Top Stories

  • White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the Trump administration and Congress are “nowhere close to a deal” on a new coronavirus relief package, and predicted an enhanced benefit for unemployment insurance beneficiaries will expire tomorrow as scheduled. President Donald Trump undercut negotiations on Capitol Hill when he said he would prefer a smaller package that includes eviction protections and direct payments to Americans, adding: “The rest of it, we’re so far apart, we don’t care.” (The New York Times)
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), along with the House sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol’s top physician, issued a broad mask requirement for the Capitol, effective this morning, after Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) — who had largely abstained from wearing a face covering — tested positive for COVID-19. Gohmert’s coronavirus case was caught by the White House, as he was set to travel with Trump on Air Force One, and several Republican senators are pressing for more testing on Capitol Hill. (The Associated Press)
  • A federal judge in New York barred the Trump administration from enforcing a rule during the pandemic that allows the government to block immigrants from establishing permanent residency if they are believed to be likely to use public benefits. The Supreme Court had ruled that the administration could implement the “public charge” policy as it was litigated in court. (BuzzFeed News)
  • Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) said the Trump administration and her state reached an agreement to reduce the presence in downtown Portland of federal agents from Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, replacing them with state police to protect a federal courthouse. The Justice Department said separately that it will soon send federal agents to Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee to help stem violent crime. (The Wall Street Journal)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

07/30/2020
Secretary of State Pompeo testifies to Senate Foreign Relations Committee 8:45 am
Senate Finance Committee holds hearing on the U.S. medical supply chain 9:30 am
House session 10:00 am
Senate Judiciary Committee holds meeting on judicial nominees 10:00 am
Brookings Institution holds online event on infrastructure 10:00 am
John Lewis funeral service 11:00 am
Washington Post event with Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) 12:00 pm
Sen. Shaheen, Rep. Chabot participate in The Hill’s event on small business 1:00 pm
Rep. Walden participates in Bipartisan Policy Center online event on energy 2:00 pm
AEI holds online event on coronavirus and public health, economy and schools 2:30 pm
Washington Post event with Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) 3:00 pm
Trump participates in White House roundtable 3:00 pm
07/31/2020
Anthony Fauci testifies to House coronavirus committee 9:00 am
House Homeland Security committee holds hearing on DHS policing actions 10:00 am
Washington Post event with ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie 11:00 am
08/04/2020
Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington primary elections
View full calendar

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General

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted to hospital for non-surgical bile stent procedure
Pete Williams and Dartunorro Clark, NBC News

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital Wednesday to undergo a routine non-surgical procedure to correct a bile stent, a court spokesperson told NBC News. The 87-year-old justice, who has had past health scares, is customarily transparent to the public about her medical history.

Inside the Supreme Court’s internal deliberations over Trump’s taxes
Joan Biskupic, CNN

Chief Justice John Roberts had the majority on his side after the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether President Donald Trump’s financial records could be released to congressional Democrats and a New York prosecutor, according to multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the court. But the vote among the justices was close, and the narrow margin did not satisfy Roberts — or his colleagues.

Intelligence disputes fuel rare public acrimony among Gang of Eight
Andrew Desiderio and Natasha Bertrand, Politico

The group of congressional leaders responsible for reviewing the nation’s most closely held secrets is engaged in an unusual and bitter partisan fight over how much information to share with the public about election interference — all while lawmakers and administration officials seek to prevent 2016-style meddling from foreign countries. The public spat between the Democratic and Republican sides of the so-called Gang of Eight, less than 100 days before Americans go to the polls, is highly unusual for the group, whose obligations normally rise above the political fray and rarely descend publicly into the partisan squabbles that define Capitol Hill.

Ex-C.I.A. Chief Criticizes Silence of Top Republicans on Russian Interference
Julian E. Barnes, The New York Times

In the final days of the Obama administration, intelligence officials laid out evidence of Russia’s 2016 election interference campaign to congressional leaders, prompting Nancy Pelosi, then the House minority leader, to press for Moscow to be punished. “This can’t happen again,” she said.

White House & Administration

US to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany in move that will cost billions and take years
Ryan Browne and Zachary Cohen, CNN

The US is moving forward with President Donald Trump’s plan to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany, a decision that has attracted bipartisan congressional opposition and roiled key allies who see the move as a blow to NATO. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper acknowledged the plan will cost billions to execute when he formally announced the decision on Wednesday from the Pentagon.

Barr says he won’t wait until after election to reveal Durham’s findings. Democrats fear a campaign-altering surprise.
Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian, The Washington Post

Attorney General William P. Barr reiterated this week that he will not wait until after November’s election to release whatever U.S. Attorney John Durham finds in his examination of the FBI’s 2016 investigation into President Trump’s campaign, raising fears among Democrats that Barr and Durham could upend the presidential race with a late revelation. Republicans have been eagerly awaiting Durham’s findings — hopeful that the prosecutor Barr handpicked last year to investigate the investigation of possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia will validate their fierce criticisms of the bureau.

U.S. Warns Russia on Bounties While Trump Cries ‘Fake News’
Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng, The Daily Beast

The U.S. State Department has issued warnings to Russia that there will be repercussions if Moscow pays bounties to the Taliban for successfully killing American soldiers, according to two senior American officials and another individual with knowledge of the matter. The warnings were issued through the department’s diplomatic channels after public news reports in June that the U.S. had gathered intelligence about the Russian bounties, those officials said.

Trump team’s case for new nuke cites risks in current arsenal
John M. Donnelly, Roll Call

The Trump administration, in a closely held memo to lawmakers this spring, justified developing the first new U.S. atomic weapon since the Cold War by citing vulnerabilities and risks in the current nuclear arsenal that are rarely or never acknowledged in public. In an unclassified five-page white paper sent to Congress in May, the Pentagon and the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, affirm a point they have long minimized: the dangers of land-based missiles ready to launch minutes after a warning of enemy attack.

Judge rebukes DHS over false statements in New York travel case
Erin Durkin, Politico

A federal judge rebuked the Department of Homeland Security for making statements it has admitted were false in seeking to ban New York state from travel programs. The Trump administration expelled New York from Global Entry and other expedited border crossing programs earlier this year over the state’s law allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses.

Senate

Trump nominee for Pentagon faces Senate grilling after Islamophobia claims
Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump’s most divisive nominee for a senior Pentagon post to date is expected to face a contentious Senate nomination hearing on Thursday, with Democratic lawmakers likely to grill him over remarks they deem Islamophobic.

Republicans Signal They’re Willing To Cut Census Counting Short
Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News

Republicans in Congress are signaling that the Census Bureau cannot take the extra time it has said it needs to count every person living in the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic — even if that risks leaving some residents out of the 2020 census. Rushing to deliver new state-population counts to the president by Dec. 31, and more detailed data to the states by March 31, 2021, as required by current federal law, could risk severe inaccuracies in the once-a-decade count, especially among people of color, immigrants, rural residents and other historically undercounted groups.

FBI director Wray warns of China election interference
Alayna Treene, Axios

FBI Director Christopher Wray and other intelligence community officials warned about China’s increased capability to interfere in U.S. elections in separate classified hearings with the Senate Intelligence Committee this week, two sources familiar with the hearings tell Axios. Wray and other officials cited concerns that China is developing the ability to interfere with local election systems and target members of Congress to influence China policy, sources said.

House

Former President Obama to speak at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral
Tia Mitchell, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A source with knowledge of President Barack Obama’s plans says he is expected to speak at Rep. John Lewis’ funeral Thursday. Another news outlet in Atlanta also reported Obama would be attending Thursday’s service, with former President George Bush and President Bill Clinton.

House Democrats grill Census director on Trump order to exclude undocumented immigrants from apportionment
Tara Bahrampour, The Washington Post

At an often contentious emergency hearing Wednesday, Democratic lawmakers pressed the director of the Census Bureau on how he will follow last week’s presidential directive to change the way the decennial census is used for congressional apportionment. Bureau Director Steven Dill­ingham told the House Oversight Committee that he had no advance notice of President Trump’s memorandum, which directs the Commerce Department to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted next year when Congress reapportions a decade’s division of House seats.

First Republican votes by proxy on the House floor
Katherine Tully-McManus, Roll Call

Florida Rep. Francis Rooney became the first House Republican to vote by proxy Wednesday, bucking his party’s leadership and its outspoken opposition to the emergency procedure. Rooney, who is retiring at the end of this term, filed a letter in June with the House clerk designating Virginia Democratic Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. to serve as his proxy.

2020

Trump Plays on Racist Fears of Terrorized Suburbs to Court White Voters
Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman, The New York Times

President Trump vowed on Wednesday to protect suburbanites from low-income housing being built in their neighborhoods, making an appeal to white suburban voters by trying to stir up racist fears about affordable housing and the people who live there. In a tweet and later in remarks during a visit to Texas, Mr. Trump painted a false picture of the suburbs as under siege and ravaged by crime, using fear-mongering language that has become something of a rhetorical flourish in his general election campaign against the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Obama Unleashes on Trump Privately as He Raises $24 Million for Biden
Shane Goldmacher and Glenn Thrush, The New York Times

At fund-raising events where he has pulled in more than $24 million for Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign in the past two months, former President Barack Obama has privately unleashed on President Trump to party donors, bringing up past accusations of Mr. Trump’s “assaulting women” and warning of his efforts to push “nativist, racist, sexist” fears and resentments. With less than 100 days until the presidential election, Mr. Obama has laid out the stakes of 2020 in forceful fashion.

Some Biden allies wage shadow campaign to stop Kamala Harris from becoming vice president
Brian Schwartz, CNBC

Some of Joe Biden’s allies are waging a campaign behind the scenes to stop Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., from becoming his vice president. This disgruntled group of at least a dozen Biden backers, including a few of his top donors, initiated the move against Harris close to a month ago, just weeks before a decision is expected, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Dodd draws fire — and praise — as Biden VP vetter
Natasha Korecki and Christopher Cadelago, Politico

As Joe Biden readies to make one of the biggest decisions of his political career — choosing a woman, and possibly a woman of color, as his running mate — he’s leaning on a 76-year-old male colleague from his days in the Senate for help. Chris Dodd, a one-time Connecticut senator and lobbyist, is officially just one of four people on a vice presidential selection committee that’s been operating behind closed doors for months.

Tommy Tuberville, Alabama U.S. Senate candidate, defies D.C. quarantine order on fundraising visit
Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post

Alabama GOP Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville is fundraising and holding face-to-face meetings in Washington this week, defying orders from the city that visitors from certain coronavirus hot spots quarantine upon arrival. Tuberville spent at least some of his time in D.C. at the Trump International Hotel, according to a photo posted to Facebook by Arkansas GOP Rep. Bruce Westerman showing the two men in the hotel lobby on Tuesday night.

Pelosi endorses Rep. Tlaib in primary fight, moves to help members of the ‘Squad’
Rachael Bade and David Weigel, The Washington Post

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is moving to help two members of the so-called “Squad” who suddenly find themselves facing difficult primaries. Pelosi endorsed freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Wednesday, praising the Michigan Democrat after an outside group supporting her opponent, Brenda Jones, distributed a leaflet of Jones standing next to Pelosi, smiling.

Memers Have a New Campaign Aimed at Getting Trump Out of Office
Taylor Lorenz, The New York Times

Meme 2020, the collective of social media influencers and content creators that posted sponsored content in support of Michael Bloomberg’s Democratic presidential primary run, is back with a new campaign aimed at preventing the re-election of President Donald Trump. For the campaign, the group, which released its first round of election memes in February, has partnered with the Lincoln Project, a political action committee formed by Republicans who oppose Mr. Trump, and Rhyme Combinator, a viral media company that promotes artistic and progressive causes.

States

Florida Will Pause Coronavirus Testing Due To Impending Storm
Bill Chappell, NPR News

Florida will stop testing for the coronavirus for several days due to concerns about the potential impact from Tropical Storm Isaias. After the state’s testing sites close Thursday evening, they won’t reopen until at least Tuesday morning, Candy Sims of the Florida Department of Health in Broward County told NPR.

Maryland governor expands mask order, issues travel advisory
Ovetta Wiggins et al., The Washington Post

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Wednesday expanded the state’s mandate for face coverings, requiring residents older than 5 to wear masks while indoors in public spaces and outdoors when social distancing is not possible. Hogan also warned against travel to states with high levels of novel coronavirus infections, ordering residents to be tested and quarantine until they receive results.

Virginia’s Riggleman Says He’s Considering Bid for Governor
Skylar Woodhouse and Kevin Cirilli, Bloomberg

Virginia Republican Representative Denver Riggleman said he’s seriously considering running for governor, just weeks after his own party voted against giving him a second term in Congress. Riggleman said he may take what would be a long-shot run as a third-party candidate.

California considers strict ‘George Floyd’ law to punish police who fail to intervene
Anita Chabria, Los Angeles Times

Outraged that Minneapolis officers stood by while their colleague killed George Floyd, California lawmakers are considering a tough law to punish police who fail to intervene when witnessing potential excessive force — including possible criminal charges and being banned from law enforcement. If enacted, the proposed law would put California at the forefront of legal efforts to criminalize the “blue code of silence” that many say contributed to Floyd’s death.

Advocacy

Big Tech’s Power Comes Under Fire at Congressional Antitrust Hearing
Ryan Tracy, The Wall Street Journal

The chief executives of Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google faced relentless criticism at a congressional hearing Wednesday, with Democrats and Republicans alike challenging their business practices over more than five contentious hours. The session, conducted via videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic, laid bare deep-rooted frustration with some of the country’s most successful companies, at a moment when Americans rely on them more than ever.

Weingarten: Teacher strikes possible in Arizona, Florida, Texas
Juan Perez Jr., Politico

Teachers in states like Florida, Arizona and Texas are the most likely to strike in protest of unsafe working conditions amid the pandemic, union leader Randi Weingarten warned Wednesday. If governors and local leaders reopen schools in places where coronavirus cases are spiking — without first containing the spread or meeting demands for safety measures — teachers can’t surrender in negotiations leading up to the start of the school year, said Weingarten, who serves as president of the American Federation of Teachers, in an interview with POLITICO.

Turning Point USA co-founder dies of coronavirus-related complications
Daniel Lippman and Tina Nguyen, Politico

The co-founder of conservative student group Turning Point USA, Bill Montgomery, has died from complications of the coronavirus, according to two friends of his. Montgomery, who started it in 2012 with young conservative star Charlie Kirk, died at the age of 80 on Tuesday from Covid-19, according to pro-Trump conservative strategist Caleb Hull, who posted about the death on Twitter and his personal Facebook page, and Chicago-based citizen journalist Vic Maggio.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

COVID Relief Must Address Rural Provider Shortage to Give Middle America Fighting Change
Ram Sanjeev Alur, Morning Consult

The United States has been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly six months. Our health care workers on the front lines are stretched thin, risking burnout that could result in consequences that stretch beyond the public health emergency. With collective optimism of a lighter summer caseload giving way to a harsher reality, Congress must come together and act now to shore up the health care workforce and provide critical reinforcements to areas in need.

Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation
John Lewis, The New York Times

While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division.

Stop Fretting About Biden’s VP Choice
Walter Shapiro, The New Republic

We are entering the silly season of vice presidential speculation, filled with ill-sourced rumors and Talmudic interpretations of what Joe Biden means every time he says that his running mate must be “simpatico.” Depending on what you read over the weekend, Kamala Harris is either the inevitable pick (The Hill) or doomed (Politico) because she refuses to express remorse over her theatrical debate attack on Biden over busing.

Born-again fiscal conservatives are sign of Trump’s weakening hand in Congress
Paul Kane, The Washington Post

A growing number of Senate conservatives have provided the latest sign of President Trump’s weakening hand on Capitol Hill. From the presidentially ambitious Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), to onetime deficit hawks like Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), conservatives are abandoning the president as his top aides struggle with negotiations on a pandemic relief bill that is Trump’s last, best chance to pass legislation that could help his floundering reelection bid.

We Lost the Battle for the Republican Party’s Soul Long Ago
Stuart Stevens, The New York Times

After Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential race, the Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, commissioned an internal party study to examine why the party had won the popular vote only once since 1988. The results of that so-called autopsy were fairly obvious: The party needed to appeal to more people of color, reach out to younger voters, become more welcoming to women.

Research Reports and Polling

Excluding Undocumented Immigrants from the 2020 U.S. House Apportionment
Dudley L. Poston Jr. and Teresa A. Sullivan, Sabato’s Crystal Ball

On July 21, 2020, President Donald Trump addressed a memorandum to the U.S. Department of Commerce directing the Census Bureau to report to him, in addition to the 2020 Census population counts by state, the estimated numbers of undocumented immigrants by state. These data would be included in his report to the Congress on apportioning the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2022 elections.

Morning Consult