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On Politics

Mon May 11 2026

Zachary Schermele | Congressional Reporter

@zachschermele

Hello readers and welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional reporter. It's Monday, and Congress is back from a weeklong break.

Trump vows to suspend the gas tax

During an Oval Office event on Monday morning, President Donald Trump confirmed he plans to suspend the federal gas tax as energy prices soar amid the Iran war.

But he'll need help from Congress.

Several congressional Republicans quickly lined up behind the idea. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said he will introduce legislation to pause the tax, which goes toward the Highway Trust Fund and currently sits at 18.4 cents per gallon. Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna said the same thing. (Other conservatives, however, have been more critical recently of the idea, though that was before Trump gave it his abrupt blessing.)

Democrats have been on board for a while. They already proposed a bill in March to suspend the tax through September. On X, New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas said, "This should have happened months ago."

President Donald Trump speaks at an event on maternal healthcare in the Oval Office at the White House on May 11, 2026.

Kevin Dietsch, Getty Images

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Jeffries still bullish on the midterms after VA loss

On the heels of two bruising court losses in the pre-midterm redistricting wars, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was adamant on Monday that Democrats are nowhere near declaring defeat.

"We remain undeterred," he wrote in a new "Dear Colleague" letter to House Democrats. "During Donald Trump’s first midterm election in 2018, House Democrats flipped 40 seats. To take control this Fall, we only need to flip a fraction of that total."

Between the U.S. Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act and the Virginia Supreme Court invalidating a blue gerrymander of the state, Democrats have had a horrible few weeks. While still favored to take back the House, they've lost a lot of the optimism that was becoming ubiquitous.

Susan Page, USA TODAY's Washington Bureau Chief, has a look here at the fallout from the redistricting wars.

USA TODAY asks Trump about hantavirus

President Trump and his top health administrators are responding to concerns from infectious disease experts that the country isn't fully prepared for public health threats amid the spread of hantavirus.

USA TODAY White House Correspondent Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy asked the president in the Oval Office Monday about his administration's reaction to those fears. He first handed the question off to Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"It's just not true," Oz said. "The country is prepared, and the CDC is focused on it, and the agency is well aware of the opportunities to actually treat this problem, not just try to prevent in the future, but treat if it happens."

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added, "We have this under control, and we're not worried about it."

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.