Overview

• In a letter, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries urged Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to convene Big Four negotiations next week on a bipartisan continuing resolution.
• They identified reversing Medicaid cuts from the One Big, Beautiful Bill and protecting enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies as central demands.
• The letter asked whether the Office of Management and Budget plans another rescissions package after roughly $9 billion was clawed back this summer.
• Democrats warned they will not back a Republican-drafted stopgap as they did in March, a stance that matters because GOP leaders will likely need some Democratic votes to pass a bill in the Senate.
• With only three Senate and two House appropriations bills passed, the Sept. 30 deadline looms and defense officials say a lapse could delay some pay and services even as troops remain on duty.