CONGRESS: House GOP leaders are eyeing a plan to avoid a shutdown in two weeks, with sources telling The Hill that it will be a mostly "clean" continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through Nov. 20.
House leaders face a tight time crunch to pass the plan by the week's end, with lawmakers scheduled to leave Washington next week for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. They are headed for a showdown with Democrats, who have called for any stopgap to include major concessions on health care.
"Partisan legislation that continues the unprecedented Republican assault on healthcare is not a clean spending bill. It's a dirty one," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote on X on Monday.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Democrats of "playing games" with funding in a Sunday appearance on Fox News. He said the stopgap bill would be "clean in its scope," adding, "I surely hope the Democrats will not try to make this a big, partisan fight."
Trump joined the lobbying effort on Monday with a Truth Social post, writing: "In times like these, Republicans have to stick TOGETHER to fight back against the Radical Left Democrat demands, and vote 'YES!' on both Votes needed to pass a Clean CR this week out of the House of Representatives."
There's already grumbling among Republicans.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) posted Monday: "I already hated status quo thinking and approaches (soft incrementalism at best), so I'm out on another CR for the sake of more government."
Republicans can only lose two votes in the House if all Democrats oppose the measure.
▪ The Hill: Congress' shutdown showdown intensifies ahead of deadline.
SECURITY FUNDING: Included in the list of requests lawmakers are sorting through is a reported ask from the White House for a $58 million security boost for government officials made in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
Members on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns about security in the wake of the shooting, which comes as fears over political violence have been on the rise.
"We're in a deliberate review process right now to determine what measures are appropriate, how much we could allocate for that," Johnson told reporters last week. "We've got to protect people who run for public office or no one will, and that's heavy on our hearts and minds."
Democrats including Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Bennie Thompson (Miss.) have expressed support for considering security funding in the spending deal.
"I don't know what House Administration, the Speaker and other folks are going to do, but I think every precaution that can be made should be afforded members," Thompson said Thursday.
RUSSIA SANCTIONS: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Monday poured cold water on the likelihood that bipartisan legislation to place heavy sanctions on countries that buy oil from Russia will be added to a stopgap spending bill.
Senate Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated and exasperated over Trump's refusal to give them the go-ahead to move tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that buy its oil.
Trump has pressed European allies to levy harsher sanctions against Russia, but he has dragged his feet on the Senate bill, which GOP senators were hoping to get done in July.
"I would say that Russia sanctions — I'm hoping, I talked to Lindsey [Graham] over the weekend. I hope it's ripe here soon, but I think one of the things the president is trying to ensure happens before we do secondary sanctions is that our European allies join us," Thune told reporters.
"I think it would … minimize the effectiveness of the sanctions unless we have all of our allies join us," he added.
▪ The Hill: Frustrated GOP senators blow steam on Russia: "Sick of" Trump, Vance "love affair" with Putin.
▪ The Hill: Battle brewing over Syria sanctions repeal in Congress.
FED UP: The Federal Reserve's board of governors begins a two-day meeting Tuesday, with markets expecting a 0.25 percent interest rate cut announcement at its conclusion on Wednesday.
There's a lot of drama beyond the cost of borrowing.
A federal appeals court on Monday night blocked an attempt by Trump to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook to keep her from participating in this week's meeting, setting the stage for a potential Supreme Court battle.
"Given these unique circumstances, and Cook's strong likelihood of success on at least her due process claim, the government's request for relief is rightly denied," U.S. Circuit Judge Brad Garcia wrote for the majority.
A federal judge last week ruled Cook can continue her work at the Fed as she fights Trump's attempt to fire her over claims of mortgage fraud. The New York Times reported on documents over the weekend that appear to bolster Cook's denials of wrongdoing.
▪ Yahoo Finance: 'Worst kind of setup for the Fed': What Wall Street is saying about the central bank's next rate decision.
The Senate on Monday evening voted to confirm Stephen Miran to the Fed board. Trump tapped Miran, one of his top economic advisers, to fill the seat left vacant by Adriana Kugler, who left the Fed in August.
Miran, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, was confirmed in a 48-47 vote along party lines. He's stepping into a term that expires in January, but could end up serving well beyond that if a successor for the open seat is not named.
He has said he will take a leave of absence from the White House Council of Economic Advisers rather than resign from the post, fueling concerns about his independence from Trump.
Trump for months has called on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates. A recent run of disappointing jobs reports has added to that pressure, with the unemployment rate currently at its highest level since 2021.
While inflation remains above the Fed's target of 2 percent — consumer prices accelerated 2.9 percent in August, according to the Labor Department, while core inflation held steady at 3.1 percent — Powell signaled last month the jobs numbers were more concerning.
"In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside, and risks to employment to the downside — a challenging situation," he said during a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo. "When our goals are in tension like this, our framework calls for us to balance both sides of our dual mandate."
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