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FIRST THINGS FIRST
👋🏾 HI, HEY, HELLO! Welcome back to Congress Nerd Daily. I hope today was everything for you. Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. We remember the nearly 3,000 people who were killed, the loved ones who carry their loss and the first responders whose courage defined an unimaginably dark day.
And in Dallas: Day two of Trumpapalooza gets underway this afternoon with a heavy dose of midterm politics: battleground candidates, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) are among the speakers before Vice President JD Vance and President Trump close out the Republican convention tonight. The programming will also feature taxes and affordability, government corruption, education and public health, plus a showcase of House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates.
Related: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) launched a five-figure national digital ad buy today counterprogramming the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, contrasting President Trump’s economic promises with higher costs for groceries, gas and health insurance. “That’s not a golden age,” Jeffries says in the sports-targeted 60-second spot. “That’s a shakedown.”
And from the White House: The administration says nearly one million Affordable Care Act enrollees in 30 states will receive $500 refunds beginning in October from surplus federal-exchange user fees, a day after Trump proposed $5,000 “dividend” checks for U.S. adults if Republicans retain Congress. The $500 payments will go to enrollees who pay full premiums without federal assistance. The White House says the money represents refunds for excess fees collected under the Biden administration.
And in Missouri: The Supreme Court blocked the state from using its new Republican-drawn congressional map in November, leaving the 2022 lines in place and preserving Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district while the federal appeal continues. The order resolves, for this election, a clash between state and federal courts over which map should govern the midterms.
New economic data: The Producer Price Index rose 0.4% in August and 5.4% from a year earlier, with a 4.2% jump in energy costs—led by a 24.1% surge in diesel—helping push transportation and warehousing prices higher. The report, out a day before CPI and with oil above $100 a barrel, adds to concerns that energy costs are feeding through supply chains ahead of next week’s Fed meeting.
The Big Interview: Noreen Farrell, Part II: Yesterday, Noreen Farrell made the case that Washington may be thinking about affordability too narrowly.
The president and executive director of Equal Rights Advocates told me that the economic debate tends to focus on lowering prices while overlooking policies that can increase or protect the money workers have available to spend. She argued paid sick days, higher wages and pay transparency can function as affordability policies by strengthening household finances even if they don’t directly make groceries, rent or health care cheaper.
That argument grows out of a new national poll commissioned by the Equal Rights Advocates Action Fund, the organization’s political arm. The survey found 58 percent of likely 2026 voters said the economy was not working well for them and their families, while large majorities said Congress should make progress on affordable family and elder care, fair wages, paid leave and equal pay.
But broad support for an idea and enactment into federal law are two very different things.
That’s where we left the conversation yesterday.
Farrell argues that Congress should resist trying to solve the entire problem through sprawling legislative packages and instead pursue smaller policies capable of producing tangible benefits quickly. She also believes those policies could help lawmakers rebuild some capacity for bipartisan legislating.
So I asked her to get specific: Where has the political system broken down? What could Congress realistically accomplish? And if lawmakers could move only two pieces of the agenda she champions, which two should come first?
I also pressed Farrell on the Action Fund’s bigger political claim—that the “road to victory” in November runs through this agenda. The poll measures whether supporting particular policies would make voters more or less likely to vote for an elected official. That is not the same thing as demonstrating those policies will determine how someone votes.
Here’s the rest of our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity…
📬 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.
IN THE KNOW
Talarico rolls out Republican endorsements: More than 20 current and former Republican officials and leaders are backing Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico over GOP nominee Ken Paxton, including former Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and several former Texas lawmakers and judges. The cross-party push comes as Talarico has increasingly made an explicit appeal to Republicans and independents in the closing weeks of the race.
AOC backs Haynes in Texas: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Texas) endorsed Rev. Frederick Haynes III for Texas’s 30th District, praising his support for civil rights and opposition to corporate power. Haynes, Jasmine Crockett’s longtime pastor, is the Democratic nominee for the seat Crockett vacated to run unsuccessfully for Senate.
Duckworth wants more transparency for blocked military promotions: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) urged NDAA negotiators to require the Pentagon to give officers written notice and justification within seven days when their promotions are withheld, delayed or removed, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blocked at least 40 one- and two-star promotions since January 2025. Duckworth says women and officers of color have been disproportionately affected and wants the requirement applied retroactively to Jan. 20, 2025.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
“After 9/11, the U.S. built an anti-terror apparatus. Trump is using it at home.” by Warren P. Strobel: “Waning attention to international terrorism and other threats has former officials worried.”
“The election deniers’ long game” by Toluse Olorunnipa: “Right-wing activists have slowly taken control of a significant part of America’s local election apparatus. The country isn’t prepared for what they might do.”
“Why is no one paying each other back?” by Samantha Leal: “Splitting the check is easy—in theory. In practice, you’re probably getting ghosted on Venmo more than you’re being repaid.”