What’s Cut at HHS

Today’s notice: A ton of scoops about HHS’ shutdown cuts. Republicans think they finally have Democrats where they want them. The incredibly expensive Pennsylvania “retention election.” And: Why Democrats are excited about running a 77-year-old for Senate.

THE LATEST

Two shutdown scoops. 1,760 employees at HHS got letters last week saying they had been fired due to the shutdown, but around half of those letters were sent in error, HHS said in a federal court filing yesterday. Despite the mix-up, 982 employees were actually laid off, and NOTUS’ Margaret Manto and Oriana González got the list of cuts.

They include: 596 employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 125 at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 99 at the Health Resources and Services Administration; and 55 at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

More: 47 at the Administration for Children and Families; 41 at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; 18 at the Assistant Secretary for Administration; and 1 (one) at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs.

For HHS staff, the cuts seem petty – and cruel. RIFs hit the office that handles security at the CDC just months after a shooter targeted the HQ, Margaret reports in her second scoop about the cuts.

A “kick in the mouth” is what one CDC employee called those RIFs.

More from inside HHS. The Office of Population Affairs, frequently the target of attacks from Republicans because it distributes money to Planned Parenthood clinics, appears to have been effectively shut down by the Trump administration. NOTUS’ Anna Kramer and Margaret report all but one employee at the office were locked out of their email addresses and government laptops Friday.

The move could be a huge victory for the abortion-rights opponents, which have wanted to end Title X for a while now. No employees at the OPA would mean no one to administer Title X.

Open Tabs Republican Shows Up In DC To Demand House Reconvene (HuffPost); U.S. Military Kills Six in Yet Another Caribbean Strike (NYT); Trump Claims a ‘Very Wealthy Person’ Offered to Cover Military Paychecks (NOTUS); DOJ’s John Bolton probe focuses on diary-like notes in his AOL email account (CNN)

From the shutdown

Republicans miscalculated just how united the Democrats would be during this shutdown, NOTUS’ Hill team reports. “I thought they would give in,” Rep. Adrian Smith told the team. “But now, and hearkening back to where we were in 2013, once you get to a certain point, you kind of have to go longer. And so, I anticipate they’re going longer.”

They think they’ve got the calculations right now, though. “If they keep the shutdown going, voters will blame them even more. If they cave, their base will eat them alive. Either way, they’re about to get fucked,” a Senate Republican aide told the team.

From the Hill

Swear her in, or else. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a demand letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday calling for the immediate swearing in of Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva following her special election win last month. “We are keeping every option open to us, including litigation, to hold [Johnson] accountable and make sure that Adelita is able to begin her work,” Mayes wrote.

House Dems took up the call, marching to Johnson’s office Tuesday afternoon while taking up a call-and-response chant: “What is he afraid of? Epstein!”

The only problem? Johnson wasn’t even in the building at the time — he was at the White House for a ceremony honoring Charlie Kirk, a source told NOTUS’ Reese Gorman.

THE BIG ONE

Democrats ask, how about more old politicians? If Janet Mills wins the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine and then goes on to win the general, she would be the oldest freshman senator in U.S. history, NOTUS’ Alex Roarty writes.

This is a feature, not a bug. Mills has been one of the top recruits for the DSCC, and her decision to run is widely seen as simplifying the national party’s still-incredibly-difficult 2026 Senate math. She will have broad establishment support and is considered the nomination front-runner just by showing up. And she’s leaning into the age thing — her “life’s work had prepared me for this fight,” the 77-year-old said this week. The argument from her supporters is that she is a proven, veteran politician with a real record.

Plus, they suggest, if people just want to defeat Sen. Susan Collins and start over, Mills is the candidate for that, too. She told multiple outlets this week she is seeking just one term. Electability is the platform for the primary.

National Dems are doing a lot of this. In two other key states, Democrats have successfully recruited older, well-known pols to run for Senate. In North Carolina, former Gov. Roy Cooper is 68 and in Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown is 72. Each is seen as the most electable pick among national punditry. Because they are well-known to voters, the theory goes, they can argue they’re the kind of Democrat a Trump-skeptical voter can comfortably get behind.

But, wait, wasn’t the lesson from 2024…what?! Mills’ strongest opponent in the primary, the viral sensation Graham Platner, knows what you’re thinking. “We’re not going to be running on the age issue because voters can see with their own two eyes that Graham is a 41-year-old who has the energy to criss-cross the state and talk to every voter in Maine,” an aide told Alex.

NEW ON NOTUS

Young Republicans’ shocking group chat: “Such behavior is disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents,” the Young Republican National Federation said of a leaked group chat — full of racist, sexist and homophobic messages obtained by Politico — that allegedly included a number of the organization’s leaders. “Those involved must immediately resign from all positions within their state and local Young Republican organizations.”

Pennsylvania’s extremely expensive, very weird election. “This is one of the most important races in the country that nobody’s talking about,” DNC vice chair Malcolm Kenyatta told NOTUS’ Avani Kalra, weeks ahead of a November election that asks Keystone State voters to simply say yes or no to another term for three state Supreme Court justices. Only one judge ever has lost one of these “retention elections,” but both national parties are spending big this time around.

“These races will shape the redistricting process for the next cycles to come, determining whether Democrats can continue to gerrymander legislative and congressional maps in their favor,” state GOP leader Mason Di Palma said.

More: Southern Lawmakers Say Infant Mortality Rates Could Worsen with Health Care Cuts, by Torrence Banks

How the Western Caucus Is Trying to Win Influence in Congress, by Helen Huiskes

NOT US

• A man disappeared while running for office. He might still win., by Leo Sands and Jennifer Hassan for the Washington Post
  
• Man Stores AI-Generated ‘Robot Porn’ on His Government Computer, Loses Access to Nuclear Secrets, by Matthew Gault for 404 Media
  
• How Elle Bisgaard-Church became Zohran Mamdani’s most trusted adviser, by Holly Pretsky for City & State New York

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