Today\u2019s notice: Does the American public know how close war with Iran is? Democrats promise they have a forthcoming midterm policy platform. One Clinton deposition down, one to go. The latest on DHS\u2019s partial shutdown. Plus: Both parties on how to win over minority voters. <\/p>\n
THE LATEST<\/p>\n
Our war, but don\u2019t ask us to get involved: \u201cWe cannot see a nuclear-armed Iran,\u201d Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said yesterday as Congress heads toward a possible vote next week on whether to restrict Donald Trump\u2019s power to launch military action against Iran. Murkowski, a regular administration critic, said she wants to know more before voting on a possible war powers resolution.<\/p>\n
The chances of a vote constraining Trump\u2019s military options in either chamber are slim to none right now, NOTUS\u2019 Hamed Ahmadi reports<\/a>. Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine and the ever-present duo of Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie are leading the push to hold war powers votes in their respective chambers, but they still have lots of convincing to do.<\/p>\n Time is running out. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met yesterday in Geneva for another round of indirect nuclear talks. They\u2019re going well enough for Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has been facilitating the talks, to reportedly<\/a> land in Washington today to huddle with JD Vance. Still, no rumors of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n So the real conversation about war may be between Trump and the American people.<\/p>\n Does it feel like that conversation has happened? \u201cHe\u2019s been very clear,\u201d Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told Emily.<\/p>\n But to others, it feels like the public has not been clued in. \u201cThey\u2019re just gonna go blow something up and tell you about it later, and they\u2019re not gonna tell you why,\u201d Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen said.<\/p>\n Open tabs: Pro-Trump attorneys push executive order that would give Trump sweeping power over elections: Sources<\/a> (ABC); Slotkin apologizes for Lindsey Graham\u2019s \u2018appalling\u2019 outburst at Danish PM<\/a> (Politico); The First Couple of a Dysfunctional DHS<\/a> (Atlantic); Anthropic Rejects the Pentagon\u2019s Demand That It Remove AI Safeguards<\/a> (NOTUS)<\/p>\n From Democrats\u2019 annual \u2018Issues Conference\u2019<\/p>\n Procrastination vacation? When reporters pressed Democratic lawmakers at their annual issues retreat for the specifics of their legislative road map to sell to voters this fall, they said they were still working on it. But they promised it would be spectacular, NOTUS\u2019 Riley Rogerson reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOur goal is to have simple solutions that we can put out and lay out that vision \u2014 that if you give Democrats that gavel back, this is exactly what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said.<\/p>\n \u201cStay tuned,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n From the Hill<\/p>\n \u201cWithin the next 24 hours,\u201d House Oversight Chair James Comer said yesterday<\/a> of the release schedule for video of his committee\u2019s multi-hour deposition of Hillary Clinton, part of its Epstein investigation.<\/p>\n Clinton spoke for seven minutes to reporters after the deposition, and chastised Republicans for not making the hearing public and televised. She also addressed the topic at hand: \u201cI never met Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew Ghislaine Maxwell, as an acquaintance.\u201d<\/p>\n She also said she was asked about several other topics not at hand, including UFOs and Pizzagate. One Democratic lawmaker who was in the room told CNN: \u201cI will just say that the transcript will be very revealing.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Rep. Lauren Boebert, the Republican who briefly halted the deposition<\/a> when she leaked photos from inside the room, she answered reporters\u2019 questions by cracking a joke about Clinton\u2019s infamous email scandal: \u201cI just returned to my hotel room and installed the BleachBit software<\/a> \u2026 So, I guess in regards to taking photos, I do not recall.\u201d<\/p>\n From the White House<\/p>\n New offer, same problems? The White House said it sent over \u201canother serious counter offer<\/a>\u201d to Democrats, as the impasse over Department of Homeland Security funding continues.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats need to make a move to end the shutdown before more Americans are harmed by a lack of funding for critical services like disaster relief,\u201d a White House official told Jasmine.<\/p>\n Pressure points: TSA workers and others at DHS are set to miss their first full paycheck soon. But on Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked funding for the department for the second time, and showed no sign of budging on their demands.<\/p>\n Democrats are digging in for the long haul. Sen. Andy Kim told NOTUS before the White House sent its counteroffer that Democrats would continue to vote against the package until it included several reforms to immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that State of the Union, I think it\u2019s crystal clear, this is a president who is perfectly happy weaponizing parts of our government against the people,\u201d Kim said.<\/p>\n THE BIG ONE<\/p>\n The minority outreach test: Close watchers of Tuesday\u2019s Democratic Senate primary in Texas say either Rep. Jasmine Crockett or state Rep. James Talarico will win primarily based on who can turn out more minority voters, NOTUS\u2019 Daniella Diaz reports<\/a>. The candidates\u2019 final-push schedules tell the story: Both have spent the last two weeks in areas with diverse populations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen in the polling that Jasmine Crockett is clearly winning among Black voters, and Talarico probably has a not as big magnitude, but a slight lead among \u2026 white voters and Latino voters,\u201d Luke Warford, a leader in long-running efforts to turn Texas blue, said. This primary has been nasty, and race has been part of the nastiness.<\/p>\n Early voting offers no help as to who is winning this turnout effort, Daniella writes. Democrats have seen their coalition fracture in recent elections, and they will need it more together than ever if either candidate has a chance at an upset in November.<\/p>\n Black Republicans are facing their own test: Reps. Wesley Hunt, Byron Donalds and John James are all leaving the House to seek higher office, leaving Rep. Burgess Owens as the sole Black GOP incumbent seeking another term.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be in the room merely because you want a Black candidate in the room,\u201d Josh Williams, the Ohio state House majority whip running in the Republican primary to face Rep. Marcy Kaptur, told NOTUS\u2019 Oriana Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a>.<\/p>\n But he said race can be electorally important. \u201cIn a general election, more minority voters, more Black voters, will be prone to be engaged and actually vote in this district, because they\u2019ve been left behind by Marcy Kaptur, and they\u2019ve told me verbatim that they don\u2019t feel representation from her,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n A key goal for the GOP is solidifying the gains among Black voters that Trump built in 2024. Do they need Black candidates to do that? \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s cause and effect. But that\u2019s a voting bloc that we take seriously,\u201d NRCC Chair Richard Hudson told Oriana.<\/p>\n NEW ON NOTUS<\/p>\n Environmental groups flood the courts: NOTUS\u2019 Shifra Dayak crunched the numbers<\/a> and discovered an uptick in environmental lawsuits during the first year of Trump\u2019s second term. The Sierra Club, for example, filed or intervened in more than 100 lawsuits in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has made our litigation more difficult and our federal court litigation more challenging,\u201d the Sierra Club\u2019s legal director, Joanne Spalding, told Shifra. \u201cIt certainly changes the way we frame the arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n More: This Republican and Democrat Are Trying to Expand Critical Women\u2019s Health Program<\/a>, by Avani Kalra<\/p>\n NOT US<\/p>\n Thank you for reading! If you liked this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org<\/a>. And as always, we\u2019d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s notice: Does the American public know how close war with Iran is? 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