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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Congress returns to a messy fall with Democrats ready to fight
By Sarah Ferris, Alison Main, CNN
Updated:
9:08 AM EDT, Tue September 2, 2025
Source: CNN
Congress is bracing for a politically bruising fall as lawmakers return
to Washington on Tuesday, with massive fights upcoming on government
funding, the Jeffrey Epstein files and President Donald Trump’s
policing push.
After a summer of simmering tensions on Trump’s nationwide
deportations, National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, and a string
of , Democrats are ready to fight back.
And the minority party won’t have to wait long for its opportunity to
spar with Trump. Republicans and Democrats are already entering a
high-stakes funding standoff ahead of a September 30 funding deadline,
which marks Congress’ first bout of bipartisan dealmaking in months.
Already, Democrats are signaling they want new checks on Trump’s
power and a rollback of the president’s signature domestic policy
law, but White House officials say they’re in no mood to yield to
those demands and expect Democrats to help keep the government open.
Before Congress hits that end of September deadline, though, Speaker
Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune will be navigating
plenty of other partisan battles.
On the House side, that includes a floor fight over the Jeffrey Epstein
files that is likely to rankle House Republicans right as lawmakers
return this week.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and his Democratic counterpart, Rep.
Ro Khanna of California, will begin collecting signatures this week for
a closely watched bill that would require the Trump administration to
turn over all relevant Epstein case material. And because they’re
using a tactic to circumvent party leaders known as a discharge
petition, all they need is 218 signatures to force that bill to the
floor – creating a political headache for Johnson.
Speaking to CNN on Friday, Johnson called the Massie-Khanna effort
“moot,” but he acknowledged “there may be a floor vote of one
measure or another,” suggesting without offering details that there
could be a separate, leadership-backed resolution that could come to
the floor.
On the Senate side, Republicans will be forced to wade into the chaos
at the Centers for Disease Control, where Trump fired an official that
the Senate confirmed just days before leaving for its August recess.
Senators will also be pressed on the escalating drama at the Federal
Reserve – which has long been seen as above politics – where ousted
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is now suing Trump for firing her.
At the same time, Senate GOP leaders will continue to face pressure to
change their chamber’s longstanding rules to speed up the
confirmation process for Trump nominees, while some senators are likely
to make the case to allow the president to make recess appointments –
a further extension of his presidential power.
Trump has also personally added more items to Congress’ to-do list in
September. He declared last week that he was working with Johnson and
Thune on a major crime package that will further stoke partisan
battles.
Johnson told CNN on Friday that Republicans would first address crime
in Washington, then look to other cities in America, with a focus on
addressing what he called a “juvenile crime wave.” And relatedly,
Congress will face a vote in mid-September to extend Trump’s
authority to bring the National Guard in to assist with DC policing,
which faces steep odds in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes.
“It’s gonna be a sh*tty fall,” one House member said, summing up
the fights over government spending, the Epstein files and Trump’s
policing push.
Government funding
Democrats were already preparing for a brawl with Trump over
September’s funding deadline. Then came the White House’s decision
to – subverting Congress’ power of the purse in an untested
maneuver that will surely be challenged in courts.
Top Democrats’ resolve to fight Trump only strengthened after the
White House’s move, with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
calling it a “brazenly unlawful scam” to undermine Congress and
describing Trump as a “wannabe king.”
In a letter to Senate Democrats Tuesday morning, Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer said he and Jeffries are “aligned on our shared priorities”
as Congress returns, put the onus on Republicans and the White House to
work with them in a bipartisan manner to avert a shutdown and argued
the GOP should “stand up” to the White House’s push against
legislative powers.
“Senate Democrats have shown firsthand that we are willing to work in
a bipartisan way to keep our government open by advancing bipartisan
appropriations bills. However, the Trump administration is waging an
all-out war against Congress’ Article I authority and the
constitutional balance of power. Senate Republicans must decide: stand
up for the legislative branch or enable Trump’s slide toward
authoritarianism,” Schumer wrote.
The White House, however, is downplaying Democrats’ threats and
insisting that they will ultimately agree to keep the government open
without securing any concessions from Trump.
“It’s very hard for me to believe that they are going to oppose a
clean (continuing resolution) that would cause them to be responsible
for a government shutdown,” a White House official said.
Epstein files
Massie and Khanna, the House duo that has loudly beat the drum on
Epstein transparency, will hold a press conference on Wednesday that
will feature people who say they were victims of the late financier and
sex offender’s sex trafficking ring.
“This press conference is going to be explosive. It’s the first
time that a lot of these victims are speaking out publicly,” Khanna
told CNN on Friday.
The two will be working to collect the 218 signatures needed on their
discharge petition to trigger a full vote on the floor, bypassing GOP
leaders who do not want to hold the vote. Both Khanna and Massie have
said publicly they believe all Democrats will sign on and that they
will get the necessary six Republicans to reach 218.
“I’m confident we’ll get 212 Democrats to sign this by the end of
the week,” Khanna told CNN, adding that he’s working with Jeffries.
But it’s not clear how many Republicans will be willing to sign on.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican who is a cosponsor of the
Massie-Khanna bill, told CNN he was not willing to sign onto the
discharge petition.
“I think it has lost a little bit of momentum,” Van Drew told CNN
when asked about the Epstein transparency push, adding: “I support
releasing whatever we can but not forcing by discharge.”
Massie said earlier this month that he hopes the press conference –
and the fact that many victims will be addressing the public for the
first time – will help convince more members of the GOP conference to
vote to release the files.
“You’re virtually implicating yourself or your donors or some of
your friends, if you vote against this,” Massie in an interview with
anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense that was posted on its
website in August.
The House Oversight panel this month received a spate of documents from
the Department of Justice on the Epstein matter but Democrats said it
contained little new information. The panel has from the Epstein estate
that are expected to come by September 8, as well, but Khanna said he
believes lawmakers aren’t willing to wait for that deadline.
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has said the panel plans to meet
with Epstein victims and their attorneys on Tuesday, as they work
through “complicated” issues around making more information public.
Senate will confront recent Trump firings
Lawmakers who exercise oversight of key administration positions will
return to grapple with recent dramatic shakeups, including Trump’s
push to fire Cook and the ousting of newly installed CDC Director Dr.
Susan Monarez.
Democrats erupted in outrage after Trump said he fired Cook, drawing
questions about the constitutionality of the move that a new legal
battle over executive authority.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking
Committee, called it an “authoritarian power grab that blatantly
violates the Federal Reserve Act,” adding that “any court that
follows the law will overturn it.”
Warren and other Democrats in the committee have asked the chair, Sen.
Tim Scott, to postpone Thursday’s planned confirmation hearing for
Federal Reserve board nominee Stephen Miran as the legal drama over
Cook’s firing plays out.
Republicans have remained mostly mum on the issue, but GOP Sen. Todd
Young acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the move when pressed by
reporters on Capitol Hill.
“It’s breaking new ground, but I don’t know whether the law
allows it or not. I haven’t studied that law,” he said.
Senators of both parties will likely ratchet up pressure on Health and
Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Monarez and other
top CDC officials left the agency amid clashes with the administration
over vaccine safety.
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who chairs the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the departures would
“require oversight” from his panel.
Cassidy cast the pivotal vote to confirm Kennedy earlier this year
after he said he received assurances that Kennedy would not dismantle
federal support for vaccines.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate HELP panel,
echoed Cassidy’s call for accountability, demanding that Kennedy and
Monarez testify to the committee “as soon as possible.”
Kennedy is also expected to testify before the Senate Finance Committee
on Thursday about Trump’s health care agenda.
Russia sanctions
As Washington awaits a potential high-stakes meeting between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,
Congress could decide on its own to ratchet up pressure on the Trump
administration to help end the war.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who led the bipartisan Russia sanctions
legislation that ultimately did not make it to the Senate floor this
summer, implored Trump to be “tough,” urging him to implement
further sanctions on countries that buy oil and gas from the Kremlin.
He said in an interview on Fox that he intends to push Senate leaders
to bring up his bill, cosponsored last year by Democratic Sen. Richard
Blumenthal, that would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism
and make the country “radioactive” until they return the 19,000
children taken from Ukraine.
Graham also encouraged Trump to implement further tariffs on China to
“take it to the next level,” arguing that Chinese President Xi
Jinping could convince Putin to end the war.
Though Graham had previously lobbied Trump to come out in support of
his sanctions bill, he and other GOP lawmakers backed away from
demanding a vote before the August recess when Trump threatened to
sanction Russia if Putin didn’t end the war quickly, though it is now
unclear if or when that will happen.
Pressed on whether he has a sense of a timeline for any of the
secondary sanctions he’s encouraging, Graham said it was up to Trump,
and that he “trust(s) his judgment.”
Thune, who had floated the idea of bringing Graham’s bill to the
floor before recess, vowed to provide Trump with “any economic
leverage needed” over Russia as the president met with Zelensky and
other European leaders.
Thune’s counterpart, Johnson, told CNN he’s “satisfied” with
Trump’s efforts on Russia-Ukraine and thinks they’re “moving in
the right direction.” Asked whether Congress should pass sanctions,
Johnson said “it may come to that and (he’s) in favor of that.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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