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Congressional Republicans scored a massive victory this summer when they passed President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” of tax and spending cuts without a single Democratic vote. But as they return to Washington this fall after a monthlong August recess, they will have to find a way to work with Democrats — or around them — as a government shutdown looms.
The annual spending battle will dominate the September agenda, along with a possible effort by Senate Republicans to change their chamber’s rules to thwart Democratic stalling tactics on nominations. The Senate is also debating whether to move forward on legislation that would slap steep tariffs on some of Russia’s trading partners as the US pressures Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
In the House, Republicans will continue their investigations of former President Joe Biden while Speaker Mike Johnson navigates a split in his conference over whether the Trump administration should release more files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
A look at what Congress will be doing as lawmakers return from the August break:
Keeping the Government Open
The most urgent task for Congress is to avoid a government shutdown on Sept. 30, when federal funding runs out. And it’s so far unclear if Republicans and Democrats will be able to agree on how to do that.
Congress will have to pass a short-term spending measure to keep the government funded for a few weeks or months while they try to finish the full-year package. But Republicans will need Democratic votes to pass an extension, and Democrats will want significant concessions. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s vote with Republicans to avoid a shutdown in March prompted furious backlash within his party.
The Trump administration’s efforts to claw back previously approved spending could also complicate the negotiations. Republicans passed legislation this summer that rescinded about $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds and Trump notified Congress again on Friday that he will block $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid.
Democrats have warned that such efforts could tank the broader negotiations. “Trump is rooting for a shutdown,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, posted on social media Friday.
Senate nominations fight
Senators are expected to return to Washington right where they left off in early August — fighting over Trump’s nominees.
Exasperated Republicans fled Washington for the month after making little headway with Senate Democrats over their nominations blockade, which has forced delays in confirmations and angered Trump as many of his administration’s positions remain unfilled. Republican leaders called it quits after a rare Saturday session that ended with a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations and Trump posting on social media that Chuck Schumer could “GO TO HELL!”
Republicans now say they’re ready to try and change Senate rules to get around the Democratic delays, and they are expected to spend the next several weeks discussing how that might work.
Russian sanctions
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s closest congressional allies, has pushed the president for months to support his sweeping bipartisan sanctions bill that would impose steep tariffs on countries that are fueling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by buying its oil, gas, uranium, and other exports. The legislation has the backing of 85 senators, but Trump has yet to endorse it, and Republican leaders have so far said they won’t move without him.
Graham has stepped up his calls after Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky last month in hopes of a peace deal. Since then, Russia has continued to step up attacks on Ukraine.
“If we don’t have this thing moving in the right direction by the time we get back, then I think that plan B needs to kick in,” Graham said of his bill in an interview with The Associated Press last month.
Oversight of the CDC
Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy will appear before the Senate Finance Committee to discuss his health care agenda on Thursday, less than a week after he ousted Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Several other top officials also resigned in protest.
Kennedy has tried to advance anti-vaccine policies that are contradicted by decades of scientific research. Monarez’s lawyers said she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Republican chairman of the HELP panel that oversees the CDC and a member of the Finance Committee, has called on the CDC to delay a meeting of outside experts who make recommendations on the use of vaccines until Congress can look into the issue.
Divisions over Epstein
The House left Washington in July amid disagreements among Republicans about whether they should force President Donald Trump’s administration to release more information on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein. The pressure for more disclosure could only get more intense when lawmakers return.
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky are pushing the House to take up their bill to force the Department of Justice to publicly release its investigation. They are planning a news conference this week joined by Epstein victims. The House Oversight Committee is also investigating the issue.
Democrats are eager to keep pressing on the Epstein files, especially after the Trump administration reneged on pledges for transparency. The case for years has been the subject of online conspiracy theories and speculation about who may have been involved or aware of the wealthy financier’s abuse.
Investigating Biden
The House Oversight Committee will return from August recess with a slate of interviews lined up as part of its investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental state while in office. The committee has already conducted interviews and depositions with nearly a dozen former top Biden aides and members of the president’s inner circle.
The Republican-led committee will hear from former top Biden staffers in September like Jeff Zients, Biden’s final White House chief of staff, Karine Jean-Pierre, the former White House press secretary, and Andrew Bates, a top press aide.
Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Kentucky, has said public hearings and a full report can be expected sometime in the fall.
Stock Trading Ban

Congress has discussed proposals for years to keep lawmakers from engaging in trading individual stocks, nodding to the idea that there’s a potential conflict of interest when they are often privy to information and decisions that can dramatically move markets.
That push is now gaining momentum. A Senate committee has approved legislation from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri that would also extend the prohibition on stock trading to future presidents and vice presidents — while notably exempting Trump. In the House, several members are putting forward proposals and even threatening to maneuver around GOP leadership to force a vote.
Still, there is plenty of resistance to the idea, including from many wealthy lawmakers who reap dividends from their portfolios.
 

WASHINGTON: The 22-year-old philosophy student from China did not expect any problems after his 29-hour flight arrived at a Texas airport this month as he was on his way to study at the University of Houston.
His paperwork was in order. He was going to study humanities — not a tech field that might raise suspicions. He had a full scholarship from the US school and had previously spent a semester at Cornell University for an exchange program with no issues.
But the student, who asked to be identified only by his family name, Gu, because of the political sensitivities of the matter, was stopped, interrogated and 36 hours later, put on a plane back to China.
He also was banned from coming back for five years, abruptly halting his dream for an academic career in the United States.
“There is no opportunity for the life I had expected,” Gu said.
He is one of an unknown number of Chinese students with permission to enter the United States who have been sent back to China or faced intense questioning after their arrival, drawing strong protests from Beijing and showing the uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s shifting policies.
His administration has quickly pivoted from a plan to revoke visas for Chinese students to Trump himself saying he would welcome hundreds of thousands of them, partly to help keep some American schools afloat.
The US has put restrictions on Chinese students
Even so, some officials and lawmakers have expressed suspicions about Chinese students, especially those who study advanced technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and their possible links to the Chinese government and military. Some lawmakers want to ban Chinese students altogether.
There’s no immediate data available on how many Chinese students with valid visas have been interrogated and repatriated from US airports in recent weeks. US Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for that data or for comment on Chinese students being questioned or sent back.
In recent days, Trump said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping that “we’re honored to have their students here.” But he also added, “Now, with that, we check and we’re careful, we see who is there.”
The Chinese Embassy said it has received reports involving more than 10 Chinese students and scholars being interrogated, harassed and repatriated when entering the US.
“The US side has frequently carried out discriminatory, politically driven and selective law enforcement against Chinese students and scholars, inflicting physical and mental harm, financial losses, and disruptions to their careers,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement.
They were repatriated under the pretext of “so-called ‘visa issues’ or ‘might endanger US national security,’” the embassy said.
The students and scholars were taken into small rooms for extended interrogation, repeatedly questioned on issues unrelated to their academic work, and forced to wait long hours in cold rooms without blankets or quilts, the embassy said. Some relied on aluminum foil to keep warm, and some were detained for more than 80 hours, it said.
Such acts by the US side “run counter to the statements” made by Trump, the embassy said, accusing some US departments and law enforcement personnel of not “faithfully acting on the president’s commitment.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a Friday interview with the conservative news site Daily Caller, Trump said “it’s very insulting to a country when you say you’re not going to take your students.” The interview was published on Sunday.
“I think what we’re doing is the right thing to do. It’s good to get along with countries, not bad, especially, you know, nuclear-powered countries,” Trump said.
One Chinese student had no concerns as he headed to the US
Gu told AP that he liked his Cornell experience so much that he applied for a master’s program to study philosophy in the US.
Despite reports of stricter policies by the Trump administration, Gu said he wasn’t too worried, not even when he was first stopped and taken to a room for questioning by a customs officer after landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. His belongings were searched, and his electronics were taken away, he said.
After the officer went through the devices, he started interrogating Gu, focusing on his ties to the Chinese Communist Party, Gu said.
He said his parents are party members, but he has never joined, though he — like nearly all Chinese teens and young people — is a member of the party’s youth arm, the Communist Youth League.
The customs officer also grilled him on his connections to the governmental China Scholarship Council, which popped up in his chat history. Gu said it came up in his chats with his schoolmates, but he did not receive money from the Chinese government.
Three rounds of interrogation lasted 10 hours, before Gu was told he was to be deported. No specific reason was given, he said, and the removal paperwork he provided to AP indicated inadequate documentation.
By then, he had hardly slept for 40 hours. The waiting room where he was kept was lit around the clock, its room temperature set low.
“I was so nervous I was shaking, due to both being freezing cold and also the nerves,” Gu said. “So many things were going through my head now that I was being deported. What should I do in the future?”
It would be another day before he was put on a flight. Now, Gu is considering appealing the decision, but that might take years and cost thousands of dollars.