Today’s notice: Nice to briefly see you, Congress. Pentagon accused of eating off another agency’s plate. Life at the East Potomac Golf Links. And: Epstein survivors don’t feel heard at the new DOJ.
Programming note No. 1: We’ll be off for Labor Day — probably laboring over a grill or buying a new air fryer the ads tell us we need — but back in your inbox Tuesday morning.
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THE LATEST
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What did we learn in Congress this week? America’s lawmakers came back to D.C. for a few days after their August break. It was … dramatic. And short! The last two weeks of House votes this month were hastily canceled, leaving only one week to try to legislate before the midterms. (The Senate treks in Sept. 14 and will be around until Oct. 1.) We asked NOTUS’ crack team of Hill lurkers observers what they took away from it all.
The birth of a new House rebellion and the end of an old one. Footage of Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) physically turning his back on Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Washington state), after she and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) helped bail out Republicans, was more than just the traditional Democratic Disarray, NOTUS’ Paul Kane tells us. It could be a passing of the torch from one tough-to-manage majority to another.
“We (possibly) saw the last gasps of the Tea Party uprising that began in 2010 and gained steam when the Freedom Caucus flexed its power in the late 2010s and now stumbled into political reckoning this spring and summer after a series of defeats,” Paul told us.
More of PK’s wisdom: “A week that was supposed to turn into fallout and recriminations amid Republican failure turned into shock and awe among Democrats at the mini-rebellion, foreshadowing that should they win the majority and take charge next year, the next-generation leadership team will face a lot more difficulty uniting their caucus than their octogenarian predecessors had a few years ago.”
What does it means for the rest of the year? Democrats have the traditional momentum of the out-of-power party in the midterms this cycle, bolstered by a public increasingly unhappy with Donald Trump. But very soon they may find they are the dogs who finally caught the car — centrists like Gluesenkamp Perez doing everything they can to stand apart from the surging socialist wing of the party (and vice versa) does not bode well for the kind of unity Democrats will need to turn a potential protest-vote midterm win into a chance to rebuild their shattered public image.
Mike Johnson is rattled. “He’s been extra spicy/cranky this week,” observed NOTUS’ Igor Bobic. Can you blame him? Asked whether he should be held accountable for his claims that the Iran war would end quickly by CNN’s Manu Raju, Johnson called it “one of the stupidest questions” the reporter’s ever asked him. “I have nothing to do with the prosecution of a war across the globe,” Johnson said.
What this means for the rest of the year. If Johnson doesn’t have a better answer for the White House policy moves bedeviling Republicans in public polling, it’s hard to believe his candidates will either.
Looking past the election, there’s a growing number of lawmakers thinking about weeks like this one and saying something fundamental has to change. Paul’s latest column dives into all the bipartisan ideas to reform how Congress works. Like, say, mandatory training on how to handle classified materials, or maybe formally barring members and staff from using prediction markets in an attempt to return some credibility to the Capitol. Let’s see how that goes.
More on NOTUS: Trump Asks the Supreme Court to Reinstate Mail-In Ballot Rules | Missouri Supreme Court Blocks GOP Redistricting Map | Maryland Supreme Court Allows Redistricting Ballot Question to Move Forward | Trump’s 250-Foot Arch Will Soon Break Ground, Burgum Says | Trump Names New Acting Army Secretary After Tension-Filled Resignation
Open tabs: GOP lawmaker gives expected timeline for McConnell’s return (CNN) | Tucker Carlson: “I wouldn’t vote for Mike Rogers at gun point.” (X) | Pentagon temporarily rescinds guidance on testosterone screening for US troops (Reuters)
From the Pentagon
Scoop: DOD sought access to NIH’s money, Democrat says. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement to NOTUS’ Joe Gould that she found evidence the Pentagon tried to get its hands on billions of dollars appropriated for biomedical research. DeLauro described what transpired as a Pentagon “attempt” and that it was not immediately clear how much money the department was seeking, where within the DOD it would go or what it would pay for. She accused the Pentagon of effectively rifling through the government’s couch cushions to find money to pay for the ongoing Iran war and other cash-flow challenges.
The National Institutes of Health said it and the Defense Department had explored ways to collaborate on therapeutics, diagnostics and personal protective equipment to defend against infectious diseases. “NIH enters into partnerships with numerous government agencies,” a spokesperson said.
THE BIG ONE
Justice deferred: Hope rose among some victims of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein when survivors finally got a meeting with Todd Blanche at the Justice Department’s headquarters in July. But that hope has now plummeted after weeks of inaction and lack of communication, the survivors told NOTUS’ Derek Hawkins. And it’s reinforced their belief that the Blanche-led department has no intention of pursuing the issues they brought to him.
“There’s just not an interest,” Annie Farmer, one of the survivors, said in an interview with Derek. “They want to move on and turn the page.”
For its part, the DOJ declined to answer questions about its interactions with survivors. Instead, in an unsigned email, the department told NOTUS: “We have responded to all requests for meetings w/ victims and/or their advocates.”
NOTUS PERSPECTIVES
On Tuesday, New Hampshire voters will decide whether Scott Brown gets another shot at being a senator. At NOTUS Perspectives, journalist Bill Donahue, who joined him on the campaign trail, argues that Brown embodies the fraught position of Republicans in 2026: locked in a destructive embrace of Trump with no real way out.
NOTUS METRO
Sign up for our local newsletter, written by Martin Austermuhle and Zara Norman.
Local news: Prosecutors Say Trayon White Is Trying to ‘Tamper’ With Jury Pool, by Martin Austermuhle
Sports desk: Daylen Lile, Nationals Cornerstone? By Jesse Dougherty
NEW ON NOTUS
“We’re still here!” That was the refrain from duffers playing through at the East Potomac Golf Links this week, the one that was supposed to mark the closure of the federally run D.C. public course Trump wants to demolish and rebuild as PGA worthy. NOTUS’ Sam Fortier talked to the golfers and the staff as they sounded off on the renovation project currently tied up in court and considered their role in the president’s grand plans to leave his mark on their city.
More: Lev Parnas Used Congressional Campaign Funds to Pay Cleaning Company, Makeup Artist | Jim Justice Is Considering Leaving the Senate to Run for Governor Again | A Democratic Reckoning on Data Centers Is Coming | Energy Jobs Fell in Almost Every Sector Last Year
NOT US
- Why Trump’s ‘golden shares’ are enticing progressives, by Joseph J. Schatz for Politico
- Altman raises stakes on government scrutiny as AI advances, by Maria Curi for Axios
- Secret Service is getting the fortified White House that past presidents resisted, by Dan Diamond for The Washington Post
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The newsletter was produced by Thomas Burr and Andrew Burton. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP.
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