The latest on Epstein, Trump’s crime bill and shutdown talks – POLITICO

IN TODAY’S EDITION:
— Massie plans immediate action on Epstein
— Luna gives leaders new timeline on stock trading ban
— WH aides to help GOP sell megabill

Congress is back. Lawmakers have more than just a looming government shutdown fight on their hands.

As our Meredith Lee Hill and Jordain Carney report, an upcoming vote on the Jeffrey Epstein files and the next phase of President Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington could threaten the chances of reaching a funding deal ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

Here’s what to watch heading into September.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING TALKS — Senate GOP leaders and appropriators are pushing for a short-term funding patch to buy extra time for a larger deal. But that’s certain to face pushback from conservatives who want to jam Democrats with a full-year funding bill that reflects Republican priorities.

Trump increased the risk of a shutdown Friday when he moved to unilaterally claw back roughly $5 billion in foreign aid funding, further eroding already-frayed bipartisan trust. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a Dear Colleague letter today calling on Republicans to work across the aisle to get their support on government funding.

“Senate Republicans must decide: stand up for the legislative branch or enable Trump’s slide toward authoritarianism,” Schumer said in the letter, adding that he spoke with House Minority Hakeem Jeffries and the two are aligned.

EPSTEIN FILES — Expect the discharge petition standoff to come to a head this week. Rep. Thomas Massie said he and Rep. Ro Khanna will start the process of forcing a vote “immediately” now that lawmakers are back.

“This has not gone away like the speaker had hoped,” Massie told us in an interview. “If anything, now that the DOJ is releasing documents, it’s increasing the momentum.”

The GOP dissent threatens Speaker Mike Johnson’s control over the House as the shutdown deadline approaches.

DC AND TRUMP’S MYSTERIOUS CRIME BILL — Trump wants Republicans to assemble a comprehensive crime bill, fast. Over recess, DOJ officials spoke with a small group of Republican staffers about assembling a crime package, two Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the early talks told Meredith and Jordain.

The president is also pressuring Congress to extend his 30-day takeover of the D.C. police, which expires Sept. 9. Senate Democrats are all but certain to block him.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING. Welcome back Congress, we missed you (and the Longworth Dunkin’, RIP). Email us: mmccarthy@politico.com and crazor@politico.com.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
With help from Alec Snyder

The House will begin considering 10 bills including the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2025 and vote at 6:30 p.m.

The Senate will vote to move forward on the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act at 5:30 p.m.

— House Rules will consider the fiscal 2026 Energy-Water funding bill and three Congressional Review Act resolutions related to the Bureau of Land Management at 4 p.m.

— A House Appropriations subcommittee will mark up the fiscal 2026 Labor-HHS-Education funding bill at 5 p.m.

THE LEADERSHIP SUITE

Johnson scores some breathing room in stock trading fight

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who has been threatening to launch a discharge petition to force action on Rep. Tim Burchett’s ban on congressional stock trading, plans to give GOP leaders until the end of September to act on their own terms, Meredith and Jordain report. Democrats are privately warning they want something more comprehensive than Burchett’s bill. A group of bipartisan House lawmakers say they plan to unveil a separate bipartisan compromise soon that’s been months in the making, though GOP leaders have yet to sign on to any ban.

Senate GOP eyes rules revamp to speed up Trump noms

Republicans are expected to resume talks on changing Senate rules to accelerate the confirmation of Trump’s nominees during closed-door lunches this week.

Ideas under discussion include reducing debate time for most nominees, confirming nominees in groups or eliminating the need for procedural votes. Thune would need to ensure near-complete GOP unity to proceed. Sen. Thom Tillis has already said he won’t go “nuclear.”

POLICY RUNDOWN

WHITE HOUSE AIDES HEAD TO THE HILL AS GOP STRUGGLES WITH MEGABILL SALES PITCH — House Republicans bet big that their newly-minted megabill would help them hold their majority in next year’s midterms. But what they learned during August recess is that they’re facing major challenges in selling their sweeping revamp of the tax code and safety-net programs, Meredith writes in.

The White House is gearing up to press Republicans to do better in messaging around the president’s “big, beautiful bill.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt and deputy chief of staff James Blair will hold briefing sessions Wednesday morning with GOP members and their aides at the Capitol Hill Club.

The handful of GOP lawmakers who held town halls last month were often met with fierce voter pushback. Efforts from Reps. Bryan Steil and Mike Flood to explain what the law would deliver were interrupted by jeers and blistering questions, including over provisions that would result in people losing Medicaid. The party’s attempts at branding it as a gift to working families fell short when Rep. Josh Brecheen couldn’t answer a constituent’s question about how Congress was working to lower grocery prices.

SCOTUS UNLIKELY TO END IMPOUNDMENT FIGHT — The prospect of the Supreme Court weighing in on the administration’s claim that it can refuse to spend appropriated funds is increasingly unlikely. It’s leaving lawmakers to navigate tense funding negotiations ahead of a shutdown deadline without assurances that Trump will have to spend money as it’s stipulated, Jennifer Scholtes and Kyle Cheney report.

Trump added urgency to the impoundment fight Friday when he announced $4.9 billion in additional spending clawbacks. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins called it “a clear violation of the law,” but many Republicans, reluctant to pressure Trump to back down, are hoping the legal system will settle the fight for them.

Some key cases on the issue faced setbacks in recent weeks. That includes the case challenging Trump’s withholding of funds for USAID, which seemed poised for a Supreme Court decision until a lower court effectively sent it back before another judge Friday.

Best of POLITICO Pro and E&E:

• Pro Financial Services: Senate Dems press to postpone Fed nomination hearing
• Pro Cybersecurity: Congress pulls the rug on U.S. plan to beat Huawei
• Pro Education: House Republicans propose 15 percent cut to Education Department

THE BEST OF THE REST

Nadler, Pillar of Democratic Party’s Old Guard, Will Retire Next Year, from Nicholas Fandos at The New York Times

Taxes, Psychedelics, Crypto: Kyrsten Sinema Sees Opportunity Under Trump, from Eliza Collins and Richard Rubin at The Wall Street Journal

Five burning questions about Trump, Democrats in this fall’s elections, from Patrick Svitek at The Washington Post

CAMPAIGN STOP

AIN’T EASY BEING BREEZY — Trump’s effort to kill wind energy is threatening GOP lawmakers whose communities rely heavily on it as a power source — and no one is more endangered than Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Josh Siegel writes from Ames, Iowa.

Miller-Meeks, who represents a state that gets two-thirds of its electricity from wind turbines and has some of the lowest power bills in the country, has long advocated for alternative energy sources alongside fossil fuels. But she also voted for the GOP megabill, which threatens the future of some wind projects in Iowa.

CAPITOL HILL INFLUENCE

EVANGELICALS LOBBY AGAINST FOREIGN AID CUTS — The National Association of Evangelicals heads to Capitol Hill today to urge lawmakers to continue foreign food aid, our Carmen Paun reports.

JOB BOARD

Kiran Menon is now director of advance for VP JD Vance. He previously was deputy chief of staff for Rep. Brian Jack.

Juan Carlos Mora is now a professional staffer on the House Natural Resources Committee under Ranking Member Jared Huffman. He previously was a professional staffer on the House Judiciary Committee under Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and is a Mike Thompson and Alex Padilla alum.

Samantha Cantrell is now regional press secretary at the NRSC. She was previously comms director for Rep. David Kustoff.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Rep. John Rutherford … former Sen. Jim DeMint … former Rep. Earl Pomeroy … Jess Fassler … POLITICO’s Michael Sanossian … NPR’s Don Gonyea … J.P. Freire … Dan Klaidman … Kris Balderston … Emily Porter of Sidecar Health … PBS’ Raney Aronson-Rath … Seth Gainer … Victoria Bonney of Rep. Frank Pallone’s office … Axiom Strategies’ Ethan Zorfas … Dylan Vorbach … AHIP’s Andrew Shine … Jennifer Haynes of Invariant

TRIVIA

FRIDAY’S ANSWER: Former Rep. Jason Altmire correctly answered that Hale Boggs served alongside Gerald Ford on the Warren Commission.

TODAY’S QUESTION, from Jason: Name the five colleges that have produced both a U.S. president and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.