Senate rules overhaul, Iran War criticism headline thin recess day

Daines and Merkley framed their proposal as a corrective to five decades of creeping paralysis. "For much of our history the American people could rely on the Senate to tackle our hardest challenges. But over the past 50 years, deliberation in the U.S. Senate has all but ground to a halt due to toxic, partisan political culture," the two senators said jointly.

The package targets several procedural chokepoints at once. Under the proposal, cloture votes would be eliminated on nominations, motions to proceed, and amendments — though a cloture vote before final passage would remain under regular order. A new fast-track tool would allow bipartisan spending bills to reach the floor, be amended, and pass within two days.

The release did not identify co-sponsors beyond the two principals, nor did it specify a legislative vehicle or timeline for introduction.

In a statement, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., marked the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln to San Diego and called directly for an end to the Iran War. "321 days. That's how long the USS Abraham Lincoln and its thousands of servicemembers have been away from their families and their home port of San Diego," Schiff said.

Schiff described conditions aboard as severe. "The crew of the Abraham Lincoln has faced long and grueling shifts, diminished supplies and even mental health crises," he said. "Those burdens of such a long deployment have been shouldered by the crew and their families back in San Diego."

He closed with a direct warning about the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which departed San Diego last week. "I hope for the sake of our sailors, Marines, soldiers and airmen that this new deployment of Californians does not repeat the hardships of the Abraham Lincoln," Schiff said.

Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., issued a safety advisory Thursday as Hurricane Isaias tracked toward the Florida Panhandle, projected to make landfall near the Pensacola region late Friday night. "The window to finish preparations for Isaias is rapidly closing," Moody said. "I'm urging Floridians in the path of the storm to execute their storm prep plans and fortify their homes — and if local officials issue evacuation orders, please follow their directions."

Moody's office directed residents to a storm preparation page at Moody.Senate.gov/Storm-Preparation and listed the Florida Department of Emergency Management, FEMA, and the National Hurricane Center as primary resources. The release advised stocking at least seven days of food, water, and emergency supplies.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., led Washington state's entire congressional delegation — including one Republican member — in a letter to President Trump urging approval of a Major Disaster Declaration for Public Assistance tied to wildfires that burned from July 23 through August 31.

The letter described the scale of destruction across Central and Eastern Washington. "Washington state suffered from a historic wildfire season, with multiple wildfires ravaging parts of Central and Eastern Washington, devastating communities in Asotin, Chelan, Columbia, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens, Whitman, and Yakima Counties, as well as the Spokane Tribe of Indians," Murray and the delegation wrote. The Spokane Complex Fires alone forced 67,000 evacuations and burned nearly 10,000 acres, with damages predicted to exceed $1 billion.

The delegation also noted the extraordinary fire weather conditions, writing that firefighting crews "faced dangerous conditions, including hazardous terrain, high winds, and record-setting drought, which made the fires extremely difficult to contain."

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and nearly 190 members of Congress in demanding that HHS withdraw a proposed rule that would eliminate more than 90 percent of Head Start's quality standards. Luján is one of two Head Start graduates currently serving in the Senate.

The letter warned of sweeping harm to enrolled children. "Under your proposal, Head Start children could be subject to corporal punishment; left unsupervised; have larger class sizes; have less qualified teachers; and no longer receive preventative and continuous health services, including oral health and mental health services," the members wrote. "We strongly urge you to withdraw the proposed rule, obey the law, and protect the legacy of Head Start."

The release noted that under the proposed rule, nearly one in ten children currently enrolled in Head Start could become ineligible overnight, and cited Project 2025 as the stated basis for the administration's effort to end the program.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., issued a statement opposing a Trump administration proposal to weaken Biden-era EPA methane rules for oil and gas. "The Trump administration has proven, once again, that they are willing to risk the health and safety of Americans for political games," Bennet said.

Bennet, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology, framed the rollback as a triple threat. "This action is not only an assault on Coloradans' health, but will also cut methane-reduction industry jobs and limit natural gas supply at a time when energy prices are already soaring," he said.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., joined nine Senate colleagues in a letter to USDA Under Secretary Michael Boren and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz urging that any revision of the 2005 Travel Management Rule preserve existing environmental protections and local input mechanisms.

"For years, the current rule has successfully balanced the use of motorized vehicles with other uses on public lands — ensuring that motorized use in our forests is managed responsibly, centering forest-level decision-making with state and local input, and protecting the environment," the senators wrote. They identified six principles the administration should maintain, including meaningful environmental impact guidance, tribal and local input, and flexibility for public participation.

The letter's signatories — Gallego, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. — are all Democrats.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., and Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Sara Carter held two roundtables in Kansas on Thursday — one focused on youth prevention at Wichita Northwest High School, the second on law enforcement coordination at the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

At the first event, Carter and Marshall announced a partnership to develop what the release described as the nation's first youth-to-youth primary prevention toolkit, to be led by students at Wichita Northwest under the Drug Free Communities Support program. "We don't want the next generation to inherit the drug crisis we are fighting today," Marshall said. "We need to empower young people to take this crisis on head-on because they know what their friends and classmates are facing."

The toolkit is targeted for launch at the start of the 2027-28 school year.

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., announced $1.05 million in federal awards from HRSA's Rural Communities Opioid Response Program for the Oregon Washington Health Network, a nonprofit serving Umatilla, Union, and Morrow counties in Oregon and Walla Walla County in Washington.

"I have heard heart-wrenching stories from Oregonians who have lost loved ones after a prescription for an injury or treatment turned into an addiction," Merkley said. "Communities need access to addiction and treatment services, and this critical support will help Pendleton improve access to critical services for opioid use disorder."

Sen. Katie Boyd Britt, R-Ala., joined Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., and 128 other members of Congress in a letter urging the HHS Inspector General to investigate Planned Parenthood's use of federal funds. The letter cited a Small Business Administration investigation into whether Planned Parenthood affiliates improperly received approximately $88 million in PPP loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Serious concerns have long been raised regarding the organization's compliance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and program requirements governing the receipt and use of federal funds," the Republican lawmakers wrote. They asked the IG to coordinate with CMS and OMB as part of any review.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. — co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism — joined Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., in pressing Senate and House Armed Services Committee members to retain a provision in the FY27 NDAA requiring a single, department-wide DoD policy on hate symbols.

"This lack of uniformity makes it harder to prevent, identify, and address symbols that promote hate, and can even allow displays to go unaddressed depending on branch-specific rules," the lawmakers wrote. "These symbols include swastikas and nooses, potent symbols of hate that have long been used to intimidate, harass, and discriminate against Jewish and Black communities."

Rosen secured the provision as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The release noted that both the Senate and House versions of the FY27 NDAA already include the provision — the letter targets the conference process.

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., announced $2,422,000 in Byrne JAG grants for Nevada law enforcement — split among the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the City of Henderson, and the Nevada Department of Public Safety.

"Local law enforcement is the backbone of public safety in Nevada, but too often our officers are being asked to do more with less," Cortez Masto said. The largest grants — $1,031,000 each — go to LVMPD for air support equipment modernization and to Henderson to support prosecution of nonfatal strangulation cases and improve services for domestic violence victims. The remaining $360,000 funds statewide law enforcement training technology.

Signals

• volumeToday's 12 releases run 83.6% below the Thursday average of 73.1, consistent with the pre-election state work period recess.
• recessThe Senate is in a pre-election state work period; no floor votes are scheduled, which accounts in part for the sharply reduced release volume.
• coordinatedTen Democratic senators signed the national forest Travel Management Rule letter (Gallego, Hickenlooper, Heinrich, Merkley, Padilla, Rosen, Luján, Cortez Masto, Van Hollen, Durbin), and several of those same senators also appear on the Head Start letter — a notable overlap in a low-volume day.
• coordinatedSen. James Lankford, R-Okla., appears as a co-signatory on two separate bipartisan releases today — the Rosen hate symbol NDAA letter and the Britt Planned Parenthood IG letter — the only Republican active in multiple cross-aisle efforts on this date.
• silent breaksSen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, has issued no releases in 86 days — the longest recorded silence in today's input set.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC86d
• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK84d
• Sen. Roger F. Wicker, R-MS78d
• Sen. Peter Welch, D-VT44d
• Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA21d