Democrats flood recess with oversight letters as Canada tariff bill drops

Gillibrand and Welch announced the BAD DEAL Act to repeal all tariffs levied under Section 338 of the Tariff Act and refund Americans for duties paid — a direct response to the 50 percent tariffs on Canada Trump announced over the weekend.

"President Trump and Republicans promised to lower costs and make life more affordable, but they've used their total power in Washington to make life more expensive than ever," said Senator Gillibrand. "Let's be clear: the latest tariffs against Canada are a bad deal for New York families. I'm proud to introduce this legislation to end these costly tariffs and refund Americans. It's past time for President Trump to stop the political games, get back to the negotiation table, and make a deal that lowers costs and strengthens our economy."

"No good will come of this trade war with Canada. The only thing these tariffs will create is economic pain on both sides of the border, especially for Vermont and the other 33 states that rely on Canada as their largest trading partner," said Senator Welch. "Imposing on-again, off-again tariffs is the opposite of how we should treat our close friends and longtime allies, but it's endemic to how the Trump Administration operates."

The bill has a House companion introduced by Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill. Senate introduction is slated for September. Canada has pledged dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs set to take effect after Labor Day.

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led ten Democratic senators in demanding the White House explain a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion — issued August 10 — asserting that presidential executive privilege extends to communications between the president and private, non-governmental advisers.

"Extending this constitutional protection to private individuals — who hold no official government position, take no oath to support the Constitution, and are exempt from federal ethics and record-keeping laws — fundamentally distorts the intent of the executive privilege. Allowing the President to extend privilege to outside consultants or advisers creates an unchecked loophole through which private citizens can shape public policy without public, electoral, or congressional accountability," the senators wrote.

"We are deeply concerned that the White House requested guidance pursuant to the August 10 OLC opinion with the intent of improperly withholding documents and instructing private individuals and non-governmental advisers to defy lawful congressional subpoenas and oversight inquiries, now and in the future. Such actions severely harm Congress's ability to fulfill its constitutional oversight responsibilities and obstruct any public accountability," the senators continued.

The letter requests confirmation that the White House will cooperate with all legislative inquiries, a list of all private advisers OLC considers shielded, and all related communications in the White House Counsel's and DOJ's possession. Signatories include Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Senators Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Peter Welch, Mazie Hirono, Alex Padilla, Chris Van Hollen, and Tammy Duckworth.

Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., joined 45 Senate colleagues in urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take immediate action to reduce settler violence in the West Bank, citing a significant increase in harassment, threats, and violent incidents in recent weeks.

"We urge you to take measures to prevent and intercede in this violence, establish a credible mechanism to investigate violations of law, and to make clear that the Government of Israel will not tolerate violence by its people, just as it does not tolerate violence against its people," the senators wrote.

"Continued settlement expansion and fighting in the West Bank will harm Israel's long-term security and the prospects for lasting peace, prosperity, and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike," the letter states.

The letter also calls on Israel to complete investigations into the deaths of nine American citizens killed by settlers or security forces in the West Bank in recent years. The effort was led by Schiff, Booker, and Schumer alongside Wyden and Merkley, and drew signatures from across the Democratic caucus — 45 senators in total.

Schiff and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, led colleagues in demanding the Department of Education disburse funds for School-Based Mental Health Services and Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration grants that the Trump administration canceled in April 2025, covering more than 200 grants drawn from the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

"The Department's recent actions create significant operational uncertainty for local school districts, interrupting student access to care and stalling the recruitment of future school-based mental health care professionals. These choices will increase the financial and administrative barriers to obtaining a quality education. We therefore demand that the Department disburse the funds grantees are contractually owed in a timely manner to ensure local school programs face no further disruption," the senators wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

"Despite these grants' clear effectiveness, the Department sent boilerplate notices in April 2025 to 70 SBMH and 153 MHSP recipients claiming that these grantees did not adhere to the Trump Administration's priorities and policy preferences. The notices failed to provide specific, individualized explanations for why the grants were abruptly discontinued. Consequently, grantees were forced to pause hiring and training and lay off school counselors, psychologists, and social workers," the senators continued.

"To cut, delay, and otherwise obstruct these grants is not only unlawful, but also unconscionable in light of the mental health crisis facing our youth. It's not an exaggeration to say that young lives are at stake. Please step in to help," the letter concludes. In California alone, 44 grantees were affected.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., joined Senate colleagues in pushing back against a Department of Homeland Security notice published August 10 announcing ICE's planned acquisition of gloves that deliver electric shocks, with the contract estimated between $10 million and $20 million.

"We write to express deep concern about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to spend up to $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks," the senators began. "...The blatant and tragic misuse of force in Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, Maine, and other locations around the country raises significant skepticism about the agency's professional capability to safely deploy a new tool that could be used to harm Americans without cause. Therefore, we urge ICE to cancel the contract and reconsider the purchase."

"The proposed acquisition raises serious questions about necessity, proportionality, medical safety, training, accountability, and constitutional rights," the senators continued. "Those questions are particularly important given the significant public scrutiny surrounding ICE's excessive use of force."

"In the past year, DHS has repeatedly spent millions of taxpayer dollars on purchases it ends up not using, including $464 million for airplanes, $700 million on warehouses, and more than $2.25 million for SUVs wrapped with ICE branding. Many of these ICE transactions, including the planned electric-shock glove purchase, are completed through no-bid contracts that circumvent the normal competitive procurement process without a sufficient rationale," the senators wrote.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., led a group of senators in demanding answers from federal student loan servicer MOHELA after Forbes reported the company sent large numbers of false delinquency notices to borrowers not actually behind on their loans — in some cases incorrectly showing past-due amounts exceeding $10,000.

"This error is a failure that has not only been highly distressing for borrowers but could have led to direct financial harm," wrote the senators. "If a borrower does not realize that their false delinquency notice was issued in error and believes that they are on the verge of default, they might make the payment MOHELA has claimed they are responsible for, unnecessarily spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars."

"It is currently unclear how many borrowers received these false notices, whether any borrowers paid the incorrect amounts, and to what extent the issue has been fixed," the letter notes.

"The Trump administration's policy is to look the other way when servicers fail at their job, and borrowers are suffering the consequences," wrote the senators, pointing to the elimination of the Education Department's servicer oversight team. The senators demanded MOHELA respond by September 10, 2026, and called on ED to rehire the oversight team.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., published a joint op-ed in the Washington Examiner calling on colleagues to join the PROMISE Act, bipartisan legislation that would establish a process for Congress to address Social Security's projected insolvency — a 22 percent automatic benefit cut in six years if Congress does not act.

"There will never be a convenient time to address Social Security. Waiting only guarantees that the solutions available tomorrow will be harder than the ones available today," the senators wrote. "Social Security is an American promise, and Congress seems unmotivated or unwilling to do the hard work required to keep it."

"The suggestion that Congress should take more time is detached from reality, detached from the concerns of the American people, and detached from the job we were sent to Washington to do: tackle tough issues. Social Security does not have more time," they continued.

The PROMISE Act does not itself prescribe a benefit or revenue fix — it creates a framework for debating proposals. Cassidy and Durbin recently delivered a joint floor speech on the same issue.

Two NSF funding announcements landed Thursday — one Republican, one Democratic — both touting STEM workforce development.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, praised a $30 million, five-year NSF award to the University of Texas at Austin for a Science and Technology Center focused on human-robot co-adaptation. "The National Science Foundation's investment in UT Austin will fund cutting-edge research to develop robots that are more trustworthy, intuitive, and responsive to the people they serve," said Cornyn. "NSF has made a smart, strategic decision in choosing the Forty Acres as home for this facility, and I have no doubt that the work starting here will open new frontiers in science and technology that change the world."

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., announced a $4,619,389 NSF grant to the University of Rhode Island in partnership with the Community College of Rhode Island for engineering scholarships targeting high-achieving, low-income students. "Rhode Island's institutions of higher education are on the leading edge of STEM innovation and help power the Ocean State's economic competitiveness," said Whitehouse. "This federal funding will create opportunities for deserving Rhode Island students to follow their dreams at URI and CCRI."

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., led Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding compliance with a federal court's April 2026 preliminary injunction prohibiting DOI from applying a July 2025 order that required Burgum's personal sign-off on routine wind and solar permitting decisions.

"Applicants also report that DOI staff have received little or no internal guidance regarding implementation of the Court's injunction. These reports are not isolated or short-lived: developers continue to describe these delays more than three months after the injunction took effect, indicating an ongoing pattern of noncompliance rather than a transitional implementation issue. DOI's actions are creating severe regulatory uncertainty, threatening to permanently sideline projects at a time when Western families, farmers, and businesses are facing rising energy demand and higher costs," wrote the senators.

"Western states depend on reliable and affordable energy to keep our grid secure and our economies competitive. Wind and solar are the least expensive and fastest-to-deploy sources of new electricity generation available. Dragging out permitting timelines in direct violation of a federal court order is not only illegal, but it also needlessly stalls private investment and drives up household energy costs," they continued. The senators also flagged Burgum's recent House testimony, in which he reportedly called the ruling "absurd."

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., attended the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for SK hynix's more than $4 billion advanced semiconductor packaging facility in West Lafayette — the company's first U.S. facility for next-generation high-bandwidth memory used in AI applications.

"SK hynix's historic investment in West Lafayette is further proof that Indiana is leading the way in rebuilding America's semiconductor industry," said Senator Young. "This project will create good-paying jobs, strengthen our national and economic security, and ensure the technologies of the future are developed and manufactured here in the United States. I was proud to help make this investment possible through the CHIPS and Science Act, and I look forward to seeing the impact it will have on Hoosiers and our country for decades to come."

The Commerce Department awarded SK hynix up to $458 million in direct CHIPS Act funding and up to $500 million in federal loans for the project. SK hynix expects approximately 7,000 direct and indirect jobs. The company also announced an R&D partnership with Purdue University on advanced packaging technologies.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., marked the launch of a two-week Technology Readiness Experimentation event at Camp Grafton and Grand Forks Air Force Base — a Department of War initiative to accelerate drone and counter-drone technology development. Hoeven said he began working to bring T-REX to North Dakota last August with a letter to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

"T-REX exemplifies North Dakota's leadership in drone and counter-drone, clearly demonstrating that our state has the capabilities needed to rapidly develop, test and evaluate these technologies to improve military readiness and give our warfighters the edge," said Hoeven. "Just like with Project ULTRA and the Point Defense Battle Lab, this is an innovative approach to military technology development. We are developing new capabilities more quickly and at a lower cost to ensure we have the absolute best UAS tech and can meet emerging threats from our adversaries, including Iran and Russia."

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., appeared on CNN's Inside Politics Thursday to link a national measles surge to disinformation from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"Well, what we know is that we're seeing a serious surge in these measles cases. This is something I've been discussing since last year when we [saw] the outbreak of measles across our country, now going from 285 cases just in 2024 to over 2,777 cases. And we can tie it directly to the horrific leadership of Secretary Kennedy… And so we have a large number of unvaccinated individuals, including, as you mentioned, children who are dying from a disease that we had eliminated — we [had] an elimination status as of 2000 in our country, and now we're seeing the resurgence of measles. No one should die of measles in 2026… It's horrific and it's completely preventable. It should not have happened, and it is directly tied, I believe, to the misinformation and disinformation coming out of HHS," said Senator Alsobrooks during the interview.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., held a Las Vegas press conference Thursday to highlight her Fairness for Immigrant Families Act, joined by representatives from the Nevada Immigrant Coalition, the Latin Chamber of Commerce, the Culinary Union, and other organizations.

"For decades, our immigration system has made it nearly impossible for long-term undocumented immigrants to become citizens. It leaves them and their families exposed and keeps hardworking Nevadans in the shadows. It's time for a solution," said Senator Cortez Masto. "That's why I introduced commonsense legislation that gets rid of many of the barriers that keep people undocumented and protects immigrants who have been working and contributing to our country for decades."

The bill would set up a citizenship pathway for long-term undocumented residents, crack down on notario fraud, and establish deportation protections for DACA recipients and parents of U.S. citizens.

Signals

• volumeThursday's 15 releases ran 83 percent below the Thursday average of 86, consistent with the August state work period recess.
• recessThe Senate remains in its August state work period recess; the BAD DEAL Act will not be formally introduced until September when the chamber returns.
• coordinatedFour separate Democratic multi-senator letters dropped Thursday targeting distinct executive branch actions — OLC privilege opinion, DOE mental health grants, ICE shock gloves, and West Bank settler violence — with overlapping signatory lists including Booker, Duckworth, Van Hollen, and Padilla appearing on multiple letters.
• silent breaksSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has gone 44 days without a public release — the longest quiet stretch in the current silent list — followed by Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-Okla., at 42 days and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., at 36 days.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC44d
• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK42d
• Sen. Roger F. Wicker, R-MS36d
• Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-MT22d
• Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis, R-WY21d
• Sen. Tom Cotton, R-AR21d
• Sen. David McCormick, R-PA20d
• Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY20d
• Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA19d
• Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-CT17d