Hello, readers. Zachary Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional reporter, filling in for Kathryn Palmer. Happy Wednesday. Let's dive in. |
It was a late night for yours truly. I sat almost directly above President Donald Trump as he delivered his State of the Union address in the House chamber. The scene was replete with all the typical elements of Trumpian events – red MAGA hats, jokes about a "third term" and smears of his political opponents. |
Among my biggest takeaways was just how fed up Democrats seemed to be. A number of the ones who actually chose to attend the traditionally bipartisan affair, instead of boycotting it , trickled out the door as the speech dragged on. The ones who stayed were either brimming with barely contained anger or sitting in stoic resignation. It was a scene emblematic of a broken and battered party, even as the looming midterms are likely poised to hand the Democratic committee leaders back their gavels in the House. | President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. Jessica Koscielniak, Pool Photo via Imagn Images |
As shutdown continues, Democrats dissatisfied with White House DHS proposals |
Asked Wednesday whether the White House was negotiating in good faith with Senate Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security , Sen. Patty Murray said, simply, "not yet." The comment from the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee projected little confidence about the state of the funding impasse, which has shut down the agency that oversees important government functions such as airport security for nearly two weeks. Even during the State of the Union, Secret Service members were on the job without pay. |
RFK Jr.'s agency gets a hand in school shooting recovery |
The federal agency run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to take over managing a multimillion-dollar grant program that helps schools recover from shootings and natural disasters, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said this week. McMahon said Monday that her agency would allow Kennedy's Health and Human Services Department to manage grant competitions and technical assistance for the School Emergency Response to Violence ( or Project SERV) program, which provides money for schools that have experienced a "violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted." Millions of dollars from the program have gone in recent years to schools at the center of high-profile shootings and disasters. Newtown Public Schools in Connecticut received more than $6 million in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre that killed 26 people in 2012, while $3 million went to the school district in Uvalde, Texas, after a similar tragedy 10 years later. |
Thank you for reading! Scroll down for more stories. You can reach me at zschermele@usatoday.com and on X @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social. | | Most State of the Union speeches are forgotten as soon as they're delivered. Will Donald Trump's latest be an exception? | | Prediction markets, which allow wagers on almost anything in politics, business or culture, takes betting to a new level. They're also raising alarms. | | | | The judge compared allowing the government to search the devices to "leaving the government's fox in charge of the Washington Post's henhouse." | | | | Doug Collins, a politician from Georgia and the U.S. Cabinet VA Secretary served as the designated survivor for the State of the Union. | | | | Vice President JD Vance will push Trump's economic message in one of the most hotly-contested congressional districts in the 2026 midterm elections. | | | | | Sign up for the news you want | Exclusive newsletters are part of your subscription, don't miss out! We're always working to add benefits for subscribers like you. | | | | | |
