Principals

1. Shutdown gang?
2. Dems widen health fight
3. Trump vs. Jeffries
4. CEOs phone Trump
5. Hawley seeks FBI scrutiny
6. War powers vote
7. Energy project ‘kill list’

PDB: Most Americans think tariffs do more harm than good, poll shows 

Comey in court today … Fed releases minutes … National Guard troops arrive in Chicago

Could a Senate gang stop the shutdown?

The Senate’s bipartisan gangs are nowhere to be seen during President Donald Trump’s second term, but the shutdown could change that, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. There are a couple of pain points coming up — namely, when government workers miss some pay this week and military workers miss a check next week. “A couple more days of this, and you’ll have a group of senators at least trying,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said. “It only gets ugly once people start missing their paychecks.” Most Republicans still say there’s nothing to negotiate with the government closed — and that message is coming even from past Senate gang members. But one conceded that Democrats will eventually need to get something. “For the Democrats to switch their vote — which is what it will take to get it open — you have to have some germ of an idea as to where we go once we get it open,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Dems take health care fight to red states

As the government shutdown enters its second week, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is taking her party’s fight for enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to the neighboring red state of Idaho. “If the Republican lawmakers… are not going to level with their constituents about what is at stake in this fight, I will,” Murray, who is planning a virtual press conference Thursday with Idaho Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow and Idahoans who use the subsidies, told Semafor. She added that an estimated 100,000 Idahoans will see premiums go up by an average of almost $1,000 a month when the state’s open enrollment period — the earliest in the country — begins next week. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to increase the pressure on Democrats to cave in the shutdown fight by drafting a memo arguing furloughed federal workers aren’t guaranteed back pay, a legally dubious play.

— Eleanor Mueller

Trump and Jeffries get acquainted

Trump and Hakeem Jeffries are getting their first real experiences with each others’ styles during the shutdown — and it could be a sign of what’s to come if Democrats take back the House next year, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Eleanor Mueller report. While the House minority leader is more visible than he’s ever been as he tries to keep his party together and carve out a spot as a Democratic leader, Trump isn’t taking him seriously, posting cartoonish memes of him in a sombrero and avoiding saying his name in public. Jeffries “doesn’t even cross our minds at all,” a senior White House official told Semafor. It adds to the challenge for Jeffries, whose allies argue the shutdown battle is a key step as he seeks to build up trust as a leader in the Democratic Party.

Tech leaders defended Intel CEO to Trump

Some of the US’ top tech executives stepped up to defend Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan when he came under fire from Trump earlier this year, Semafor’s Rohan Goswami and Liz Hoffman scooped. Executives including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and tech founder Michael Dell reached out to the White House to talk up Tan’s credentials and patriotism after Trump publicly called for him to be fired. Those conversations, ahead of Tan’s Aug. 11 meeting with Trump, appear to have helped soften the president’s criticisms: After that meeting, Trump praised Tan’s “amazing story” and the US government announced it was taking a 10% stake in Intel. The successful but discreet persuasion campaign offers a rare glimpse into how corporate America can still bend Trump’s ear, Rohan and Liz write.

Hawley calls for probe into Biden-era FBI

An FBI document showing the bureau reviewed metadata of GOP lawmakers during Jan. 6 investigations has lawmakers asking the Trump administration to investigate the Biden-era Justice Department. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wants Attorney General Pam Bondi to appoint a special prosecutor to probe the FBI after he showed up on the list following his vote against certifying the 2020 election. “Move it out of the line of the partisan tit-for-tat, put a special prosecutor in there and give him or her full authority to figure out exactly what happened,” Hawley told Semafor. “And maybe make some recommendations about how the FBI and DOJ need to be reformed.” Other Republicans aren’t quite there, despite grievances with the FBI. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he is “open-minded,” while Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., deferred to the DOJ: “I’ll leave that up to them.”

— Burgess Everett

Dems look to up pressure over Venezuela

Senate Democrats will move to force a war powers vote over the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats from Venezuela as soon as today. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., are leading a privileged resolution preventing the US military from “engaging in hostilities against non-state organizations until formally authorized by Congress,” as Punchbowl News first reported earlier this week. The vote is sure to fail, but Democrats are looking to put Republicans in a tricky position over Trump’s deployments in the Caribbean. The US has struck several boats allegedly carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela and the administration informed Congress last week that the US is engaged in “armed conflict” against drug cartels. It’s unclear whether any Republicans will vote with Democrats — except maybe Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Trump eyes deeper energy project cuts

The Trump administration is considering cancelling an additional $12 billion in funding for clean energy projects beyond what it announced last week, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell scooped. The “kill list,” as it was described to Semafor by a source who reviewed it, would amount to an escalation of Trump’s assault on his predecessor’s climate policies. The list includes major carbon removal and hydrogen efforts that had been approved by the Biden administration, such as projects led by major oil and gas companies like Chevron and Occidental. But it’s not clear whether, or when, the full list of cancellations will be enacted, or if Trump is instead looking to use them as leverage in shutdown negotiations.

Blindspot: Ukraine and Oregon

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, curated with help from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified records showing that Joe Biden discouraged the dissemination of intelligence that revealed Ukrainian officials’ concerns about his family’s business dealings in Ukraine, Fox News reported.

What the Right isn’t reading: The Supreme Court declined to hear Project Veritas’ challenge to an Oregon law banning secret audio recordings.

Leslie Maasdorp, CEO, British International Investment; Pierre Wunsch, Central Bank Governor, Belgium; Sherrie Westin, CEO, Sesame Workshop; Carlos Cuerpo, Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Spain; and Toni Townes-Whitley, CEO, SAIC, will join the stage at the Fall Edition of Semafor’s World Economy Summit. Hosted in the Gallup Great Hall and spanning eight sessions over two days, the summit will feature on-the-record interviews on the state of global growth and finance, AI advancements, powering global energy needs, and the forces reshaping the world economy.

Each session brings together the leaders and forces most directly shaping the global economy, with programming powered by Semafor’s world-class editorial and executive leadership.

Oct. 15 & 16, 2025 | Washington, DC | Request Invitation

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Ten House Democrats are sending a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson today urging him to reconvene the House before Oct. 15 to pass a bill to pay military personnel.

Playbook: The arraignment of former FBI Director James Comey in Virginia today “won’t be packed with much in the way of legal substance, but for [President] Trump it will offer a delicious spectacle,” senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein writes.

Axios: Ex-congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is launching a bid for his old Illinois seat after serving a prison sentence for campaign fund misuse.

WaPo: Democrats are largely avoiding the question of whether Jay Jones should end his campaign for Virginia attorney general following the revelation of text messages from 2022 in which he mused about political violence.