USA TODAY is reporting that Congress has averted a government shutdown ahead of the midterm elections. It said the House passed a three-month government funding extension, sending the legislation to President Donald J Trump's desk. The Senate had previously approved the bill in August. The measure also includes a bipartisan provision to temporarily restrict the Trump administration from granting political appointees increased authority over grants.
The outlet also reported on an unusual turn of events in the House of Representatives, where two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, voted with Republicans on a procedural measure. This vote allowed the chamber to advance its legislative agenda, including a resolution to condemn "socialism in all its forms." USA TODAY said the Democrats' move was motivated by a desire to facilitate an immediate vote on a bill aimed at protecting lobstermen from new federal whale-protection regulations. Both Golden, who is soon to depart Congress, and Gluesenkamp Perez are members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative, moderate Democrats.
Additionally, USA TODAY is reporting that a whistleblower has issued a warning regarding the U.S. Postal Service's technology designed to implement President Trump’s order for federal control of mailed ballots. The whistleblower claims this technology could "derail the midterm elections." Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, stated that the federal official with direct knowledge of the plan described the process as "secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed."