Funding Moves
Another funding measure could advance to the House floor after the Appropriations Committee marks up the Labor-HHS-Education fiscal 2026 spending bill today.
The bill would slash the health department’s spending by 6% to $108 billion and the Labor Department’s budget by more than a quarter to $9.6 billion. It includes clear nods to the president, too, like changing Workforce Pell Grants’ names to “Trump Grants.”
We’re expecting this legislation to set up a showdown with the Senate. Senate appropriators’ bill would slightly increase the two agencies’ budgets, as well as ignoring other wishes of President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, a planned markup of the Senate’s Homeland Security funding bill — one of the most difficult funding bills to negotiate — is being delayed, Jack Fitzpatrick reports. Read More
These developments come as Congress races to advance all fiscal 2026 funding bills as the threat of an Oct. 1 shutdown looms. Key appropriators have said lawmakers will need to pass a stopgap bill first to keep the government open—but with just a few weeks left, they’re still waiting on the White House to send over stopgap plans.
Bloomberg Government subscribers can read more in today’s BGOV Budget newsletter.
Scarcity Mindset
A lobbying fight is escalating over a contentious AI chips bill aimed at curbing exports to China. And the debate is expected to come to a head as soon as this week, Oma Seddiq reports.
The measure, led by Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), has been included in a package of amendments to the must-pass annual defense authorization bill.
The bill requires companies like Nvidia to prioritize sales to American firms over foreign-owned entities. Supporters say the text would address domestic supply chain shortages and boost US innovation by putting American companies ahead of the rest of the world for purchases of advanced AI chips, according to a letter exclusively obtained by Bloomberg Government.
Nvidia, meanwhile, calls it a non-existent problem, saying in a fierce public rebuke posted to X on Friday that they would “never deprive American customers in order to serve the rest of the world.” Read More
The exact timing of the House defense authorization vote is still pending. In an unusual move, the House Rules Committee will vote on the rule for floor consideration for the defense authorization bill this morning, after holding the hearing on Monday, Roxana Tiron reports.
Virginia’s Voting
Democrat James Walkinshaw is heavily favored to win today’s special election to fill the Northern Virginia seat left by the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.).
Walkinshaw told a BGOV roundtable last month he wants his party to put a stronger emphasis on the impact of the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce. He also specifically addressed the Epstein case in his race, posting on X that he would sign the discharge petition from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
If he wins, the House would have 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats.
Looking ahead to next year, Democrats in Texas got another new choice in the primary race to pick a Senate challenger in March when state Rep. James Talarico, a rising politician with an active social-media presence, entered the race. Talarico joins a field that includes ex-Rep. Colin Allred, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in the 2024 election, and Terry Virts, a former astronaut, Greg Giroux reports.
A 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian, Talarico is younger than every senator in the 119th Congress and was a vocal critic of the Republican-led effort, promoted by Trump, to redraw the state’s congressional districts. Talarico attracted attention as a guest on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast in July.
Democrats haven’t won a statewide Texas election since 1994 and the state backed Trump by 13 percentage points in 2024. Yet they see a rare opening in Trump’s second midterm election with incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn facing a difficult primary challenge from state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Talarico announced his campaign yesterday by attacking billionaires’ influence in politics and vowing to “take back power for working people,” Joe Lovinger reports.
“This is an underdog fight,” he said in a statement. “We’re going up against the political establishment, and we’re going up against a lot of money.” Read More
Getting Coffee and a Career Change
Can we grab a coffee? Scott Riplinger of the CGCN Group has some advice on how to make the jump from the Hill. Before you start exploring downtown, he guides, talk to mentors, be clear about what you want, and be transparent about what you’re doing. Read More
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Making Dem Friends
A tech association funded by Apple, Google, and other major tech companies is launching a new initiative to strengthen the frayed relationship between Democrats and Silicon Valley ahead of the 2026 midterm, Emily Birnbaum reports.
Though Washington is currently dominated by tech-friendly Republicans, the initiative launched by the tech group Chamber of Progress allows the industry to prepare for potential Democratic wins in next year’s congressional elections or the 2028 presidential election. Read More
Before You Go
Flight Booked: A chartered Korean Air Lines flight will head to Atlanta tomorrow to bring home as many as 300 workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyndai-LG electric vehicle battery plant that has rocked diplomatic ties between South Korea and the US. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, speaking at a cabinet meeting today, offered his “heartfelt sympathy” to those deeply shocked by the incident. Read More
Evacuation Ordered: Israel ordered Gaza City’s 1 million residents to leave in advance of a major military offensive, with top officials vowing devastation unless Iran-backed Hamas surrenders.Read More
Jobs Report: One-third of the high-level jobs at the Bureau of Labor Statistics are vacant. While the commissioner role has been temporarily filled, other leadership positions that oversee various aspects of employment statistics and regional field operations sit empty. Read More
Alex Jones’ Request for SCOTUS: Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is asking the Supreme Court to review a Connecticut court’s nearly $1.4 billion judgment against him and Infowars stemming from his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax, James Nani reports. Read More
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Roxana Tiron in Washington also contributed to this story.
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