Eleanor Mueller
@Eleanor_Mueller
Reporter covering Congress for @Semafor. Proud @POLITICO and @MerrillCollege alum. PNW native. Let’s talk at [email protected] or on Signal (link below).
.@POTUS is right. Cashless bail is fueling crime and putting dangerous offenders back on our streets. Last year, the House passed my bill, the Keeping Violent Offenders Off Our Streets Act, to rein in radical left-wing bail policies and keep our communities safe. We need more…
WATCH: @semafor politics reporter @Eleanor_Mueller joins @alivitali on @WayTooEarly to discuss her reporting on how Republicans plan to sell their "big, beautiful bill" to the American people. youtube.com/watch?v=DT8DCY…
Steering Committee presentations have wrapped up for contenders to lead Homeland Security Committee. Now we wait for likely a couple rounds of voting and chairman rec. Reminder of contenders: Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.) Carlos Giménez (Fla.) Michael Guest (Miss.) Clay Higgins (La.)
News: Rep. Mike Flood was unanimously elected as next chair of Main Street Caucus tonight at their internal meeting, per a source familiar.
Goldman: "Market participants seem to agree that the risk to Fed independence is rising, as 5-year 5-year forward inflation swaps have recently decoupled higher from their prior close relationship with the 2-year note yield."
In a surprise turn of events, the Senate Ag Committee suddenly removed CFTC Chair nominee Brian Quintenz (+ another nominee) from today's vote roster. The committee needed all GOP members present for their votes & 1 senator's plane was delayed returning to Washington, per staff
Today in a CNBC interview, I called for a review of the Federal Reserve. It is my belief that the central bank should conduct an exhaustive internal review of its non-monetary policy operations. Significant mission creep and institutional growth have taken the Fed into areas that…
Cornyn on the Senate floor calls on Congress to "finally" pass restrictions on US investment in China as part of the NDAA: "I'm not going to give up. We're going to stay after this." ICYMI, we scooped the Senate's updated proposal earlier this year: semafor.com/article/03/13/…
Senate leaders trading barbs ahead of shutdown deadline ... Schumer says Thune is "talking out of both sides of his mouth" by trying to do bipartisan deals while passing spending cuts with only GOP votes "The leader's words and his actions are in complete contradiction"
New: OPM will see around one third of the agency depart by the end of the year (around 1,000 workers). Most of the departures (about 80%) are voluntary through things like the admin’s Deferred Resignation Program, and 129 positions were cut through RIFs.
Trump “has no plans to fire the Fed chair” but “Jerome Powell should cut interest rates,” Karoline Leavitt tells reporters.
👀
Ansari comparing House R/D committee assignments & advancement:
Thune also said: "Clearly you can have disagreements with the Fed Chairman with respect to interest rates ... I also think there is a certain understanding and respect, particularly in the financial markets, that that agency is supposed to be independent"
But Thune said members want to go home to sell OBBB “This is time of year when they go back and interact with their constituents” “I think the message about delivering the message about our accomplishments is something that our members are anxious to get out there and do”
Thune latest on canceling August recess, per Trump’s request: “We’re thinking about it. We want to get as many noms through the pipeline as we can.” “we're going to be looking at all the options in the next weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can”
News: Senate Majority Leader John Thune just met with President Trump. He said the topic of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell didn't come up though the president remains frustrated with the Fed chair on interest rates Thune, though, said Fed renovations do require more oversight
NEW: In the new CBS/YG poll Trump's policies are making you: - Financially better off: 18% 👀 - Financially worse off: 50% - Same: 32% Trump's policies are making price of food/groceries: - Go up: 62% 👀 - Go down: 16% - No change: 22%
Trump's tax and spending law will add $3.4 TRILLION to deficits over the next 10 years, per the final estimate from @USCBO. CBO also estimates 10 million will lose health insurance by 2034 because of the law.
New @nytimes op-ed by former Fed chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen nytimes.com/2025/07/21/opi…
CBO’s updated estimate on the OBBBA says 10 million people will be uninsured by 2034 due to the bill. That’s down from the previous 11.8 million estimate, and due to the Senate parliamentarian striking the provision that would have reduced FMAP for states who covered immigrants.
Estimated Budgetary Effects of Public Law 119-21, to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14, Relative to CBO’s January 2025 Baseline cbo.gov/publication/61…
News: Senate Banking Committee members are eyeing July 29 for a potential markup of bipartisan housing legislation, I'm told. ICYMI, we reported a couple weeks ago that Scott was targeting this month: semafor.com/article/07/09/…