1/ Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling, setting up a possible government shutdown this week and a federal debt default next month. The 48-50 party-line vote – to fund the government through Dec. 3, 2021 and suspend the debt limit through Dec. 16, 2022 – fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation to the floor. Republicans refused to back the debt limit increase as a form of protest of the Democrats’ plan to spend $3.5 trillion on education, child care, healthcare, and climate change – which would be paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. “After today there will be no doubt about which party is working to solve the problems that face our country and which party is accelerating us toward unnecessary, avoidable disaster,” Chuck Schumer said, calling it “one of the most reckless, one of the most irresponsible votes” he’s taken in the Senate. “Republicans will solidify themselves for a long time as the party of default.” Lawmakers have until midnight Thursday to approve funding for the government or a shutdown will be triggered. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, has notified Congress that they have until mid-October to act before the federal government can no longer pay its bills. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNN)

2/ The House will vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Thursday, which the Senate passed last month. Nancy Pelosi committed to a vote this week on the proposal to improve the country’s physical infrastructure after a group of moderate Democrats threatened to vote against a second, larger social policy and climate change bill, which Democrats are pursuing through budget reconciliation. House progressives, however, have warned that they will not vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan bill until the House and the Senate has passed the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which provides investments in education, health, child care, paid leave, and climate programs. That package, however, has yet to be completed. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, meanwhile, warned that there are 60 Democrats who would vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the vote is held before the $3.5 trillion plan is finalized and adopted. That leaves Pelosi and her leadership team with three days to satisfy both the moderate and progressive factions of the party. “In order to move forward, we have to build consensus,” Pelosi said, adding: “I’m never bringing to the floor a bill that doesn’t have the votes.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico /

1/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed four of Trump’s closest advisers, including Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon. The panel also issued subpoenas to Dan Scavino and Kash Patel. The subpoenas compel the four to produce documents relevant to the deadly attack by Oct. 7, and then sit for a deposition the following week. The committee said it was seeking information about Trump’s actions leading up to and during the riot. In a statement, Trump called the panel the “Unselect Committee” and promised to “fight the Subpoenas on Executive Privilege and other grounds, for the good of our Country.” (NPR / New York Times / Politico)

2/ Biden will not invoke executive privilege to shield Trump White House records from the House’s Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. The decision would likely set up a legal fight with Trump citing “executive privilege” in an effort to block the information requests. White House spokesman Michael Gwin said Biden is “deeply committed to ensuring that something like [Jan. 6] can never happen again and he supports a thorough investigation into what occurred,” adding that “the events of Jan. 6th were a dark stain on our country’s history, and they represented an attack on the foundations of our constitution and democracy in a way that few other events have.” The National Archives has identified hundreds of pages of relevant documents, which will be sent to Biden and Trump lawyers. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)

3/ The hand recount of Maricopa County’s 2020 vote – ordered and financed by Republicans – confirmed that Biden won and the election was not “stolen” from Trump. The draft report from Cyber Ninjas found that Trump received 261 fewer votes than the county’s official election results, and that there was less than a 1,000-vote difference between the county’s count and the recount. Biden won Arizona by roughly 10,500 votes. The recount took nearly six months and cost almost $6 million. Trump, meanwhile, issued a statement claiming the report “uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD!” (AZ Central / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Washington Post)

4/ A New York judge ordered the Trump Organization to submit a report by Sept. 30 on its efforts to prese...

1/ The House passed legislation to fund the government through Dec. 3 and extend the debt limit until after the 2022 elections in a party-line vote with no Republicans supporting the bill. The fiscal package is needed to avoid a government shutdown and a first-ever default on U.S. debt. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell has vowed that Republicans won’t support raising the debt ceiling. Without 10 Republicans in support, the bill would fail to advance past the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “This is playing with fire. Playing games with the debt ceiling is playing with fire and putting it on the back of the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could cost the U.S. economy 6 million jobs, wipe out $15 trillion in household wealth, send the unemployment rate to roughly 9% from around 5%, and plunge the country into an immediate recession, according to the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Congress has to pass a funding plan by Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leaders that the debt ceiling must be raised or suspended by some time in October, when the U.S. will exhaust all of its options to pay its bills. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)

2/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas vowed to complete an investigation into the treatment of Haitian immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border after videos showed mounted Border Patrol agents running down migrants and using their reins as whips. Mayorkas told the House Homeland Security Committee that an undisclosed number of agents have already been placed on administrative duty. House Democrats, meanwhile, demanded that Customs and Border Protection officials brief the Oversight Committee this week about agent conduct, direction they received from supervisors, and disciplinary action being taken. (USA Today / New York Times)

3/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent hundreds of state-owned vehicles to the southern border to form a “steel wall” to block migrants from crossing the border. Nearly 15,000 Haitians have taken refuge under the border bridge in Del Rio, Tex. while trying to seek asylum. “We effectively […] regained control of the border,” Abbott said. (Washington Post / Axios)

4/ An attorney who worked with Trump’s legal team tried to convince Pence that he could overturn the 2020 presidential election results. In a two-page memo, John Eastman laid out a six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election for Trump, which included throwing out the results from seven states. Under Eastman’s scheme, Pence could then declare Trump the winner with more Electoral College votes, at 232 votes to 222. Eastman and Trump proposed the plan to Pence on Jan. 4 in the Oval Office. A separate internal memo – issued two weeks after the 2020 election – show that the Trump campaig...

1/ House Democrats plan to combine a short-term government spending bill with the suspension of the debt limit in an effort to avert a government shutdown. The stopgap funding bill would last through Dec. 3, 2021, and the debt ceiling would be suspended through Dec. 2022. Mitch McConnell, however, reiterated that Republicans “will not support legislation that raises the debt limit.” The Republican threat is in protest of the Democrats decision to pursue trillions in new spending to overhaul federal healthcare, education, climate, immigration, and tax laws. McConnell called it “an effort to exploit this terrible yet temporary pandemic as a trojan horse for permanent socialism.” Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned that “a reckless Republican-forced default could plunge the country into a recession.” Congress has until the end of September to ratify a new spending agreement or risk a shutdown. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned that, under current conditions, the department will reach its borrowing limit some time in October, which would cause “irreparable harm” to the U.S. economy. The House is expected to vote on the package this week. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)

2/ The Senate’s parliamentarian blocked the Democrats’ plan to use the $3.5 trillion social and climate package to provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 8 million immigrants. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, ruled that the proposal is “by any standard a broad, new immigration policy” and that “changing the law to clear the way to (Legal Permanent Resident) status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact.” In a three-page memo to senators, MacDonough noted that under Senate rules, provisions are not allowed in such bills if their budget effect is “merely incidental” to their overall policy impact. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / CNN)

3/ More than 675,000 people in the U.S. have died of Covid-19, surpassing the country’s 1918 influenza pandemic death toll. The U.S. accounts for about 14% of total Covid-19 deaths globally despite the widespread availability of vaccines. Roughly 25.3% of eligible Americans (those 12 years and older) remain unvaccinated – or about 72 million people. (CNN / Bloomberg)

4/ The U.S. will lift travel res...

1/ An FDA advisory panel rejected a plan to offer Pfizer Covid-19 boosters shots for everyone 16 and older. Members of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 16 to 2 against approving the booster shot after scrutinizing new data from Israel and questioning whether the data justified boosters for the general population when the current vaccines still offer robust protection against severe Covid-19 disease and hospitalization. The panel, however, recommended booster shots for older Americans and other high-risk groups. The votes are non-binding and the FDA is expected make a final decision on boosters by early next week. An outside advisory panel to the CDC, meanwhile, has scheduled a two-day meeting next week to discuss plans to distribute booster shots in the U.S. (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN)

2/ The United Nations warned that the global average temperature is on track to rise 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. “The world is on a catastrophic pathway,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said. Based on the most recent commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions from 191 countries, if implemented, would result in a 16% increase by 2030 compared with 2010 levels. The latest scientific research suggests that greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease by at least 25% by 2030 to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Guterres warned “there is high risk of failure.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

3/ The Pentagon admitted that the Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul, which killed 10 civilians, including 7 children, was “a tragic mistake.” Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, apologized for the error, saying the decision was made in an “earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport.” The car was believed to have been carrying explosives in its trunk. “We now assess it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K,” McKenzie said. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal /

1/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new Texas law that effectively bans almost all abortions. The Justice Department argued that the state adopted the law, which took effect this month after the Supreme Court refused to block its enforcement, “gravely and irreparably impaired women’s ability to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion across the State.” The 45-page emergency motion comes after the Biden administration sued Texas last week, asserting that the law – which allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy – was passed in “open defiance of the Constitution.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)

2/ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called China twice in the final months of the Trump administration to reassure them that Trump had no plans to attack China, according to “Peril,” a new book by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. “Things may look unsteady,” Gen. Mark Milley told his counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of China, on Jan. 8 – two days after Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol to try to stop the certification of his election loss. “But that’s the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.” Milley was also reportedly so concerned that Trump could “go rogue” that he convened a secret meeting later that day with senior military officials to remind them that “the strict procedures are explicitly designed to avoid inadvertent mistakes or accident or nefarious, unintentional, illegal, immoral, unethical launching of the world’s most dangerous weapons.” He added: “And I’m part of that procedure.” Following the revelations, Trump called for “Dumbass” Milley to be “arrested” for “treason.” The White House, meanwhile, said Biden has “complete confidence” in Milley. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)

3/ A federal judge denied Trump’s request to stop E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against him from moving forward. The ruling allows for the case to proceed as an appeals court weighs whether Trump is immune from the suit. Carroll alleges Trump assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1995 or 1996 and then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her claims in 2019. Trump and the Justice Department have argued Trump can’t be sued because the comments were made while he was president. (Bloomberg /

1/ House Democrats outlined their proposed tax increases on corporations and wealthy people to help offset the costs of Biden’s $3.5 trillion economic plan. The House Ways and Means Committee plan calls for raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, a 3-percentage-point surcharge on individual income above $5 million, and raising the capital gains tax from 20% to 25%. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the proposal “meets two core goals the President laid out at the beginning of this process: it does not raise taxes on Americans earning under $400,000 and it repeals the core elements of the Trump tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations that have done nothing to strengthen our country’s economic health.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg)

2/ Joe Manchin – again – said he will not support the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package to expand the nation’s social safety net, which includes investments in climate change, health care, taxes, and education. “I cannot support $3.5 trillion,” Manchin said, citing his opposition to the proposed increase in the corporate tax rate. Chuck Schumer “will not have my vote on the 3.5,” Manchin said, adding “there’s no way” Congress can meet the Sept. 27 deadline set by Nancy Pelosi for passage. Manchin added: “It’s going to be $1, $1.5 [trillion]. We don’t know where it’s going to be. It’s not going to be at $3.5 [trillion], I can assure you.” Democrats need all 50 votes to pass the budget reconciliation package. Kyrsten Sinema, another moderate Democrat, has also expressed concern over the cost of the bill. (CNN / ABC News / Associated Press / USA Today / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)

3/ A group of leading U.S. and international scientists suggested that Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are “not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.” The international group of scientists, which include some at the FDA and the WHO, concluded that “boosting” the vaccinated population doesn’t outweigh the benefit of using those doses to immunize the billions of unvaccinated people worldwide. “None of the studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease,” the authors wrote, noting there could be side-effects if boosters are introduced too soon or too broadly. The group did, however, say that booster shots may eventually be needed for the general population if vaccine-induced immunity wanes or a new variant emerges that can evade the body’s immune response. Several recent studies published by the CDC suggest that the vaccines hold steady against sever...

1/ The Justice Department sued Texas over its restrictive new abortion law, saying it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The new anti-abortion law – the nation’s most restrictive – bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Texas law’s “unprecedented” design seeks “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights by thwarting judicial review for as long as possible.” The Justice Department is seeking a preliminary injunction to prohibit enforcement of the Texas law while litigation continues, as well as a permanent order that the Texas ban is invalid and unenforceable. “It is settled constitutional law that ‘a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,’” the lawsuit said. “But Texas has done just that.” Last week, the Supreme Court declined to block the Texas law, known as Senate Bill 8, but didn’t rule on whether it was constitutional. The law took effect Sept. 1, effectively ending most abortions in the state, with no exceptions for rape or incest. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)

2/ Biden ordered all businesses with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face weekly testing. Biden also signed an executive order mandating vaccines for federal workers and contractors without an option for regular testing. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” Biden said, appealing to the roughly 80 million Americans who are eligible for shots but remain unvaccinated. “Your refusal has cost all of us.” The new requirements could apply to as many as 100 million Americans – about two-thirds of the American workforce. Businesses that ignore the mandate could face up to $14,000 per violation. Republican governors and the RNC, meanwhile, threatened to sue the administration over the vaccine mandates for businesses and federal workers. Biden replied: “Have at it.” (Washington Post /

1/ Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department is exploring “all options” to challenge Texas’s restrictive abortion law, days after the Supreme Court refused to block a statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. “We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services,” Garland said. “The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack.” Garland added that the Justice Department would “protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons” under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that guarantees access for people seeking access to reproductive health clinics. A United Nations human rights group condemned the Texas anti-abortion law, calling it “structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)

2/ The U.S. surpassed more than 40 million total cases of the coronavirus – about a fifth of the global total. Covid-19 deaths in the U.S., meanwhile, have climbed to a seven-day average of about 1,500 a day. In early July, the seven-day average of daily deaths was in the low 200s. (New York Times / Washington Post)

3/ An estimated 7.5 million people lost all of their jobless benefits after three federal pandemic unemployment programs expired. Another 3 million more people lost a $300-per-week federal supplement to their state unemployment benefits. (Washington Post / New York Times)

4/ More than 32% of Americans live in a county that experienced a weather disaster in the last three months. Another 64% of Americans live in a place that experienced a multi-day heat wave. (Washington Post)

5/ Biden asked Congress for $30 billion to address “urgent” extreme weather recovery efforts and help fund the resettlement of tens of thousands of Afghans. The White House wants $24 billion in additional funding to help recovery efforts for wildfires and hurricanes, and $6.4 billion for Afghan refugee aid as part of its short-term budgetary request to Congress to keep the government running past Sept. 30. (NBC News / CNN / NPR)

6/ The Biden administration outlined a plan for solar energy to supply 45% of the nation’s electricity by 2050. Solar currently accounts for about 3% of U.S. electricity supply. The ambitious plan requires the nation’s solar capacity to double annually through 2025 and then double again by 2030. The Solar Futures Study from the Department of Energy also shows that by 2035, sol...

1/ Joe Manchin demanded that Democrats “pause” on advancing Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax and spending package, saying a “significantly” smaller plan is needed because of rising inflation, soaring federal debt, and the coronavirus pandemic. Manchin – the linchpin vote in the evenly divided Senate – said he won’t agree to the $3.5 trillion plan “or anywhere near that level of additional spending” without fully assessing the effects on the economy. “Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding,” Manchin said, “Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget reconciliation legislation.” House leaders have already set a Sept. 15 deadline for their reconciliation bill with a vote planned before the end of Sept. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, agreed to hold a vote on Biden’s roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan by Sept. 27. House liberals, however, have warned that they won’t support the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the Senate first approves the $3.5 trillion reconciliation proposal. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill)

2/ The acting commissioner of the FDA and CDC director asked the White House to scale back the Covid-19 vaccine booster plan for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA said it needed more time to collect and review all the necessary data on safety and efficacy. The Pfizer process, however, remains on track, but may need to be limited to high risk groups, such as nursing home residents, healthcare workers, and people over 65. Last month, the Biden administration recommended that people who had been vaccinated for at least eight months should get a booster starting Sept. 20. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)

3/ The House and Senate Judiciary committees plan to hold hearings to examine Texas’ six-week abortion ban and the Supreme Court procedure that allowed it to take effect this week. The hearing will examine the Supreme Court’s use of the so-called “shadow docket,” a controversial, expedited process for emergency actions taken by the court that often result in late-night decisions issued with minimal or no written opinions. On Wednesday, the court ruled 5 to 4 to leave in place the Texas law that bars most abortions in the state. There were no oral arguments before the justices and the majority opinion was an unsigned single paragraph. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting. Biden, meanwhile, denounced Texas’s new abortion law, calling it “almost un-American” and that the ban creates a “vigilante system” because it empowers private citizens to police the ban. The House plans to take up the Women’s Health Protection Act when lawmakers return on Sept. 20, which would establish the legal right to abortion nationwide and prevent states from putting medically unnecessary restrictions on the procedures. The bill, however, faces steep odds of passage in the Senate. (CNN /