Next Week in Washington
Law school dean. Bank chairman. President Donald Trump’s first Labor Secretary. Alex Acosta’s career has had a lot of turns. One that’s under scrutiny right now is the job he held from 2005 to 2009: federal prosecutor.
If the House Oversight Committee’s announced plans stay on track, Acosta will meet with the panel next Friday for a voluntary interview about a no-prosecution decision that benefited friend-of-many-famous-people Jeffrey Epstein.
Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said his committee “is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation” of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse underage women.
Acosta negotiated and approved a plea deal in 2008 that allowed Epstein to avoid serious charges and to obtain a non-prosecution agreement.
The Justice Department later criticized Acosta for using “poor judgment,” and he resigned under fire from Trump’s cabinet amid questions over the Epstein probe. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 as he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges involving underage girls.
See Also:
- What We Learned About Epstein From Reading 18,000 of His Emails
- The Story Behind the Story of Mandelson’s Epstein Emails
CDC and Vaccines
Before he became HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likened the CDC’s vaccine policies to “Nazi death camps” and claimed vaccines cause autism, a connection that’s been widely refuted.
In June, Kennedy fired all the members of an influential vaccine panel that decides which immunizations will be covered by insurance or offered to low-income children for free. Next week, that panel’s new members, many of whom are critics of vaccination, have a two-day meeting scheduled.
The day before that meeting, the influential senator whose support was key to Kennedy’s confirmation will give a public platform to the Senate-confirmed CDC director he fired.
The only two witnesses at Wednesday’s hearingare to be ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez and Debra Houry, the agency’s former chief medical officer who resigned in protest with two other senior CDC officials when Monarez was dismissed. In a break from standard Capitol Hill practice, Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he’ll invite administration officials to comment at a future hearing.
“To protect children’s health, Americans need to know what has happened and is happening at the CDC,” Cassidy said in a statement. “They need to be reassured that their child’s health is given priority.”
Backgrounder: How RFK Jr. Is Pushing the CDC to the Brink
Confirming Trump’s Nominees
Senate Republicans say they’re ready to change their own rules next week to make it easier to fill open positions in executive-branch agencies.
They plan to stop going through nominations one-by-one and instead vote on groups of them in multi-person confirmations, Lillianna Byington reports. Look for the rule-change vote, which would diminish the power of the minority party, on Monday.
More than 100 of Trump’s nominees await floor action. The majority leadership has a list of 48 ready to go in the debut personnel bundle. Read More
How Low Will They Go?
The day that Trump has been demanding all year is finally coming. On Wednesday, the Fed Reserve will decide whether— and by how much — to lower a benchmark interest rate that determines what banks, businesses, mortgage applicants, and others can expect to pay.
Economists say they expect a rate cut because of the softening labor market, as demonstrated in yesterday’s new data: initial applications for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in almost four years. Another key data point: rising inflation.
Senators plan to confirm Trump’s Fed nominee Stephen Miran on Monday night. That means he could participate in that rate-setting meeting, which begins Tuesday.
A Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary examines what’s fast becoming a historic moment for the world’s most important central bank — and whether the Fed can weather the storm.
See Also:
- Economists See Fed Rate Cut Next Week, at Least One More in 2025
- Trump Asks Court to Let Him Fire Cook, Who Warns of Vote Turmoil
- Republican Senator Has ‘Extreme’ Concerns on Trump BLS Pick
- BLS Leans More on Second-Best Option for Filling in CPI Blanks
Eye on DC
Yes, Trump’s 30-day District of Columbia emergency is over. And no, it doesn’t end there. The city’s federal overseers have more in mind.
The House is preparing to vote next week on a package of bills to change local laws, including one that would lower the age at which minors could be tried as adults for certain crimes (H.R. 5140) and one that would take local input out of the process for choosing DC judges (H.R. 5125).
In addition, the House Oversight Committee scheduled a Thursday hearing on DC, with testimony from Mayor Muriel Bowser. Ahead of all that, Mica Soellner talked to people about the governmental whiplash that Bowser’s been through and what she’ll have to navigate going forward. Read More
Two Weeks Plus Two Days
You know that Congress is deadline-driven. And you’re well aware that when they return from their weekend recess lawmakers will have two weeks plus two more weekdays until the end of the fiscal year. That means they’ll also have an urgent need to have appropriations in place for at least part of fiscal 2026.
Next week should bring a House vote on a short-term funding bill. What we can’t know yet: how short that stopgap will be and whether it will do more than just freeze spending where it is.
As Ken Tran and Jack Fitzpatrick report in BGOV Budget , hardline Republicans want a mid-length CR that would freeze funding at current levels into the new year. Democrats want to use the CR to avoid a sudden spike in health insurance premiums for millions who rely on soon-to-expire Obamacare subsidies.
“We will not support a partisan spending agreement that continues to rip away health care from the American people, period, full stop,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) told reporters “all hell will break loose on the House floor” if a CR extends the credits.
See Also: House Moves Toward Starting Funding Package Conference
State Visit
Trump won’t be in the country when the Fed’s interest rate decision is set or when the Senate hearing puts the handling of health policy on his watch under scrutiny. He’s scheduled to leave Tuesday for London for an official state visit with King Charles III.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump are to be guests at Windsor Castle.
Before You Go
There’s a lot to know about the aftermath of the Kirk slaying:
- Trump Says He Will Attend Funeral for Slain Ally Charlie Kirk
- Black Colleges Lock Down Amid Threats After Kirk Killing
- US Political Violence Surges to Record, Bloomberg Analysis Shows
- FBI Releases Video Clip of Suspect in Charlie Kirk Killing
- How Charlie Kirk Mobilized a Generation of Young Conservatives
- Activist Kirk’s Murder Raises Concerns About Lawmaker Security
- Foreigners Who Make Light of Kirk Killing Not Welcome, US Says
Was This Newsletter Forwarded to You?
Sign up here to get Starting Line for free every weekday morning.
— With assistance from
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story: