1/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy got into a heated exchange during a closed-doors meeting with House Republicans. Gaetz accused McCarthy of paying social media influencers to attack him online. McCarthy responded that he wouldn’t waste his time or money on Gaetz. The Senate, meanwhile, has put together a bipartisan deal to temporarily fund the government and avert a shutdown, which House Republicans have largely dismissed because it “does nothing to deal with the border security” and contains additional aid for Ukraine. Further complicating matters is that at least 10 far-right conservative House lawmakers have declared that they will not vote for any stopgap measure under any circumstance. Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to reach a deal to fund the government. If Congress doesn’t act, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday. The government, meanwhile, started notifying the roughly 2 million federal workers and 1.3 million active-duty troops that a shutdown appears imminent. (Axios / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / ABC News)

2/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, House Republicans held their first impeachment inquiry hearing into Biden. The House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees have yet to provide any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden, but continue to promise to present “two dozen pieces of evidence revealing Joe Biden’s corruption and abuse of public office.” Further, a Republican-picked witness said during the hearing that “the current evidence doesn’t support articles of impeachment,” but suggested that an inquiry was still warranted anyway. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of trying to impeach Biden as retribution for the House having twice impeached Trump. (NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / Politico)

3/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, the Senate adopted a resolution formally requiring men to wear a coat, tie, and pants. The move follows Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s request that the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms stop enforcing the chamber’s informal dress code, which was widely viewed to be inspired by Sen. John Fetterman, who often wears casual ...