Today\u2019s notice: What the House Ethics Committee does not want to talk about. The 2028 implications of the 2026 California gubernatorial race. War powers. Schedule F. And: How often Bruce Springsteen votes. <\/p>\n
THE LATEST<\/p>\n
Inside the House Ethics Committee\u2019s boys club: After a year where bad behavior by male members of Congress has been a dominant story, some are asking: Should there be more women on the House Ethics Committee?<\/p>\n
NOTUS\u2019 Oriana Gonz\u00e1lez and Kadia Goba report<\/a> on how there has never been more than four women on the 10-member committee at once and detail at least one instance when women on the panel pushed to publicly admonish Rep. Jim Costa (D-California) but the committee never disclosed its investigation. Costa denied any wrongdoing and the committee voted to dismiss the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sensitivity certainly would be there\u201d if there were more women on the committee, said former Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pennsylvania), who served on Ethics from 2005 to 2007.<\/p>\n One challenge: getting women to want to do one of the House\u2019s most notoriously thankless jobs. Plus, women make up only around 30% of current House membership.<\/p>\n Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida) chairs the Republican conference\u2019s Women\u2019s Caucus and says she is pushing for major House Ethics reforms \u2014 but gender parity isn\u2019t one of them. She told NOTUS she\u2019s more concerned with structural reforms than \u201cwhat box someone checks.\u201d<\/p>\n The committee is trying to shut this kind of scrutiny down. It is sending letters to lawmakers who were members of House Ethics last Congress, inquiring whether they leaked information about that Costa investigation, which was first revealed by NOTUS last month. Oriana and Kadia report<\/a> that the committee is asking members who were present during certain Costa deliberations if they disclosed any information and telling them their responses must be provided under oath.<\/p>\n The House Ethics Committee declined to comment.<\/p>\n Open tabs: Israel and Lebanon Agree to Renew Cease-Fire<\/a> (NYT); Senators Privately Ask Platner Whether New Allegations Will Emerge<\/a> (WSJ); U.S. Proposes New Tariffs on Countries That Use Forced Labor<\/a> (NOTUS); U.S., allies warn that China is using LinkedIn to target military officers, spies for secret information<\/a> (WaPo)<\/p>\n From the campaign trail <\/p>\n California\u2019s tea just spilled all over 2028: The votes are still being counted in the state\u2019s many elections, but one guy may have already lost: Gov. Gavin Newsom. Maeve Reston reports for NOTUS<\/a> that the brutal and seemingly endless (count those votes faster, gang!) gubernatorial primary created a thick oppo book on Newsom\u2019s record due to Democrats talking about California\u2019s many problems (that Newsom didn\u2019t fix) on camera, over and over. This could prove problematic if and when he officially jumps into the 2028 Democratic presidential field, Maeve writes.<\/p>\n Chill out, Newsom\u2019s team says. Candidates vying to replace him advanced \u201ca scrutiny narrative now, only so they can later take credit for what this administration had already set in motion,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n From the Hill<\/p>\n War powers fight is back: Fourth time was the charm for Rep. Gregory Meeks\u2019 (D-New York) effort to curtail Donald Trump\u2019s powers to continue the war with Iran. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan and Warren Davidson of Ohio joined Democrats in voting for the bill, and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who had previously opposed similar measures, voted \u201caye\u201d yesterday as well. It passed 215-208, NOTUS\u2019 Hamed Ahmadi reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next? The Senate resolution is still pending, but that\u2019s only because the math is still very tight. \u201cIf everybody\u2019s here, we need one more vote,\u201d Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), a key sponsor of the effort in the upper chamber, said Tuesday. \u201cAnd so we got to work on that.\u201d<\/p>\n From the White House<\/p>\n You\u2019re Schedule F-ired: Trump took the final step to make it easier to remove thousands of federal workers from service. On Wednesday, he signed an executive order that shifts some nonpolitical appointees to a new job classification, stripping them of rights they\u2019ve held for decades. Administration officials say it will affect 8,000 employees, NOTUS\u2019 Eric Katz reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics have slammed this long-anticipated action, saying it would lead to further politicization of career civil servants. In a briefing with reporters, administration officials said there would be no political litmus test for federal employees subject to the reclassification.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are zero loyalty tests in this,\u201d Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, said.<\/p>\n NEW ON NOTUS<\/p>\n Bruce Springsteen\u2019s voting record: Former Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virginia) challenged NOTUS\u2019 Sam Fortier to check the Boss\u2019 election-turnout stats as Sam was reporting on Springsteen\u2019s \u201cNo Kings\u201d tour.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember: New Jersey\u2019s got elections every year,\u201d Davis said. \u201cGo back on his record and look at these odd-year elections.\u201d<\/p>\n What we found: Springsteen has voted in four of the last six general elections in New Jersey, but he did not vote in 2021 or 2023, including in the gubernatorial election, according to his voter-turnout record, which NOTUS obtained through a FOIA request. Springsteen has voted sporadically in odd-year elections since 2000, according to the records.<\/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 sign up<\/a> \u2014 it\u2019s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.com<\/a>. And as always, we\u2019d love to hear your thoughts at newsletters@notus.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The newsletter was produced by Kelly Poe, Kate Nocera, Matt Berman and Andrew Burton. Photo by Francis Chung\/POLITICO via AP Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s notice: What the House Ethics Committee does not want to talk about. 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