Shutdown Pressure
There’s pressure on lawmakers as they deal with — or refuse to deal with, depending on your point of view — the lapsed fiscal 2026 spending authority.
One question they’re facing is whether either political party is going to concede anything to get even a temporary continuing resolution enacted. A stopgap measure could prevent, among other things, the hungriest Americans from going without food aid.
Another question is whether Republicans can peel off votes from the other party in order to cut paychecks. Lawmakers enacted a law in 2019 to ensure all federal employees — those who must keep working and those who are furloughed — receive back pay when a shutdown ends.
“We’ve already got in the law we’re going to provide back pay, so why not pay them on time?” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the sponsor of a bill (
Jack Fitzpatrick describes the state of play and deadline pressures.
See Also:
- Trump Tells GOP to Stand Firm: ‘We Will Not Be Extorted’
- Ambulance Services Face Medicare Pay Cuts in Government Shutdown
- Congressional Staffers, Federal Workers Seek Aid During Shutdown
- IRS Says Tax Refund Payments Will Be Limited by Shutdown
- BGOV Webinar: Washington Navigates Record-Setting Shutdown
Examining Power’s Limits
President Donald Trump played the commander-in-chief card when he decided to pay troops during the shutdown.
Could he go a step further and claim unilateral authority over the entire defense budget? After all, the Constitution declares “the president shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy,” and you can’t command the forces without commanding where and how they spend money.
Bernie Kohn and Roxana Tiron probe the possibilities in an elevated take.
Nomination Dropout
After several Republican senators said they won’t back Trump’s choice to lead the Office of Special Counsel, nominee Paul Ingrassia pulled out of the running, Ian Kullgren, Lillianna Byington, and Mica Soellner report.
“Unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time,” Ingrassia said in a social media post. “I appreciate the overwhelming support that I have received throughout this process and will continue to serve President Trump and this administration to Make America Great Again!”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had said that he hoped the White House would withdraw the nomination. Read More
Campaign 2026
Trump’s defeat in 2020 is still such a bone of contention that it could drive the outcome of a Senate primary.
Just last week, the president told reporters, “I won Georgia three times, but they say twice.”
What’s a Georgia Republican who wants a Trump endorsement to do? Soellner reports that it’s a conundrum for the campaign of former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley.
In the competition to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Dooley’s backed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R), once the subject of Trump’s anger for refusing to convene a special legislative session to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election. Dooley’s competition for the nomination includes Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who posted on X: “President Trump is right on both: Jon Ossoff is horrible for Georgia and we had three big wins.”
“I would know because I’m the only candidate in this race who was with him in all three elections,” Collins said in the post. Read More
Suing for a Seat
Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva and the state of Arizona are suing the House of Representatives, Maeve Sheehey reports.
They want Grijalva (D-Ariz.) to be sworn into the seat she won in a special election last month. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to do that to date, while he’s kept the floor schedule empty during the government shutdown. Read More
On the Hill Today
The Senate has voted most weekdays — but today’s schedule is uncertain because Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has held the floor since 6:21 p.m. yesterday to discuss Trump’s “grave threats to democracy,” as he posted on X.
Off the floor, today’s agenda includes a Foreign Relations Committee markup on a number of bills including one (
Their work comes as a Russia sanctions bill is on hold, awaiting a not-yet-nailed-down meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin. Trump will meet this afternoon with NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte, a key contact between Trump and European allies.
More on today’s calendar is in Congress Tracker.
Stone’s New Gig
Longtime Trump ally Roger Stone is once again a lobbyist, Kate Ackley reports.
Disclosure reports show work for a cryptocurrency investor with the nickname Bitcoin Jesus and other clients including the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana. That work is noteworthy in part because the tribe said in July that it intended to nominate Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize and would use its status as a sovereign nation to do so.
Stone reported lobbying the Interior Department and the Office of the Vice President of the United States, working through the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., firm Drake Ventures.
In the 1980s, Stone was a partner in the firm Black, Manafort & Stone. More recently, he was found guilty of obstructing the congressional investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. During Trump’s first term, the president commuted that sentence and pardoned Stone. Read More
See Also: Ballard Takes Over as Revenue Leader on K Street
Farm Help Wanted
If you work in a Capitol Hill office, you may already have a meeting scheduled with farmers from the American Business Immigration Coalition.
The coalition is pressing lawmakers to consider the connection between immigration law and workers who are essential to food production. They want lawmakers to expand the H-2A visa program that provides agricultural employers with access to temporary labor, Skye Witley reports.
Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association and a participant in the fly-in, said Trump can address some short-term concerns if legislative solutions don’t come fast enough.
“We believe there’s opportunities for the administration to do that — some version of an executive order” addressing the farm labor crisis, Teagarden said. Read More
See Also: Farm Aid Halted By Shutdown to Resume
Eye on Tariffs
Because of tariff upheaval, sales declined for a big toy company. Mattel reported a dip of 6%, to $1.74 billion in the third quarter, as retailers delayed placing orders for Christmas.
The global toy industry sources the majority of its products from China, which has been a key target of Trump’s tariff increases. Chief Executive Officer Ynon Kreiz said in an interview that the postponed orders are “going to make the fourth quarter very large.”
The company has said that it expects to buy less than 15% of its US-bound toys from China by 2026 and less than 10% by 2027. The North American market accounts for more than half of the company’s annual revenue. Read More
Before You Go
Unprecedented: Trump is asking the Justice Department to pay him about $230 million in compensation. It’s for what he described as violations of his rights during investigations into his conduct. Read More
Warning Sign: Some Democratic donors remain skeptical of the party’s direction and of whether there is a viable plan to win again, while the Republican National Committee heads into the new year with a significantly bigger bank balance, the Wall Street Journal reports.
OSHA Revisions: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing changing how it uses a catch-all federal workplace-safety oversight tool. That’s causing concern among state officials and safety advocates, who are worried about the changes’ impacts on high-risk industries’ workers such as construction and emergency response, Tre’Vaughn Howard reports. Read More
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