The Hill’s Morning Report: Crunch time on shutdown; a heated GOP debate 

With just three days until the government funding deadline, Congress is running out of options.  

Glimmers of hope for cooperation between the House and Senate emerged Tuesday, but by Wednesday, both chambers were once again approaching the spending conundrum from entirely different angles. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is grasping at straws that could get House Republicans some policy wins while averting a shutdown.  

The Democratic-controlled Senate — with the help of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — has aimed to take the reins on a short-term solution, advancing a stopgap that Republicans say is dead on arrival in the House. McCarthy, who said Wednesday he won’t consider the Senate bill, is facing roadblocks from multiple corners of his conference that will likely prevent him from executing a strategy that he and his allies hoped could win concessions on border policy. With days remaining until the shutdown, McCarthy on Wednesday still refused to negotiate with Democrats as he aims to exhaust all intraparty options first (The Washington Post).  

WHILE THE HOUSE APPEARS BUSY, The Hill’s Emily Brooks reports, members acknowledge it could be barreling toward another brick wall.  

THE SENATE BILL IS HITTING TURBULENCE as Republicans demand changes to the legislation, possibly delaying it until Sunday, a day after government funding expires. The bill has been ruled a non-starter by the House GOP, in part because it lacks border enforcement language and includes more funding for Ukraine (The Hill and Politico). Further, McCarthy said he isn’t interested in negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) about spending and wants to sit down with President Biden instead, an ask Democrats are largely dismissing.   

McCarthy has made repeated calls this week for the president to come to the bargaining table, The Hill’s Aris Folley reports, but Democrats say the Speaker is in a weaker starting position than earlier this year — when he used the threat of a national default as leverage to secure a deal with Biden on budget caps — and argue that McCarthy is the one who backed away from that deal.  

“McCarthy has no capacity to deliver. Why would the president talk to somebody who can’t even get his own caucus together?” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told The Hill. “That’s a dodge. Kevin’s got to get his caucus together.” 

How will the shutdown impact health care? From Medicare to Social Security, The Hill’s Nathaniel Weixel breaks down what programs will continue sending benefits as normal and where Americans can expect changes. 

ALSO WATCHING: The aftermath of Wednesday’s second Republican debate, where seven presidential hopefuls made their case to voters — and did their best to dispense with the elephant in the room: the absence of former President Trump, who instead spoke at an auto manufacturing plant in Michigan. 

The Senate passed a resolution formalizing business attire as the proper dress code for the chamber’s floor, days after Schumer chose to stop enforcing the unwritten requirement. 

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Morning Report’s Alexis Simendinger is on leave. 

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SPLIT SCREEN: The leading candidates for the Republican nomination competed for attention Wednesday, as seven participated in the second GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., while frontrunner Trump addressed autoworkers in Michigan.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum qualified for the second debate. The night marked an opportunity for one of the seven candidates — who all trail Trump significantly in the polls — to make an impression on voters.  

Commentators were divided over who had the strongest performance, but most agreed that the debate likely did little to alter the trajectory of the race or eat into Trump’s 40-point lead in the polls. 

“None of them created a memorable moment, so it all seemed like a missed opportunity,” Monica Crowley, a conservative commentator who was a Treasury Department spokeswoman in the Trump administration, told The New York Times. “Without an individual breakthrough, the dynamic of this race remains the same, with Trump on top by far.” 

INDIVIDUAL BRIGHT SPOTS: DeSantis took the opportunity to aggressively challenge the absent Trump within the initial minutes of the debate, and some of his rivals also aimed more pointed barbs at the former president. Still, the GOP candidates spent much more of their time going after each other than the frontrunner. Even candidates who were essentially bystanders in the first debate — like Scott and Haley, who traded pointed attacks — interrupted their rivals and ignored the Fox Business moderators’ requests to abide by the rules as the event at times descended into a shouting match, with candidates speaking over one another (The Hill and The Washington Post). 

But Trump’s absence still hung over the night like a shadow. At one point, Christie looked into the camera to send a message to the former president.   

“I know you’re watching, okay?” Christie said to Trump. “And you’re not here tonight not because of polls and not because of your indictments. You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on this stage and defending your record.” 

Here are five of the most memorable moments from the debate, and five key takeaways. 

MEANWHILE IN MICHIGAN, Trump dug into Biden in a bid to woo autoworkers in Michigan, a state he lost last election. Trump, speaking in Clinton Township, a suburb of Detroit, wasted no time before bashing the incumbent president on what he views as a flawed and failing auto industry under the Biden administration, criticizing the White House on everything from China and NAFTA to electric vehicles. By avoiding another debate with the GOP candidates looking to snatch the nomination from him, the front-running Trump is signaling he is more focused on a general election battle against Biden (NBC News). 

Trump’s event comes after Biden sought this week to court UAW members, taking the unusual step of joining striking members on the picket line. Biden announced he would head to the battleground state after Trump announced plans to do the same. In contrast with Biden’s optimistic tone for frustrated workers, Trump painted a grim picture about what their future could look like under another term for Biden (The Hill). 

But hardly any striking workers were on hand. 

“There are a few strikers here, yes,” Brian Pannebecker, a former local autoworker who organizes an Auto Workers for Trump Facebook page and helped shore up attendees for the event, told NBC News. “I don’t know where they’re at. But there are several — a handful.” 

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© The Associated Press / Seth Wenig | Trump Tower in New York in March. 

After a New York judge found that Trump and his company had “repeatedly” violated state fraud laws, the former president could be at risk of losing his grasp on his New York business empire — a collection of properties that has defined his image as a successful real estate tycoon. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered Tuesday that the business certificates for Trump’s New York companies be “canceled” and that three potential independent receivers be appointed within 10 days to “to manage the dissolution of the canceled” limited liability companies associated with Trump and the Trump Organization (CBS News). 

In the same ruling, Engoron found Trump liable for fraud in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) far-reaching civil case against Trump and his businesses, laying the groundwork for the remaining elements to head to trial as early as next week. The decision was a major blow to Trump, who was sued by James’s office over alleged decades of fraud last September alongside the Trump Organization and two of his adult children — Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The Hill’s Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld break down why Trump’s latest legal blow is a big loss for the former president. 

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Ukrainian pilots are honing their skills in virtual F-16 fighter jet cockpits as they anxiously await approval to travel abroad for training, reports The Hill’s Laura Kelly after an exclusive visit to a secret facility this month. Biden agreed in June to allow the transfer of American-made F-16s from allied countries to Ukraine, and the U.S. would start training some Ukrainian pilots at a base in Arizona as soon as October. But delivery of the aircraft and their operations are not expected to take place until 2024 at the earliest. The simulator program is expected to reduce the overall length of the training for pilots, but it’s a protocol that’s never been tried before.  

“We are taking this road for the first time now. So at this moment, I cannot say how much we will be able to reduce the length of training, owing to that approach,” Oleksii Diakiv, head of the training command for the air force of Ukraine, told The Hill. “But we are sure that this will reduce the time needed for that training. But once we have that experience, we certainly will be able to share it.” 

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley is handing the reins over to his replacement on Friday. The transfer couldn’t come at a more precarious time, Politico reports, as the West shows signs of running out of weapons — and patience — with Ukraine. 

▪ The Hill: Army Pvt. Travis King is back in U.S. custody after North Korean officials released the service member who crossed into their country in July. 

▪ NPR: The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended most nonhumanitarian aid to Gabon after a military takeover in the country last month. 

▪ The New York Times: Once thought inconceivable, officials’ visits highlight warming Saudi–Israeli ties. 

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HEALTH & EDUCATION 

The United States is currently in the midst of a healthcare worker shortage that experts project will only get worse, The Hill’s Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech writes. By the 2030s, the country could be faced with a shortage of nearly 200,000 nurses and 124,000 physicians; experts say that an aging population, an aging healthcare workforce and workers leaving due to burnout are driving the shortage. 

💊 The intermediaries in the prescription drug supply chain are stuck between a rock and a hard place, facing congressional scrutiny and pharmaceutical-industry-backed efforts to reform the multibillion-dollar industry (The Hill). 

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