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Washington Edition

This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, energy policy reporter Ari Natter looks at the politics of power prices. Sign up here and follow us at @bpolitics. Email our editors here.

On the Grid

Pain at the plug is the new pain at the pump — and it may be just as politically potent.

Utility bills are poised to edge out gasoline prices as a pinch point for voters and a reminder of inflation heading into two key governors contests in November and congressional elections next year.

Despite President Donald Trump’s pledge to cut electricity prices in half within 12 months of taking office, the cost of powering a home has climbed. Residential electricity prices have risen about 10% from January through May and are projected to rise another 5.8% next year, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s well above the overall rate of inflation.

Nowhere is that more apparent than on the largest US grid, where the cost of securing wholesale power supplies has been at a record for two straight years. The grid operated by PJM Interconnection LLC includes Virginia and New Jersey, which are holding off-year gubernatorial elections that are being widely watched as an early read on voter sentiment about Trump. Some of the other states on the grid have key House and Senate contests in 2026.

While Trump has been blaming renewable energy for surging electricity costs – he called wind and solar “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” on Truth Social last week — nearly all of the electricity on the PJM grid comes from natural gas, nuclear reactors and coal.

And the president’s own policies may exacerbate the rise in electricity bills, critics say. Since taking office, Trump has halted the development of two major wind power projects. And the recent rollback of clean energy tax credits is expected to curb the build-out of other planned renewable plants.

“Basic economics shows that restricting supply in the face of rising demand drives prices higher,” American Clean Power Association Chief Executive Officer Jason Grumet said. “By slowing clean energy deployment, the administration is directly fueling cost increases.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that Trump’s efforts to “unleash American energy” would lower electricity prices and that the administration is “supporting all forms of energy that are affordable, reliable and secure.”

Yet electricity bills continue to rise, and Wright has acknowledged the political risk. He told Politico in an interview this month, “We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office.” — Ari Natter

Don’t Miss

US regulators approved updated versions of the Covid vaccine, though a much smaller group of people will be eligible to get them after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took aim at the shots earlier this year

A crushing 50% US tariff on Indian goods to punish the country for buying Russian oil took effect today, upending a decades-long push by Washington to forge closer ties with New Delhi.

Private-sector companies are beefing up their alternatives to US government statistics, seizing a moment of uncertainty around federal data after Trump’s abrupt firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent again called for the Federal Reserve to conduct an internal review, and referred to mortgage-fraud allegations about Fed Governor Lisa Cook as the type of thing that should be included.

As Trump ramps up efforts to control the Fed, investors worry he’ll use central bank tools to fix something that’s not supposed to be a central bank problem: America’s ballooning debt bills.

The Senate Banking Committee is preparing to hold a hearing next week on the nomination of White House economic adviser Stephen Miran to serve as a Federal Reserve governor.

The Pentagon is preparing for its in-house Department of Government Efficiency team to examine almost half a million contracts and grants in a bid to trim waste.

Satellite imagery shows no evidence that near-bomb grade uranium has been moved from Iran’s Isfahan site since a US attack two months ago, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said.

The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to let officials block billions of dollars in foreign assistance funds approved by Congress for the year.

Trump accused philanthropist George Soros and his son, without citing any evidence, of supporting violent protests and said they should be charged with racketeering.

The administration is moving to reclaim management of Washington’s Union Station, a historic rail hub just blocks from the Capitol that federal officials say has deteriorated after decades of fractured oversight.

Watch & Listen

Today on Bloomberg Television’s Balance of Power early edition at 1 p.m., host Joe Mathieu interviewed Joe Lavorgna, counselor to the Treasury secretary, about the controversy over Cook and the Fed’s independence.

On the program at 5 p.m., he talks with Peter Navarro, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, about tariff negotiations with the European Union and next steps with India after the latest US import levy kicked in.

On the Trumponomics podcast, host Stephanie Flanders, Bloomberg’s head of government and economics, speaks with Noah Smith, a former columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and now a prominent Substack writer, to ask whether the Democratic Party — if it returns to power — should return to the neoliberal policies of the Obama administration, or find its own populist message to match that of Trump.

Chart of the Day

Among large metro areas in the US, just five have seen the number of people employed shrink over the past year, the nation's capital being one of them. Another is Virginia Beach, Virginia, just to the south. Employment in Washington, DC, fell 0.2% between July 2024 and this year, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. That's a sharp contrast to booming cities, such as Charlotte which is up 2.8%, or Salt Lake City and San Antonio, each of which grew 2.4%. Jobs in DC have cratered due to White House efforts to shrink the federal government -- Washington’s major industry — which also have hit private companies that depend on government contracts. A big share of those workers hold bachelor’s or advanced degrees, which could lead to a brain drain in the region as these workers search for new jobs elsewhere. — Alex Tanzi

What’s Next

The second reading of second-quarter GDP is out tomorrow.

Pending home sales for July also will be reported tomorrow.

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge for July, along with personal income and spending data, will be released Friday.

The University of Michigan’s final reading of consumer sentiment for August will be released next Friday.

Markets will be closed on Monday for the US Labor Day holiday.

The House and Senate return to work Tuesday.

Job openings and layoffs figures for July will be reported Sept. 3.

Data on July factory orders also will be released Sept. 3.

The nation’s trade balance will be reported Sept. 4.

The jobs report for August will be released Sept. 5

Seen Elsewhere

Trump's takeover of policing in Washington is hitting resistance in federal courts, as magistrates criticize prosecutors and grand jurors are refusing to issue indictments, the Washington Post reports.
Democratic-run states that fought Trump's cuts to public health programs in court got most of the money restored while states run by Republicans experienced big funding losses, KFF Health News reports.
Young workers with little job experience but with backgrounds in actually using artificial intelligence are finding themselves in high demand and getting lucrative offers from companies, the Wall Street Journal reports.