Democrats press ICE-airport conduct; Republicans target California's China climate deals

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., led nine Senate colleagues in a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Acting ICE Director David Venturella, and TSA Administrator David Cummins demanding answers about ICE operations at commercial airports. The coalition included both Nevada senators, senators from Colorado, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maryland, Illinois, and Oregon.

The letter pointed directly to the Harry Reid International Airport incident. "We write to express concerns regarding recent immigration enforcement actions at airports across the nation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the apparent assistance and support of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)," the senators wrote. "Such actions create fear in our communities and cause disruption and distress to the traveling public."

The senators also tied airport enforcement to broader economic impact: "Such actions only served to disrupt local communities, create fear among immigrant families, and undermine the travel and tourism sector at a time when it is trying to rebound from a 5.5% decline in international tourism in 2025 that occurred due to President Trump's misguided tariff, immigration, and foreign policies."

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., issued a separate release on the same letter, noting her January introduction of the PUBLIC SAFETY Act to redirect funding from ICE to local law enforcement programs.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, and Rep. Young Kim in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Todd Blanche calling for an investigation into California's agreements with Chinese Communist Party-linked entities on climate policy.

The letter invoked the Constitution's Compact Clause, which grants the federal government authority over foreign affairs, and cited two specific arrangements: the California China Climate Institute, co-founded in 2019 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown and CCP climate envoy Xie Zhenhua, and the China-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab, an agreement between the University of California-Davis and the China Automotive Technology and Research Center.

"If Governor Newsom would like to assume foreign affairs authorities constitutionally vested in the federal government, that option, however quixotic, ill-conceived, and downright laughable, is theoretically available to him. As it stands, however, he is likely violating the Constitution, serving as China's useful pawn while destroying the pocketbooks of millions of hardworking Americans," the members wrote.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced the bipartisan Rebuilding America's National Cow Herd (RANCH) Act, which would incentivize voluntary conversion of marginal cropland to grazing land as the U.S. beef cattle herd sits at its smallest size in over 70 years.

"With the U.S. cattle herd at its smallest size in over 70 years, many farmers and ranchers need new opportunities to stay afloat," said Klobuchar. "The bipartisan RANCH Act will help farmers looking to start a cow-calf herd or expand their existing herd while also providing wildlife habitat on the land. In the long-term, this plan can rebuild the domestic cattle herd and help drive down beef costs."

Rounds framed the legislation around resource fundamentals: "Anyone who has spent time around cattle understands one simple truth: no grass means no cattle. With ranchers facing drought, high input costs and a shortage of grazing land, America's beef cow herd is at its smallest size in over 70 years. The RANCH Act would create a voluntary Ranchland Program that helps producers restore eligible marginal cropland into grasslands for grazing."

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., led Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., in urging the Acting Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to investigate whether the IRS improperly extended Alternative Fuel Excise Tax credits to LNG tanker operators.

The senators argued that LNG tankers — typically 1,000 feet or more in length — cannot reasonably qualify as "motorboats" under a tax credit written when federal regulations defined motorboats as vessels no longer than 65 feet. "Despite these facts, news reports and public financial filings suggest the IRS has allowed taxpayers to claim the AFET credit for fuel used on LNG tankers, without publishing any updated guidance," the senators wrote.

The letter went further, pressing the watchdog to examine Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's personal involvement: "We would further urge the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to investigate the extent to which Secretary Bessent was involved in any decision to make LNG tankers eligible for the AFET, who Secretary Bessent may have discussed this issue with at the IRS, whether Secretary Bessent communicated with any impacted party about LNG tankers being motorboats under the AFET, and to what extent Secretary Bessent or his staff communicated with anyone in the White House, including President Trump, about a request for AFET credits for LNG tankers." The letter builds on a prior Merkley-led effort targeting a $370 million tax break for Cheniere Energy, the largest U.S. LNG exporter.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a Senate coalition pressing Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh to add worker representatives to the Fed's newly formed Task Force on Productivity and Jobs — a body focused on AI's economic effects.

The senators flagged that all three advisors currently tapped to counsel the Fed on AI have financial ties to the industry. "A task force asked to assess AI's real economic impact on the labor force and the Fed's mandate to promote maximum employment cannot do so accurately while excluding the very people best positioned to describe how that impact is unfolding: American workers," the senators wrote.

Warnock, the Ranking Member of the Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy, pressed Fed Chair Warsh on worker protections at a Senate Banking Committee hearing in July. The coalition letter was also signed by Sens. Andy Kim, D-N.J., Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Jack Reed, D-R.I.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., joined Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in introducing the Lori Jackson-Nicolette Elias Domestic Violence Survivor Protection Act, which would bar individuals subject to temporary restraining orders from purchasing or possessing firearms and extend protections to survivors abused by dating partners — a gap current law does not cover.

The bill is named for two Connecticut mothers killed by estranged husbands who legally obtained firearms despite active restraining orders. "Denying a domestic abuser access to a gun is one of the most obvious, common-sense steps we can take to protect survivors," said Padilla. "This bill would address a deadly loophole, reduce dangerous domestic violence incidents, and most importantly, save lives."

The legislation carries 19 Senate cosponsors — a broad cross-section of the Democratic caucus, including Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., continued pressing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conserve water in the upper Missouri River basin amid prolonged drought conditions affecting Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe. Hoeven spoke again with Army Corps Chief Lt. Gen. William Graham on the matter.

The Corps has to date reduced flows to the minimum allowable level for spring and summer and shortened the navigation flow support season by 15 days. A formal review of Lake Sakakawea storage levels is set for September 1, after which the Corps will make an official determination on further conservation steps.

"North Dakota is facing serious, prolonged drought conditions. We appreciate the Corps for working with us to minimize releases from the state's reservoirs, but more needs to be done. Following the September 1 review, the Corps needs to take all possible steps to conserve water, and that's exactly what we will continue pressing them to do," said Hoeven. He also called on the Corps to keep supporting docks and boat ramps affected by low water levels.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called on Congress to pass a package of seven deregulation bills targeting small business barriers, ranging from a 10-for-1 regulation repeal requirement to mandatory permit-tracking websites at federal agencies.

"The American Dream works when the government gets out of the way and lets Americans innovate and succeed. Congress should immediately pass these bills to remove bureaucratic hurdles that discourage Floridians from opening small businesses. We should be encouraging the American Dream, not sabotaging it," said Scott.

The bills named in the release include the DUMP Red Tape Act, the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, the Permitting Transparency and Accountability Act, the Regulatory Decimation Act — which would require agencies to repeal ten existing regulations before issuing one new rule — the REINS Act, the ERASER Act, and the Protecting Access to Credit for Small Businesses Act.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., spent Wednesday touring Western Maryland — opening a new district office in Frederick, meeting with local elected officials, visiting the federally qualified Mountain Laurel Medical Center in Grantsville, and holding a housing discussion with Garrett County Community Action Committee leadership.

In remarks following meetings with seniors in Mountain Lake Park, Alsobrooks said: "What I've seen and heard as I've gone around the state — and heard today in Western and Mountain Maryland — is that residents everywhere want the same things. We all want affordable health care, the ability to buy a home, groceries we can actually afford, gas that isn't skyrocketing out of control every single day, and the opportunity to actually create generational wealth."

Signals

• volumeThursday output of 13 releases is 86.1% below the Thursday average of 93.2 — consistent with August state work period recess patterns.
• recessThe Senate remains in August state work period recess; seven of eleven releases reflect in-district activity or letter campaigns rather than legislative floor action.
• coordinatedTwo Nevada senators — Rosen and Cortez Masto — issued separate releases on the same ICE-airport letter within 39 minutes of each other, maximizing in-state visibility for a single coalition action.
• silent breaksSen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, appears on the 16-day silence list yet is named as a signatory on Lee's California-China climate letter released today; her office did not issue an independent release.
• silent breaksSen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, has now gone 37 days without an official release — the longest silence in today's tracked cohort.
• volumeRelease id f8f042a8-81fa-4516-8694-63a594a95c02 (Budd / F-15EX) contains only a truncated excerpt and could not be fully reported; body text was insufficient for quotation or substantive summary.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC37d
• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK35d
• Sen. Roger F. Wicker, R-MS29d
• Sen. John Fetterman, D-PA17d
• Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-MT15d