Congress was back in session this week after its August recess, a work period scheduled each year so members can go back to their states and districts to meet with constituents.
Republicans had a very specific task: Sell the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which they are now referring to as the “working families tax cut act,” or something along those lines—to constituents. As I reported, the bill isn’t polling well, and it appears Republicans think that the OBBBA brand is unhelpful. You can read my piece on how they have tried to convince voters it was a good bill below.
But the first day of the session also had back-to-school vibes, and the hustle and bustle was enjoyable. I’ll leave you with a fun interaction I had with Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont on Tuesday night, when members had their first votes back.
Welch: “Did you guys miss us?”
Me: “We did. More than words can describe.”
Welch: “I think you’re fibbing.”
I might have been just a little.
—Charles
Top Stories From the Dispatch Politics Team
With Congress out of session as usual during August, Republicans hit the road to pitch President Donald Trump’s key second-term legislation to constituents before the 2026 midterm elections. “This is arguably the most important work month on our calendar. Why? Because our members go home,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said at the last House GOP leadership press conference before the August recess. “They connect with their constituents in person. They host roundtables with local businesses and organizations. They meet with community stakeholders and local officials—really, really important components of the job. And frankly, they need to cut through the false and misleading claims about the One Big Beautiful Bill from the media and the Democrats.”
Most Saturdays this summer, dozens of local retirees who wouldn’t look out of place at a MAGA rally have gathered along Coastal Highway to protest President Donald Trump. They aren’t the sort of Democratic protesters jarring—or profane—enough to attract the attention of cable news producers and social media hot-take artists. There are no visible tattoos, no foreign flags, nobody clad in face masks or keffiyehs. The only banner they tend to wave is the American flag. Their signs—some professionally produced and some homemade—are kitschy, albeit sharp-edged. “Fight Truth Decay,” reads one designed to look like a Trump campaign placard. “Trump Lies & Steals From U.S.,” reads another that’s hand-scrawled.
Why do wages for some jobs go up while others go down? Why do some jobs pay a lot more than others? The barstool answers you get to those questions tend to emphasize factors such as how difficult, dangerous, or important a job is, how much education is necessary, etc. You tend to get moralistic answers in a lot of cases, answers that attempt to explain why highly paid people deserve to be highly paid. But none of those answers is true. This piece has been unlocked for all readers as part of our free market series.
Last Wednesday, the Trump administration announced CDC Director Susan Monarez, who had been confirmed by the Senate just last month, was out of a job. In the hours that followed, several of the agency’s top leaders resigned as well. The morning following this chaotic defenestration of Monarez, the secretary of health and human services appeared on Fox News to defend how his department is running the CDC. “We need to look at the priorities of the agency, if there’s really a deeply, deeply embedded malaise at the agency,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Defiant Democratic activists are rejecting warnings from veteran party strategists that left-wing positions on transgender rights and other visceral cultural issues are pushing away coveted voting blocs Democrats need to rebound in future elections. “We literally have folks telling us that we cannot say the word ‘LGBTQ,’ we cannot say the word ‘cisgender,’ ‘transgender’—and by the way, not poll-tested, no research to back it up. Literally, just some feels from some folks in D.C.,” LGBTQ Caucus Chairman Sean Meloy told the group amid a discussion about boosting support for Democratic candidates in this year’s off-year contests in New Jersey and Virginia and the 2026 midterm elections.
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