| | | | |  | | By Daniella Diaz | | Presented by |  | | | With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team
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Hanging over Wednesday’s CR vote was the imminent landfall of Hurricane Helene in Florida, and House and Senate leaders rushed to allow lawmakers from affected districts to return home. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO | A LOOMING FUNDING DISASTER? Congress is on track to clear a three-month stopgap spending bill Wednesday night, leaving most lawmakers relieved to head home for the home stretch of campaign season. But not all. A select group of lawmakers is frustrated that the continuing resolution doesn’t include additional disaster relief funding that they have been seeking for their communities — and that they were hoping to secure before the election. Now they can only hope the situation gets addressed in the post-election lame duck session. “It is very bittersweet that while we are saving the country and preventing a government shutdown, we will go home to communities that are still suffering,” said Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), who represents fire-ravaged parts of Maui. “There's no adequate answer that we will have to be able to say why it was not included. And so you can just be rest assured, it is a burning passion for every one of us that we've got to get it done.” What the CR does do: The temporary measure, which passed the House Wednesday evening and is expected to clear the Senate shortly, keeps FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund at the same level negotiated for fiscal 2024, but it does allow the agency to more quickly spend down that sum in order to meet needs. The issue some lawmakers have is that they believe the roughly $20 billion allotted for fiscal 2024 won’t be nearly enough in fiscal 2025. “I'm very upset about that, because Vermont will be imperiled,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said. “So will Hawaii, so will Texas — I mean, all these places where we've had disaster situations are going to be imperiled because we haven't replenished the fund. But in the immediate [future] it's not going to inhibit us from our efforts, but it does increase the urgency to get a comprehensive appropriation in the omnibus.” One issue that Tokuda is highlighting is that FEMA has had to pause work that’s not considered “life-sustaining,” such as rebuilding parts of Maui affected by last summer’s wildfires. Some of any DRF refill will need to be used to cover that delayed work. There’s also a pending $4 billion supplemental request from the White House to address disaster response and recovery efforts, including to help rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, which collapsed in March after being struck by a cargo ship. Future threats: Hanging over Wednesday’s CR vote was the imminent landfall of Hurricane Helene in Florida, and House and Senate leaders rushed the bill through to allow lawmakers from affected districts to return home. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla), who’s facing a tough re-election in November, was one lawmaker who missed votes on Wednesday to help his state prepare. “We're going to continue to have potentially more national disasters between now and December or into the next year,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who attended votes Wednesday. He added that a DRF refill “should have been done months ago.” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), a top appropriator who represents a hurricane-prone district in south Florida, said he was not overly concerned. “In December, we have to pass the appropriation bills, and we're gonna have to also refill some of these pots to deal with emergencies,” Díaz-Balart said. “I’m pretty confident that we're OK between now and December, but if, for some reason, that were to change — like, if it's a catastrophic event — there are ways to deal with that as well.” — Daniella Diaz, with an assist from Nicholas Wu
| | | | A message from FICO: MYTH or FACT: Only mortgage lenders use the FICO® Score. MYTH! FICO® Scores are relied on by lenders, but these same scores are essential to mortgage insurers, ratings agencies, regulators, investors, and others — all to provide millions of Americans with homeownership. Test your knowledge. | | | GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Wednesday, Sept. 25, where a shutdown was averted. BLOWBACK FOR BERNIE Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, stepped in it big time last week with comments suggesting that older women shouldn’t care about abortion because they’re too old to have children. “Especially for women that are like past 50 — I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t think that’s an issue for you,’” he said Friday at a town hall. We spoke to some fellow Ohio Republicans about those comments and heard mixed views. One lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the matter, said the comments “shows he’s out of touch with the Ohio voter.” “The only thing that would have been worse is if he said women who are under 18 do not need abortions,” the member said. “What was he thinking? Was he even thinking?” Another Ohioan chalked it up as a bad joke. “I think every candidate has to deal with the issue in their own way. And from what he said, he was telling a joke,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio). “Certainly not the way I would address it, but it’s OK.” Abortion is a major issue in Moreno’s race against Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, in a state where abortion rights are popular: 57 percent of Ohio voters supported a ballot measure last year that enshrined protections for abortions up to the point of viability in the state constitution. — Daniella Diaz, with assist from Olivia Beavers
| | | | A message from FICO:   | | | GUNNING IT NSSF, the Firearm Industry Trade Association, is out with its latest scorecard rating members of Congress on their support for gun rights, according to a report set to be released Thursday and first shared with Inside Congress. The ratings reflect members’ “public voting record as well as their sponsorship and co-sponsorship of key legislation, their work on committees, letters signed to support firearm industry issues and their overall leadership in championing our industry,” according to a statement from Lawrence Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel. As you might imagine, many sitting Democrats got “D” and “F” ratings while Republicans mostly got “A” and “B” scores, with 29 GOP senators and 122 House Republicans receiving “A+” ratings. While many in the GOP will be excited to tout their high marks, expect Democrats to be equally pleased to argue they are holding the gun industry to account. In one noteworthy change, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) — who is in a tough re-election race — saw his rating drop from a “B+” to an “F” this term. Otherwise, the members who got middling ratings tended to be the most interesting: That includes the Senate’s two retiring centrist Democrats-turned-independents: Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), who got a “C+,” and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who got a “C.” Among House Republicans, lower-scorers include some odd bedfellows: Reps. Vern Buchanan of Florida (C+), Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania (D), Matt Gaetz of Florida (C+), Thomas Kean of New Jersey (C+), Nancy Mace of South Carolina (C+) and Nicole Malliotakis of New York (C+). The higher-scorers among House Democrats include mostly centrists like Henry Cuellar and Vincente Gonzales of Texas (C for both), Donald Davis of North Carolina (C), Jared Golden of Maine (C) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington (C+). NSSF, formerly known as the National Shooting Sports Foundation, is one of many groups that release scorecards, but it is now touting itself as “the preeminent pro Second Amendment advocacy force in D.C.,” after seeing its lobbying expenditures outstrip the former big dog, the National Rifle Association, by some 40 percent since 2022. Its political arm is also becoming more involved in backing key candidates, such as Tester’s GOP challenger, Tim Sheehy. — Olivia Beavers
| | Public health PSA: The Office of the Attending Physician is already offering flu shots and Covid boosters — weeks before they were available last year! For Covid shots, go to Rayburn or Hart. For flu shots, any OAP office will do, except O’Neill. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is asking folks to f ind the biggest Bigleaf Maple leaf. Chris Coons reunited with his doppelganger. Chuck Grassley and Katie Britt had a DQ summit. That buzz might be more than jet fumes: The Congressional Wine Caucus tasting is today.
| | | | A message from FICO: MYTH or FACT: FICO® Scores cost less than a slice of pizza. FACT! Mortgage closing costs can be thousands of dollars, but FICO's price is less than a slice of pizza — and the FICO® Score helps provide millions of Americans with homeownership. Test your knowledge. | | | QUICK LINKS The chunkiest of chunks face off in Alaska’s Fat Bear Week, from Gene Johnson at The Associated Press Ex-Congressman, Judicial Pick Stumbles on Free Speech Question, from Tiana Headley at Bloomberg Law TRANSITIONS Sean Kelly is now the director of government affairs and public policy at Atlas Air. He was previously press secretary for GOP leadership on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Kristen Torres has launched Torres Consulting, a government relations and strategic consulting firm specializing in policy development, lobbying and government affairs. Torres was most recently legislative assistant for Judy Chu. TOMORROW IN CONGRESS The House is in session with no votes. The Senate is TBD. THURSDAY AROUND THE HILL Zzz.
| | TUESDAY’S ANSWER: Anthony J. Ilardi was the first to correctly guess that Lyndon B. Johnson was the last presidential candidate of a major party who was a former public K-12 school teacher before Tim Walz. TODAY’S QUESTION, from Anthony: In honor of the return of football season, there are five colleges that have both a Super Bowl winning quarterback and a president among their alumni. Can you name the schools? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com. GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening. | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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