Day 602: "Out of step."
1/ Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. While Graham’s measure stands no chance of enactment, it comes less than two months before the midterm elections when some Republican candidates are walking back their support for a total ban. 56% of voters say abortion will be very important to their midterm votes. Additionally, Mitch McConnell all but rejected the measure, saying that questions about the bill should be directed to Graham and that most Republican senators “prefer this be handled at the state level.” John Cornyn added: “That wasn’t a conference decision. It was an individual senator’s decision.” The White House, meanwhile, criticized the bill as “wildly out of step with what Americans believe.” (Washington Post / Politico / Axios / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / CNN)
2/ Inflation rose 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier. While inflation is down from an 8.5% jump in July and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June, it’s at a slower pace than anticipated given decreases in gasoline prices and other forms of energy fell. Economists expected consumer prices to rise about 8% annually in August. In response, stock markets posted their worst one-day performance since June 2020. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is expected to raise interest rates another 0.75 percentage point next week to slow economy further. The Census Bureau reported that from 2019 to 2021, real median household income decreased 2.8%. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ At least 97 current members of Congress reported trades by themselves or family in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of congressional committees on which they serve. Over a three-year span, more than 3,700 trades were reported by lawmakers from both parties that posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances. More than half of them sat on committees that potentially gave them insight into the companies they reported buying or selling. (New York Times)
4/ A potential national railroad strike threatens to further disrupt supply chains and cause billions of dollars in economic damage, forcing the Biden administration to develop contingency plans to keep critical supply chains operational as labor talks continue. Railroads and unions have until Friday to resolve a labor dispute when a federally mandated 30-day “cooling off” period ends. The White House is also considering the use of emergency powers to ensure essential supplies like food, energy, health-related products to consumers, and chlorine for wastewater treatment plants, can be delivered in the event of a strike. At issue is a dispute over wage increases and better health coverage between railway carriers and two unions, which represent 57,000 conductors and engineers. The railroads account for about 28% of U.S. freight. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
5/ More than 15,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike after months of contract negotiations failed to produce a new deal that addresses understaffing and overwork. The strike against 16 hospital systems is the largest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
6/ The National Archives is not certain whether all of Trump’s presidential records are in its possession even after the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago club, the House Oversight Committee said. In a letter to the acting archivist, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney asked the Archives to “seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office.” Maloney added: “I also ask that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records recovered from the Trump White House to assess whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president,” she adds. On August 24, the Archives informed the committee that the agency didn’t know whether all of Trump’s White House records were accounted for. (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 47% of Americans could name all three branches of government while 25% couldn’t name a single branch. (The Hill)