Good Thursday evening. On this date 19 years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. It would become the costliest storm in U.S. history, causing almost 1,400 deaths and some $200 billion in damages. Here’s what’s happening today.
Harris Faces Her Next Big Test
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, sat down with CNN today for a wide-ranging, high-stakes interview, the first Harris has given since entering the presidential race last month. Will it change the race?
CNN will air the interview at 9 p.m. ET, but some details have already come out. Harris reportedly said she would name a Republican to her Cabinet if elected and insisted that, despite some shifting policy positions since her 2019 presidential run, her fundamental values remain the same.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash, offering her work on climate policy and border security as examples.
“I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” she said. “We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set goals for the United States of America, and by extension the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as an example. That value has not changed. My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. …”
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign jumped on Harris’s comments about her values, sending out a list of two dozen positions they attributed to Harris. “It's who Kamala Harris is — weak, failed, and dangerously liberal,” the Trump release said.
The Republican campaign, meanwhile, has its own headache to deal with as the U.S. Army publicly rebuked it over an incident Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
House GOP Could Ramp Up September Spending Drama
When lawmakers return to Congress next month, they’ll need to fund the government beyond the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledge that they’ll need a stopgap spending bill known as a continuing resolution to keep agencies open beyond the November elections. But Politico reports that “hard-right conservatives are considering throwing a curveball into those plans” by tying the spending patch to a measure that requires proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.
“Conservatives hope to force Senate Democrats’ hand by attaching the bill, known as the SAVE Act, to the must-pass spending patch — right before an election where immigration has become a frontline issue,” Politico’s Jordain Carney, Nicholas Wu and Jennifer Scholtes write. “And some of their colleagues are willing to go with it, at least as an opening salvo.
That would create uncertainty around the shutdown deadline and could torpedo any spending bill in the House. “Democrats likely won’t vote for it, and Republicans aren’t certain they would have the votes to pass it on their own. GOP leadership is facing skepticism from more pragmatic Republicans who don’t want to flirt with a shutdown,” Politico notes.
The bottom line: It’s not clear whether House Republicans will look to pick this fight just months before the election, but the Senate would reject the voting measure, meaning that a continuing resolution without it is the likeliest outcome. Still, the details of any spending fix remain up in the air and the potential exists for yet another intraparty Republican clash.
Biden Cap on Drug Costs Will Save Millions an Average $1,500 Next Year: Analysis
The new cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs enacted as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act will save more than 3 million Medicare beneficiaries an average of $1,500 next year, according to an analysis published by the AARP Public Policy Institute.
“Prior to the recent changes to the Medicare Part D benefit, these enrollees’ average out-of-pocket spending would have been approximately $2,600 in 2025; under the redesigned benefit, their average out-of-pocket spending is estimated to be roughly $1,100, a savings of 56 percent,” the report says.
The analysis finds that an estimated 3.2 million Medicare Part D enrollees will reach the new law’s $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs next year, and the number of people hitting the limit will climb to 4.1 million by 2029. On average, about 1.4 million Part D enrollees will see annual savings of $1,000 or more between 2025 and 2029. And some 420,000 enrollees (or 12% of those in Medicare Part D) are expected to save $3,000 or more over that timeframe.
AARP, the nonprofit focused on seniors, had lobbied for the Inflation Reduction Act, which included several landmark healthcare changes, including the limit on annual out-of-pocket drug costs, a $35 monthly cap on insulin costs in Medicare and the first-ever Medicare price negotiations with drugmakers.
“AARP was instrumental in Congress passing the prescription drug law of 2022 to lower prices and out-of-pocket costs for Medicare enrollees,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement. “As we approach January 2025, we want every senior in America to know that, thanks to the new annual cap which limits their out-of-pocket costs, they will have more money to invest in their families, spend on their broader health needs or simply save to achieve greater financial stability.”
Fiscal News Roundup
- Harris Explains Why She’s Shifted Her Position on Key Issues Since Her First Run for President – CNN
- Harris Says She Plans to Roll Out Tax Credit Proposal for Small Businesses Next Week – CNN
- Vance Defends Telling Harris to ‘Go to Hell’ for Nonexistent Cemetery Criticism – Washington Post
- Harris Has Taken Narrow Lead Over Trump, WSJ Poll Finds – Wall Street Journal
- Harris Edges Trump in Key States, With Sun Belt Now Up for Grabs – Bloomberg
- Meet the Think Tank Planning a Second Trump Administration. (It’s Not Project 2025.) – Politico
- Trump's Truth Social Spree: QAnon, Sexism and Threats of Vengeance – Axios
- JD Vance Urges Billionaire Peter Thiel to Help Bankroll Trump Campaign – Financial Times
- US Army Rebukes Trump Campaign for Incident at Arlington National Cemetery – CNN
- Army Defends Arlington Cemetery Staffer ‘Pushed Aside’ by Trump Aides – Washington Post
- House GOP Braces for Preelection Spending Drama – Politico
- UK’s Richest Face Prospect of Labour Tax Hikes on Wealth – Bloomberg
- ‘Most People Are Confused’: What to Know About the Latest Covid Shot – Politico
- NFL’s ‘Bills Mafia’ Tapped to Finance New Stadium With Muni Debt – Bloomberg
Views and Analysis
- Is Europe a Model for America? Or a Warning? – Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
- How Kamala Harris Can Improve on Biden’s White House – Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
- One Place Trump and Harris Supporters Agree: America Might Not Be Fixable – Philip Bump, Washington Post
- Trump and Harris: Talking Loud and Saying Nothing – Bloomberg Editorial Board
- Harris Took Housing Off the Backburner. Keep Her Talking. – Erika D. Smith, Bloomberg
- Obamacare Is Working Brilliantly — for Now – Washington Post Editorial Board
- Fed Rate Cuts Are No Magic Fix for Anemic Hiring – Conor Sen, Bloomberg