Republicans

The Washington Post reports: The chairman of a key House committee said Monday that the Justice Department told him it would begin sharing records related to the investigation of deceased sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein by the end of the week. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) said in a statement that the department “will begin to provide Epstein-related records” that …

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas House on Monday gaveled in with a quorum for the first time in two weeks as Democratic lawmakers returned to Austin, ending a walkout over a GOP mid-decade redistricting plan and paving the way for the map’s passage. “We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation and rallied Democrats nationwide to …

“I’ve approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump’s effort to return law and order to our nation’s capital. Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it. Americans deserve a safe capital city that we can all be proud of. I know the …

“Gavin Newsom’s latest attempt to disenfranchise millions of California voters was written in the dark of night by the DCCC—more than 2,700 miles away from Sacramento in Washington. This is a slap in the face to Californians who overwhelmingly support the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. “Unlike other states, California must shred its own Constitution to succeed in its desperate gambit …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas school districts are coming back from summer with a rising number of parents asking for vaccine exemption forms and a new law that will make those documents even easier to obtain. Combined with funding cuts to public vaccination programs and the wearying battle by school nurses to balance parental consent and overall student body health, …

Politico reports: Republican Rep. Mike Lawler is betting big on President Donald Trump’s controversial megalaw — embracing the tax-and-spend package with a series of five ads as he runs for reelection in a pivotal swing district. The commercials represent the first time that any House Republican — no less a vulnerable one like Lawler — is touting the measure on …

Politico reports: Fresh off President Donald Trump’s Friday summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Sen. Lindsey Graham thinks the next phase of American diplomacy over the war in Ukraine needs to target Moscow’s pocketbook. “My advice to President Trump and [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] is, you’ve got to convince Putin that if this war doesn’t end justly and honorably …

The Washington Post reports: The Republican Party of Florida was pushing a new line of merchandise Friday: baseball caps, T-shirts, mugs and insulating drink sleeves with “THE DEPORT DEPOT” in blocky stencil font diagonally across a bright orange square. Two days later, after Home Depot expressed concern about the unapproved use of its branding, the items had been scrubbed from …

The New York Times reports: The National Guard’s presence in Washington will grow in the coming days after the governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio announced on Saturday that they would send troops from their states’ National Guard at President Trump’s request. Gov. Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia said the state would send 300 to 400 troops to …

NBC News reports: A group of state legislators who stayed at a hotel in St. Charles, a suburb outside of Chicago, endured two bomb threats on different days. It reached point that the Texas lawmakers quietly switched hotels and made an internal pact to keep those details private. Even more concerning to them was what their families were dealing with …

The New York Times reports: PBS is cutting its current budget by more than a fifth to deal with Congress’s recent decision to eliminate roughly $500 million in federal funding from public TV and radio, according to a memo from the organization’s chief executive, Paula Kerger. The public broadcasting system — PBS, NPR, and hundreds of local public TV and …

Politico reports: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott immediately called another special session to pass a new congressional map, after the first attempt failed due to Texas Democrats leaving the state to deny Republicans the ability to carve out additional GOP seats. When Speaker Dustin Burrows gaveled into the second special session, which began just two hours after the first one wrapped, …

The Texas Tribune reports: A new poll of Texas’ Senate GOP primary shows Sen. John Cornyn leading Attorney General Ken Paxton by 1 percentage point, breaking a spell of public polling that had found the incumbent trailing by wide margins. In a sample of nearly 500 registered Texans planning to vote in the Republican primary, Cornyn garnered 30% of the …

“And by the way, I’m not joking when I say this. I drive around in Washington, D.C. in my jeep and, yes, I do drive myself. And I don’t buckle up. And the reason why I don’t buckle up, and people can say whatever they want to, they can raise their eyebrows at me, again, is because of carjacking. I don’t …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused for now to block enforcement of a Mississippi law aimed at regulating the use of social media by children, an issue of growing national concern. The justices rejected an emergency appeal from a tech industry group, NetChoice, that is challenging laws passed in Mississippi and other states that require social …

The Associated Press reports: Missouri lawmakers are preparing for a special session on congressional redistricting as part of President Donald Trump’s push to draw more favorable maps for Republicans ahead of next year’s elections. A document obtained by The Associated Press shows the Senate has received a $46,000 invoice to activate six redistricting software licenses and provide training for up …

Stateline reports: Each month, nearly 42 million people receive SNAP benefits to help supplement their grocery budgets. Able-bodied SNAP recipients who are between 18 and 54 and don’t have children have always been required to work. Veterans, however, have been exempt from those rules — but that’s about to change. The giant domestic policy measure that President Donald Trump signed …

The Hill reports: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said during a Wednesday podcast episode with Joe Rogan that lawmakers have seen evidence of “interdimensional beings.” “I think that they can actually operate through the time spaces that we currently have,” Luna said during the podcast. “That’s not something that I came up with on my own. That’s based on stuff …

Politico reports: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is calling for a ban on single-stock trading by members of Congress, a push that could supercharge legislative efforts to ban the practice that have gained momentum in recent months. The Treasury secretary is far from the first big name in Washington to advocate for an end to congressional stock trading in recent months. …

“Israel is in a fight for their lives. Our friends in Israel are surrounded by people who would kill them all if they could. I am tired of the word ‘genocide’! Let me tell you about genocide. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they could. They have the capability to do that. They choose not to. Hamas, they would commit …