Texas House reconvenes, ready to pass GOP-drawn map
The Texas house is starting up for legislative business again. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more house seats in 2026.
Right now, state representative Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, is making a parliamentary inquiry with the Republican house speaker Dustin Burrows – asking why the lower chamber is not leading the special session with legislation focused on relief for victims of the devastating July floods in Texas.
Key events
Marina Dunbar
More than 750 current and former federal health employees on Wednesday accused health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, of fueling harassment and violence directed at government healthcare staff.
In a letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress, the group accuses RFK Jr of contributing to “the harassment and violence experienced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff”, citing decisions such as removing members from a CDC vaccine advisory panel, questioning the safety of the measles vaccine, and firing key CDC staff as actions that sow distrust in federal medical professionals.
The group says Kennedy’s rhetoric played a role in the 8 August attack at the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta, where a Georgia man opened fire on four CDC buildings, firing dozens of shots and killing a police officer. Law enforcement officials said the gunman blamed a Covid-19 vaccine for making him feel depressed and suicidal.
After the attack, Kennedy refused to confirm the motive of the shooter in an interview. He described political violence as “wrong” but neither he nor Donald Trump have spoken publicly about the motive, despite law enforcement officials making clear the shooter targeted the CDC over the vaccine.
The health workers are now asking Kennedy to “cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America’s public health institutions”.
Obama calls California redistricting effort ‘responsible’
Speaking at a National Democratic Redistricting Committee event on Tuesday, former president Barack Obama called California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter the new Texas congressional map, by launching an effort to redraw his own state’s map and create more Democrat-friendly districts, “a responsible approach”.
He went on to say:
I want to see as a long-term goal that we do not have political gerrymandering in America. That would be my preference…but we cannot unilaterally allow one of the two major parties to rig the game.
Obama also called Newsom’s strategy “measured”, as it only temporarily grants the California legislature with the ability to redraw maps mid-decade. “The fact that California voters will have a chance to weigh in on this makes this act consistent with our democratic ideals, rather than in opposition to our democratic ideals,” the former president said.
As we reported earlier, there are protests outside the Texas house chamber in the capitol rotunda. Congressman Greg Casar spoke a short while ago, leading the crowd in a chant of “we’re not going back”, as demonstrators held “put Texans first” signs behind him.
He added:
Let’s have a government where people get to elect and unelect their leaders. No president, no politician, gets to make this decision for you. That is the fight we’re all in.”
The new GOP-drawn map would put Casar’s Austin-area seat at risk, by essentially merging with congressman Lloyd Doggett’s constituency, another Democrat, and leading to a possible primary battle.
Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records to remain sealed, judge rules
A federal judge has denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on sex trafficking charges.
Manhattan-based US district judge Richard Berman’s decision came as Donald Trump tries to quell discontent from his conservative base of supporters over his administration’s handling of the case.
Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if reelected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the justice department declined to release any more material from its investigation of the case and said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump’s supporters.
Evidence seen and heard by grand juries, which operate behind closed doors to prevent interference in criminal investigations, cannot be released without a judge’s approval. Trump in July instructed attorney general Pam Bondi to seek court approval for the release of grand jury material from Epstein’s case.
The grand jury that indicted Epstein heard from just one witness, an agent with the FBI, the justice department said in a court filing in July.
On 11 August a different Manhattan-based judge, Paul Engelmayer, denied a similar request by the justice department to unseal grand jury testimony and exhibits from the case of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime girlfriend and accomplice. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her 2021 conviction for recruiting underage girls for Epstein to abuse.
Engelmayer wrote that the public would not learn anything new from the release of materials from Maxwell’s grand jury because much of the evidence was made public at her month-long trial four years ago. The grand jury testimony contained no evidence of others besides Epstein and Maxwell who had sexual contact with minors, Engelmayer wrote.
The trio’s visit to national guard troops at Union Station involved a photo opp at Shake Shack, with the vice-president asserting “we brought some law and order back” as he handed out burgers to the troops. “We appreciate everything you’re doing,” he told them.
Per the Associated Press, citing the protesters whose shouts echoed through the station, Vance said: “They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities.”
JD Vance, Pete Hegseth and Stephen Miller booed at DC’s Union station
As vice-president JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller left Washington DC’s Union Station a short while ago, they were heckled and boo’d by a crowd inside the station.
Here’s an example from social media via a HuffPost reporter:
Newsom pollster finds growing majority of California voters support redistricting – report
California governor Gavin Newsom’s bid to redraw the state’s congressional seats to create more Democrat-friendly districts – in an effort to offset Texas’ move to redraw its state map to flip five Democratic-held US House seats – has a 22-point advantage in support among Californian voters, Axios reports citing an internal memo from Newsom’s longtime pollster.
From Axios’ report:
David Binder, a prominent Democratic pollster who has long worked for Newsom, found that 57% of California voters backed the redistricting measure, while 35% opposed and 8% were undecided.
Voters’ support appears to have increased as they’ve learned more about the measure, Binder said: A July survey had found that 51% favored Newsom’s redistricting push.
Binder also wrote that ‘Democrats are almost fully united in their support, with 84% in support and 13% opposed’, while Republicans are similarly united against the measure with 79% opposed.
‘Voter trends on this measure closely mirror the presidential election results of November 2024, in which Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump in California by 58% to 38%. Poll results indicate that Proposition 50 will fall along similar partisan lines,’ Binder concluded.
Binder wrote that support for the redistricting measure changes based on how it’s pitched to voters.
If Proposition 50 is framed as doing away with the state’s independent redistricting commission that is meant to avoid partisan gerrymandering, the measure appears to have less support, Binder concluded, citing other surveys.
‘When voters hear that Proposition 50 allows new maps to be designed on a temporary basis, triggered by partisan action in other state such as Texas, and retains the independent redistricting commission, they support the measure by a double-digit margin,’ Binder wrote.
In other news across Texas, a federal judge has blocked a state law that requires all public elementary and secondary schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
District court judge Fred Biery said that the law violated the first amendment protections which separate church and state.
“Public schools are not Sunday schools,” said Heather L Weaver, senior counsel for the ACLU’s program on freedom of religion and belief. “Today’s decision ensures that our clients’ schools will remain spaces where all students, regardless of their faith, feel welcomed and can learn without worrying that they do not live up to the state’s preferred religious beliefs.”
In June, a group of parents sued the Texas Education Agency and certain school districts, saying the state law forced religious mandates on public schools.
We’re getting a bit more from Union Station in DC. JD Vance, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller are currently meeting with national guard members at the station.
The vice-president told the press pool that he would speak to them afterwards.
The White House press pool says that vice-president JD Vance is now at Washington DC’s Union Station. We’ll bring you any lines as they come through.
Callum Jones
Donald Trump has called on a Federal Reserve governor to immediately resign, renewing his extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence as officials mull next steps on interest rates.
A close Trump ally accused Lisa Cook, an appointee of Joe Biden, of “potentially committing mortgage fraud” and urged the US Department of Justice to investigate. The claims have not been confirmed.
The US president has repeatedly broken with precedent in recent months to demand the Fed cut rates and urge its chair, Jerome Powell, to quit after disregarding such calls.
On Wednesday, Trump leaped on the allegations about Cook. The governor “must resign, now!!!” he wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Cook and the Fed did not respond to requests for comment.
Cook, whose current term on the Fed’s board extends until 2038, previously served on the council of economic advisers under Barack Obama. When she took office in May 2022, she became the first Black woman to sit on the central bank’s board.
Outside the house chamber, there is a small protest happening in the Texas capitol rotunda, according to a video posted by Alejandro Serrano, a reporter at the Texas Tribune. Demonstrators are holding up banners which read “put Texans first” and “end gerrymandering, save democracy”.
Happening now: Protest in the Texas Capitol rotunda. Their chants can be heard — albeit faintly — inside the House, where reps are scheduled to vote on proposed congressional redistricting. #txlege pic.twitter.com/Hl3f6bvzWh
— Alejandro Serrano (@serrano_alej) August 20, 2025
Dharna Noor
Environmental and health advocates are dressing down Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials this week over a proposed repeal of a landmark scientific finding.
Late last month, the EPA announced their intention to roll back the 16-year-old “endangerment finding” – which forms the legal basis of virtually all US climate regulations – along with a greenhouse gas rule for auto vehicles.
At the agency’s virtual public hearings on the proposals this week hundreds of advocates are critiquing the plan.
“EPA is not providing enough time or space for people and communities to adequately respond to these two proposals,” Mariela Ruacho, a manager at the American Lung Association, testified on Wednesday. “These are drastic departures from the norm, and should truly be in two separate hearings versus rolling back multiple policies at once.”
Jaime Butler, communications associate at Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, said she believes there is a “moral and biblical mandate to defend all human life from harmful climate warming pollution from power plants, vehicles and other sources.”
Earlier this month, she noted, she saw historic floods overwhelm her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “We cannot afford to be making decisions that would continue to increase the frequency and intensity of flooding or other extreme weather events like this,” she said.
EPA livestreamed hearings for the proposals began on Tuesday this week, and will continue through Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Officials will also accept written comments on the plans through 22 September.
The Department of Energy is also taking comment through 2 September on a report it produced in defense of the endangerment finding rollback, which seeks to undermine the scientific consensus on the climate crisis.
Texas House reconvenes, ready to pass GOP-drawn map
The Texas house is starting up for legislative business again. The Republican majority is poised to pass the new congressional map that would give the GOP five more house seats in 2026.
Right now, state representative Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat, is making a parliamentary inquiry with the Republican house speaker Dustin Burrows – asking why the lower chamber is not leading the special session with legislation focused on relief for victims of the devastating July floods in Texas.
Texas Democrat will force vote to release Epstein files ahead of GOP congressional map taking effect
Today, as the Texas house is set to advance a GOP-drawn congressional map, the minority leader Gene Wu is set to introduce an amendment that would require the release of the Epstein files before the map goes into effect. In an attempt to force Republicans’ hand Wu said the vote “forces Republicans to choose between their loyalty to Trump and their obligation to expose sexual predators.”
He added:
We all know Trump is desperately afraid of what’s in those documents, and now we’ll see if Texas Republicans are willing to demand transparency or if they’ll continue the coverup.”
The legislature is set to reconvene at around 11am ET, and we’ll bring you the latest as it happens.
Trump administration says 66 arrests made on Tuesday
Attorney general Pam Bondi said that federal law enforcement made 66 arrests on Tuesday 19 August. Bondi added that agents seized eight illegal firearms.
