Prepare for the possibility of higher gas prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n The price of Brent crude<\/a>, the international benchmark, crossed $100 a barrel<\/a> Thursday for the first time since May, reported Victoria Craw<\/b>, John Hudson <\/b>and Imogen Piper<\/b>. The jump came after at least one Saudi oil tanker was attacked in the Red Sea, widening the threat to oil supplies already constrained by the near-total blockage in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n \u201c$4.25-$4.40\/gal becoming possible for a national average gas price with diesel likely going to $5.35-$5.50\/gal for a national average in the next couple weeks,\u201d wrote<\/a> Patrick De Haan<\/b>, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.<\/p>\n This is bad news for Republicans. Operatives tasked with holding <\/b>the House have told us gas prices need to fall \u2014 not jump \u2014 by the end of the summer, or the party is at serious risk of losing big in November<\/a>.<\/p>\n There have been few times in history when Congress has been more hated<\/a>.<\/p>\n And your legislators are doing little to address that \u2014 including working in Washington.<\/p>\n When House members left Washington this week, they checked out until the end of August, set to return to work in Washington for only four weeks<\/a> over the next nearly three months.<\/p>\n The Senate is not much better. The legislative chamber is slated to stay in D.C. through Aug. 7, but will then be out until mid-September and take almost all of October off. Over the next three months, the Senate will only be in session for five weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before the Congress-stans jump on this, yes, I know that members often work when they go home. And the reason they are off so much in the back half of this year is because of the 2026 midterms and campaign needs.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s be real here: Being out of D.C., and away from what they are elected to do, is incredibly out of touch with how most Americans live and work, making it entirely understandable that Gallup found in April that just 10 percent of Americans approved of its performance, while 86 percent disapproved \u2014 tying the record high.<\/p>\n For voters, said former representative Susan Wild<\/b>, being out of D.C. for so long makes it \u201clook like Congress is on vacation when I am toiling away at my workplace in August, just trying to figure out how I am going to pay the rent and groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe perception is a big problem,\u201d Wild said. \u201cIf this were a Congress that had gotten some big things done and they were going home for the month of August and they weren\u2019t going to spend a whole lot of time in session, that would be a different thing. … But here we are, and there isn\u2019t really a whole hell of a lot of show.\u201d<\/p>\n Our colleague, Mariana Alfaro<\/b>, found Rep. Tim Burchett <\/b>(R-Tennessee) somewhat dejected when asked about Republicans running out of time to pass a number of the party\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to run towards the finish line. Obviously, we\u2019ll come back after August recess, and hopefully take up some of the president\u2019s initiatives,\u201d Burchett said. But, said the congressman, President Donald Trump<\/b> has had to lead using executive orders because he and other Republicans \u201ccan\u2019t get any committees to do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n These absences have real-world \u2014 and political \u2014 implications.<\/p>\n First are the real-world impacts. There are countless issues that Congress needs to address, from government spending, to the future of the social safety net to questions about the ongoing war with Iran. Sure, it has been hard for Congress to do basically anything this year, but none of that will happen with Congress out of session.<\/p>\n But then the political. By being gone for so long this year, Republicans are effectively conceding that what they have to run on right now is all they will have in November.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a telling admission, because a number of Republicans in vulnerable races were hoping to have achieved more on important political issues, like affordability. But as has been the case for months, these vulnerable Republicans will have to hang their campaigns on legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act<\/a> at a time when everything in that law is markedly unpopular.<\/p>\n Republicans are in power, but not all Republicans agree that this is a problem.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get through the Senate,\u201d said Rep. Bryan Steil <\/b>(R-Wisconsin), following with the time-honored congressional tradition of blaming the other chamber. \u201cThose of us in the House are often frustrated with our colleagues in the Senate not being able to move faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Steil added: \u201cI think we\u2019ve made great progress. I mean, everybody would always like to see more, but I think we\u2019ve made great progress in the past 18 months.\u201d<\/p>\n And Republicans tasked with holding the House largely dismiss this argument, noting (correctly) that this dynamic is often at play around every midterm election.<\/p>\n \u201cWe firmly believe we have everything we need legislatively for a strong campaign message,\u201d said a House Republican operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party\u2019s private campaign strategy. The operative cited tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other actions on border security, energy and housing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always helpful to have more. Any member would love some more talking points,\u201d the operative said. \u201cBut we are not really too worried about more. I mean, if they come back, what else are they going to do other than bicker and fight?\u201d<\/p>\n But Wild argued that the lack of actual working time in D.C. is a huge opening for challengers in this year\u2019s midterms. Most voters have no idea what the congressional schedule is, she said, but introducing them to it could be a clear attack.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could put this stuff out there and have taxpayers shake their heads,\u201d Wild said. \u201cIf taxpayers are thinking about it, they are thinking, \u2018What exactly am I paying these people for?\u2019\u201d<\/p> Read more Justice Department agrees to withdraw subpoenas to New York Times reporters<\/a><\/p>\n Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray<\/b> sat down with Sen. Dave McCormick<\/b> (R-Pennsylvania) on Thursday for a wide-ranging interview about the war in Iran (McCormick says the war is changing how the United States actually fights<\/a>), the rise of artificial intelligence and the growing backlash to data centers.<\/p>\n The last topic piqued our interest \u2014 we have covered it a lot \u2014 and it stood out that McCormick leaned into the idea that China is \u201cplaying in this debate\u201d on local concerns around data centers, suggesting it is seeding some of the opposition.<\/p>\n \u201cIn China, AI and data centers have an 80-plus percent popularity, positivity. In America, it\u2019s 20 percent,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cThat\u2019s not an accident. There are forces supporting a campaign against the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n (McCormick\u2019s wife, Dina Powell McCormick<\/b>, is president and vice chairman of Meta and helps guide the company\u2019s data-center strategy.)<\/p>\n It\u2019s another loss for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.<\/p>\n Former Arizona state lawmaker Amish Shah <\/b>won the Democratic nomination Wednesday in a key House race in the suburbs north of Phoenix, defeating DCCC-backed Marlene Gal\u00e1n-Woods<\/b>.<\/p>\n The committee went big for Gal\u00e1n-Woods, spending over $500,000 on air for the former television journalist. But she was unable to overcome Shah, who was the party\u2019s failed nominee for the seat in 2024.<\/p>\n Why does this matter? It\u2019s yet another loss for the committee in a primary, the third of this cycle.<\/p>\n California Assembly member Jasmeet Bains <\/b>was backed by the committee when she lost to educator Randy Villegas<\/b> in California\u2019s Central Valley, and Maine Auditor Matt Dunlap <\/b>overcame DCCC money when he defeated state Sen. Joe Baldacci<\/b> in Maine\u2019s northernmost district.<\/p>\n These losses highlight the limits of the party\u2019s major organs amid deep voter distrust in establishment politics. By comparison, 39 of the 41 candidates the DCCC endorsed before their 2018 primaries won, according to a Third Way scorecard. The committee has intervened in far fewer contests this year but has already lost three.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the DCCC decides to put a candidate in a competitive primary on Red to Blue, it is done after polling and research into different general election match-ups and discussions with Caucus members, local leaders, labor, and other stakeholders,\u201d said Courtney Rice<\/b>, top spokesperson for the committee. \u201cGiven Democrats\u2019 big tent, there is not always consensus, but the decisions are never made in a vacuum.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Georgia)<\/b>: The spread of data centers continues, this time with OpenAI planning to build a $20 billion project near Savannah, Georgia<\/a>. All of this comes as some communities pass moratoriums on data centers.<\/p>\n The Spokesman Review<\/b> (Spokane, Washington)<\/b>: A Native American tribe in northeastern Washington state is grieving the impact fires have had on thousands of acres of sacred land<\/a>. \u201cWe need to start taking better care of (Mother Earth), because if it wasn\u2019t for her, nobody would be here. She\u2019s our air. She\u2019s our water,\u201d said Gun Shows<\/b>, the first female police officer of the Colville Tribes.<\/p>\n Iowa Capital Dispatch<\/b>: The Senate Majority PAC, the primary super PAC tasked with vaulting Democrats to power in the Senate, said Thursday it would spend an additional $17 million in Iowa<\/a>, bringing its spending against Republican Ashley Hinson<\/b> in the state to over $30 million. Iowa Rep. Josh Turek<\/b> is the Democratic nominee.<\/p>\n We received interesting responses to both our question on democratic socialists and our piece about Sen. Ed Markey<\/b>\u2019s age in his race against Rep. Seth Moulton<\/b> (D-Massachusetts).<\/p>\n \u201cI agree he is too old,\u201d a Boston voter wrote about Markey. \u201cBut Moulton is too self-serving & inconsistent. I live in MA and have to choose between the two. I will take old and progressive.\u201d<\/p>\n And Ken Burleson <\/b>wrote, \u201cAs early as I can remember, campaigns had fought the age issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes folks in positions such as politicians sometimes forget about retiring (it is a hard thing to come to grips with sometimes),\u201d wrote Burleson. \u201cBut this article makes a good case for term limits, not age limits.\u201d<\/p>\n And then there was our question about Francesca Hong<\/b>, the democratic socialist running for governor in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 81, and I\u2019m more supportive of Dem Socs than run-of-the-mill Dems,\u201d wrote Webb Wiggins<\/b>. \u201cWe need Progressives to get us out of the fear Dems seem to feel. Support as much as you can \u2014 ignore what you can\u2019t support.\u201d<\/p>\n Rick Prescott<\/b> noted something we have highlighted: Republicans are claiming \u2014 incorrectly \u2014 that all democratic socialists are communists<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I see these days is the misuse and abuse of names to denigrate candidates and even some people,\u201d wrote Prescott. \u201cWe need all rational views for our politics to work to represent our people. What is being done is fear tactics used on people who don\u2019t really validate the misuse.\u201d<\/p>\n A fascinating analysis by Federica Cocco <\/b>and Shannon Najmabadi <\/b>found that the wealth that families have grown over a lifetime is evaporating<\/a> as the costs of growing old are skyrocketing. Is this something that worries you? Have you dealt with this issue, and what would be your advice for people going through it? Is this an issue that Congress should address? Let us and your fellow Early Brief readers know at earlytips@washpost.com<\/a>.<\/p> Read more Trump officials tout Sophie Cunningham as role model on trans issues<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/24f6da974dc79732a4273941f2168f6c-1024x683.jpg\")
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