Senate volume craters 75% below norm as pre-election recess holds

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., led the entire Democratic caucus Thursday in a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin demanding the agency remove mifepristone and misoprostol from a list of contaminants targeted for drinking-water surveillance. The letter called the study 'a stark departure from past EPA practice and serves to further this administration's attacks on reproductive health care and distracts from your agency's critical role protecting Americans from known chemical pollutants in our water systems.'

The senators noted the drugs have been deemed safe by the FDA for more than 25 years. 'There is no scientific evidence – recent or otherwise – that demonstrates a need for an EPA surveillance study,' they wrote. The letter also flagged that Zeldin told the Appropriations Committee he was 'not aware' of any efforts to detect medication abortion drugs in water, even as the EPA had engaged with anti-abortion advocacy groups on the question.

'Taxpayers fund EPA to protect their health and the environment, not to advance a political campaign against women's health care,' the senators concluded. The lawmakers additionally requested all correspondence between EPA staff and Students for Life since January 20, 2025.

Seven Senate Democrats sent a letter Thursday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg questioning whether the company has improperly claimed billions in federal research and development tax credits to fund its AI data center buildout. The senators noted Meta's R&D credits grew from $700 million in 2023 to $4 billion in 2025 as the company spent tens of billions expanding data center infrastructure.

'The federal research credit can be a useful and necessary tool to support our nation's innovation economy and cutting-edge research,' the members wrote. 'Subsidizing your A.I. data center build is not close to meeting this standard.' The senators also flagged that if the reported figures are accurate, Meta's claims would represent more than 10 percent of all research tax credits claimed in the U.S., based on Joint Committee on Taxation figures.

'Any effort by Meta to use A.I. data center expansion as eligible for research credits is potentially a significant misapplication of federal tax law that merits further investigation,' the senators continued. The letter was led by Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and joined by Sens. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, issued five releases Thursday announcing FEMA grants to Texas fire departments totaling more than $57 million under the SAFER and AFG programs, covering regions from Fort Worth and Houston to Northeast Texas, the San Antonio area, and Central Texas. 'Texas is home to some of the nation's bravest and most highly skilled first responders and firefighters, who consistently go above and beyond the call of duty and risk their own safety to help others,' Cornyn said in each release. 'These resources will provide critical support to fire departments and equip our heroes with the tools needed to continue saving lives.'

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, separately announced more than $1.6 million in FEMA grants for five Ohio fire departments through the same AFG and SAFER programs. 'Our firefighters and EMT's run toward danger every single day to keep Ohioans safe, and they deserve the training, equipment and staffing to do that job well,' said Husted. The Ohio funding includes $620,084 to hire six additional firefighters in Painesville and $347,619 for a new ambulance in Woodlawn.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., introduced a Joint Resolution of Disapproval Thursday that would force a Senate vote on the Trump administration's proposed civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia. Under federal law, the agreement takes effect after a 90-day congressional review period unless Congress passes such a resolution; the Merkley-Markey measure sets up a vote after November 29.

'Giving Saudi Arabia access to U.S. civilian nuclear energy technology without ironclad protections to make sure it doesn't provide a foundation for a nuclear bomb is unacceptable,' said Merkley. 'We can't sleepwalk into a decision this consequential. The law gives Congress the power to review and block a deal like this, and the Senate will now have the chance to fulfill its statutory responsibility before it's too late.'

Markey framed the stakes in harder terms. 'The US-Saudi nuclear deal is about megatons, not megawatts,' he said. 'This deal is the starting gun for a Middle East nuclear arms race. Congress must reject it.' The resolution targets the absence of the so-called 'gold standard' nonproliferation requirements — uranium enrichment restrictions and Additional Protocol inspections — from the current agreement.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., joined Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Rep. Gabe Vasquez in a letter to Department of Energy Assistant Secretary Tim Walsh calling for an independent investigation of an August 19 incident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, where a five-person emergency lift plunged 1,600 feet after its cable snapped during safety testing.

'This incident is deeply alarming, and it comes against a backdrop of ongoing, documented concerns about the condition of WIPP's aging hoist infrastructure. The safety of WIPP's workers must come first. These individuals deserve nothing less than full confidence in the systems and procedures on which their lives depend,' the lawmakers wrote. They called for full engagement of the Mine Safety and Health Administration as an independent party in the review.

The letter also flagged labor-management tensions at the facility. 'A workforce that does not trust the contractor responsible for their safety is a major operational risk,' the lawmakers wrote, adding: 'We want to be clear: the Department of Energy bears ultimate responsibility for the safe, stable, and long-term operation of WIPP… Workers must be kept fully informed of findings and corrective actions, and their safety concerns must be meaningfully addressed, not managed.'

The Senate Commerce Committee passed bipartisan legislation Thursday led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., that would codify the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and require it to develop emergency tracking technologies for locating people trapped in confined spaces where conventional radio fails. The House companion bill passed by voice vote in July 2025.

'The ITS Codification Act will strengthen the research and engineering capabilities that help us identify new opportunities for spectrum sharing, support commercial innovation, and protect critical federal missions,' said Blackburn. 'This bill also helps ensure our first responders have access to reliable, cutting-edge communications technology when every second counts.'

Duckworth called for swift Senate floor action. 'When people are in crisis and find themselves trapped in confined spaces, how quickly our first responders are able to conduct search and rescue often depends on these workers' access to modern, reliable technology to save precious time,' she said. 'Now that our bipartisan legislation has passed committee, the Senate must pass it swiftly so we can help ensure our first responders have the technology they need to save lives.'

In an op-ed published Thursday in the Daily Wire, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., argued that Memphis should serve as a national model for reducing urban violent crime, citing the one-year mark of the Trump administration's federal law enforcement deployment to the city. Hagerty wrote that the Memphis Safe Task Force has made more than 13,500 arrests, seized more than 2,270 weapons, and located 196 missing children, with overall violent crime down 42 percent.

Hagerty contrasted Memphis's results with Minneapolis, where he wrote violent crime is up 12 percent after city and state leaders declined federal assistance. 'Memphis proves the opposite of what Americans have been told for years: violent crime is not the unavoidable price of city life. It is the result of choices,' Hagerty wrote. 'The Memphis model is available to any city willing to use it.'

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., announced Thursday that he will host the fifth annual Northeast Indiana Defense Summit in Fort Wayne on October 27 and 28, bringing together Trump administration officials, military leaders, members of Congress, and defense industry executives. Confirmed participants include Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle, and Sens. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and Todd Young, R-Ind.

The two-day event will cover defense industrial base capacity, military innovation, and Indiana's role in national security manufacturing. Panels feature executives from Palantir Technologies, Castelion, Saronic Technologies, Skydio, and Kratos Defense, among others.

Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., issued a statement Thursday praising President Trump's announcement that a next-generation integrated military training range will be built in Montana. Sheehy said the facility would address modern warfare requirements including contested spectrum, electronic warfare, hypersonics, and space capabilities.

'Montana is uniquely positioned to spearhead the development of the next generation of instruments for the warfighter,' said Sheehy. 'By combining our state's vast landscapes, innovative spirit, and proud tradition of military service, we are the Last Best Place to ensure America's fighting men and women have the technological edge they need to dominate the battlefield and win the wars of tomorrow.' Sheehy's office noted he had secured $10 million for a feasibility study in the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year.

Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., appeared on Fox Business Thursday to discuss Iran nuclear negotiations, the Trump administration's recent diesel agreement with Russia, and what he called the weaponization of the financial system against conservatives. On Iran, Hagerty said: 'The back and forth with the Iranians is extraordinarily difficult to navigate. You don't know who is running the place, and frankly, I'm not sure they know who is running the place.'

On the Russia diesel deal, Hagerty pushed back on framing it as pro-Putin: 'I wouldn't say that [the president] is leaning toward Putin. If you look at the [Lindsey O. Graham Russia Sanctions Act] that he just signed into law a couple of weeks ago, that put even more forceful sanctions in place that we can deploy against Russia.' He added: 'It's certainly something that President Trump is managing — a multi-variable calculation here as he addresses it — but at the same time, he has got to maintain economic security and energy security for the United States and our allies.'

Signals

• volumeThursday's 18 releases ran 75.3 percent below the Thursday average of 72.8, consistent with the pre-election state work period recess.
• coordinatedSeven Senate Democrats filed coordinated releases on the Meta R&D tax credit letter within roughly an hour of each other, with Luján and Cortez Masto each issuing separate releases on the same letter.
• coordinatedSen. John Cornyn issued five separate FEMA fire grant releases in a span of roughly 70 minutes, each covering a different Texas region but using identical quote language.
• voteThe Merkley-Markey Joint Resolution of Disapproval on the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal sets up a Senate floor vote after November 29, the first concrete vote trigger announced in today's releases.
• recessThe Senate remains in its pre-election state work period with no scheduled floor votes, which accounts for the sharply depressed release volume.
• silent breaksSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has not issued a release in 93 days — the longest silence in the tracked universe — despite being a senior member of the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees during an active foreign policy period.
• silent breaksSen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is listed as silent for 51 days yet appeared as a signatory on today's Meta R&D tax credit letter, suggesting his office is active on group correspondence without issuing standalone releases.

Quiet desks

Senators with no release in two weeks or more.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC93d
• Sen. Alan Armstrong, R-OK91d
• Sen. Roger F. Wicker, R-MS85d
• Sen. Peter Welch, D-VT51d
• Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA28d
• Sen. John Barrasso, R-WY16d
• Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA16d
• Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT16d
• Sen. Andy Kim, D-NJ15d
• Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI15d