Hello, readers. Welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional correspondent. It's Wednesday, and despite House Democrats' issues with a major data center bill, they're about to help pass it tonight. More on why later.
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That's all the House wrote |
Speaker Mike Johnson just canceled tomorrow's planned votes in the House of Representatives, sending lawmakers home until November a day earlier than planned. In so doing, he successfully skirted a potentially tough pre-midterm vote on articles of impeachment against Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, which Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, introduced yesterday, catching GOP leaders by surprise. Johnson told reporters today that the sudden jailbreak had nothing to do with the impeachment resolution, which he called a "publicity stunt."
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The speaker also avoided dealing with any other drama — conservatives loudly pushed him yesterday to do something to lower fuel prices, for instance — at a politically sensitive moment. Another example: Just last night, three more Republicans — Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Iowa Reps. Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks — flipped in a vote to end the Iran war. With seven supporting that symbolic measure, the House rebuked President Trump over the war for the third time.
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Dems' data center bill criticism |
Before leaving tonight for nearly two months, the House is expected to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act , bipartisan legislation that would push state regulators to shield consumers' electricity bills from spiking due to nearby AI data centers. The measure's approval will be arguably the most significant action Congress has taken to address the growing recent angst among Americans about AI, and the energy-sucking infrastructure it requires. But even Democrats who support the bill say it's far from perfect and doesn't have enough bite. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-New Jersey, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called it just a "small step in the right direction." "This bill by itself," he said yesterday, "is simply not enough."
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Trump vs. SCOTUS vs. the midterms |
By issuing a decision protecting mail ballots, the Supreme Court this week delivered a win for Democratic-led states and voting groups. Yet President Trump and his supporters are working on other election fronts, my colleagues Josh Meyer and Sarah D. Wire report. Voting rights activists were pleased with the Supreme Court decision, but they're worried about the damage the weeks of confusion caused — and that it's just part of a broader campaign that will continue until voters finally go to the polls.
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That's all from me today, folks. Questions? Comments? Tips? Reach me, as always, at zschermele@usatoday.com or on Signal @zachschermele.02.
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Speaker Johnson said the decision to cancel votes early had nothing to do with the impeachment measure, which he said would be immediately tabled.
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Federal Reserve policymakers are widely expected to raise their benchmark for interest rates for the first time since July 2023 today.
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The Kennedy Center is a federally created institution, but it operates as a performing-arts organization rather than a conventional government office.
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