SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Today, House lawmakers approved a GOP-led stopgap funding bill, punting the shutdown fight to the upper chamber as lawmakers stare down a September 30 funding deadline. But this afternoon, the Senate “rejected dueling short-term government funding proposals … leaving no clear off-ramp before the fiscal year ends and agencies shut down,” POLITICO’s Jordain Carney writes. Now, the “shutdown showdown is officially on.” Why is that? Well, two reasons. The first is about logistics: “House Republicans are not set to return until after a shutdown is already underway, and the Senate is unlikely to vote again until less than 48 hours before the deadline. Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned that the only live option on the table for Democrats is to approve the House-passed bill favored by Republicans.” That comes after House GOP leaders this morning cancelled planned sessions on Sept. 29 and 30. The second is about politics and policy: “Democrats had telegraphed in advance of Friday’s vote that they would oppose the GOP bill because Republicans had not responded to entreaties from [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to hold a bipartisan summit meeting to discuss government funding. But Republicans appear to be perfectly comfortable blaming Democrats — and particularly Schumer — for a funding lapse, as the Democratic leader faces pressure on his side of the aisle to put up a fight against Trump and congressional Republicans after caving in March.” AND KIRK RESOLUTION PASSES: Today, the House approved a resolution honoring Charlie Kirk and describing the late conservative commentator as a “courageous American patriot ... who boldly lived out his faith with conviction, courage, and compassion.” The measure passed, 310 to 58, with Democratic House leaders and about 100 others in the caucus backing the resolution, despite member concerns around language in the measure praising Kirk’s political activities, per POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill. Speaking of Kirk … EYES EMOJI: “Ted Cruz says FCC chair sounded like a mafia boss in threats against ABC over Jimmy Kimmel,” by Dallas Morning News’ Joseph Morton: “The Texas Republican emphasized how much he hates what Kimmel said about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk — and how much he likes and works closely with [FCC Chair] Brendan Carr. Having high-ranking federal officials threaten ABC in such a way, however, is ‘dangerous as hell’ because it presents a slippery slope that could end with conservatives facing government censorship down the road, Cruz said. On his podcast today, Cruz played Carr’s interview with Benny Johnson during which the FCC chief threatened that, vis-a-vis ABC’s handling of Kimmel, the FCC “can do this the easy way or the hard way.” “That’s right out of ‘Goodfellas,’” Cruz said. “That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going ‘Nice bar you have here. It’d be a shame if something happened to it.’” More from Cruz: “If the government gets in the business of saying ‘We don’t like what you, the media have said, we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like,’ that will end up bad for conservatives.” Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
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1. DANCE OF THE SUPERPOWERS: President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke this morning and, per Trump, discussed “many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal.” Trump also said that he and Xi will meet in November at the APEC summit in Korea, and that he plans to visit China “in the early part of next year.” The official readout from Beijing described the conversation as “positive and constructive,” though emphasized that a TikTok deal remains elusive, per Reuters’ Trevor Hunnicutt. “On TikTok, Xi said China's position is clear: the Chinese government respects the will of firms and welcomes companies to conduct business negotiations on the basis of market rules to reach a solution consistent with Chinese laws and regulations while balancing interests,” according to the meeting summary. 2. THE DARKENING MOOD: “Republicans’ outlook on the direction of the country has soured dramatically, according to a new AP-NORC poll that was conducted shortly after last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk,” AP’s Thomas Beaumont and Linley Sanders report. From the poll: Just 49 percent of Republican adults see the nation as heading in the right direction — down from 70 percent in June. Trump’s job approval: Overall, 39 percent of American adults approve of Trump’s handing of his job as president, while 60 percent disapprove. Catch the full toplines and tends here. Similar trendlines can be seen in a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll, which finds a majorities of voters disapproving of Trump’s performance on crime (54 percent disapprove), tariffs (64 percent), the economy (60 percent) and the economy (59 percent). More from WaPo’s Patrick Svitek and colleagues 3. DRUG WAR LATEST: “Drug Enforcement Administration officials advocated for a series of military strikes in Mexico earlier this year, alarming some in the White House and Pentagon and presaging the fraught debate underway in Washington over the legality of this month’s deadly attacks on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea,” WaPo’s Dan Lamothe and Ellen Nakashima scoop. After DEA officials reportedly proposed both targeted killings of cartel leadership in Mexico and attacks on infrastructure there, “some officials at the Pentagon and other agencies to note there was no applicable congressional authorization on the books to use military force against drug cartels, people familiar with the matter said. Some of them also noted that U.S. citizens might be killed in the process, the people said.”
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OUT AND ABOUT — The Institute for Education CEO and founder Kathy “Coach Kemper hosted an IFE “INFO Breakfast” event yesterday morning featuring remarks from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.). Guests enjoyed a continental breakfast in the Capitol’s historic LBJ Room while Capito, who was introduced by her son Charles, discussed her views on Trump’s tariff plans and member security measures. SPOTTED: Netherlands Ambassador Birgitta Tazelaar, Icelandic Ambassador Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir, Ukrainian Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna, Omani Ambassador Talal Al Rahbi, Slovenian Ambassador Iztok Mirosic, EU Ambassador Jovita Neliupšienė, Estonian Ambassador Kristjan Prikk, Swiss Ambassador Ralf Heckner, Malaysian Ambassador Shahrul Ikram, Portuguese Ambassador Francisco Duarte Lopes, Tunisian Ambassador Slaheddine El-Goulli, Luxembourgian Ambassador Nicole Bintner-Bakshian, Ariff Anuwi, Elio Aparicio, Jānis Beķeris, Madhavi Bharadwaj, Glennette Clark, John Cronin, Matthew Versaggi, Jahzeel Cruz, Jay Davis, Jordan Eccles, R. David Edelman, Sydney Fenstermaker, Shanel Fields, Alan Fleischmann, Zachary Isakowitz, Matt Keller, David Kelly Jr., Matt Lira, Jonathan Roberts, James Roscoe, Jennifer Rudy, JR. Schroeder, Takehiro Shimada, Kaivan Shroff, Luke Stevens, Daniel Stone, Javier Sancho Velazquez, Weiyang Lim and Nina Zindovic. — Last night, General Catalyst Institute President Teresa Carlson and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change gathered UK government and industry leaders at the NoMad in London for a dinner focused on the accelerating influence of artificial intelligence. SPOTTED: Chi Onwurah, Gareth Thomas, Gurinder Singh Josan, Lord Allan of Hallam, Lord Vaizey of Didcot, Emran Mian, Colin Crowell, Tammy Haddad, Alexandra Depledge, Antony Walker, Benedict Macon-Cooney, Brent Hoberman, Chris Bischoff, George Tomeski, Greg Jackson, Jakob Mökander, Jeremy Palmer, Jon Williams, Katherine Price, Leon Butler, Linda Griffin, Matt Clifford, Murielle Popa-Fabre, Polly Curtis, Poppy Wood, TS Anil and Tim Smith. — The Competitive Enterprise Institute hosted its annual Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner at the Organization of American States last night, honoring Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. SPOTTED: James Otteson, Kent Lassman, Richard Tren, Jean Claude Gruffat, Andrew Grossman, Catherine Windels, David Stover, Frances Smith, Kristina Crane, Todd Zywicki, Sarah Atkins, Roger Ream, Paul Atkins, Kevin Williamson, Dominic Pino, Andrew Stuttaford, Chris Stirewalt, Jessica Melugin, Lawson Bader, John Tierney, Katherine Mangu-Ward, David Nott, Iain Murray, Katie McAuliffe, Kimberly Adam, Ximena Barreto, Shawn Zeller, Jason Russell, Stephanie Slade, Robert Alt, Todd Gaziano, Mario Loyola, Trace Mitchell, Ilya Shapiro, Sam Kazman, Andrew Langer and Andrew Kovalcin. — VoteRiders’ founder and former board chair Kathleen Unger and new board chair Eric Tapia were honored at an event last night at the D.C. offices of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe. SPOTTED: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Rick Wilson, Julianna Smoot, Khalid Pitts, Bob Creamer, Ken Sunshine, Amelia Maken, Ashley Spillane, Sean Shaw, Bob Brandon, Ray Collazo and Lauren Kunis. — Yesterday, the National Presbyterian Church celebrated the life of former FBI Director WIlliam Hedgcock Webster. SPOTTED: Lynda Webster, Chief Justice John Roberts, Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, Robert Gates, Tony Powell, Michael Chertoff, Ann and Lloyd Hand, Jim Fallows, Barbie Albrighton, Bill and Dorthy McSweeny, Kathy “Coach” Kemper, Kaivan Shroff, R. David Edelman, Japanese Ambassador Shigeo Yamada, James Clapper, John Brennan and Kevin Chaffee.
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