July 29, 2025

Good Tuesday evening. In this edition: Thune threatens to cut into August recess unless Democrats cooperate on nominees.

• Plus, Palestine, EPA, Maxwell, India, China, redistricting, MTG, Brown and golf course.

Nominees

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) threatened to cut into the August recess unless Democrats drop their stall tactics and cooperate on presidential nominations.

• "I think, regrettably for the Democrats, they're going to rue the day if they keep this practice up," he told reporters, accusing Democrats of an "unprecedented level of obstruction."

Democrats in the upper chamber have clogged up the Senate confirmation process all year, routinely forcing the majority leader to jump through procedural hurdles as they try to stymie President Trump's agenda.

• Not a single one of the president's nominees has been confirmed by voice vote or through unanimous consent this Congress.
  
  
• Sen. Thune noted that by this time at the start of the Biden administration, 46 nominees had been approved through voice vote or unanimous consent.

President Trump, frustrated by the obstructionism, has called on Republican leaders to scrap the August recess, the annual break coveted by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

• "Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed. We need them badly!!!" the president wrote earlier this month.

Sen. Thune has left the door open to delaying the recess if Democrats don't sign off on a bloc of noncontroversial nominees who have received bipartisan support in committees.

• "I am hoping they will work with us, come to their senses in the next few days here to try and put together a package of nominees," he told reporters.
  
  
• "There are a whole bunch of bipartisan nominees that are out there, that are available for consideration right now."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has been under tremendous pressure from the Democratic base to fight all things Trump, especially after the backlash he received in March for voting for a GOP-drafted government funding bill.

• "We will use every tool at our disposal — in the appropriations process and beyond — to fight back against the disastrous Donald Trump and Republican agenda," he said in a floor speech Monday.

Sen. Thune warned that Democrats were creating a precedent that would "come back to haunt them" the next time they're in the majority.

• "This is a bad practice on their part because, as you all know, what comes around goes around here," he said.

Some Republicans have signaled their willingness to delay the recess, but others see it as a prime opportunity to sell their "big, beautiful" reconciliation bill, which has a net unfavorable rating.

• "We've got to go back and be able to talk to our constituents and explain to them what we just did in a way that will help in the midterm elections, which I know the president and we all care about," Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told The Hill.

Republicans have floated options to get around the blockade, including eliminating cloture votes, shortening debate time, allowing nominees to be confirmed "en bloc," changing which positions require Senate confirmation, and even allowing the president to make recess appointments, according to Axios.

• No decisions were made during their weekly conference lunch but there was widespread agreement that something must change unless Democrats back down.

Sen. Thune said there are Democrats who are interested in getting the nominees through, but that leadership was blocking them.

• "That's got to change," he said. "And it if doesn't, we're going to be here a while."

Watch Sen. Thune's remarks.

• In related news, the Senate voted 51–47, along party lines, this afternoon to confirm Susan Monarez as the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Ms. Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, led the agency in an acting capacity earlier this year.
  
  
• Senators plan to vote later this evening on the controversial nomination of Emil Bove, the current No. 3 at the Justice Department, to be an appellate judge on the Third Circuit.

In other news…

• British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that his country will recognize the state of Palestine in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps" to end the crisis in Gaza and commit to a peace deal. The move follows France, which made a similar announcement last week, and adds to the growing international pressure on the Israeli government to resolve the conflict in Gaza amid an escalating humanitarian crisis.
  
  

• EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unveiled plans to repeal a 2009 scientific declaration deeming greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, paving the way for the dismantling of numerous federal climate change regulations. Mr. Zeldin called the move "the largest deregulatory action in the history of America," while climate experts cautioned further environmental damage from increases in carbon dioxide emissions. The change is expected to be quickly challenged in court.
  
  

• The House Oversight Committee rejected Ghislane Maxwell's request for immunity in exchange for her testimony to Congress. Lawyers for Ms. Maxwell, a close Jeffrey Epstein associate who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking crimes, said she would be willing to testify if she received formal immunity, otherwise, she would assert her Fifth Amendment rights and decline to testify. The committee, which subpoenaed her last week for testimony on Aug. 11, said it will not consider granting congressional immunity.
  
  

• President Trump told reporters on Air Force One that India will probably face a 20% to 25% tariff, but that a final number has not yet been reached. This rate would be slightly lower than the 26% tariff the Trump administration announced on "Liberation Day." India has an average tariff rate of about 17% on U.S. imports, which President Trump has complained is one of the highest rates the U.S. faces in the world.
  
  

• U.S. and Chinese negotiators left Stockholm after two days of trade talks that led to an agreement to push for an extension of their 90-day tariff truce. The two nations did not come to a larger trade agreement, and it will be up to President Trump to either sign off on the extension that's set to expire on Aug. 12 or allow tariffs to shoot back up to triple digits. "We're going to head back to Washington and we're going to talk with the president if that's something he wants to do," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
  
  

• New York Democrats introduced a bill in the state legislature to allow the state to redraw its congressional maps mid-decade if another state does so first. The move comes in response to Texas lawmakers, at the request of President Trump, considering redrawing their maps before the midterms to favor Republicans. "If other states are going to do this, we shouldn't stand by and watch the Congress be lost," State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D) said.
  
  

• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ripped fellow Republican Rep. Randy Fine (FL) for saying Palestinians in Gaza should "starve away" until the hostages are released. "A Jewish US Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful," she said, labeling the situation in Gaza a "genocide." President Trump on Monday broke with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he disagreed with his assertion there was "no starvation" in Gaza.
  
  

• Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over the weekend as he weighs either a comeback bid for the U.S. Senate or a gubernatorial run. Mr. Brown lost reelection in 2024 but outperformed Kamala Harris in the Buckeye State. He would square off against Sen. Jon Husted (R), who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance.
  
  

• President Trump opened his new golf course in Balmedie, Scotland, cutting a ribbon with a pair of golden scissors before teeing off on the first hole. He was joined by his sons Eric and Don Jr. After playing 18, the president headed back to Washington, DC.

For your radar…

• The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday begins a three-day investigative hearing on the January mid-air collision between a jetliner and a U.S. Army helicopter over the Potomac River. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 9am ET.
  
  

• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference Wednesday following the central bank's latest policy decision. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN at 2:30pm ET.

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