Congress is barreling toward a government shutdown, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has neither the clock nor math on his side. 

House Republicans reported progress charting a path forward on a partisan spending bill and a Department of Defense funding bill — two measures that suffered public setbacks just a day before — after McCarthy hashed out a new framework for a GOP-only stopgap proposal in a Wednesday meeting. Republicans now plan to move forward on the Pentagon appropriations bill today after two of the five members who blocked the bill on Tuesday by voting against the rule said they changed their position. 

It is not clear, however, whether Republicans have the votes to move forward on the latest plan (The Hill). 

Former President Trump last night weighed in on the funding plan, saying in a Truth Social post that “Republicans can and must defund all aspects” of the government. Some House Freedom Caucus members are taking Trump’s criticism as encouragement to “hold the line” against a deal. 

McCarthy, who has spent the past few weeks trying to appease the most right-wing members of his conference, may soon be forced to reach out to House Democrats. 

SMALL GROUPS OF MODERATE DEMOCRATS are holding private talks with some McCarthy allies about a last-ditch deal to fund the government, Politico reports. Right-wing firebrands who support triggering a shutdown as a bargaining strategy face pushback from members of their own party as well as Democrats. 

“These five or 10 people, they failed us. And I’ll say that publicly,” moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Hill Wednesday morning. “They failed us, they failed the conservative cause.” 

Former GOP Deputy Whip Drew Ferguson (Ga.) put it even more bluntly at a Politico event Tuesday, calling the spending fight “nothing more than puberty for grownups.” 

Senate Democrats say McCarthy will need to reach out to their counterparts in the House, reports the Hill’s Alexander Bolton, but they predict the Speaker won’t make the move until the last possible moment. 

DEFENDING THE DOJ: Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday vigorously defended his department and the handling of a high-profile investigation into Hunter Biden that has become central to the GOP’s impeachment inquiry. Garland’s first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee since the GOP takeover showed an attorney general eager to defend the DOJ against claims of politicization that Republicans have placed front and center. In a brief remark to a question from a lawmaker over whether the GOP “rhetoric regarding the Biden case has any basis in reality,” Garland broadly denied the investigation into the younger Biden was stalled or limited due to political considerations (The Hill and The New York Times). 

“We will not be intimidated,” Garland said during the hearing. “We will do our jobs free from outside influence. And we will not back down from defending our democracy.”  

CONFIRMATION FIGHTS: The Senate on Wednesday night sidestepped a hold by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who has for seven months used a Senate floor blockade to protest an abortion travel reimbursement policy at the Pentagon. The Senate voted 83 to 11 to confirm Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Outgoing chairman Gen. Mark Milley concludes his term Oct. 1 (The Hill).  

The Senate on Wednesday advanced the nomination of Gen. Randy George to be chief of staff of the Army, teeing up a final vote this week. Gen. Eric Smith, selected to become the next commandant of the Marine Corps, also may clear the upper chamber (The Hill and The Washington Post). 

Tuberville claimed a version of Senate procedural victory, arguing during a Fox News interview that his hold on nominations at the Defense Department will remain until the Pentagon changes its travel reimbursement policy. 

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President Biden, during a New York meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, finally proffered the diplomatic gem that had for months been conspicuously absent amid a period of frosty relations: an invitation to the nation’s capital and presumably the Oval Office (The Washington Post). 

A visit to Washington before the end of the year, which Netanyahu wanted, was paired with Biden’s repeated expressions of concern about the prime minister’s controversial changes to Israel’s judicial system. The two leaders, who have known each other for decades, met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Their discussion occurred against the backdrop of mass protests in Israel over the judiciary changes as well as near-nightly West Bank military raids against Palestinians.   

The Hill: Biden and Netanyahu discussed what the president called “checks and balances” amid sparring over judicial reform. 

“Even where we have some differences, my commitment to Israel, you know, is ironclad,” Biden said. “I think without Israel, there’s not a Jew in the world that’s secure. I think Israel is essential” (CNN). 

Before their meeting, the president pushed Netanyahu to preserve the possibility of creating a Palestinian state, implicitly criticizing several recent moves by Netanyahu’s government to entrench Israeli control of the West Bank. But the emphasis Wednesday was on shared international goals, including preventing Iran from acquiring and using a nuclear weapon, and establishing formal relations for the first time between Israel and Saudi Arabia (The New York Times). 

The Hill: Biden will meet at the White House today with Zelensky, who arrived in the U.S. to speak at the U.N. General Assembly this week, and plans to meet with lawmakers to deliver an update on the war with Russia and to lobby for additional U.S. assistance sought by the administration but opposed by some Republicans on Capitol Hill.  

“RAHMBO”: Rahm Emanuel was outspoken as a West Wing adviser to former President Clinton, then as an elected member of House leadership, then as White House chief of staff to former President Obama, as Chicago mayor and now as U.S. ambassador to Japan. There’s a reason he was nicknamed “Rahmbo” back in the day. But his taunting of Chinese President Xi Jinping on social media became a bit too much for the Biden White House team, and the president’s aides told Emanuel through his staff to put a sock in the sarcastic tweets (NBC News).   

LEGAL STATUS: The Biden administration on Wednesday offered nearly half a million Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. legal status and work permits following demands from strained cities (CBS News). In a victory for congressional Democrats and leaders in large cities dealing with a surge of asylum seekers, the Department of Homeland Security expanded, or redesignated, the Temporary Protected Status program for Venezuelan migrants, allowing recent arrivals to apply for the deportation protections and work permits offered by the policy. 

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ECONOMY 

It’s a pause that assesses. 

THE FEDERAL RESERVE on Wednesday left its benchmark interest rate unchanged, as predicted, while signaling it may not be quite done in pursuit of its goal of price stability at 2 percent (The Hill). 

“We have the ability to proceed carefully,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told journalists. “We’re fairly close, we think, to where we need to get.” 

Analysts are anticipating one more hike before the end of the year and fewer cuts than previously indicated next year (CNBC). Expectations are for a higher-for-longer posture at the central bank. 

THE FUNDS RATE will stay in its current target range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent, the Fed’s highest level since the early part of the 21st century. 

👉Meanwhile, here’s a business and legal trend to watch: A collection of well known authors and creators sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI for copyright infringement, calling the ChatGPT program a “massive commercial enterprise” that is reliant upon “systematic theft on a mass scale.” The lawsuit is organized by the Authors Guild (The Associated Press). 

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The 2024 Arizona Senate race turned a new corner on Wednesday with the reported imminent entry, likely next month, of Republican Kari Lake, a Trump supporter who was defeated in the governor’s race last year and refused to concede. Her interest in the Senate seat held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) froze the GOP field. Republican Blake Masters, the state’s 2022 Senate nominee, appears to be lingering on the sidelines after preparing to enter the race in September (Politico and The Hill).  

Meanwhile, a case goes to trial starting today in which Lake is seeking access to the about 1.3 million envelopes used by Maricopa County voters in 2022 (AZCentral). 

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FAR APART: Talks continued in Detroit Wednesday between union representatives and auto company management during the sixth day of the United Auto Workers strike. The UAW has set a Friday noon deadline after which it says its “stand up” strike strategy will expand.  

General Motors idled an assembly plant in Kansas because of a shortage of parts due to the strike. About 2,000 of its workers were laid off Wednesday. GM said because of the strike, the workers laid off will not be eligible for the supplemental unemployment benefits it normally pays. Stellantis also laid off about 370 workers at three parts factories that supply its Jeep plant in Toledo, where the United Auto Workers went on strike last week (CNBC). Detroit-based LM Manufacturing, a joint venture between LAN Manufacturing and Magna said Wednesday it temporarily furloughed 650 workers that produce seats for the Ford Bronco because of the impact of the assembly plant closure (Reuters). 

GM President Mark Reuss said in a Detroit Free Press op-ed piece on Wednesday that “the UAW’s demands can be described in one word — untenable.” 

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INTERNATIONAL 

Zelensky called for reforming the United Nations Security Council during an address to the body Wednesday, urging it to suspend the veto power Russia has used to deadlock the council in responding to the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. Veto power applies to the five permanent members of the Security Council, including Russia. Moscow’s U.N. ambassador has used the power to reject any resolution that seeks to condemn Russia or impose costs for its invasion of Ukraine. 

He told the council that he would not have come if he did not have a proposal to end the war, starting with adherence to the charter that ensures the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all 193 U.N. member nations, and stressed that restoration of all Ukrainian territory is the key to peace.  

“We should recognize that the U.N. finds itself in a deadlock on the matters of aggression. Humankind no longer pins its hopes on the U.N.,” Zelensky said in a speech at the Security Council. “Ukrainian soldiers now are doing at the expense of their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its voting; they’re stopping Russia and upholding the principles of the U.N.” 

THE STARE-DOWN THAT WASN’T: Zelensky and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov avoided a confrontation Wednesday across the U.N. Security Council’s famous horseshoe-shaped table. Zelensky left right after his speech — before Lavrov arrived (The Associated Press). 

Canada’s recent announcement that India might be behind the killing of a Sikh separatist was a bombshell to much of the world, but for many in India the death was about Canada’s tolerance of Indian separatists. Monday’s allegations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brought the tense relations between the two countries to a new low; India has objected to the existence of a vocal Sikh separatist minority in Canada (The Washington Post). India on Wednesday urged its nationals in Canada to exercise “utmost caution” as each nation expelled one of the other’s diplomats (Reuters). 

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