| CONGRESS: Lawmakers are indicating that a deal on a budget and to raise the debt ceiling could be coming down the rails as they try to wrap up negotiations and strike a deal before the House leaves Washington for the six-week August recess. Leadership and administration officials say progress is being made toward a breakthrough, although one still remains at large. Two of the key figures, Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have continued negotiations over the phone throughout the past week, but officials say details and key sticking points need to be ironed out, including the level of non-defense spending that Democrats are pushing for. “They seem to me to be moving closer and closer together,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said of Pelosi and Mnuchin. Lawmakers on both sides agree. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a Senate GOP appropriator, said there was “cautious optimism” about a deal, while Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters that negotiations are “going quite well right now.” Without a budget deal, Congress will need to find another way to raise the debt ceiling, with Pelosi and McConnell indicating in recent days that they have no interest in a stand alone vote if a budget deal falls through before the recess. The pair’s aversion comes despite Mnuchin’s push for one, noting that the government could run out of funds in early September, putting more pressure on lawmakers to hammer out a deal before the House leaves town next Friday. One big obstacle to any deal has turned out to be funding for veterans. Pelosi told Mnuchin in a recent letter that she wanted $9 billion in additional funds in fiscal 2020 and $13 billion in additional funds in 2021 for the VA MISSION Act, which overhauled how the department handles health care. Republican lawmakers want to pay for the law under the budget caps, but Democrats worry that would force them to make cuts to other programs in 2019 and 2020. Instead, they want to ensure those payments don’t count toward the caps. "There's probably a way to get a deal done," Shelby said about resolving the issue of funding for veterans (The Hill). > Saudi Arabia: The House is poised to approve resolutions on Wednesday blocking the president’s emergency arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies. The passage of the resolutions, which already cleared the Senate last month, will set up a confrontation with the White House, which has threatened to veto the measures. It would be Trump's third veto — and the second related to Saudi Arabia, underscoring the divide between Trump and Congress on the Saudis (The Hill). > Cybersecurity: Lawmakers are raising concerns that the upcoming 2020 census could be open to possible cyber-attacks because individuals can fill it out online for the first time in history. Top officials from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) appeared at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday and sounded the alarm after adding the Census Bureau to the GAO’s list of “high-risk programs” due to cybersecurity and information technology shortfalls. The census can be completed over the phone, in paper or online this time around (The Hill). “Although the Bureau has taken initial steps to address risk, additional actions are needed as these risks could adversely impact the cost, quality, schedule, and security of the enumeration,” Nick Marinos, the director of information technology and cybersecurity at the GAO, and Robert Goldenkoff, the director of strategic issues at the GAO, said in their written testimony. > Cryptocurrency: Facebook sought to defend its plans for a new global cryptocurrency at a contentious hearing on Tuesday as lawmakers aggressively blasted the project and questioned whether the embattled company should be in charge of launching such an ambitious venture.
David Marcus, head of Calibra — the new Facebook subsidiary that will be partially responsible for its launch — assured lawmakers that the Libra coin will not launch until financial regulators are satisfied. But the testimony did little to quell concerns from bipartisan lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee, many of whom delivered blistering condemnations of the company’s plans (The Hill).
“[Facebook] moved fast and broke our political discourse, they broke journalism, they helped incite a genocide and they’re undermining our democracy,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the ranking member of the committee, said during his opening remarks. “Now Facebook is asking people to trust them with their hard-earned paychecks.”
The Washington Post: In meetings with federal regulators and discussions with Congress about its cryptocurrency ambitions, Facebook is paying a price because of Washington’s lack of trust. *** 2020 POLITICS & CAMPAIGNS: Campaign aides to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have become frustrated as the democratic socialist has seen his candidacy stall over the past month. They question polls and vent about news coverage of his campaign. While Sanders remains firmly in the top five of the 2020 field and his candidacy polls near the top in national and early state surveys, his second presidential bid has struggled to overcome an emerging narrative that his moment has passed. In the past month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have surpassed him in some polls and surged into the top tier of the Democratic primary pack. Sanders’s supporters believe polls don’t capture a young, enthusiastic base or the new voters they say Sanders is bringing into the fold. The campaign is turning its allegations of unfair media coverage into a rallying cry. The camp argues that media bias, focus on horse-race politics and outsize coverage about new candidates have led to a Bernie blackout that gives a false impression about the state of the race (The Hill). "Every time there is a story about how Bernie can’t win it fans the flame of our base and we get more donations and more volunteers,” said one Sanders campaign aide who is not authorized to speak on the record. Pollsters are skeptical of the charge, and Democratic strategists say it’s up to Sanders to change the course of his campaign if he wants to draw the kind of media attention he believes he deserves. Instead, they argue that he is a one-trick pony and needs to adapt instead of simply continuing to sell his anti-corporate message. “He’s almost like a greatest hits act,” said one Democratic operative. The Washington Post: Sanders toughens his critique of former Vice President Joe Biden, signaling more clashes ahead. The Wall Street Journal: Old election cash gives new life to some presidential candidates. Politico: Sen. Cory Booker, Julián Castro struggle to woo minority voters. 
© Getty Images > Fundraising: Democrats are becoming increasingly concerned about the financials of the 2020 campaign, as the president posted an eye-popping haul in the second fundraising quarter, leaving Democrats to wonder if they’ll be able to catch up after the primary wraps next year. The Democrats say there’s cause for concern simply by looking at Trump’s $108 million total in the last three months between his reelection bid and the Republican National Committee, a figure that’s more than four times as much as the top 2020 Democratic fundraiser during the second quarter, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. “I know it’s still really early but if you take a look at what he’s been able to do in terms of fundraising, we’d be nuts not to worry,” one Democratic strategist acknowledged (The Hill). The New York Times: Trump sets the 2020 tone: Like 2016, only this time “the Squad” is here. > Kentucky Senate: National Democrats say they are not concerned with Amy McGrath in Kentucky despite chatter from within the state that other Democrats could primary her as they sense an opening after her up-and-down campaign rollout versus McConnell. McGrath, who raised $2.5 million in her first 24 hours, has come under fire after a lackluster first week, headlined by her flip-flop over whether she would have voted for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a matter of hours and her decision to back out of an interview with MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt on Sunday. The first-week stumbles have opened the door to a primary challenge, which some in the party, including Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), believe would be useful. Most recently, Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker (D) said that he is looking at a primary campaign, while Matt Jones, a sports radio personality in the state, has kept the door open for a possible bid. However, national Democrats are standing by McGrath despite the rocky week. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), said she is not concerned, pointing to McGrath’s fundraising prowess as evidence of a strong bid. “Not at all,” Cortez Masto said when asked if there are any concerns. “It’s just the opposite. A lot of enthusiasm.” “People there need to do what they think is appropriate,” she said of potential challengers. “What I’ve seen is there’s a lot of enthusiasm about running against Mitch. We’ve seen with just the numbers alone with Amy McGrath and how much she’s raised.” As of Sunday, McGrath had raised $3.5 million, a figure that fell far short of expectations on the Republican side given her run against McConnell, who Democrats likely have more antipathy for than any Republican that isn’t the president. The Associated Press: Sen. Cory Gardner had good news for Colorado. But Trump had tweets. | 
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