Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 25, 2026· Updated

Senate Democrats Demand a Navy Accounting for the USS Abraham Lincoln's Record 250-Day Deployment as Hegseth Calls Reports of Sailors Going Overboard "Completely Misrepresented"

On Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao demanding an accounting of conditions aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3 supporting operations in the war against Iran. The Lincoln left San Diego in November 2025 on what was scheduled as a roughly seven-month deployment. By mid-August 2026 it had been at sea more than 250 days and had gone more than 200 days without a port call, a record for consecutive days at sea. Reporting by Military Times and Stars and Stripes, drawing on sailors' families, described shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing failures, deck safety problems, disrupted mail, and deteriorating mental health aboard the ship — including accounts that at least two sailors had been stopped from jumping overboard and that another entered the water and was recovered. A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that a sailor went overboard in early August and was quickly recovered; CENTCOM disputed the broader characterization. Blumenthal's letter was joined by demands from other Senate Democrats: Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) called for a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the ship, and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a former Navy combat pilot, called the reports "disturbing" and tied them to an undefined mission. On Thursday, August 13, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for Hegseth's firing. Hegseth pushed back the same day, telling reporters the accounts were "completely misrepresented" and defending the Navy's support for the crew. A Navy official said the Lincoln was "operating in a highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions" and that the command had not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation. The Pentagon subsequently announced the USS George Washington would deploy to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln. No Senate or House Republican was found on the record about the Lincoln's conditions during this window; Congress was in August recess.

“That this administration can find endless taxpayer dollars for bombs, ballrooms, and billionaires, but cannot take care of our service members, is completely unacceptable. … The American people need hearings, accountability and a clear plan to protect our service members and prioritize American families.”
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) · Sep 25, 2026

Sep 18, 2026· Updated

The Senate Passes the Russia and Iran Sanctions Bill 86-11 and Names It for Lindsey Graham a Month After He Died — "This Is a Big Effing Deal," Blumenthal Says, Quoting Graham's Last Words to Him

On August 7, 2026, the Senate passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by a vote of 86-11, breaking a stalemate that had lasted more than a year and handing the late South Carolina Republican a posthumous version of the bill he had spent years failing to move. The measure imposes primary and secondary sanctions on Russia and the financial network sustaining its war in Ukraine, targeting the "shadow fleet" of shell corporations and repurposed maritime infrastructure along with Russian officials, oligarchs, their family members and financial institutions. It authorizes tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five largest importers of Russian crude and natural gas by volume — in practice China and India — and extends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, renewing sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors that were set to lapse at the end of the year. The bill had been blocked for months by the White House's unwillingness to accept binding sanctions authority. It moved only after a bipartisan group — Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Darline Graham Nordone (R-S.C.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) — announced an agreement on July 28, seventeen days after Graham died at 71 at his Capitol Hill home. They said there was "no greater way to honor" his legacy. Blumenthal, a co-author, told the floor: "I'm not even going to try to channel my inner Lindsey Graham, except to say, as he said to me in some of his last words, 'This is a big effing deal.'" Graham's sister Darline Graham Nordone — appointed to his seat on Trump's recommendation — said he "believed that this was the most consequential piece of legislation that he had ever led." Not everyone was satisfied. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) forced a vote on an amendment limiting Trump's tariff authority under the bill; it failed 32-64. On the House side, Foreign Affairs ranking member Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) warned that the final text "still contain[s] the broadest possible waiver authority for President Trump, who already has the power to impose these sanctions on Russia under U.S. law but has refused to do so," and Meeks said he opposed "handing President Trump a Trojan horse for tariff authorities he has repeatedly abused." The House is expected to take the bill up when members return from summer break on August 31.

“I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud.”
Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) · Sep 18, 2026

Sep 16, 2026· Updated

Two Days Before the Iran War Turns Six Months Old, Trump Posts "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026" — and the Top Democrat on Armed Services Answers That "Not a Single Objective Has Been Achieved"

On Aug. 26, 2026, President Trump posted an image to Truth Social captioned "Mission Accomplished 2026," pairing a photograph of George W. Bush labeled "Mission Not Accomplished 2001-2021" with an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — a deliberate invocation of the 2003 banner that became a byword for premature victory declarations. Two days later, on Aug. 28, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran reached its six-month mark. The conflict Trump had described at the outset as a short excursion has cost at least 18 American service members' lives, injured more than 750, and consumed roughly $100 billion in appropriated funds. Iran's nuclear program has not been dismantled, the regime has not fallen — Khamenei's son Mojtaba succeeded him — and the Strait of Hormuz remains a contested flashpoint under U.S. blockade. Trump said this week he is "not in a hurry" to resume negotiations. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, issued a point-by-point accounting of the six war aims Trump named in February and said none had been met. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the president delusional for claiming victory. DNC Chair Ken Martin tied the war directly to the November midterms. Trump, for his part, spent the anniversary insisting the blockade is total and that Iran is the party that wants to meet.

“Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 16, 2026

Three Republicans and Three Democrats Tell Rubio and Bessent to Press Israel to Release the Palestinian Authority's Withheld Tax Revenues — Warning That the West Bank's "Fiscal Collapse" Would Serve "Extremist and Iran-Backed Groups, Not Israel, Nor the United States"

On September 9, 2026, six members of the House — three Republicans and three Democrats — sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the administration to press Israel to stop withholding billions of dollars in "clearance revenues," the customs and tax receipts Israel collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf and has increasingly held back, pushing the PA toward insolvency. The letter was led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Craig Goldman (R-TX), co-chairs of the Congressional Abraham Accords Caucus, and co-signed by Republican Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). "Continued withholding of billions in clearance revenues risks accelerating the West Bank's fiscal collapse," the lawmakers wrote — "an outcome that would serve the interests of extremist and Iran-backed groups, not Israel, nor the United States." They asked Rubio and Bessent to work with Israel and the PA on "practical, security-conscious mechanisms that keep clearance revenues flowing to legitimate Palestinian institutions while ensuring none are diverted to terror financing," and argued that "despite its significant shortcomings and flaws, the PA remains the only current viable governing alternative to Hamas." The Times of Israel called it a rare bipartisan critique of Israeli policy from members who are otherwise among Israel's firmest supporters in Congress. The letter came as the administration was escalating its financial campaign against Iran's regional proxies — the State and Treasury departments launched "Operation Economic Outcast" against Hezbollah and Kata'ib Hezbollah financing on September 10 — and amid a separate fight over Israeli settlement policy with Britain. Neither the Israeli government nor the State Department had publicly responded as of September 11.

“Supporting Israel's security and defeating terrorist groups is central to America's foreign policy. Economic instability in the West Bank risks creating a vacuum that Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist organizations could exploit.”
Craig Goldman (R-TX) · Sep 9, 2026

israel

palestinian-authority

west-bank

3 statements

Sep 8, 2026· Updated

The Iran War Restarts After a Month-Long Lull: U.S. Forces Hit Larak Island, Iran Fires Missiles at Two American Air Bases in Jordan and a Drone at the UAE, and Trump Posts an AI Video of Iran's Main Oil Terminal "Being Blown to Smithereens"

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz — the first American strike on Iran in more than a month. U.S. Central Command said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units had been observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait, and described the operation as limited and precise action against an imminent threat. The IRGC called it an act of aggression and vowed a response. The response came overnight. The IRGC launched an operation it named "Punishment of the Aggressor," firing ballistic missiles at the King Hussein and Al Azraq air bases in Jordan, both of which host American forces, and a drone at Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Iran claimed heavy damage to infrastructure, maintenance facilities and fighter jet positions, and said it had also downed a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper over the Strait of Hormuz. Jordan's military said it intercepted eight ballistic missiles before they threatened any infrastructure or troops; the UAE Ministry of Defense said it intercepted the drone with no damage or casualties. A U.S. official told CNN there were no reported impacts. President Trump told Fox News the United States would answer: "We're going to hit them hard. There will be a response." He then posted an AI-generated video to Truth Social captioned "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!" — Kharg being Iran's main oil-export terminal, and a target the administration has repeatedly threatened but, as of the posting, had not struck. Analysts who checked the clip confirmed it was synthetic; hours later there was no evidence Kharg had been attacked. Trump also posted that "Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!" Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been running the "economic D-Day" sanctions campaign against Tehran, read the exchange as evidence the pressure is working: "I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically." Congress was largely out of position to respond. The House returned from its August recess on August 31; the Senate was in pro forma session and does not return until September 14. As of the evening of August 31, no member of Congress had issued an on-record statement specifically about the Larak strike or the Jordan and UAE retaliation.

“The Houthis, in many ways, are agents and proxies of the Iranians. Behind some of this is clearly the Iranian hand. The US has a very strong defensive, military relationship with Saudi Arabia. We're watching those events very closely.”
Marco Rubio (R-FL) · Sep 8, 2026

U.S. Pauses Iran Bombing Campaign as Military Leaders Warn Trump About Dwindling Munitions Stockpiles

The United States paused its bombing campaign against Iran on the night of Friday, July 24, 2026, after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly strikes, with operations placed "on a hold" according to a Defense Department source. On July 25 the military announced no new strikes for the first time in two weeks. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine had raised concerns in a White House meeting about the state of U.S. munitions stockpiles, telling Trump the military could execute the available options but warning of the implications. President Trump publicly dismissed the concerns, acknowledging the U.S. would like more of "the more sophisticated stuff" while insisting the military has what it needs and blaming the Biden administration for transfers to Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz conceded "a lot of stockpiles are depleted." The pause landed in the middle of a budget fight: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Caine asked senators to approve an $87.6 billion supplemental, including roughly $40 billion to expand production of solid rocket motors, precision-guided bombs, hypersonic weapons and counter-drone systems, while House Republicans advanced a separate $95 billion reconciliation framework. Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said the services' munitions stockpiles are "under extreme strain," and Democrats including Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) argued the depletion showed the war lacked a coherent strategy.

“These types of precise munitions do not grow on trees. They take a long time to build up.”
Jason Crow (D-CO) · Sep 6, 2026

A Pentagon Memo Says the Navy Is "Raiding" Its Own Payroll Accounts to Pay for the Iran War — and the Chief of Naval Operations Says He Needs $8 Billion More Just to Stay Solvent

On August 27, 2026, the Guardian reported, based on internal documents and interviews, that Operation Epic Fury — the war with Iran — has pushed the US Navy into a severe financial crisis. One Pentagon memo on Navy funding warns of "shortfalls in payroll" accounts because the department has been "raiding" them to cover combat operations, backfilling with money not yet spent elsewhere. Equipment and facility maintenance accounts are being drained the same way, and exercises and training have been limited or canceled to bridge the gap until the 2027 fiscal year begins on October 1. A Navy spokesperson disputed that pay is at risk, saying the department "is actively managing its resources to meet current pay obligations on time." The next day, August 28, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle used his State of the Navy address in Norfolk to put a number on it: the Navy needs $6 billion to $8 billion above what was budgeted "to be whole and solvent for [Fiscal Year] 26." More than 27,000 sailors and two dozen ships supported the Iran campaign. Asked about the size of the administration's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, Caudle said he was not offended by it — "I need my money." Caudle had warned Congress in May that the Navy could run out of money by July: "The FY '26 budget didn't bake in Epic Fury." The White House has asked Congress for an emergency infusion of $67 billion; House Republicans floated $73 billion through reconciliation. At a July 21 Senate Appropriations hearing, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she had been told "some military services face near-term solvency challenges." House Armed Services member Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-NC) told colleagues to "get rid of the complacency," and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), the top Democrat on the House defense appropriations panel, said Congress needs "to know what we're purchasing and why."

“I need my money. I don’t think we should be offended by $1.5 trillion.”
Daryl Caudle (O) · Aug 28, 2026

Aug 28, 2026· Updated

Five Months Into a War Fought to Stop Iran From Enriching Uranium, Trump Sends Congress a Nuclear Agreement With Saudi Arabia — and Four Democrats Call It "the Starting Gun for a Middle East Nuclear Arms Race"

On Monday, August 24, 2026, the Trump administration transmitted the classified text of a U.S.–Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement to Capitol Hill, starting the review clock required by Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee now have 90 days of continuous session to review it; absent a joint resolution of disapproval, the agreement takes effect. The pact was signed in Washington last month by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his Saudi counterpart. It would open the kingdom to U.S. nuclear technology and reactors. President Trump has publicly promised there will be "no enrichment of material" and has tied the whole thing to Riyadh normalizing relations with Israel: the deal, he wrote on July 23, "is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords." The administration reaffirmed that condition when it sent the text up. Critics say the promise and the paper do not match. The agreement contains no permanent, legally binding prohibition on enrichment or reprocessing — the "gold standard" the U.S. secured from the UAE in 2009 — and does not require Saudi Arabia to adopt the IAEA's Additional Protocol, the inspection regime 146 countries have accepted. The Wall Street Journal reported the agreement includes a joint U.S.–Saudi study of possible future domestic enrichment, and U.S. officials have told reporters the door is left open. The objection that cuts across party lines is the timing. The United States has been at war with Iran since late February over Tehran's nuclear program. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), one of the few Republicans on record against the deal, put it plainly: "We're bombing a country to keep them from getting a nuclear weapon, but we're signing a deal with another country." Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA) and Don Beyer (D-VA) made the same argument in a joint op-ed on August 4 and called on Congress to reject the agreement outright. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking Democrat on Foreign Relations, has stopped short of rejection but said Congress should approach the agreement "with great caution." The Saudis, for their part, have said normalization with Israel requires a clear path to Palestinian statehood, which Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected — so the Abraham Accords condition Trump has attached may keep the deal from taking effect regardless of what Congress does.

“The President's decision to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear deal that does not meet the bipartisan Gold Standard nor mandate the Additional Protocol, both necessary to ensure sensitive U.S. technology is not used to help build a nuclear bomb, is dangerous and a strategic mistake for our national security.”
Jeff Merkley (D-OR) · Aug 28, 2026

Aug 18, 2026· Updated

On the Day the Iran Peace Memorandum Expires, Trump Threatens to "Bomb the Shit Out Of" Oman — the Ally Mediating the Strait of Hormuz Talks — and Kaine Says He Will File a War Powers Resolution

The 60-day negotiating window created by the Islamabad memorandum of understanding that Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed on June 17, 2026 ran out on August 16-17, 2026 without a final agreement. Asked on August 17 by Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst about talks between Oman and Iran on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said: "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them." Oman is a US free-trade partner and has spent the war acting as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran. Trump said later the same day that Oman had not "behaved very well" but that the US would "handle them very easily," said Washington would not seek an extension of the memorandum, told Iran to "put up the white flag of surrender," and repeated that the US now controls the Strait of Hormuz "with the blockade." Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced within hours that he will introduce a war powers resolution barring military action against Oman when the Senate returns from its August recess in September. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) responded that Democrats "may just need to file war powers resolutions for the 192 other countries," and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked publicly when Republicans would "concede the man has lost his mind." No congressional Republican publicly criticized the Oman threat on the day it was made. Jared Kushner, who met Hamas leaders in Egypt the day before as part of the administration's regional diplomacy, said Iran was "not showing any interest in doing something that makes sense for us."

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 18, 2026

Trump Was Smuggled Off Air Force One in a Catering Truck to Escape an Iranian Threat in Turkey — and Congress Learned About It From the Press a Month Later

Leaving the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July 2026, President Trump boarded Air Force One and then, at the direction of the Secret Service, quietly got back off. He was driven across the tarmac inside an airport catering truck — the kind normally used to load meals and supplies — and put aboard a smaller Air Force C-32A, which flew him out separately. The original 747 departed as a decoy, still carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, other White House staff and the traveling press corps. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew with Trump on the smaller jet. The trigger, according to officials, was intelligence about an Iranian cell with a shoulder-fired missile capable of downing the aircraft. None of it was disclosed at the time. The episode became public only on August 10, 2026, through reporting by The Washington Post and The New York Times, roughly a month after it happened. Trump confirmed it the next day, saying he was simply following the Secret Service — "I just follow what they'd like to do" — and downplaying the danger to the people left on the decoy: "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk. Because that would be the plane, I think, that they would be more likely to go for." White House communications director Steven Cheung defended the operation, saying the administration uses "every tool at our disposal." The bipartisan Gang of Eight — the congressional leaders and intelligence committee heads who receive the government's most sensitive briefings — was not told. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded an immediate classified briefing, calling it "unacceptable that Congress was kept in the dark." House Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes said flatly, "We were not briefed," and Sen. Mark Warner, his Senate counterpart, was not briefed either, according to his office. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the episode "unprecedented" and "surreal," and Sen. Chris Coons faulted Trump for leaving his own Cabinet and the press aboard the decoy. Republican congressional leaders largely declined to comment.

“I understand putting a priority on the president's security, but frankly, this was just a despicable incident of disrespect for the press and for members of his own Cabinet.”
Chris Coons (D-DE) · Aug 13, 2026

Jul 25, 2026· Updated

House Adopts $95 Billion "Reconciliation 3.0" Budget Blueprint 216-214 With SAVE Act Money Inside

On July 22, 2026, the House adopted H.Con.Res. 113, a $95 billion budget reconciliation blueprint, by a vote of 216-214. The framework directs four House committees — Armed Services, Agriculture, Administration and Intelligence — to draft legislation allocating roughly $60 billion for defense, $13 billion for intelligence, $12 billion for farm relief, and $10 billion to administer the Safeguard American Vote Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Routing the SAVE Act through reconciliation is a way around the Senate filibuster that has blocked it repeatedly. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH), along with Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), joined every Democrat in voting no. The blueprint faces an uncertain path in the Senate, where Republicans including Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell have previously voted against the SAVE Act.

“We expect that we will confront the largest voter suppression effort in the history of the country. We're going to continue to stand strong against the voter suppression efforts of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Jul 25, 2026

House Passes Second Iran War Powers Resolution 214-208 as Senate Rejects Its Own 47-49

On Thursday, July 23, 2026, the House voted 214-208 to limit President Trump's authority to expand the war with Iran — the second war powers rebuke the chamber has passed since the war began, and the first since the ceasefire collapsed and the US resumed strikes in early July. The resolution, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), drew four Republican crossover votes: Reps. Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH). The vote came five days after an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack killed three US service members. Later the same day the Senate rejected a parallel measure 47-49, denying opponents of the war the bicameral rebuke they had secured weeks earlier. The House resolution is not legally binding.

“We have all the authorities necessary at this moment.”
Pete Hegseth (R-MN) · Jul 23, 2026

Page 1 of 3Next