| | | |  | | By Bethany Irvine | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
House Speaker Mike Johnson was silent in today's conference meeting on how long he envisions any type of short-term funding legislation to last. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Lawmakers on the Hill are staring down a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the government lights on, and Republicans today received a key green light from the White House to move forward with negotiations. Budget aides delivered President Donald Trump’s so-called wish list of “anomalies,” which are special exceptions that the administration wants lawmakers to include in any funding stopgap measure, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill and Jennifer Scholtes report. Earlier today, Speaker Mike Johnson told Republicans that party leaders were waiting on the list for direction from the White House to spur talks for a spending deal. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told our colleagues in a brief interview this morning that lawmakers were still “waiting” to see the list, which could determine how fraught the negotiations turn out to be. “Trump administration requests for more immigration funding or federal law enforcement resources, for instance, could spark a partisan confrontation with Democrats,” Meredith and Jennifer write. But on the issue of the funding timeline, Johnson was “conspicuously silent” in the meeting today, laying down no clear marker for how long he envisions any type of short-term legislation to last. Johnson said he’d prefer to enter the negotiation phase with the Senate “over full-year bills” but noted he’s also open to contingency plans, like a continuing resolution, to avoid a shutdown. EPSTEIN FILES: Elsewhere on the Hill, the files related to Jeffrey Epstein — and the crude birthday letter that Trump reportedly made for Epstein in 2003 — have sucked up a lot of the oxygen, but so far the latest revelation is landing with a thud among top Republicans, POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports. What they’re saying: Johnson continued to back the White House, telling reporters this morning that he had not seen the birthday message. “I’ve heard about it, but no. And the White House says it’s not true. So,” the speaker told PBS’ Lisa Desjardins.Senate Majority Leader John Thune also largely dodged the issue and questioned the veracity of the document. “There’s a dispute about whether that’s really his signature,” Thune said. “So it’s just going to be argued back-and-forth.” Oversight Chair James Comer said his committee was unlikely to launch an investigation into Trump’s claims that the birthday note was a forgery. “I don't think the Oversight Committee is going to invest in looking up something that was 22 years ago,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. “The president says he did not sign it,” Comer said, adding that the focus of the investigation would center on “trying to provide justice to the victims.” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also threw his support behind the White House, telling CNN that it’s “so easy” to forge Trump’s signature and that he’s “never known Trump to be much of an artist.” (Trump, however, does have a history of producing sketches.) Burchett also accused the Biden administration of being responsible for the release of the documents in which the letter was found, despite the fact that it was the Epstein estate that produced them. Trump tries to turn the page … again: Trump declined to discuss the birthday letter this morning, telling NBC’s Garrett Haake in a phone interview: “I don’t comment on something that’s a dead issue. I gave all comments to the staff. It’s a dead issue.” Good Tuesday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.
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According to the new numbers — which are adjusted annually in so-called benchmark revisions — the U.S. created 911,000 fewer jobs between March 2024 and March 2025 than previously reported. | AP | 1. ON THE JOBS: The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its revised jobs numbers over the 12 months ending in March of this year, and the new figures paint a bleak picture for the job market. According to the new numbers — which are adjusted annually in so-called benchmark revisions — the U.S. created 911,000 fewer jobs between March 2024 and March 2025 than previously reported. The report effectively “wipes out about half of the job growth during that span, which covers former President Joe Biden’s final months in office as well as the early weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House,” POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek reports. The figures are still preliminary and do not “affect the period since March” of this year, but “the scale of the overestimate has led many economists to conclude that more recent job gains have probably also been overstated,” NYT’s Ben Casselman reports. The revised numbers are also likely to further Trump’s push for the Federal Reserve to enact interest rate cuts and “press the embattled Bureau of Labor Statistics to overhaul its data-collection processes,” Nick writes. Related read: “Pressley urges Fed chair to address Black women's unemployment as the figure rises,” by NBC’s Michelle Garcia and Zinhle Essamuah 2. MIDDLE EAST LATEST: Today, Israeli Defense Forces said it conducted an airstrike in Doha targeting Hamas’ senior leadership and negotiating team, POLITICO’s Seb Starcevic and colleagues report, marking a major escalation in the region. An “Israeli official told POLITICO the attack was coordinated with the United States, then later clarified that such an attack wouldn’t happen without Israel notifying Washington — and the official believed such a notification had taken place but could not say for sure.” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later said on X that the strike “against the top terrorist chieftains of Hamas was a wholly independent Israeli operation.” The response: “Qatar’s foreign ministry said it ‘strongly condemns the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Political Bureau of Hamas,’ calling it a ‘a blatant violation of all international laws and norms.” The U.S. embassy in Doha also issued a shelter-in-place order for staff following “reports of missile strikes,”which has since been lifted. On the ground: As Israel’s push to take Gaza City continues, the IDF issued a complete evacuation order for residents this morning, urging them via social media to leave the region. Though the onslaught has been expected for several weeks, the orders have triggered panic among city residents, who feel they have no safe place to go, Reuters’ Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Nayera Abdallah report. 3. LOVE AND WAR: House Democrats have set up an unprecedented community of experts as they continue with their slew of legal challenges against the Trump administration’s agenda, NOTUS’s Oriana González reports. Democrats in the chamber have formed a first-of-its-kind “litigation working group … which works with the already existing legal apparatus working against the administration.” The group has at least 45 members, and allows a space for lawmakers to “meet with legal groups — such as Democracy Forward, Democracy Defenders Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund — as well as state Democratic attorneys general.”
| | | | Introducing Global Security: POLITICO’s weekly briefing on the policies, regulations, and decisions shaping defense and security across North America and Europe. Subscribe today to receive special daily briefings as our team reports live from DSEI. | | | | | 4. TRAIL MIX: Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has released his campaign launch video after officially announcing his bid for Senate this morning. In the video, Talarico speaks to a crowd atop the bed of a pick-up truck in front of a white chapel: “The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their power” he says. “But I’m a former middle school teacher and I don’t scare easily. And Texans don’t scare easily.” Bluegrass State update: A new poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies finds that Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) is catching up with state AG Daniel Cameron in his bid for Kentucky’s open Senate seat, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller scoops. The survey, which was conducted on behalf of a super PAC tied to Barr, found that among 600 registered voters, 37 percent favor Cameron and 29 percent go for Barr. MAGA-friendly businessman Nate Morris, meanwhile, is lagging far behind, with only 8 percent support. Empire state of mind: Several wealthy New York business leaders held an “urgent gathering” this morning to map out their support for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the closely watched New York City mayoral race, NYT’s Dana Rubinstein reports. The news comes as an NYT-Siena poll out today finds Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani holding a significant edge in the race, leading Cuomo by 22 points, 46 percent to 24 percent. Sweet home Alabama: Auburn University’s men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, who has generated buzz to mount a run to replace outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), is “leaning against” a bid, but “giving himself until the end of the month to make a final decision,” per Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs. “Pearl, who would be the only Jewish Republican in the Senate if elected, spent the summer meeting with Alabama campaign operatives & GOP senators as he considered entering the race.” 5. MUSK READ: “Elon Musk Torpedoed a Beloved Pediatric Cancer Bill. It’s Yet to Recover,” by The Bulwark’s Sam Stein: “In the nine months since [the] December 2024 [funding] fight, the Give Kids a Chance Act has been reintroduced in the House, where it has around 270 cosponsors. It was brought back up in the Senate as well … Yet in conversations with lawmakers and aides in the last few weeks, few held out any real hope that the bill will be passed soon. Congress may be staring down another government funding fight at the end of September. This time, however, the Give Kids a Chance Act is unlikely to be ripped out of the bill at the last minute — because it’s unlikely to be included at all.” 6. ANYWHERE THE WIND BLOWS: “Presidents are taking longer to approve disaster aid. For some, the wait is agonizing,” by the AP, Mississippi Today and The Mississippi Free Press: “On average, it took less than two weeks for a governor’s request for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. It’s taking more than a month, on average, so far during Trump’s current term.” 7. OH SAY, CAN YOU SEE?: “The New Symbol of the Brazilian Right: the American Flag,” by NYT’s Jack Nicas: “This year, right-wing demonstrators in South Korea waved American flags when protesting what they believed was a rigged election, echoing cries of ‘Stop the Steal’ as Mr. Trump’s supporters did after the 2020 election. After Mr. Trump won last year’s election, conservative Israelis excited about stronger U.S. support for the war in Gaza hung American flags from their windows and wore red-white-and-blue skullcaps. … But [Jair] Bolsonaro’s supporters and the right-wing movement in Brazil have adopted the stars and stripes with particular zeal.”
| | | | Don’t just keep up with policy shifts — set the pace. POLITICO Pro’s Policy Intelligence Assistant combines unmatched reporting with advanced AI to deliver sharper insights, faster answers, and two powerful report builders that turn intelligence into impact. Try it free for 30 days. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | TRANSITIONS — Georgetown University’s Initiative for Catholic Social Thought and Public Life announced John McCarthy and Gloria Purvis as its inaugural senior fellows for the fall semester. McCarthy previously was deputy assistant to the president and senior adviser for political engagement in the Biden White House. Purvis is host and executive producer of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast.” … Capitol Counsel has added Phil Hardy as a partner and Matt Gall as a principal. Hardy is founder, president and CEO of Collective Strategies & Communications. Gall previously was at Collective Strategies, and both are Strategies 360 alums. … … Christina Pearson is now SVP for comms and marketing at Maximus. She previously was a partner at Penta Group. … Anourath Arounlangsy is now administrative director for Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). He previously was deputy administrative director and lead intern coordinator for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). … Jonathan Ellett is now a policy adviser at the Labor Department focused on labor and immigration issues. He previously was a legislative manager and attorney at the Federation for American Immigration Reform and is a Mark Carmean alum. ENGAGED — Jordan Smith, a public affairs and government relations associate at Cogent Strategies, and Jonas Hart, legislative correspondent for Sen. Jerry Moran (Colo.) got engaged on Saturday at the Jefferson Memorial. The couple met at a Halloween party on Capitol Hill last year. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Mackenzie Keeley of Ridgeline Advocacy Group Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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