Today’s notice: Congress’ surprisingly good attendance record. An exclusive look at a DNC fundraising haul. Hegseth’s guy is probably not going to be Army secretary. Inside Democrats’ fight to change House seniority rules. And: Go west, data centers, to build on public lands.
THE LATEST
Surprise! Congress did something functional. Attendance has been impressive in both chambers, with members being present for about 97% of the votes this Congress, The Washington Sun’s data cruncher Andrew Van Dam shows us today with charts made from data assembled by Voteview. If these numbers hold — likely but not guaranteed, as attendance often falls during the holidays — it’ll be the second-best record ever, behind only the COVID-proxy-vote-assisted 2021-2022 cycle.
Trending
Speaker Mike Johnson has repeatedly called this “the most productive Congress in 80 years,” citing giant pieces of legislation snaked through the Capitol’s thin majorities through a combination of presidential threats and reconciliation rules.
Attendance was a big part of that. Leadership regularly needed as many members as they could scrounge up to pass bills with narrow margins. And they did it! Not that the public is all that grateful, mind you — polls show Americans still generally seem to think Congress is not doing much that they like.
Attendance is “the bane of any leader’s job,” former Harry Reid staffer Jim Manley told The Sun’s Manuela Silva. Manley said that in his time working for Reid, just as important as who showed up to floor votes was who showed up to committee meetings and votes. For example, the farm bill finally moved out of the Senate Agriculture Committee this week once Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) returned.
Who missed the most votes? Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) in the House and McConnell in the Senate. Both were born in 1942, and both have well-publicized health issues.
More: Congress Hears an Apocalyptic Prediction From the ‘Godfather of AI’ • Federal Judges in Minnesota Speak Out Against Trump’s DOJ in Rare Interviews • Texas Democrat Sees a Fundraising Surge Following Opponent’s Racist Posts
Open tabs:
- Inside the White House Tussle to Sway Trump on AI (WSJ)
- States prep for ICE agents to be at polls, just in case (Axios)
- Democrats keep pressure on Jeffries to punish rogue members (Politico)
- How Trump’s New Green Card Policy Could Affect Immigrant Families (NYT)
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
First on The Sun: Democratic donors are giving to the DNC again. The Democratic National Committee notched two of its highest grassroots fundraising months in a midterm cycle in years, bringing in more than a combined $14 million in July and August, The Sun’s Elena Schneider reports. The haul even surpassed the DNC’s total during the same period in 2018, when Democrats gained about 40 House seats.
Fundraising support from potential 2028ers helped, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Sens. Chris Murphy and Mark Kelly.
But this haul is merely a drop in the bucket. The DNC faces a massive funding gap with its chief rival, the Republican National Committee — not to mention Donald Trump’s own war chest, which has started to flood the zone with ads.
FROM THE HILL
It’s not looking good for Sean Parnell. Republican senators are pushing back on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s preferred choice for next Army secretary, The Sun’s Joe Gould reports. Parnell has been serving as a close adviser to Hegseth and is the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, but there’s not much interest on the Hill in giving him a promotion.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that could possibly happen,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) said of Parnell’s chances of being confirmed if he’s nominated.
FROM A POTENTIAL FUTURE
Younger House Democrats make their move. “It’s an uphill battle, but I think the tide is turning,” a House Democrat working on a plan to wrest top committee slots from senior members next Congress told The Sun. Our Oriana González and Stephen Neukam go inside the effort to give younger, fresher faces a chance in the spotlight if the party wins control.
Term limits for a given member serving as either a committee chair or ranking member are an obvious solution, and one that the House Republican Conference has employed for years. But Democrats pushing for similar rules in their caucus are up against an entrenched seniority system backed by some older members and powerful groups like the Congressional Black Caucus.
NEW ON THE WASHINGTON SUN
There are more data centers being considered for public lands than previously known. The Bureau of Land Management is reviewing proposals covering at least 17,600 acres of public land across six states: Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, The Sun’s Mara Hoplamazian and Jade Lozada report. There are at least 12 data center projects under consideration, they write, and almost all the proposals appear to be in early stages. Last week we reported on the all-out effort to open up public lands to data center development.
More: Trump Administration Allows Inadvertent Killing of Endangered Species • DOJ Officials Brush Off a Judge’s Contempt Warning in the Epstein Files Case • Josh Shapiro Calls for Federal Government to Place ‘Strict Guardrails’ on AI
NOT US
- Barn Burners: Can the Democrats harness the new prairie populism? By Kyle Paoletta for Harper’s
- Mansions, Jets, and the Secret White House Watch: The New Status Symbols of Trump’s Washington, by Aidan McLaughlin for Vanity Fair
- Trump emphasizes crime in midterm push in North Carolina, by Isaac Arnsdorf, Katherine Doyle and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. for The Washington Post
Thank you for reading! If you liked this edition of The Washington Sun Newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please sign up — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@washsun.com. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@washsun.com.
The newsletter was produced by Brett Bachman and Andrew Burton.
Authors
