whether a president has the authority to direct investigations of perceived political enemies, while Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) questioned Blanche about prosecutions involving former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Booker argued senators shouldn’t judge Blanche by the promises he made during the hearing but by the decisions he has already made as deputy attorney general.

“This isn’t a confirmation hearing,” Booker said. “This is more of a performance review.”

He accused Blanche of repeatedly favoring Trump’s interests over those of the Justice Department.

“You seem to be favoring the interests of a president over the powerful. You’ve chosen Trump over truth. You’ve chosen corporations over the Constitution,” Booker said. “The attorney general’s client is not the president; it’s the American people.”

The stakes of that debate were visible inside the hearing room.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who is facing federal charges stemming from last year’s confrontation outside Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center, stood quietly in the back of the hearing room as senators questioned Blanche. Her office circulated a fact sheet accusing Blanche of personally overseeing key decisions in the case, an allegation that underscores Democrats’ broader argument that the department has become increasingly willing to pursue politically sensitive cases against Trump’s critics.

The familiar flashpoints: The hearing repeatedly circled back to issues that have defined Blanche’s tenure as deputy and acting attorney general.

Democrats criticized Trump’s blanket Jan. 6 pardons, questioned Blanche’s authorization of subpoenas targeting New York Times reporters in what he described as a classified leak investigation, pressed him over the handling of the Epstein files and challenged his role in politically sensitive prosecutions.

Blanche pledged to devote Justice Department resources to limiting the unlawful distribution of mifepristone by mail, defended Trump’s constitutional pardon authority, reaffirmed support for pursuing sanctuary jurisdictions and argued that the SAVE America Act would strengthen the DOJ’s ability to protect federal elections.

He also reiterated that his meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell resulted in no additional criminal charges and said he never discussed a pardon or a prison transfer with her.

More than Trump’s lawyer? One of the day’s more personal moments came when Blanche responded to criticism that his career has become synonymous with representing Trump.

“I am a prosecutor. I’m a career prosecutor,” Blanche said, pointing to his years at the Justice Department and in the Southern District of New York before joining Trump’s legal team.

Representing Trump for less than two years, he argued, “does not define my career.”

That defense echoed earlier testimony when Blanche rejected the suggestion that he and Trump are personal friends.

“I’m his lawyer,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s very many people who have ever had a criminal defense attorney who calls that person their friend.”

What’s next: The committee is expected to move toward a vote on Blanche’s nomination in the coming days, although the timeline could shift following Graham’s death.

Immediately after Tuesday’s hearing, Judiciary Democrats spoke out against the nomination, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) appeared alongside Epstein survivors and family members to continue their opposition campaign.

The hearing will continue tomorrow morning with testimony from an outside witness panel that reflects many of the issues senators debated during the nominee’s appearance.

Scheduled witnesses include former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Justice Department Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer, Epstein survivor and advocate Dani Bensky, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation President Jon Adler and Jennifer Bos, the mother of murder victim Megan Bos.

Clark splits with Jeffries on Israel aid: Across the Capitol, the House rejected an amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to the 2027 State Department funding bill that would have stripped $3.3 billion in foreign aid to Israel.

The amendment failed, 314–104. But the vote laid bare Democrats’ continuing divide over Israel: 103 Democrats voted for the proposal while 98 opposed it. Another 10 Democrats voted present.

The vote also exposed a rare public divide at the top of the House Democratic leadership team. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) opposed the amendment, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) supported it. The number-two House Democrat argued that the proposal is overly broad and politically motivated but that Congress can no longer continue providing Israel with unconditional military assistance because the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israeli government has failed to comply with U.S. laws, interests and values.

The disagreement is notable because Jeffries, Clark and Aguilar have spent the past three years projecting an unusually disciplined and unified leadership team despite repeated episodes of Republican dysfunction. On one of the most politically sensitive issues facing the caucus, however, they are publicly taking different positions.

The House passed the underlying funding bill, which, as I explained in last night’s edition, will head to the Senate with the SAVE America Act attached after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) agreed to pair the voter ID and proof-of-citizenship legislation with a must-pass appropriations bill to reopen the House floor following a multiweek rebellion by conservative hardliners demanding Senate action on the election measure. The SAVE America Act does not have the votes to pass the Senate, meaning it will almost certainly have to be stripped from the package before the spending bill can reach President Trump’s desk.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

IN THE KNOW

Confirmation carousel: Blanche’s session dominated today’s hearing schedule, but two other Trump nominees also faced senators. Jay Clayton defended his handling of subpoenas targeting New York Times reporters and sidestepped repeated questions about the 2020 election during his Intelligence Committee hearing for director of national intelligence, while CDC director nominee Erica Schwartz sought to reassure lawmakers—especially Senate HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.)—that she would protect scientific integrity and vaccine policy from political interference.

House GOP releases 3.0 blueprint: House Republicans took the first formal step toward a third party-line bill this morning by releasing a budget resolution directing four committees to draft legislation that would increase the deficit by up to $95 billion over the next decade. Most of that spending—$73 billion—would fund President Trump’s war in Iran and other defense priorities, while the remainder would provide $12 billion in farm aid and $10 billion for election-security provisions tied to the SAVE America Act.

The four committees have until Sept. 11 to report legislation to the Budget Committee, which plans to mark up the resolution tomorrow ahead of a possible House vote next week. But the proposal also highlights how preliminary the effort remains: It includes no spending offsets, tax provisions or Senate reconciliation instructions, leaving major policy and procedural hurdles before Republicans can send a third reconciliation bill to Trump’s desk.

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

Trump pushes ICE to resume traffic stops: Trump this morning urged ICE to resume traffic stops less than a day after the Department of Homeland Security paused most non-urgent vehicle stops following the fatal shootings of two undocumented immigrants in Maine and Texas, appearing to undercut his administration’s new guidance.

“We must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, arguing that suspending the tactic would benefit criminals. He instructed ICE officers to “be judicious, fair and smart” and “go back and do your very important job.”

The pause came after Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she urged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Monday night to halt all non-urgent vehicle stops until agents receive additional training and investigators determine what happened in Monday’s fatal ICE shooting in Biddeford.

“The automobile stops should be halted until those investigations are completed, and we have a better sense of what happened,” Collins said. She also defended the agency, saying calls to abolish ICE “would make our country less safe.”

Trump’s comments come as public opinion has turned against the agency’s enforcement tactics. Recent polling has found majorities of Americans disapprove of ICE’s performance and believe its immigration enforcement has gone too far, though views remain sharply divided along partisan lines.

CBC backs independent investigation: The Congressional Black Caucus this morning joined calls for an independent investigation into the death of Nolan Xavier Wells, saying his family, the Mississippi community and the nation deserve a full, transparent and timely accounting of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and death. The caucus also commended attorney Ben Crump, Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network for pressing for greater transparency and amplified their call for an independent probe. Wells’ death has drawn national attention amid lingering questions about the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and the investigation that followed.

Ossoff posts $20M quarter: Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) reelection campaign raised $20 million in the second quarter and entered July with more than $42 million in cash on hand, according to figures released by the campaign.

The campaign said nearly 90% of contributions were $100 or less, with an average donation of $42 across more than 474,000 contributions. Ossoff also raised more than $1.5 million through joint fundraising accounts, including with the Democratic Party of Georgia.

The Georgia Democrat is the only Senate Democratic incumbent seeking reelection in a state President Trump carried in 2024 and is already facing significant Republican spending, including a planned $44 million investment from the Senate Leadership Fund.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Sanders doubles down in key primaries: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will campaign this weekend with Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed before heading to Minnesota on Monday for a get-out-the-vote rally with Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan, underscoring his effort to boost progressive candidates in two of Democrats’ highest-profile Senate primaries.

In Michigan, Sanders will be joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) for rallies in Detroit, Lansing and Grand Rapids ahead of the Aug. 4 primary. He’ll then headline a Minneapolis rally for Flanagan alongside Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Attorney General Keith Ellison and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as Minnesota Democrats enter the campaign’s final stretch.

Bipartisan hepatitis bill introduced: Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) introduced bipartisan legislation to create a federally coordinated program to eliminate hepatitis C—a curable viral liver disease—by expanding testing and treatment, particularly for underserved populations. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposal would reduce federal spending by $6.6 billion over the next decade by increasing access to curative therapies and preventing costly complications from untreated infections.

Read more

THE LINEUP

• The future of Graham’s gavels

• Darline Graham Nordone appointed to finish her late brother’s term

• Speaker Johnson sets stage for Reconciliation 3.0

• ICE shooting reshapes Maine Senate contest

• Stevens, El-Sayed earn dueling endorsements in Michigan Senate primary

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The future of Graham’s gavels

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you.

Trump primetime speech this week: President Donald Trump announced this afternoon that he will address the nation on Thursday at 9 p.m. He didn’t share the topic of the speech.

McMaster taps Graham Nordone: South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) this afternoon appointed Darline Graham Nordone to complete the term of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), following his sudden death on Saturday evening.

“Lindsey has always been there for me,” she said. “And now I will be there for him.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) applauded McMaster’s decision.

“Lindsey’s legacy will continue through Darline, and I look forward to welcoming her soon,” he wrote on X.

President Trump announced on Truth Social this morning that he recommended McMaster pick Graham Nordone to serve out the remainder of the term.

“This would be a fabulous tribute to Lindsey, who loved her dearly!” the president wrote.

Graham Nordone and Graham were incredibly close as the late senator cared for his sister when she was a teenager after their parents passed away. Now she will care for the Senate seat her brother held for nearly 25 years while several South Carolina Republicans campaign to replace Graham on the ballot for the November midterm elections.

Graham’s Senate desk is covered with a black cloth and topped with a vase of white roses.

The next power struggle: Beyond filling Graham’s Senate seat, Republicans will eventually have to decide who inherits the committee gavels he leaves behind—a choice that could offer an early window into the conference’s priorities next Congress.

Budget: Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin appears well positioned. He’s the panel’s next-most-senior Republican who doesn’t already chair another committee and has reportedly expressed interest in the job.

In the historically unlikely event Republicans retain unified control of Washington after the midterms, Johnson would be well positioned to shape the GOP’s next reconciliation push. But even under divided government, the Budget Committee would remain a prominent platform for advancing his brand of fiscal conservatism and deficit politics.

Judiciary: This prominent panel presents a more consequential ideological choice.

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri are next in line by seniority among Republicans on the panel.

A Lee chairmanship would elevate one of the conference’s leading constitutional conservatives, while Cruz’s legal background could make him a natural steward of Trump’s judicial nominees—including any future Supreme Court vacancies. Hawley, meanwhile, would signal a different direction, using the committee to press his populist agenda on Big Tech, online child safety and corporate power.

Lee currently chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, while Cruz chairs the Commerce Committee.

Thune said this afternoon that Graham’s Judiciary replacement has not yet been determined.

Graham’s cause of death: The Washington, D.C. medical examiner said on Sunday evening that Graham died from aortic dissection, a medical emergency where a major blood vessel coming out of his heart suddenly tore. The tear was caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, a long-term hardening and narrowing of his arteries. It’s one of the most common forms of heart and vascular disease.

The medical examiner emphasized that these are preliminary findings. The death certificate remains pending while toxicology and microscopic tissue testing are completed, which is standard procedure in many sudden deaths.

The final report will confirm the official cause and manner of death.

FWIW: Within hours of Graham’s sudden death, rampant speculation emerged that the late senator died from a heart attack. But Graham’s preliminary cause of death is different. A heart attack is caused by a blockage in the arteries supplying the heart muscle, while an aortic dissection is a tear in the wall of the body’s main artery. Both can cause sudden collapse and chest pain, but they are different medical conditions.

Iran war latest: President Trump this morning announced the reinstatement of a U.S. naval blockade targeting Iranian shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, declaring the United States the “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” in a move that further escalates the administration’s confrontation with Tehran and clouds the prospects for near-term diplomacy. Trump also said the U.S. would seek reimbursement equal to 20% of cargo shipped through the strategic waterway to cover the costs of providing security, though he did not explain how such a system would operate.

“Donald Trump promised that he was elected not to start wars in the Middle East, but to stop them,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters this afternoon. “He then turned around, along with compliant Republicans, and launched a reckless and costly war of choice in Iran that’s ongoing, and now has been taking place for more than 100 days, with over $100 billion in taxpayer money being wasted, while leaving Iran in a stronger position than they were in before the war, and the American people economically in a weaker position, particularly as it relates to high gas prices.”

Approps watch: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter this morning that Senate Republicans cannot pursue a partisan appropriations process and then blame Democrats if funding negotiations collapse, insisting Democrats want to avoid a government shutdown and remain ready to negotiate bipartisan spending bills. He also positioned the funding fight as part of a broader battle over affordability, congressional oversight, government corruption and protecting elections from what he called Republican efforts to undermine them.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Johnson sets stage for Reconciliation 3.0

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said House Republicans will move this week to adopt a budget resolution that would unlock a third reconciliation bill after meeting for hours Monday at Camp David with House Budget Committee Republicans, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and White House officials.

While the speaker didn’t outline the package’s contents, Republicans are widely expected to pursue roughly $350 billion in additional defense spending alongside other remaining Trump priorities, potentially including pieces of the SAVE America Act that could face steep procedural hurdles under the Senate’s Byrd Rule.

The announcement comes as Johnson tries to recover from the latest legislative setback of his speakership. Before Republicans can turn to another party-line package, the speaker first has to restore control of the House floor after conservatives sank a procedural rule before the Independence Day recess despite leadership’s attempt to satisfy them by pairing the House-passed SAVE America Act with the annual defense authorization bill.

That failed vote forced House leaders to shelve action on the NDAA, the fiscal 2027 State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill and several bipartisan measures. Assuming Johnson can reunite his conference this week, lawmakers are expected to consider legislation banning payment card companies from assigning merchant category codes that specifically identify firearms retailers, making daylight saving time permanent, advancing the State Department funding bill and approving a bipartisan package of veterans’ health care and benefits reforms.

Even if Republicans adopt the budget resolution this week, Johnson still faces significant political and procedural obstacles. The House is scheduled to meet for only one additional legislative week after this one before the August recess, leaving little time to draft, mark up and pass another reconciliation package. Deficit hawks are also expected to insist that any new defense spending be fully offset by domestic spending cuts Republicans have yet to agree on.

And even if Johnson clears those hurdles, the Senate remains an open question. Thune has stopped short of committing his conference to another party-line package, saying he’ll first wait to see whether the House can pass a budget resolution and what legislation ultimately emerges. That leaves the fate of a third reconciliation bill dependent not only on Johnson’s ability to unify his own conference, but also on whether Senate Republicans conclude another reconciliation fight is worth having.

Jeffries told reporters this afternoon that he expects every House and Senate Democrat to oppose the effort.

“What’s in front of us right now relates to the legislative process and the appropriations process and the notion that Republicans are prepared as early as this Wednesday to move another budget to give the so-called Department of War more than $75 billion at least to continue Operation Epic Failure in the Middle East,” Jeffries said. “What we need to do is to stop this effort to use taxpayer dollars to continue this failed war in the Middle East that the American people have rejected from the beginning, and have soured on even more over the last several months.”

Republicans have already passed two reconciliation bills this Congress—including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the major tax-and-spending package Trump signed into law last year, and the Secure America Act, enacted last month, to provide roughly $70 billion for immigration enforcement through the remainder of Trump’s term.

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

CAMPAIGNS

ICE shooting reshapes Maine Senate contest

A fatal ICE shooting of a man in his 20s during a confrontation in southwestern Maine this morning injected one of the country’s most politically charged issues directly into the state’s newly formed Democratic mini-primary—the emergency nominating convention triggered by the sudden withdrawal of former nominee Graham Platner following sexual assault allegations.

The shooting comes as the battle lines between the establishment and progressive wings of the party are being redrawn over immigration enforcement ahead of the July 25 convention, where county delegates will choose a new Senate nominee.

The progressive litmus test: Progressive candidates vying for Platner’s former base are responding to the shooting by calling for hardline anti-ICE platforms. Platner originally won the June primary as an outsider progressive by sharply criticizing the Trump administration’s “Operation Catch of the Day” in Maine and calling for ICE to be “dismantled.” In the aftermath of the shooting, several progressive contenders have argued county delegates should choose a nominee who will aggressively challenge what they describe as federal overreach.

Pressure on moderates: Moderate candidates—including those previously aligned with Governor Janet Mills—are facing renewed pressure to sharpen their immigration messaging as they compete for progressive convention delegates. While Mills has sharply criticized ICE’s tactics, progressives have long argued she has not gone far enough. Candidates associated with her wing are now under pressure to respond forcefully to the shooting while avoiding criticism from the left over civil rights and immigration enforcement.

The Collins contrast: The replacement nominee will immediately face incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in one of the country’s most competitive Senate races. The shooting is likely to become a central line of attack against Collins, whose critics have already sought to tie her to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.

Candidates addressing the July 25 convention are expected to present themselves as strong defenders of Maine communities while arguing Collins has not done enough to challenge the administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

“The shooting in Biddeford requires a full and impartial investigation of what happened,” Collins said in a statement. “It is my understanding that the Biddeford Police have secured the site and that the FBI is investigating.”

The backstory: The Department of Homeland Security said the man—identified by immigrant advocates as a 26-year-old Colombian national—was subject to a final removal order and alleged he “weaponized” his vehicle, prompting an ICE agent to open fire.

A nearby witness told a local news station they saw an unmarked law enforcement SUV attempt to ram a small white car before armed agents wearing green ICE vests pulled the heavily bleeding man from the vehicle. Doorbell camera audio captured what sounded like at least four gunshots, according to the station.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office, the FBI, the Maine State Police and the Maine Department of Public Safety are investigating the shooting. The Biddeford Police Department is providing scene security, and the ICE agent involved has been placed on administrative leave.

Mills and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) have both questioned ICE’s expanding presence and enforcement tactics in the state. The shooting is the second fatal ICE-involved shooting reported nationwide in less than a week, following a separate fatal encounter in Houston. Civil rights organizations have called for immediate protests in Biddeford and demanded an independent investigation.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Anti-weaponization fund fallout: A federal judge cast fresh doubt on the Trump administration’s abandoned plan to create a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, suggesting the lawsuit that produced the proposal may have been used to legitimize an unprecedented transfer of taxpayer funds while questioning whether broader legal protections for Trump and his businesses remain in effect despite the administration later saying the fund was dead.

The proposal drew bipartisan criticism because it would have used the Treasury Department’s permanent Judgment Fund to establish a new executive branch compensation program without a specific appropriation from Congress.

Reproductive justice: Reps. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) introduced a resolution marking America’s 250th anniversary by declaring reproductive justice a fundamental human right and endorsing policies including abortion access, universal health care, maternal health care, paid family leave and comprehensive sex education. The largely messaging measure also calls for ending Hyde Amendment-style federal funding restrictions on abortion and condemns the criminalization of pregnancy outcomes, including miscarriage, abortion and stillbirth.

New endorsements: Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary is becoming an increasingly clear proxy fight over the party’s ideological direction, with outgoing Sen. Gary Peters abandoning his previous neutrality this morning to endorse Rep. Haley Stevens, while Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) threw her support behind former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed.

Peters said Stevens would be “ready on day one to fight for Michigan,” adding another establishment endorsement after backing from Leader Schumer and other Senate Democrats.

The dueling endorsements underscore the coalition each candidate is assembling ahead of the Aug. 4 primary.

Stevens has consolidated support from much of the Democratic establishment, while El-Sayed continues to build momentum on the left with backing from Omar, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in one of the cycle’s most closely watched Democratic nomination fights.

AGs sue to block Paramount-Warner Bros. merger: A coalition of 12 Democratic state attorneys general sued today to block Paramount’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the deal would further consolidate the television and film industries at the expense of consumers, workers, movie theaters and other businesses.

The lawsuit comes as some congressional Democrats have warned they would pursue legislation or oversight to unwind the merger if they regain one or both chambers in November.

“A Paramount-Warner Bros. megamerger would mean higher costs and fewer choices for Americans,” Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. “Good news: the states are stepping up to block this antitrust nightmare. This fight isn’t over.”

Read more

THE LINEUP

• Trump outlines new foreign policy vision at NATO Summit

• Beshear presses McConnell for health update amid vacancy questions

• Vance takes anti-fraud message to Wisconsin

• House conservatives press WNBA over Caitlin Clark treatment

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Trump outlines new foreign policy vision at NATO Summit

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you.

Platner latest: As Democrats await Graham Platner’s decision on whether to exit the race, Maine Democratic leaders are making clear that any replacement will be chosen by the party—not by Platner himself—as jockeying over potential successors begins.

The Platner campaign pushed back on claims from Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Devon Murphy-Anderson that Platner was attempting to influence the selection of a successor. Party leaders said the nominee alone decides whether to withdraw, but if he does, the party—not Platner—will choose the replacement.

Democratic leaders are trying to prevent the transition from becoming a factional fight. According to multiple reports, some within Platner’s orbit have floated preferred successors, prompting party officials to emphasize that the replacement process will be independent.

The short list includes former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah and former Rep. Katie Porter’s chief of staff Jordan Wood, among the names most frequently mentioned.

Others reportedly under consideration include state Rep. Valli Geiger, Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban, former Maryland environmental official David Costello and social worker Paige Loud, while Gov. Janet Mills and Rep. Jared Golden are not expected to run.

The practical deadline is July 13. If Platner withdraws by then, Democrats have roughly two weeks to select a new nominee to challenge Susan Collins. Missing that window would make replacing him substantially more difficult.

ICYMI: “Five things the Platner scandal tells us about Democrats”

Meanwhile, at NATO… President Donald Trump arrived at NATO’s annual summit seeking to cement what he called a historic victory on allied defense spending. He left having sketched a far broader vision for American foreign policy—one that couples renewed military pressure on Iran with a recalibrated approach to Ukraine, warmer ties with Syria and Turkey and a more transactional relationship with America’s traditional European allies.

The whirlwind day came less than 24 hours after U.S. forces resumed military operations against Iran, turning what had been expected to be a summit centered on NATO unity into a showcase for how Trump intends to wield American power across multiple global flashpoints.

Iran: Trump’s sharpest rhetoric focused on Iran, which he accused of violating a fragile ceasefire by attacking commercial shipping after requesting a pause in fighting during funeral observances for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. While insisting Iran’s military had been effectively destroyed, Trump also questioned whether further negotiations were worthwhile, floated reimposing a naval blockade and warned the United States was prepared to strike again if necessary.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said overnight strikes targeted coastal defense systems, drone and missile infrastructure, surveillance capabilities and other assets Iran could use to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that additional targets remained available if Trump ordered more military action.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued the renewed fighting reflected a broader strategic failure.

“This is what happens when an incompetent president launches a war with no objective, no plan, and no exit strategy,” Schumer said, calling on the administration to return to negotiations, consult Congress and comply with lawmakers who previously voted to end the conflict.

The renewed escalation also arrives as Americans rethink the country’s role abroad.

A March survey commissioned by the Searchlight Institute found voters simultaneously favor a strong military, continued cooperation with allies such as NATO and avoiding prolonged military conflicts—suggesting a more nuanced view of U.S. engagement than traditional foreign-policy debates often assume.

Against that backdrop, Tre Easton, the institute’s vice president, argued the bipartisan consensus that shaped Washington’s approach to national security for decades has largely collapsed and said the survey helps explain why voters often hold positions that seem contradictory to policymakers.

“The bipartisan consensus around national security issues and foreign policy issues, that’s gone. That is dead,” Easton told me this afternoon. “The D.C. foreign-policy establishment needs to wake up and smell it.”

Ukraine: Trump also delivered some of his most consequential comments on Ukraine in months following an extended meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said the United States would help Ukraine manufacture Patriot air-defense interceptors, suggested Kyiv could receive additional Patriot systems in the near term, expressed openness to visiting Ukraine and said Washington was discussing purchasing Ukrainian-made drones.

Although Trump again declined to commit to specific security guarantees or set a timeline for ending Russia’s invasion, the remarks nevertheless marked a noticeably more supportive public posture toward Kyiv than he has often adopted.

A bipartisan congressional delegation attending the summit echoed that message, arguing Russian President Vladimir Putin is negotiating for time rather than peace and urging the administration to follow through on commitments to provide additional air-defense capabilities while increasing pressure on Moscow.

Easton said the apparent tension between supporting alliances while opposing prolonged military involvement reflects where many voters now stand.

“They want the United States to have the biggest, baddest military in the world, but they don’t want you to use it,” he said.

Redefining America’s alliances: Throughout the summit, Trump argued NATO had fully embraced his long-running demand that allies dramatically increase defense spending, repeatedly describing “tremendous love” and “unity” among allied leaders behind closed doors while urging countries to move more quickly toward the alliance’s new 5% defense spending benchmark.

Yet even as he celebrated NATO’s cohesion, Trump continued to redefine America’s relationships with individual partners.

He publicly criticized Spain over defense spending and suggested economic retaliation remained on the table. He praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for staying out of the Iran conflict and signaled openness to restoring Turkey’s access to the F-35 fighter program. He also praised Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and backed removing Syria from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism before Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Congress had been formally notified of the administration’s intent to do so.

The moves reflected an increasingly transactional approach to alliances: rewarding countries Trump believes advance U.S. interests while publicly pressuring those he argues do not.

A changing political landscape: Easton said the geopolitical landscape presents Democrats with a challenge that extends beyond opposing Trump’s decisions on a case-by-case basis.

“The burden of proof has shifted to us,” he said. “We can’t just assume that people will understand that these alliances are good. We have to explain to individuals why this matters, how this affects their lives directly and why this will be better for them versus the alternative.”

Whether Trump’s strategy ultimately succeeds remains an open question.

But today’s events made one thing clear: the president is pursuing a foreign policy that blends military force, alliance-building and transactional dealmaking across multiple fronts simultaneously.

As fighting with Iran resumes and negotiations over Ukraine continue, Congress is likely to spend the months ahead debating both Trump’s decisions abroad and what America’s role in the world should look like after the post-Cold War consensus Easton argues has begun to unravel.

AF1 switcheroo: Trump is returning from Turkey aboard the legacy Air Force One rather than the Qatari-gifted aircraft he used to fly to the NATO summit, an unusual switch that came one day after the resumption of U.S. military strikes against Iran.

Trump said on Truth Social that the newer aircraft would instead travel to Europe for stops at U.S. military bases so service members could tour it, calling the detour “totally worth doing.” The White House did not immediately explain why the president changed aircraft for the trip to the United Kingdom or whether the newer plane would continue to Royal Air Force Mildenhall without him aboard.

The president declined to directly address whether security considerations factored into the decision when pressed repeatedly by reporters. Instead, he called the presidency “a very dangerous profession,” noted that he is “number one on the kill list for Iran,” and reiterated that the aircraft would visit military bases in Europe. The exchange left unanswered whether the operational change was driven solely by Trump’s stated desire to showcase the aircraft or by renewed tensions with Iran.

As I reported in last Wednesday’s edition, the gifted aircraft has faced scrutiny because reports have indicated it has not yet received the full defensive and secure communications capabilities installed on the Air Force’s purpose-built presidential aircraft, though the administration has not linked those concerns to this afternoon’s change in travel plans.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

THE SENATE

Beshear presses McConnell for health update amid vacancy questions

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear this morning publicly urged Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to provide a fuller accounting of his health, arguing that voters deserve greater transparency about his ability to serve as questions continue surrounding the longtime Republican leader’s weeks-long hospitalization.

“Over the last several weeks, Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and wellbeing, and ability to hold office in the United States Senate,” Beshear wrote in a one-page letter. He asked McConnell to “fully update Kentuckians regarding the current status of your health,” adding that public officials have a responsibility to communicate openly about “one’s ability to serve.”

The letter arrives as scrutiny of McConnell’s condition has expanded beyond concerns about the 84-year-old senator’s recovery to questions about congressional representation. While McConnell’s office has said he is recovering, Kentucky’s 2024 Senate vacancy law means any vacancy could carry unusually high stakes for both the state and the narrowly divided Senate.

The Republican-backed law stripped Beshear of the authority to appoint an interim senator, instead requiring a special election. Depending on when a vacancy occurred, the law’s timelines could collide with Kentucky’s November general election calendar, raising unresolved legal questions about when voters could choose a successor. In the meantime, the seat would remain vacant.

With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority, even a temporary vacancy could complicate floor math as Congress looks to tackle 2027 appropriations bills, defense policy legislation and other major items later this year.

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

TRUMP 2.0

Vance takes anti-fraud message to Wisconsin

Vice President JD Vance traveled to Wisconsin today to promote the administration’s anti-fraud initiative while mixing official business with overt political messaging ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Speaking at the 128th Air Refueling Wing alongside Centers for Medicare & Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz, Vance highlighted the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud’s efforts to combat waste in Medicaid, Medicare and other federal benefit programs before urging voters to elect Republicans committed to expanding those efforts.

He also endorsed Rep. Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, accused Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of withholding SNAP and Medicaid enrollment data from the administration, and renewed his call for voter ID and passage of the SAVE America Act.

During a question-and-answer session, Vance also addressed renewed tensions with Iran, warning that the U.S. military would respond if Tehran again threatened commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He said the administration’s agreement with Iran depends on the regime keeping the waterway open and ending attacks on commercial vessels, adding that if it resumes those attacks, “we’re gonna knock the hell out of them.”

The trip also included a closed-door Republican National Committee fundraiser in Milwaukee that was not opened to the press.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

CULTURE WARS

House conservatives press WNBA over Caitlin Clark treatment

A group of Republican Study Committee members pressed WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to explain how the league plans to protect players following a series of high-profile on-court incidents involving Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.

In a letter led by RSC Chair August Pfluger (R-Texas) and Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), the lawmakers argue Clark has helped fuel the league’s recent boom in popularity while facing repeated unnecessary physical contact, citing incidents in which she has been hip-checked, poked in the eye and struck in the throat. They also point to reports suggesting some attacks against Clark may be racially motivated and say that, if discrimination or retaliation is creating a hostile work environment, investigations by the Justice Department, Labor Department or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission could be warranted.

Clark has unquestionably accelerated the WNBA’s growth since entering the league in 2024, driving record audiences and broader mainstream attention, though the league was already experiencing rising investment, viewership and cultural relevance before her arrival. That attention has also intensified scrutiny of the league’s physical style of play—which has long been a defining feature of professional basketball—and contributed to a broader conversation about race, gender and online abuse. Black players, in particular, have spoken publicly about racist harassment tied to the attention surrounding Clark and the league’s rapid rise. The RSC’s letter brings that multifaceted debate squarely into congressional politics.

The lawmakers requested answers by July 24 on the league’s process for reviewing physical play, disciplining overly aggressive conduct and protecting players from online harassment and off-court threats.

Read more

First Things First

The expiration of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s one-year Medicaid funding restriction on Planned Parenthood has ended one of the anti-abortion movement’s biggest congressional victories since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But neither supporters nor opponents expect the fight to end there.

The provision, which expired over the July 4 weekend, barred Medicaid reimbursements to providers that perform abortions beyond the narrow exceptions permitted under federal law, including most Planned Parenthood affiliates. Although Medicaid already cannot generally pay for abortions under the Hyde Amendment, the provision prevented Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for other covered health services, including contraception, cancer screenings and STI testing.

Now that the restriction is no longer in effect, Planned Parenthood says its health centers in eligible states can once again bill Medicaid for covered services. But the organization’s political arm expects congressional Republicans to pursue another attempt to permanently cut off federal funding, potentially through a future reconciliation package or another legislative vehicle.

A year of disruption: Nora Walsh-DeVries, vice president of political and legislative affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the provision’s expiration offers immediate operational relief, but cannot undo what she described as lasting damage from the past year.

“From a practical perspective, based on the statutory text and what we can understand from the Big Not-So-Beautiful Bill, as we like to call it, we understand that, as of July 4, Planned Parenthood health centers that are in eligible states should be able to bill Medicaid for services provided starting on that day and going forward,” Walsh-DeVries told me this afternoon. “So, from a practical perspective, that is what we know to be true.”

The organization released a report last week arguing that nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers closed during the year the restriction was in effect, affecting clinics that collectively served about 41,000 birth control patients annually. The report also says Medicaid visits fell by roughly 25%, or more than 250,000 visits, compared with the previous year.

Walsh-DeVries said the impact extended beyond abortion services.

“After a year of defund, nearly 30 of our health centers have closed, and tens of thousands of patients have been forced to either forgo access to essential lifesaving care or potentially get it somewhere else, if that was even really on the table,” she said. “Patients really paid the cost of this very politically motivated attack.”

She also pointed to disparities among states.

“We know that in states that did not make emergency funds available to cover the cost for Medicaid patients at Planned Parenthood, or that only could cover the cost partially, health centers closed at double the rate compared to states that fully covered the cost of care that was taken away by defunding,” Walsh-DeVries said.

Planned Parenthood’s report says 14 states committed more than $400 million in emergency funding to help offset the loss of Medicaid reimbursements.

Congress isn’t finished: The provision’s expiration comes as anti-abortion organizations continue pressing congressional Republicans to permanently end federal funding for Planned Parenthood—a long-standing priority that gained new momentum after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision returned abortion policymaking to elected officials.

Walsh-DeVries said Planned Parenthood is already preparing for another legislative fight.

“It’s definitely the next phase,” she said. “We absolutely know that, despite this expiration, we’re still really on the defense and know that Republicans are going to stop at nothing to try to permanently defund Planned Parenthood, whether that’s through a third reconciliation bill or something else. It’s just something we have to be constantly preparing for.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) reiterated his interest in a third party-line reconciliation bill yesterday on Fox News. The House Freedom Caucus sent Johnson a letter last week with a series of demands for reconciliation 3.0, including an extension of the defund provision.

Walsh-DeVries also identified the annual Labor-HHS appropriations bill as another measure the organization is watching closely.

“I think definitely another reconciliation package. And then the Labor-HHS bill that’s in the House right now includes a defund too,” she said. “Any moving legislation—they can always try to slide something in there that has a defund question.”

Spokespeople for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Americans United for Life did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

Walsh-DeVries argued the policy failed to achieve its stated objective when I asked her what she would tell lawmakers who supported the provision.

“The real-life implications here is that people were not able to receive all kinds of care,” she said. “Cancer screenings went down, birth control visits went down—all the gamut of the proactive health care that we provide that keeps people healthy, that keeps people safe. You didn’t make abortion less likely to happen in this country. You just made people less safe, and you gave people less choices as to where they can get good, high-quality health care.”

Despite the expiration, Walsh-DeVries said Planned Parenthood views the past year as a preview—not the conclusion—of the congressional battle over reproductive health funding.

“The provision has expired, but the threat is still really, really, really there.”

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Thank you for reading Congress Nerd Daily. It’s recess so members are abroad on official foreign visits or as part of congressional delegations, as you’ll read below. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is in Taiwan to underscore the United States’s support for Taiwan’s democracy following a trip to Japan to meet with high-level business leaders. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

In the Know

Platner weighs “best path forward” after sexual assault allegation: Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner said this afternoon that he is weighing the “best path forward” for his campaign after publicly denying a former girlfriend’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2021.

In a video posted roughly 30 minutes after the allegation became public, Platner called the accusation “troubling, serious and false,” adding, “Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”

Rather than explicitly committing to remain in the race, Platner acknowledged the political fallout surrounding the allegation.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins,” he said.

Platner argued his campaign had built an unprecedented grassroots movement, pointing to the record 154,058 Mainers who voted in the Democratic primary, and said his supporters “deserve to see that vision come to fruition.”

The statement leaves unanswered whether Platner intends to continue as Democrats’ nominee or ultimately step aside as party leaders and allies assess the fallout from the allegation.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

WH devotes daylong push to kids’ investment accounts: President Donald Trump spent today turning the launch of Trump Accounts into a daylong White House showcase, using two events to promote one of the signature family-focused provisions of last year’s reconciliation law.

The rollout began with an Oval Office ceremony linked to simultaneous opening bells at the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq before shifting to a Rose Garden luncheon with lawmakers, business executives and corporate partners backing the program. Trump urged parents to enroll through TrumpAccounts.gov, praised Wall Street’s participation and thanked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for helping shepherd the policy into law.

Created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump Accounts provide eligible children born between 2025 and 2028 with a one-time $1,000 federal investment in a tax-advantaged account that can later be used for expenses such as higher education, purchasing a first home or starting a business. Families, employers and other contributors can make additional deposits, with the funds invested in a diversified stock index fund.

The White House has increasingly centered the program in its economic messaging, arguing it will expand wealth-building opportunities through long-term investing. The policy also reflects a rare area of conceptual overlap with Democratic “baby bonds” proposals championed by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), though Republicans structured the accounts around market-based investing rather than reducing wealth inequality through larger income-targeted government contributions.

Trump used the Rose Garden event to thank companies supporting the initiative, tout a strong stock market and argue the accounts will give more Americans a financial stake in the economy, underscoring the administration’s effort to make the program a lasting part of its domestic economic agenda.

Congress joins allies as NATO confronts defense, Ukraine and Trump questions: NATO leaders will convene Tuesday and Wednesday in Ankara, Türkiye, for a summit expected to focus on turning allies’ recent defense spending commitments into concrete military capabilities while reaffirming long-term support for Ukraine and addressing new security challenges stemming from instability in the Middle East. The gathering comes as President Trump continues to press European allies to assume a larger share of the alliance’s defense burden, making the meeting another closely watched test of the administration’s approach to NATO.

A bipartisan, bicameral delegation including Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), along with Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), is attending the summit to reinforce congressional support for the transatlantic alliance and meet with NATO officials and foreign counterparts. Durbin said the trip offers Congress an opportunity to underscore its commitment to NATO amid concerns that Trump’s rhetoric has strained U.S. relationships with longtime allies.

The lawmakers are expected to meet with allied officials as Congress prepares to shape FY2027 defense funding and oversee the administration’s national security priorities.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Read All About It

“ICE’s internal watchdog is now investigating online critics” by Maddy Varner: “The Office of Professional Responsibility has opened more than 100 cases over what ICE officials call ‘incidents of doxing and threats’ against ICE employees.”

”Sorry, AI is not giving us a four-day workweek” by Jeanne Lipman: “The very leaders rhapsodizing about a shorter workweek are demanding more time, not less, from their employees.”

“It turns out banning teens from social media is hard” by John Hermann: “Early lessons from Australia’s law booting kids off platforms like Instagram and YouTube.”

Programming note: Congress Nerd Sunday will not publish this Sunday, July 5. The newsletter will return to your inbox on Monday, July 6. Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

In this evening’s edition:

• AOC backs El-Sayed in #MISEN

• June jobs fall below expectations

• House Ethics says it has no sexual misconduct settlement files

First Things First

For the past week, House Democrats have marked the first anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by reminding voters what they say the law has cost American families.

Rep. Jennifer McClellan wants to start a different conversation.

In a policy agenda shared exclusively with Once Upon a Hill ahead of its public release, the Virginia Democrat argues that Democrats should complement their campaign against Republicans’ signature domestic policy law with an affirmative vision of their own—one that defines family policy less through cultural debates than through the everyday costs of raising children, caring for loved ones and building economic security.

“All American families deserve stronger support, and I propose a better path to provide it,” McClellan told me in a statement. “My agenda centers on adopting legislative priorities through a family-focused lens that does more than play into culture wars and partisan games.”

The timing is notable.

House Democratic leaders have spent the week accusing Republicans of using the law to finance tax breaks for wealthy Americans through cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance while pointing to rising health care costs, hospital closures and declining Affordable Care Act enrollment as evidence of the law’s effects one year later.

McClellan’s proposal starts from that same premise but looks beyond the anniversary messaging to a broader question: what should Democrats offer voters instead?

Beyond opposing H.R. 1: Developed in collaboration with the center-left think tank Third Way, the All-American Family Agenda is organized around two pillars: supporting family formation and strengthening family well-being. Rather than serving as a comprehensive party platform, the document is intended to provide lawmakers and advocates with a family-centered framework for future policymaking.

The proposal explicitly contrasts with the Heritage Foundation’s vision of family policy, arguing that the government should support families in all their forms rather than promoting a single model centered on traditional gender roles or cultural norms.

Instead, McClellan organizes the agenda around lowering the barriers that make family life increasingly unaffordable.

Its recommendations include expanding access to reproductive health care and contraception, protecting IVF and fertility treatments, improving maternal health, strengthening adoption and kinship care programs, making child care more affordable, creating a national paid family and medical leave program, expanding housing affordability, lowering prescription drug costs and supporting unpaid family caregivers.

The document also makes clear that McClellan views those goals as incompatible with the current law, arguing that her vision “cannot be achieved until the harmful provisions of H.R. 1 … are reversed or reformed.”

That framing distinguishes the proposal from the week’s broader Democratic messaging. While party leaders have focused on documenting the consequences of Republicans’ law, McClellan is beginning to sketch what a Democratic governing agenda could look like if the party returns to power.

Reclaiming the family conversation: The agenda arrives as Democrats continue searching for a durable economic message after losing unified control of Washington nearly two years ago.

Throughout the document, McClellan argues that the government should make it easier—not harder—for Americans to decide whether, when and how to build a family, contending that affordability, health care, housing and caregiving have become larger obstacles to family life than the cultural issues that often dominate political debate.

“I envision an America in which everyone is free to plan when, and whether, and how to start a family, free from the fear that a pregnancy may be too costly or complicated, and free to work and care for loved ones without living paycheck to paycheck,” McClellan said.

The rollout is also notable because of who’s making the argument. McClellan, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus and the New Democrat Coalition who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is positioning family policy as an umbrella for many of the issues Democrats already prioritize—from reproductive freedom and maternal health to housing affordability, paid leave and lowering health care costs.

Whether other Democrats adopt that framework remains to be seen. But after a week spent prosecuting Republicans’ signature legislative achievement, McClellan is making the case that Democrats also need to articulate a governing vision of their own—one rooted not only in what they oppose, but in what they would build next.

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Thank you for reading Congress Nerd Daily. How are you spending the holiday weekend? Whatever you do, stay cool and be safe. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), House Democrats and leaders of the America250 Commission gathered this afternoon at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia to commemorate the nation’s founding. FYI: America250, the congressionally created commission overseeing the nation’s 250th anniversary, is separate from Freedom 250, the Trump administration’s task force for its anniversary events. Send me tips, scoops, or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

In the Know

Hiring slows, jobless rate dips: Employers added 57,000 jobs in June, well below economists’ expectations and the weakest monthly hiring pace in four months, offering fresh evidence that the labor market is losing momentum even as the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down to 4.2%.

The report also revised April and May payroll gains down by a combined 74,000 jobs, reinforcing a broader slowdown in hiring. Healthcare continued to lead job growth while retail and manufacturing shed jobs. Wage growth remained modest, and labor force participation edged lower.

The mixed report is likely to fuel competing political narratives. Democrats are expected to argue the slowing pace of hiring reflects an economy losing steam under President Donald Trump, while the White House can point to the lower unemployment rate as evidence the labor market remains resilient.

As I mentioned at the top, the report arrives as Democrats mark the first anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, arguing that the law has raised costs and weakened the economy through cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy incentives. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to argue the legislation laid the groundwork for stronger long-term economic growth.

The data is unlikely to settle the debate over interest rates on its own, with policymakers expected to place greater weight on upcoming inflation data before considering any changes.

AOC deepens Michigan Democratic divide: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, breaking with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who is backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.).

The endorsement is Ocasio-Cortez’s first in a Senate primary this cycle and comes as El-Sayed has gained momentum in one of Democrats’ most closely watched nomination contests. The former Wayne County health director already has the support of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), while state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Mich.) has consolidated backing from another faction of Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

The race to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) has become a proxy fight over the Democratic Party’s direction, with establishment leaders arguing Stevens is best positioned to defeat likely Republican nominee Mike Rogers, while progressives see El-Sayed as the candidate best suited to energize the party’s base. Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats face an “existential” moment and argued El-Sayed gives the party its strongest chance to win in November.

Know someone else who lives and breathes Congress? A gift subscription is a simple way to keep them in the loop on the strategy, negotiations and leadership politics driving the day on Capitol Hill.

Give a gift subscription

Democrats warn OMB rule politicizes grants: Senate Democrats are demanding that the Trump administration withdraw a proposed rule they say would dramatically expand presidential control over federal grants, warning it would undermine Congress’s spending authority and inject politics into decisions traditionally guided by law and expert review.

In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, all 47 Senate Democrats argued the proposal would allow agencies to suspend or terminate grants “at any time for any reason,” making it harder for states, local governments, universities and nonprofits to rely on federal funding. The senators said the rule would also empower political appointees to override expert peer-review recommendations, particularly for scientific research, and impose vague requirements that grants advance the president’s policy priorities.

The letter cites recent grant cancellations involving mental health programs, disaster mitigation projects and transportation funding as evidence that the administration has already exercised grant authority in ways that create uncertainty for recipients.

Democrats also contend the proposal weakens financial oversight by removing requirements that grant recipients follow the Government Accountability Office's internal control standards and that it exceeds OMB’s legal authority under the Chief Financial Officers Act. They urged Vought to rescind the rule, arguing it violates Congress’s constitutional power of the purse and would make federal grantmaking less transparent, less predictable and more partisan.

Ethics panel says it has no records: The House Ethics Committee said Thursday it does not possess the records sought under Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) resolution requiring the release of taxpayer-funded congressional sexual misconduct settlements, but called on the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights to disclose any information it maintains.

The statement came two days after the House overwhelmingly approved the resolution, 420-0, with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) voting present. The measure directs both the Ethics Committee and the OCWR to preserve and publicly release records identifying any member who settled sexual harassment or sexual abuse claims using taxpayer funds, along with the amount of each settlement.

The committee emphasized that it does not investigate or administer sexual harassment lawsuits or settlements. It noted that Congress overhauled the Congressional Accountability Act in 2018, requiring automatic referrals whenever a member reimburses the Treasury for a sexual harassment settlement paid from public funds. According to the committee, it has not received any such referrals since those reforms took effect.

While maintaining it has no responsive records, the committee said it supports greater transparency and urged the OCWR to comply with the House resolution by releasing any information it has regarding taxpayer-funded settlements involving members of Congress.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Read All About It

“Trump’s anti-patriotic trap” by Anne Applebaum: “The president celebrates only some Americans. But patriotism is not about who’s in the Oval Office.

“How toxic masculinity took over the Texas Senate race” by Samantha Grasso: “The battle between James Talarico and Ken Paxton has been overwhelmed by demagogic gender politics.”

“Anthropic added a new security measure to get back into the Trump administration’s good graces” by Hugo Lowell: “The government has removed restrictions on Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models—but there were strings attached.”

First Things First

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) inability to reopen the House floor this week did more than derail Republicans’ legislative agenda. It also handed House Democrats an unexpected reprieve from having to take what many privately viewed as one of the year’s most politically difficult votes.

For two days, Democratic leaders had been preparing members for an expected vote on an amendment from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to eliminate roughly $3.3 billion in U.S. military assistance to Israel from the annual State Department and foreign operations spending bill—a proposal that underscored the party’s continuing divisions over the war in Gaza.

But Johnson’s failed attempt to revive House business prevented the vote from ever happening, allowing lawmakers to leave Washington early for the Independence Day recess without having to publicly stake out a position on one of the caucus’ most divisive issues.

Whether they’ll be able to avoid it next time remains an open question.

A vote that never came: Even before Republicans’ procedural collapse, Democrats weren’t convinced the House would ever reach the amendment.

A person inside Tuesday morning’s House Democratic Caucus meeting told me members recognized there was a real possibility Republicans would fail to pass the procedural rule needed to begin debate on the appropriations bill and the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) publicly echoed that assessment after the meeting.

“We’ll see if Republicans can pass a rule,” Aguilar told reporters, declining to announce leadership’s position on the amendment while acknowledging the uncertainty surrounding the floor schedule.

Hours later, his skepticism proved warranted.

The House rejected the rule after 13 Republicans joined Democrats in opposition, prompting GOP leaders to cancel the remainder of the week’s legislative business.

“Our focus was on fighting to defeat this rule in a uniform way and to continue to try to stop Republicans from doing damage to the American people,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told me after the vote.

The vote left the defense authorization bill, the State Department funding measure and several other items unfinished until lawmakers return later this month.

It also postponed a politically fraught decision that Democratic leadership had spent days preparing the caucus to make.

Behind closed doors: The conversation began during a virtual caucus meeting Sunday led by House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), who, as I reported in Sunday’s edition, urged members to look beyond the amendment’s headline.

According to a person on the call, DeLauro warned that Massie’s proposal was drafted so broadly it could affect far more than military assistance to Israel. She argued the language created significant uncertainty because it could also disrupt embassy operations, funding for Palestinian programs and other diplomatic activities.

Members continued the discussion during Tuesday morning’s in-person caucus meeting.

“Everyone knows the vote is going to be split. Get over it,” one person inside the room told me, describing the overall mood.

The debate itself remained measured despite the high stakes.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) described the discussion as “very cogent,” saying members engaged in a “robust discussion on both sides” without the meeting devolving into personal conflict.

Aguilar offered a similar assessment, saying members expressed “a variety of thoughts” while respecting colleagues who reached different conclusions.

“This is my position, but I respect other people’s position,” Aguilar said members repeatedly told one another during the meeting.

The careful tone reflected leadership’s effort to manage one of the caucus’ most persistent political fault lines without allowing it to fracture broader party unity.

Delayed, not resolved: Even as leaders acknowledged the disagreement over Israel, they also tried to keep members focused on what they see as Democrats’ stronger political argument.

The rule that failed Tuesday would have also cleared the way for House consideration of a resolution marking the one-year anniversary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—the sweeping Republican law Democrats argue cut health care and nutrition assistance to help finance tax cuts benefiting wealthy Americans and large corporations while dramatically increasing funding for immigration enforcement.

Aguilar argued that debate should remain at the center of Democrats’ public messaging.

While acknowledging that the Israel amendment was “tough and emotional” for many Americans, he noted that the underlying appropriations bill is unlikely to become law in its current form after negotiations with the Senate.

“What is law is Republicans and Trump taking away health care from folks,” Aguilar said. “That’s real. It’s felt by folks.”

Johnson’s procedural defeat delayed, rather than resolved, Democrats’ internal debate over Israel.

The State Department funding bill could return after the Independence Day recess, meaning lawmakers will likely confront the amendment—or a similar proposal—later this month.

When they do, Republicans’ procedural failures will no longer shield Democrats from one of the most difficult votes they’ve faced since the war in Gaza reshaped the party’s politics.

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! How is it July already?! I hope you’re staying cool wherever you are. Thank you for reading Congress Nerd Daily. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

In the Know

Democrats seek answers before Blanche hearing

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are pressing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to respond to dozens of unanswered oversight requests before the panel takes up his nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department later this month.

Led by Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), every Democratic member of the committee sent Blanche a letter arguing the committee cannot adequately evaluate his nomination without answers to what they described as a growing backlog of ignored or incomplete congressional oversight requests. They set a July 8 deadline for responses ahead of Blanche’s July 15 confirmation hearing, which will also serve as the committee’s annual Justice Department oversight hearing.

The letter argues Blanche bears responsibility for the department’s responsiveness because he now serves as acting attorney general after previously serving as deputy attorney general.

Democrats say the department has failed to fully respond to inquiries spanning more than a year on issues including the handling of the Epstein files, immigration enforcement, January 6 pardons, career staff dismissals, ethics, voting rights, national security, cryptocurrency conflicts and alleged politicization across the department.

The move is unlikely to delay Blanche’s nomination on its own, but it sharpens Democrats’ effort to make the confirmation hearing as much about the Justice Department’s recent conduct as Blanche’s qualifications to lead it.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

Trump debuts Qatari jet

President Trump made the first official presidential trip aboard the Boeing 747-8 gifted to him by Qatar on Wednesday, using the aircraft for a trip to North Dakota that immediately revived questions over the administration’s acceptance of the luxury jet.

Trump traveled to North Dakota to visit the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library ahead of its July 4 opening, marking the aircraft’s debut as Air Force One after months of security and communications upgrades.

Before departing, Trump defended the gift, arguing the United States would have been foolish to reject a plane he described as a needed replacement for the aging presidential fleet while Boeing continues work on the delayed next-generation Air Force One aircraft.

The flight comes as Democrats continue scrutinizing the administration’s handling of the transfer. In the letter from Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats to Blanche mentioned in the previous item, lawmakers demanded the acting AG produce a legal memorandum concluding that President Trump’s acceptance of the Qatari aircraft was “legally permissible,” arguing the document is among dozens of outstanding oversight requests that should be resolved before Blanche’s confirmation hearing.

The administration has maintained the transfer complies with federal law, while critics continue to raise constitutional, ethical and national security concerns about accepting such a valuable gift from a foreign government.

Four Senate battlegrounds tighten

A new round of New York Times/Siena College polls suggests Democrats remain within striking distance in four of the cycle’s most closely watched Senate races, underscoring the party’s multiple paths to reclaiming the majority next year.

The surveys found competitive contests in North Carolina, Alaska, Iowa and Ohio, where Democratic candidates are either running even with or within striking distance of their Republican opponents despite the states’ recent Republican lean.

The results reinforce Democrats’ strategy of expanding the map beyond traditional battlegrounds. North Carolina remains their clearest pickup opportunity, while Alaska continues to emerge as a genuine toss-up following former Rep. Mary Peltola’s entry into the race. Iowa and Ohio, two states that have shifted right over the past decade, also remain competitive enough to force Republicans to spend heavily defending seats they once expected to hold comfortably.

The polling comes as Republicans defend 23 of the 35 Senate seats on the ballot this cycle, compared with 13 for Democrats and the two independent senators who caucus with them. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to reclaim the majority, making sustained competitiveness across several Republican-held states a central part of their 2026 strategy.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Colorado delivers primary shockwaves

Colorado Democrats delivered one of the clearest signals yet that the party’s primary electorate is still in an anti-establishment mood, producing a string of high-profile upsets that could reshape the national conversation heading into the midterms.

The biggest surprise came in the governor’s race, where Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser defeated Sen. Michael Bennet for the Democratic nomination, ending Bennet’s bid to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis and handing one of the party’s best-known senators a stunning primary defeat.

The political shockwaves continued in Denver, where 29-year-old progressive Melat Kiros unseated 15-term Rep. Diana DeGette in one of the cycle’s biggest House upsets. In the battleground 8th District, state Rep. Manny Rutinel won a crowded Democratic primary and will face Republican Rep. Gabe Evans in one of the nation’s marquee House races this fall.

Not every incumbent fell. Sen. John Hickenlooper turned back a progressive challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales to secure renomination.

All told, the results reinforced a trend that has emerged in recent Democratic primaries: voters are increasingly rewarding younger, more confrontational candidates while showing a growing willingness to replace longtime party leaders, even in deep-blue states.

Read more

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Congress Nerd Daily, Once Upon a Hill’s reported evening briefing chronicling the strategic decisions, procedural fights and campaign dynamics that determine how power is exercised, challenged and won on Capitol Hill.

In this evening’s edition: The justices preserve mail voting, curb one of Trump’s attempts to control the Federal Reserve, expand his power over independent agencies and set the stage for Tuesday’s birthright citizenship ruling. Plus, Congress gets its first Iran briefing since Trump’s MOU, the House prepares to approve the KIDS Act, Pelosi launches a new institute and Maine’s Senate race tightens.

First Things First

Lawmakers get Iran update: House and Senate lawmakers received their first member-wide briefing this afternoon on President Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran, as the administration races to keep a fragile diplomatic opening from collapsing into a broader regional conflict.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff briefed members during an unclassified call, offering lawmakers their first formal update since Trump signed the agreement following talks earlier this month in Switzerland.

“It’s BS,” a Democratic lawmaker who was on the call said of the briefing. “And so unprofessional.”

The briefing comes at a precarious moment. The memorandum was intended to create a pathway toward a 60-day ceasefire and broader negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and regional security. Instead, both sides remain locked in a tense holding pattern marked by recurring military exchanges and an increasingly dangerous dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Rubio confirmed to him that Iran will earn billions in revenue while retaining leverage of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Today’s briefing was delayed, deficient, and devoid of details. After dragging America into a costly war, the Trump administration still can’t name a single thing Americans got in return,” Schumer added. “If this is the administration’s defense behind closed doors, Secretary Rubio should make it under oath, in public, before the Foreign Relations Committee. Americans are paying the price for Trump’s war. They deserve answers, not this Administration’s nonstop excuses.”

The Trump administration insists technical talks remain on track and says diplomatic channels established during the Lake Lucerne summit are still being used to prevent accidental escalation. Iranian officials, however, have suggested negotiations cannot fully resume until unspecified conditions are met.

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to insist on free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while Iran has sought to impose greater control over commercial shipping, a flashpoint that has already triggered retaliatory strikes and renewed fears that the ceasefire could unravel before broader negotiations can take hold.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

House set to vote on KIDS Act: The House will soon vote on the bipartisan KIDS Act in the first congressional test of a compromise child online safety package that has already drawn sharp criticism from some of the Senate’s leading supporters of stronger tech regulation.

House leaders are bringing the measure up within the hour under suspension of the rules, a procedure reserved for legislation expected to attract broad bipartisan support and requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.

The package combines more than a dozen online child safety bills, including versions of the Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0, into a single measure intended to strengthen privacy protections for minors, expand parental controls and establish new safeguards for social media, gaming platforms, artificial intelligence and data brokers.

As I reported in Sunday’s edition, the House vote comes just days after Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged lawmakers to reject the package, arguing it weakens the Senate-passed KOSA by eliminating its signature duty-of-care requirement and narrowing key accountability provisions for technology companies.

Passage would send the measure to the Senate, where its prospects remain uncertain as the chamber’s original KOSA architects push to preserve what they consider the legislation’s strongest consumer protections.

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

Collins outruns GOP brand: The first major public poll of Maine’s Senate race suggests Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) faces the most competitive reelection campaign of her career, even as she continues to outperform the Republican brand in a state that remains skeptical of President Trump.

A New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena College poll of 608 likely voters found Democratic nominee Graham Platner leading Collins 49% to 47%, a statistical tie that nonetheless underscores Democrats’ opportunity to flip one of the few Republican-held seats they must win to reclaim the Senate majority.

The poll also highlights Collins’ unique political position. While she trails Platner by two points, the generic congressional ballot favors Democrats by 11 points, 53% to 42%, suggesting Collins is still attracting crossover support despite a difficult environment for Republicans.

The coalition divides are stark. Platner dominates among college-educated voters (66%-32%), voters under 45 and the Greater Portland region, while Collins maintains sizable advantages with seniors, non-college voters and rural Maine. Women back Platner by eight points, while men favor Collins by seven.

The broader political climate remains challenging for Republicans. Just 33% of likely voters say the country is headed in the right direction, while Trump’s job approval stands at 38%, with particularly poor ratings on the economy, inflation and tariffs. Even so, nearly half of Maine voters retain a favorable view of Collins, underscoring why Democrats still view defeating the five-term incumbent as one of their toughest pickup opportunities this cycle.

Pelosi’s next act takes shape: After nearly four decades in Congress, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is beginning a new chapter in academia.

The University of California, Berkeley announced today that it will launch the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy next January, creating a new academic center dedicated to studying Congress, democratic institutions and civic engagement.

The institute will be housed in Berkeley’s political science department and will focus on research, teaching and public programming aimed at strengthening representative democracy. University officials say it will operate as a nonpartisan center despite bearing the name of one of the country’s most influential Democratic leaders.

Pelosi, who represented San Francisco in the House for nearly four decades and twice served as speaker, will co-teach a course on Congress beginning in the spring 2027 semester alongside Berkeley political scientist Eric Schickler.

The university hopes to raise $50 million for the institute and says roughly $35 million has already been committed, including a personal contribution from Pelosi.

The institute plans to serve about 500 students each year through coursework and a public leadership certificate program while hosting visiting fellows, faculty research and an annual democracy forum. Its research agenda will span Congress and democratic institutions, political polarization, artificial intelligence, climate change, economic inequality, criminal justice and civil rights.

The institute marks the latest step in Pelosi shaping her post-congressional legacy, shifting from legislative leadership to preparing the next generation of students to study and strengthen American democracy.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

Trump scores wins, takes losses as Supreme Court term nears finish

The Supreme Court handed down a split-screen set of decisions Monday that gave Democrats one clear voting-rights win, President Trump a major victory over independent agencies and the Federal Reserve a rare reprieve from his push to expand presidential power.

The rulings landed on the eve of the court’s final opinion day of the term, when the justices are expected to decide four remaining cases.

The court was not as uniformly friendly to Trump as Democrats feared. But it still left them with plenty of reasons to worry about where the conservative majority is taking the country.

A win for mail voting: In Watson v. Republican National Committee, the court ruled 5–4 that states may count mail ballots postmarked by Election Day even if they arrive afterward. The decision preserved state authority over mail voting and rejected a Republican legal theory that would have required ballots to be physically received by Election Day to count.

Democrats quickly cast the ruling as a victory for voters and a setback for Trump’s effort to undermine mail voting ahead of the midterms.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters the court “did the right thing” by preserving each state’s ability to manage voting by mail, which he said was never a partisan issue until Trump made it one after losing in 2020.

“Donald Trump has decided that they’re going to try to cheat to win,” Jeffries said. “And the Supreme Court dealt a big blow to Donald Trump’s scheme to rig the midterm election.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the court upheld the principle that “if you cast your ballot on time, your vote will count.” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) called the decision a rejection of the RNC’s “shameful” attempt to disenfranchise voters. Senate Rules Committee Ranking Member Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said the ruling preserved the ability of states to accept eligible ballots postmarked by Election Day.

Trump responded by using the decision to renew his pressure campaign for the SAVE America Act, falsely claiming the House has passed a version of the bill that requires photo ID, proof of citizenship and bans most mail ballots. He also singled out five Republican senators—Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.)—as the holdouts standing in the way of his top legislative priorities.

Even if all five flipped, the bill would still lack the 60 votes to clear the Senate. And there are still not enough votes to eliminate the filibuster.

Trump wins at the FTC: The sharper Democratic alarm came in Trump v. Slaughter, where the court’s conservative majority ruled that Trump could fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter without cause, overturning nearly a century of precedent protecting some independent agencies from direct presidential control.

Democrats described the ruling as a major transfer of power from Congress to the White House.

Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Trump had “seized control of formerly independent agencies so they serve him and his billionaire friends instead of the American public.” Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the ruling “throws the door open for politics—not the public interest—to be the guiding star” at agencies Congress designed to be insulated from short-term partisan pressure.

Schumer was even blunter, calling it a “permission slip” for Trump to turn independent agencies into “members-only clubs for his golf buddies and cronies.”

The practical concern for Democrats is straightforward: If presidents can fire independent regulators for policy disagreements, consumer protection, competition policy, telecom regulation, labor enforcement and other areas of federal oversight become more vulnerable to White House pressure.

The Fed exception: But the court drew a different line in Trump v. Cook, denying Trump’s request to remove Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook while litigation continues.

The court emphasized the Fed’s unique history and role in monetary policy, signaling that its independence rests on a different constitutional and statutory footing than that of agencies like the FTC—a distinction that mattered to Democrats.

Warren said even a court “stacked by Donald Trump” agreed his attempt to fire Cook was illegal and renewed her demand that Bill Pulte be removed as acting Director of National Intelligence and head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said the ruling confirmed Trump’s attempted firing was “plainly illegal” and a threat to Americans’ pocketbooks.

Jeffries tied the decision directly to Pulte, again saying the court “did the right thing” by preserving the Fed’s independence while arguing that Pulte’s role in the Cook episode underscored why Democrats have concerns about surveillance reauthorization while he remains acting DNI.

The court also ruled in Chatrie v. United States that geofence warrants constitute Fourth Amendment searches, a major digital privacy decision that will compel lower courts to scrutinize how law enforcement uses location data obtained from companies like Google.

One more day: The term now comes down to four cases: Trump v. Barbara on birthright citizenship; West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox on transgender athletes; and NRSC v. FEC on campaign finance.

The birthright citizenship case is the giant on the board.

Trump has tried to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to certain noncitizen parents, a direct challenge to the long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment. A ruling for Trump would mark one of the most consequential immigration and constitutional decisions in modern history.

Jeffries said Monday there is only one acceptable constitutional answer.

“There’s no circumstances where this Supreme Court, applying the law and being guided by the Constitution, should do anything other than affirm the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which goes all the way back to Reconstruction, and the efforts to ensure that newly free enslaved Africans wouldn’t have their citizenship questioned on the basis of their race,” Jeffries said. “And from that moment forward, there’s been no doubt about the constitutionality and ironclad nature of the birthright citizenship clause to the United States Constitution, and that should be affirmed.”

Read more

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Congress Nerd Daily, Once Upon a Hill’s reported evening briefing chronicling the strategic decisions, procedural fights and campaign dynamics that determine how power is exercised, challenged and won on Capitol Hill.

In this evening’s edition: After President Donald Trump postponed signing a bipartisan housing bill approved by Congress this week, Democrats argued the episode exposed a disconnect between his affordability promises and his governing priorities. Plus, the White House’s Iran funding request ignites a new spending fight and Democratic women roll out a fresh legislative slate.

First Things First

One story I’ll be digging into more in tomorrow’s edition: the political earthquake that unfolded in New York City last night.

As you probably know by now, all three congressional candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated establishment-backed rivals, including two sitting members of Congress—one of whom chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The results instantly transformed what had been a local debate about the Democratic Socialists of America into a national conversation about the future of the Democratic Party.

I spent the morning talking with lawmakers, strategists and operatives about why Mamdani’s coalition proved so effective, why Democratic leadership and allied institutions struggled to stop it and what the victories mean for a party trying to simultaneously wage an aggressive opposition campaign against President Trump while managing an increasingly visible internal conflict.

Several Democrats view the outcome as not just a dispute over ideology. They see it as a debate over coalition-building itself and whether energy spent targeting fellow Democrats ultimately strengthens the broader anti-Trump movement or fragments it at a moment when many voters want a unified front against MAGA. That’s a conversation likely to extend well beyond New York.

But as you’ll read below, President Donald Trump made waves on Capitol Hill, so I shifted gears. But I think the story will be worth the wait.

First in Congress Nerd: The Democratic Women’s Caucus is marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision with a sweeping legislative agenda that reaches far beyond abortion rights as part of an argument that women’s healthcare encompasses everything from maternal mortality to menopause research to Medicaid coverage and mental health care.

The healthcare slate, which was shared with me ahead of this evening’s release, features dozens of bills sponsored by caucus members that leaders say offer an affirmative alternative to President Trump’s healthcare agenda and congressional Republicans’ policy priorities. The package calls for expanding reproductive healthcare access, lowering healthcare costs, increasing investments in women’s health research and protecting Medicaid and Medicare.

“We need to protect our right to choose whether we have a baby and we need to protect our right to choose full reproductive health care without governmental interference,” DWC Chair Teresa Leger Fernández told me. “We need the kind of health research on women’s issues on everything in between because if you don’t take care of all the unique health issues that women face, you’re ignoring women’s health.”

The slate includes legislation to codify abortion protections nationwide, guarantee access to contraception and IVF, restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood, expand telehealth services, lower prescription drug prices and address the nation’s maternal mortality crisis. It also highlights measures focused on menopause, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, menstrual health, migraine disorders and breast cancer screening.

Several proposals reflect Democrats’ broader healthcare messaging heading into the midterms. One bill would repeal Republicans’ Planned Parenthood funding restrictions, another would expand Medicaid maternal health services, and a third would prohibit private-equity firms from owning hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. The package also includes legislation aimed at improving healthcare access for veterans, servicemembers, rural communities and immigrants.

The rollout comes as Democrats continue searching for a post-Dobbs message that extends beyond defending abortion rights. By tying reproductive freedom to healthcare affordability, maternal health, medical research and healthcare access, caucus leaders are attempting to broaden the political conversation around women’s health four years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

“Women are the majority voters. And we’re the majority of Americans, and we need to keep us healthy,” Leger Fernandez said.

Democratic Women’s Caucus Healthcare Legislative Slate

432KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

Democrats press Trump to sign bipartisan housing bill

House and Senate Democrats seized on President Trump’s decision to postpone signing a bipartisan housing bill this morning, arguing the move exposed a gap between the president’s promises to lower costs and his willingness to support legislation designed to do exactly that.

Within hours of Trump’s announcement, nearly 30 Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), gathered outside the Capitol to pressure the president to reverse course and sign the legislation.

The unusually rapid response reflected how much political value Democrats saw in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan package Congress approved this week by overwhelming margins of 85-5 in the Senate and 358-32 in the House.

Democrats have spent much of the year and a half criticizing Republicans for pursuing tax cuts for wealthy individuals, mass deportations and reductions to the social safety net while failing to address affordability concerns. The housing bill gave them a chance to point to a concrete example of bipartisan governing on an issue voters consistently rank among their top concerns.

Trump’s decision to postpone the signing ceremony gave Democrats an opening to sharpen that argument.

“Trump’s petty refusal to sign our bipartisan bill shows how reluctant he is to do anything that would help the American people,” Schumer said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went further.

“Donald Trump is a complete and total fraud when it comes to actually trying to make life better for the American people,” Jeffries told me. “Republicans would rather make it harder to vote than easier to purchase a home or afford to live in a safe, decent environment.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) struck a similar note, accusing Trump of abandoning a promise he made to voters.

“He came to Georgia, said he wanted to do something about the housing crisis, make housing more affordable to Georgia and Congress came together in good faith, built a bipartisan bill and the president of the United States has decided to throw a monkey wrench in the middle of the process in order to pass the SAVE Act,” Warnock said. “Clearly, he’s not trying to save Georgia. He’s trying to save his own power at any cost.”

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

White House sends Congress $87.6B emergency request

The White House formally asked Congress on Wednesday for $87.6 billion in emergency funding, including roughly $72 billion tied to military operations against Iran and related national security activities.

The request, transmitted by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, also includes funding for Ebola response efforts in Central Africa, farm assistance, infrastructure projects and several policy provisions.

Congressional Democrats immediately signaled resistance.

Leader Schumer argued that taxpayers should not be asked to finance the consequences of what he called Trump’s “reckless war” with Iran.

“President Trump is asking taxpayers to clean up his messes, to the tune of $87.6 billion,” Schumer said on X. “After dragging America into a reckless war, he now wants Congress to hand him tens of billions more to paper over the damage.”

The response builds on concerns Senate Democratic appropriators raised this week about considering a major defense supplemental while negotiations over annual government funding remain unresolved. Republicans, meanwhile, will have to decide whether to move the package as an emergency request or attempt to fold it into the broader spending debate already consuming Capitol Hill.

Read more

First Things First

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Congress Nerd Daily, Once Upon a Hill’s reported evening briefing chronicling the strategic decisions, procedural fights and campaign dynamics that determine how power is exercised, challenged and won on Capitol Hill.

In this evening’s edition: The White House and Senate Republicans have spent weeks clashing over surveillance powers, Iran negotiations and legislative strategy. Wednesday’s lunch with President Donald Trump could offer the clearest sign yet of where the relationship goes next. Plus, the Senate is on the verge of passing one of the biggest housing bills in decades and a bipartisan House deal on children’s online safety immediately runs into resistance from Senate Democrats.

Across the pond, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation today after losing confidence in much of his own party, despite having won a landslide election two years ago. Labour Party members of parliament increasingly concluded he was no longer the best person to lead them into the next election, and a leadership transition is now expected, with Andy Burnham emerging as the favorite successor.

The parallels to U.S. politics are striking.

Voters punished the governing party despite economic indicators that were not uniformly bad. Starmer’s government could point to some achievements, but many voters felt little improvement in their daily lives. That dynamic should sound familiar to anyone who covered the 2024 election.

Immigration became a defining political vulnerability. Critics, both inside and outside Labour, argued that Starmer failed to address public concerns about migration. That helped fuel the rise of Nigel Farage and his populist Reform movement.

Traditional center-left parties are struggling across the democratic world. Labour’s crisis resembles the challenges facing Democrats in the U.S., center-left parties in Europe and center-left governments elsewhere: how do you satisfy an educated urban base while also retaining working-class voters who are increasingly attracted to populist movements?

On the campaign trail, James Talarico launched his first major general election television ad, backed by a seven-figure statewide buy that will run in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and Harlingen/McAllen media markets.

The 30-second spot, titled “Drowning,” centers on affordability, with Talarico arguing that rising costs for groceries, gas and health care have left many Texans struggling to stay afloat. The ad highlights his bipartisan record in the Texas House, including legislation to cap insulin costs, cut taxes for small businesses and deliver what the campaign describes as the largest property tax cut in Texas history.

But the message is notable for what it emphasizes and what it leaves out. Rather than leading with President Trump, culture-war issues or a traditional Democratic attack on Republicans, Talarico is making an economic argument aimed squarely at working-class voters. The ad also leans heavily into bipartisanship, a signal that his campaign believes persuadable voters remain open to candidates who can position themselves as problem-solvers rather than partisan warriors.

The buy marks one of the campaign’s largest paid-media investments to date and offers an early look at the argument Talarico plans to make against Texas Attorney General and Republican nominee Ken Paxton: Texans are paying more, the political system is broken and he has a track record of working across party lines to deliver tangible results.

The move comes as national Democrats increasingly view Texas as one of the party’s more intriguing long-shot opportunities this cycle, particularly after Paxton’s primary victory over Sen. John Cornyn reshaped the race and injected new uncertainty into the general election.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

This week’s most interesting lunch

President Trump will meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday at a lunch hosted by the Senate Republican Steering Committee, giving GOP senators an opportunity to discuss issues ranging from Iran and FISA to the party’s legislative agenda ahead of the midterms.

The visit comes during a stretch of unusually public disagreements between the White House and Senate Republicans over issues including surveillance authorities, the Senate parliamentarian and the administration’s handling of the anti-weaponization fund.

One revealing detail emerged Monday when Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was asked whether he invited Trump to the gathering.

“I did not,” Thune told reporters this afternoon. “Rick Scott did.”

Scott, one of Trump’s closest allies in the Senate and a leading supporter of the SAVE America Act, chairs the Steering Committee and traditionally controls invitations to its weekly lunches.

Thune said he expects Wednesday’s conversation to cover a range of issues and suggested the SAVE America Act could be among them.

“I think it’ll be a lot of different things,” he said. “Hopefully, celebrating some of our successes, talking about the path forward.”

The meeting comes as Senate Republicans continue to search for a path forward on FISA reauthorization and await additional details on the administration’s negotiations with Iran.

On Iran: Thune said that senators are still waiting for a detailed briefing on the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding as negotiators continue talks overseas.

“Hopefully sometime this week,” Thune said when asked when Congress could expect an update. “Most of the briefers are overseas, so that’s the challenge we have right now.”

Vice President JD Vance said Iran has agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency back into the country, marking what the administration is describing as a breakthrough in the latest round of U.S.-Iran negotiations in Switzerland.

Speaking from the Bürgenstock resort near Lake Lucerne, Vance said discussions with IAEA officials could begin as soon as today.

The announcement followed a weekend of talks focused on implementing last week’s 14-point memorandum of understanding. Vance said negotiators also made progress on keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and creating procedures aimed at preventing future incidents from escalating into wider regional conflicts.

“The Strait of Hormuz is open today,” Vance said. “What we were trying to do yesterday was build a mechanism for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.”

Vance also disclosed that Iranian officials at one point threatened to walk away from the talks after President Trump renewed public pressure on Tehran. But he said the negotiations continued well past 1 a.m. local time and that Iranian technical teams remain in Switzerland.

“No, they didn’t throw a wrench in the system,” Vance said of Trump’s comments. “We were negotiating well past one in the morning yesterday, so they didn’t walk out.”

The vice president described the current stage as the start of a longer diplomatic process rather than a final settlement.

“We set the foundation. We haven’t built the house, but we’ve laid a successful foundation to get to a good place for the American people,” Vance said.

On Lebanon, Vance said negotiators worked to establish a deconfliction mechanism to help prevent future flare-ups from spiraling into broader conflict. He said U.S. officials were in contact Sunday with Israeli, Lebanese, Saudi and Emirati counterparts.

Vance stopped short of calling for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon but said the administration is seeking to protect both Israel’s security and Lebanon’s sovereignty. He added that any durable arrangement would require cooperation from the Lebanese Armed Forces and Iranian efforts to restrain Hezbollah.

The vice president also said the administration is exploring ways to ensure any future release of frozen Iranian assets benefits the Iranian people rather than financing terrorism, though he did not indicate whether Tehran had agreed to any restrictions on the funds.

Thune also signaled skepticism toward any sanctions relief that is not directly tied to Iranian concessions on its nuclear program.

“I always want to tie lifting sanctions or financial incentives to conditions on Iranian behavior,” he said.

The comments offer an early indication of where Senate Republicans may draw the line as lawmakers begin evaluating any final agreement that emerges from the ongoing negotiations.

Separately, Thune appeared to confirm reports that the administration is preparing to send Congress a supplemental national security funding request totaling roughly $78 billion.

While saying he had not yet seen a formal proposal, Thune acknowledged the reported figure sounded familiar and argued any package should be viewed in the context of replenishing U.S. weapons stockpiles depleted by operations in Iran and other global commitments.

“We’re expecting a supplemental request,” Thune said. “We need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to replenish, resupply a lot of our munitions that have been depleted.”

The request is expected to become a major focus for appropriators once it formally arrives on Capitol Hill.

On FISA: Senate Republicans remain stuck in a holding pattern on FISA reauthorization as they await direction from the White House on the intertwined fates of Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte and U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, who has been nominated to assume the role permanently.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Thune told me when I asked whether there had been any movement on the issue.

Still, he left little doubt that Senate GOP leadership wants to move quickly once the administration settles on a path forward.

“It’ll be nice if we can figure out how to get that teed up and ready to go, because Clayton and FISA really need to get done,” Thune said.

He acknowledged concerns that Congress could soon leave town for a two-week recess with FISA still expired.

“Of course I am [concerned],” Thune said. “We can, I think, move fairly quickly when we get the green light.”

Thune later reiterated that reviving FISA likely remains tied to Clayton’s confirmation, saying the Senate needs to “unlock FISA” and that effort will “probably be contingent on Clayton getting confirmed.”

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

Senate on the brink of landmark housing breakthrough

The Senate is on its way to passing the 21st Century Road to Housing, one of the most significant bipartisan domestic policy achievements of this Congress and could become the largest housing bill enacted in more than three decades if it ultimately reaches President Trump’s desk.

The vote is still open, but is expected to pass by an overwhelming bipartisan margin.

The package is the product of years of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations between Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-N.C.) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). It combines more than 45 housing provisions aimed at increasing housing supply, lowering costs, speeding development and expanding access to homeownership.

The political significance extends beyond housing policy itself.

The bill offers Republicans a chance to claim progress on affordability, one of the issues voters consistently rank among their top concerns heading into the midterms. And it represents a rare opportunity for Democrats to shape major domestic legislation despite being in the minority. Democratic priorities incorporated into the final package include provisions targeting institutional investors and private-equity firms that purchase large numbers of single-family homes, expanded affordable housing programs, disaster recovery reforms and efforts to address appraisal bias.

As I reported in Sunday’s edition, the next test comes in the House, where leaders are expected to consider the measure under suspension of the rules. That procedure is typically reserved for legislation expected to attract broad bipartisan support, suggesting House leaders believe the coalition that carried the bill through the Senate can hold together through final passage.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

House E&C leaders announce kids online safety package

The leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced today that they have reached a bipartisan agreement on a comprehensive package to strengthen protections for children and teens online, potentially breaking years of congressional gridlock on the issue.

Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said they have agreed to the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, a sweeping proposal that combines elements of more than a dozen bills previously considered by lawmakers.

The package pulls together provisions from several high-profile proposals, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), COPPA 2.0 and a series of measures focused on online privacy, social media safety, parental controls, data brokers, gaming platforms, messaging services and the role of algorithms and automated accounts.

The agreement is notable because children’s online safety has long been one of the few technology issues that attracts broad bipartisan support, yet Congress has repeatedly struggled to move legislation across the finish line amid disagreements over free speech concerns, platform liability and the scope of federal regulation.

According to committee leaders, the legislation would establish stronger privacy protections for minors, increase transparency around data collection and data brokers, expand parental tools and oversight, require certain safety features by default and impose new accountability requirements on technology companies.

The announcement also reflects a return to the Energy and Commerce Committee’s traditional role as a bipartisan dealmaking venue on major technology policy. By packaging together pieces of numerous previously introduced bills, committee leaders appear to be betting that a broader compromise can attract support from lawmakers who have championed different approaches to protecting children online.

The Senate, meanwhile, has largely remained focused on its own bipartisan KOSA/COPPA 2.0 framework. Senate champions have continued to push legislation built around KOSA’s “duty of care” concept, which requires platforms to mitigate harm to minors. That provision has been one of the biggest points of contention between the chambers because House Republicans previously removed it from their package.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a KOSA sponsor, has already registered his opposition on X, effectively saying the House package stripped out the duty of care requirement that would obligate platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent harms to minors, which Senate supporters consider to be the bill’s core enforcement mechanism. If that provision is gone or substantially weakened, Senate backers may not view the House package as a viable substitute for KOSA at all.

Read more

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Congress Nerd Daily, Once Upon a Hill’s reported evening briefing chronicling the strategic decisions, procedural fights and campaign dynamics that determine how power is exercised, challenged and won on Capitol Hill.

The Senate unanimously passed a resolution this morning congratulating the New York Knicks on winning the NBA Finals. The city is prepping for what could be one of the largest ticker-tape parades in its history when it honors the team tomorrow morning.

The celebration will begin at 10 a.m. in Lower Manhattan, with players, coaches and team officials traveling up Broadway through the historic Canyon of Heroes from Battery Park to City Hall Plaza, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani will present the team with Keys to the City. City officials are expecting enormous crowds after the franchise’s first championship in 53 years, with security checkpoints opening hours before the parade, restricted items along the route, and more than a ton of traditional white ticker-tape confetti set to rain down from office buildings overhead.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for a fourth consecutive meeting and the first under Chair Kevin Warsh, while signaling a more hawkish outlook as policymakers grapple with inflation that remains above the central bank’s 2% target. The decision is likely to frustrate President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly urged the Fed to lower rates as Fed officials balance persistent high costs against a still-resilient labor market.

In this evening’s edition: Senate Republicans spent all day scrambling to interpret a Trump social media post that upended FISA talks, postponed a key intelligence hearing and left lawmakers searching for answers.

Plus, Senate Democrats say they’re drafting a universal child care bill now so they’ll be ready to move if they win back the majority and a new House Majority PAC investment suggests Democrats believe Republican political headwinds can overcome recent redistricting losses.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

Get more from Michael Jones in the Substack app

Available for iOS and Android

Get the app

The Top Story

President Donald Trump lobbed another hand grenade into Senate Republicans’ already-stalled effort to revive a key foreign surveillance authority early Wednesday morning.

By lunchtime, the collateral damage included a canceled intelligence nomination hearing, fresh uncertainty over the future of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, renewed questions about acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte’s role atop the intelligence community and a growing sense that even the president’s allies on Capitol Hill were struggling to understand what exactly the White House was trying to accomplish.

The confusion began at 3:54 a.m. Eastern time, when Trump posted on Truth Social that he would not support reauthorizing FISA unless Congress also passed the SAVE America Act, a controversial election measure that Democrats fiercely oppose and that lacks the votes to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Trump also declared that the Senate Intelligence Committee’s scheduled confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, his nominee to serve as director of national intelligence, would not move forward and that Pulte would remain in the acting role.

The post immediately raised a basic question: Was Trump announcing a new negotiating position, venting frustration or issuing a directive?

No one seemed entirely sure.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) initially signaled the hearing remained on track.

“Jay Clayton is a pending nominee before the Intelligence Committee,” Cotton wrote on social media this morning. “We will proceed with his hearing as scheduled unless the president directs him not to appear or withdraws his nomination.”

A short time later, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) emerged from the Senate chamber after his daily floor remarks and was asked for a status update.

All he knew, Thune said, was that Cotton still intended to move forward with the hearing.

“And then from there on, we’ll just have to take it a day at a time until we get more clarity on what the White House position is on this,” he added.

Asked why he thought Trump kept intervening in the process, Thune took a quick beat.

“Good question,” he then said before walking away.

The exchange underscored the central reality of the day: Senate Republicans appeared to be learning the administration’s strategy in real time.

By noon, Cotton confirmed the situation had changed.

“It’s regrettable that the president has directed Jay Clayton not to appear at his confirmation hearing today,” Cotton said in a statement. “Mr. Clayton is a patriot and a highly qualified nominee, as the president has said repeatedly. While today’s hearing is now unfortunately postponed, I look forward to proceeding with his confirmation in the near future.”

The hearing never took place.

Democrats quickly seized on the developments as evidence that the biggest obstacle to reviving Section 702 was no longer partisan disagreement but dysfunction inside the White House itself.

“What we’re witnessing today is an extraordinary display of dysfunction from a president who seems determined to turn America’s national security into a political bargaining chip,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) told reporters.

Warner argued that Democrats and Republicans had spent weeks negotiating a bipartisan path forward after Section 702 expired earlier this month. He acknowledged disagreements remained, including over surveillance reforms sought by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), but insisted lawmakers had been engaged in good-faith discussions before Trump intervened.

“The truth is, even as Congress has tried to work together, the White House continues to move the goalposts,” Warner said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) went further, accusing Trump of deliberately sabotaging efforts to renew the surveillance authority.

“The fact that Trump withdrew Jay Clayton should erase anyone’s doubts: Trump wants FISA to stay expired,” Schumer said.

Standing beside a poster board that featured excerpts from Trump’s Truth Social post under the headline “Trump’s Hostage Note,” Schumer accused the president of holding national security “hostage” to unrelated political demands.

The centerpiece of those demands is the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. Trump’s insistence on linking the bill to FISA immediately complicated an already difficult legislative path.

Warner was blunt.

“FISA’s not going to be reauthorized if it’s attached to a SAVE Act, which is never going to pass,” he said.

The episode also reopened questions about Pulte, whose appointment as acting DNI sparked the current impasse.

Democrats have argued for weeks that Pulte lacks the experience required to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies and have insisted that the administration put forward a qualified replacement before negotiations on FISA could resume in earnest.

Trump’s decision to keep Pulte in place appears to have hardened those concerns rather than eased them.

Perhaps the most revealing moment came when Warner was asked whether Clayton’s nomination had merely been postponed or withdrawn.

“I am not sure whether Jay Clayton has simply been postponed or withdrawn,” Warner said. “I wonder whether Jay Clayton knows whether he has been postponed or withdrawn.”

What remains unclear is where the administration intends to go next. And judging by the comments from both parties, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still waiting for an answer.

Read more

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome to Congress Nerd Daily, Once Upon a Hill’s reported evening briefing chronicling the strategic decisions, procedural fights and campaign dynamics that determine how power is exercised, challenged and won on Capitol Hill.

I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.

Today is the 14th anniversary of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA—the Obama-era program for so-called Dreamers that provides temporary protection from deportation and work permits to certain undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children.

Senate Minority Whip and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) will lead Democratic senators in speeches on the Senate floor this evening to reflect on the nearly decade and a half program and call on Congress to pass the Dream Act, which would provide Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship by passing the bipartisan Dream Act.

In this evening’s edition: Lawmakers in both parties say they need briefings and documentation before judging an agreement the White House says could lead to a broader nuclear accord. Plus, Elizabeth Warren raises alarms about AI-driven utility costs and John Thune offers the clearest sign yet of how Republicans plan to revive Section 702.

But first things first: President Donald Trump arrived in France on Monday for the opening day of the G7 summit after a whirlwind weekend that culminated last night with the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn. The president landed in Geneva before traveling to Évian-les-Bains, where he opened the summit with a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and joined fellow leaders for an evening dinner overlooking Lake Geneva.

The public portion of Trump’s first day was relatively light, though he signaled optimism about ongoing efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, telling reporters he believes both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are open to reaching an agreement. But we’ve heard that tune before, so who knows? ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄

The summit shifts into a more substantive phase over the next two days.

Trump is scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy alongside G7 leaders on Tuesday before holding bilateral talks with the leaders of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Wednesday’s agenda includes meetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as a discussion with world leaders and technology executives focused on innovation and artificial intelligence.

The schedule offers a snapshot of the administration’s current priorities: Securing support for a diplomatic off-ramp in the Middle East, pursuing a potential breakthrough in Ukraine and positioning the United States at the center of the global race to build and regulate AI.

🔓 This edition is in front of the paywall. But if you want the Tuesday and Thursday editions, plus the Sunday lookahead, upgrade your subscription for full access to every edition and the complete archive. Whether you’re taking the votes, writing the bills, running the campaigns, shaping the message or trying to influence any of the above, Congress Nerd Daily helps you see around corners before everyone else catches up.

Subscribe now

📬 The best stories often start with a conversation. If you’ve got insight, context or something others are missing, my inbox is open. Send me tips, scoops or just say hi: michael@onceuponahill.com.

The Top Story

Congressional leaders in both parties spent today demanding details about President Donald Trump’s preliminary agreement with Iran, cautioning that the memorandum of understanding announced over the weekend is not a final nuclear deal and leaves many of the most consequential questions unresolved.

The reaction came as Trump used the opening day of the G7 summit in France to tout the agreement as a diplomatic breakthrough. Sitting alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, the president declared that “the deal is all signed,” predicted that the Strait of Hormuz would be fully reopened by Friday and argued that the framework would succeed where the Obama-era nuclear agreement failed.

But lawmakers from both parties said they have yet to receive a full briefing on the agreement, which establishes a 60-day negotiation process rather than a completed accord governing Iran’s nuclear program.

“I want it to be released because it is a really powerful document,” Trump said when asked when the text would become public. “It is not like the Obama documents.”

The agreement’s supporters and skeptics alike appeared to agree that Congress needs more information.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he had not reviewed the agreement and expected lawmakers would require a briefing from the administration.

“I don’t know enough about it to say,” the South Dakota Republican told reporters when asked whether the deal would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “The issues are going to be compliance and how you’re going to enforce that, and what are the financial incentives that the Iranians have from our country and what are they conditioned upon?”

Thune said lawmakers are already discussing what congressional review could look like if negotiations ultimately produce a formal nuclear agreement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) similarly demanded details, saying Americans deserve to know “what exactly is in this understanding” and whether U.S. servicemembers remain in harm’s way.

“We’ve been told dozens of times that the war is over,” Schumer said. “Dozens of times, we have been left disappointed.”

The memorandum establishes a 60-day process for addressing issues that have bedeviled U.S.-Iran diplomacy for years, including nuclear restrictions, verification requirements, enforcement mechanisms and the future disposition of Iran’s enriched uranium.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said the administration has yet to brief Congress and questioned whether the war has ultimately strengthened America’s negotiating position.

“My concern has been from the beginning that this is a war that we never should have entered into,” Jeffries said during a local TV interview this morning. “It was a reckless war of choice.”

Jeffries also highlighted what he described as contradictions in the administration’s public messaging.

“The president has indicated that even with this tentative agreement, there’s still unresolved issues related to Iran’s nuclear aspirations,” he said. “That’s ironic to us because the president said last year that Iran’s nuclear program had been completely and totally obliterated.”

The top House Democrat argued that it remains unclear whether the agreement ultimately produces a stronger outcome than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which Trump withdrew from during his first term.

“We don’t have any confidence that the end result is that you’re going to get an agreement that’s actually longer or stronger,” Jeffries said.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed the administration’s return to diplomacy while warning that the success of the effort will depend on the final product rather than the announcement itself.

“The terms, not the press release, will determine whether this serves American interests,” Meeks said, adding that any agreement should be “durable, enforceable, transparent, and subject to rigorous oversight by Congress.”

Even some of Trump’s allies appeared reluctant to declare victory before seeing the details.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) praised the administration for reaching the memorandum and called the broader vision “transformative for the region.” But he also noted concerns that Iranian officials appear to be describing the agreement differently from American negotiators.

“It is my understanding the terms of the MOU will be released by the administration in the coming days,” Graham wrote on social media. “I look forward to reviewing the actual document.”

Notably, Graham repeatedly identified Vice President JD Vance as the architect of the agreement and said Vance should help present any eventual deal to Congress. Trump reinforced that dynamic at the G7, telling reporters that Vance would participate in the signing ceremony for the memorandum.

“JD is coming for it. He was originally going to do it,” Trump said. “I will probably be gone by then. We are having dinner in a day and a half, I think staying quite late. So I may be involved. I may not.”