Wheels Up
President Donald Trump’s preparing for a diplomatic victory lap to celebrate the first phase of a deal ending the war with Gaza. He said he’ll depart for the Middle East “sometime Sunday,” with a goal of being in Israel for the anticipated release of hostages on “Monday or Tuesday.”
He also raised the possibility that he would address Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. The timing of has some collateral damage: Vladimir Putin was supposed to host a Russia-Arab summit next week, but that’s now postponed.
A ceasefire is now in place in most of Gaza and Israeli media says the country’s troops have begun to pull back from their positions. Yet there is still fighting in some areas. Broadly, Israelis and Palestinians have welcomed the agreement, celebrating the truce in parts of Israel and Gaza. Read More
Trump did not, however, receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which has been awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. It remains to be seen how this prize plays out in the geopolitics of the region. Trump, who lobbied hard to be awarded the prize, has taken a hard line against the strongman regime of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro.
See Also:
- With a Ceasefire Struck, Gazans Ask ‘Who Will Be in Charge’
- What Does Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan Promise?: QuickTake
Lackluster, She Says
Remember when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene opted out of a Senate run after being pressured by the White House? She tells BGOV’s Mica Soellner the remaining GOP Georgia hopefuls are a “lackluster” field.
“It’s basically a bunch of the same good old boy Republicans, and they’re not bringing anything new and forward thinking,” Greene said. “I work with two of them, and the other one is just a football coach, and I’m like, ‘hey everybody, remember the last several times you guys tried to win on that?”
The leading GOP contenders hoping to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) are Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, and Derek Dooley, a former University of Tennessee football coach who is backed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Read More
And speaking of 2026 Senate maneuvering, Maine Gov. Janet Mills plans to announce her bid for the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, Axios reports. That would set up a generational battle; Mills is 77, and oyster farmer Graham Platner is 41.
Redistricting Push
Today’s big campaign 2026 event may turn out to be fly-in strong arming in Indiana. The Associated Press reports that Vice President JD Vance is due there today.
Indiana lawmakers have been hesitant about reopening their congressional district map-making process to gerrymander the extra GOP seats sought by Trump.
Vance’s visit is at least the third time he has talked to the state’s politicians about it. Plus Trump met privately with state House Speaker Todd Huston and state Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray in the Oval Office when they were in town in August.
Texas and Missouri already have enacted new districts. Democrats in California are seeking voter approval to add as many as five Democrat-held seats in Congress as a rebuttal to the GOP-led states.
Shutdown Politics
Obamacare subsidies that were souped up during the pandemic are the big government shutdown sticking point, so Bloomberg Government contacted all 219 House GOP lawmakers this week to ask whether they support keeping that benefit in place.
The vast majority — around 190 — stayed silent, Jonathan Tamari reports. The rest aren’t on the same page. Some called firmly for ending the tax breaks, others for extending them, and still others say they would consider an extension with changes after the government reopens. Read More
The long-range Senate calendar had set a recess for next week, but that’s been cut back to just a long weekend. There’ll be a pro forma session today and then senators are off until Tuesday.
And don’t hold your breath while waiting for the House to return. Speaker Mike Johnson suggested tensions are so high that it wouldn’t be productive to bring his conference back to town yet. “Is it better for them to be physically separated right now? It probably is,” he told reporters.
However, there are rumblings from the rank and file that House Republicans need to deal with kitchen table issues like military pay. Three lawmakers said on a GOP conference call Thursday that they’d prefer the House to be in session next week,
Read the latest in today’s editions of BGOV Budget and Congress Tracker.
More from our team coverage of the shutdown:
- Shutdown Pain Ripples Through US Economy With No Deal in Sight
- Shutdown Forces Organ Transplant Nonprofit to Furlough Staff
- IRS Furloughs Could Crimp GOP Tax Law Guidance, Rules Rollout
- House Republicans Question Johnson’s Extended Shutdown Recess
Thwarted in Chicago
Trump’s ambitions for a military presence on the streets of Chicago are on a two-week pause after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker won a round in court.
“I have seen no credible evidence that there is the danger of rebellion in Illinois,” said US District Judge April Perry, rejecting the president’s claim that his actions were lawful because protests against his immigration crackdown posed the risk of rebellion against US government authority.
The judge also said she was “troubled” by differences between the official orders directing troops and Trump’s public statements. Read More
See Also: ICE Wants to Buy More Buildings in Chicago as Crackdown Expands
Eye on the Economy
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has recalled staff to prepare by month’s end the consumer price index report that is necessary to calculate the size of next year’s Social Security checks, according to a Labor Department official.
The Social Security Administration uses third-quarter CPI data to determine the annual cost-of-living adjustment for recipients for the following year. The COLA announcement is typically made shortly after the BLS releases the September CPI. The data was originally scheduled to be released Oct. 15. Read More
We’ll hear directly from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials next week. Powell speaks on Tuesday to the National Association for Business Economics, and Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson speaks to the group on Monday. Boston Fed President Susan Collins, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, Governor Christopher Waller, and Governor Stephen Miran will appear at other events, so inflation-watchers will have more opportunities to parse sentiment about interest rates.
The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index for September will be released Tuesday. The National Association of Home Builders housing market index will be published Thursday.
Plus, get ready for some DC traffic; the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings begin Monday.
Today’s preliminary survey result from the University of Michigan will be closely watched for what it says about how much of a squeeze Americans are feeling from inflation. It’ll follow the latest survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in which people said they’re braced for higher inflation in the year ahead. Both measurements are worth paying attention to because Fed officials consider them as they assess whether tariffs will result in single-jolt price increases or drive a more persistent inflation shock.
Before You Go
James Indicted: New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on one count of alleged bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. “These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,” James said in a statement. Read More
Burst of Bipartisanship: The Senate passed its version of the annual defense authorization bill, Roxana Tiron reports. It was a fleeting moment of cooperation amid shutdown tensions, though the measure still requires reconciliation with the House version. The measure ( S. 2296 ), which passed on a 77-20 vote, is considered must-pass because it authorizes troop pay and military construction projects as well as weapons and geostrategic policy. Read More
Biden Era Bye-Bye: Three measures that would reverse restrictions related to fossil fuel energy development on federal lands in the West are heading to the president’s desk. The Senate has cleared the GOP disapproval resolutions that would unlock millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management land to coal, oil, and gas leasing in North Dakota, Montana, and Alaska. The measures ( H.J. Res. 104, H.J. Res. 105and H.J. Res. 106) won passage under the Congressional Review Act, Kellie Lunney reports. Read More
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