The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for the first time since 2023 to quell stubbornly high inflation, a move that could prompt a sharp response from the White House. The quarter-point increase lifts the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9% and, over time, could raise borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards. The move comes as Americans are already struggling with high costs for groceries, gas, and housing. Affordability has taken on a leading role in the upcoming midterm elections, just seven weeks away.
For a third time, the U.S. House has voted to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution that would halt President Donald Trump’s ability to continue military action without congressional approval. The roll call was similar to earlier efforts this summer. None of the resolutions have made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.
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Trump will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday to campaign with Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley as the former national party chairman tries to shore up his campaign against Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper.
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The nation’s top law enforcement official made a very unusual appearance at an expressly political event in North Carolina that is meant to bolster the Republican Party’s Senate candidate.
Blanche’s appearance Wednesday came as he’s increasingly erased the longtime independence and distance from expressly political activity that the attorney general’s office has traditionally sought to preserve.
Blanche last week spoke at the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas.
Trump’s handpicked North Carolina Senate hopeful is appearing in Gastonia, outside of Charlotte, with Trump. And the former national GOP chairman is telling supporters that whatever economic pain they’re feeling isn’t the president’s fault.
“When it comes to our economy, and we talk about affordability, we talk about high prices, we talk about the ditch that Roy Cooper and Joe Biden put America in with the economy,” Whatley said.
Cooper, Whatley’s Democratic opponent, was governor from 2017 to 2025. He and Biden have been out of office almost 20 months.
Whatley has tried to thread a needle in his campaign, acknowledging that voters are paying more for gas, groceries, housing, healthcare and other consumer goods. But as a close Trump ally, he has little choice but to maintain his support for Trump’s tariffs and his Iran war that have played a part in inflation.
The Trump administration quietly awarded contracts to begin work on Trump’s planned takeover of the East Potomac golf course in Washington, according to Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee.
Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the panel’s top Democrat, revealed during a committee hearing Wednesday that the National Park Service hired a civil engineering firm to start work on the historic public golf course, with no public announcement.
Huffman accused Trump of “systematically moving” to turn the federal site “into another gilded private golf club for the mega-rich.”
A contract approved last week authorizes nearly $400,000 to a Massachusetts-based company for environmental and historic preservation compliance work. A projected construction contract is worth up to $49 million, with work to begin next year.
Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, the 2024 recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics who is often know as the “godfather of AI,” says Congress doesn’t have long to craft a response to the technological advancements.
“Maybe a year,” he told reporters after briefing lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “But not much more than a year.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who convened the briefing, said it was “basically insane … that we’ve allowed the development of a dangerous technology that could escape human control.”
The president posted on social media that the world should feel obligated to charge lower interest rates on the U.S. national debt.
He didn’t mention the Federal Reserve in his post, but the U.S. central bank hiked its benchmark rate on Wednesday to reduce inflation. Trump has long maintained that rates should be lower even though most economists have warned that drastic cuts could worsen inflation.
“Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR,” Trump said. “We are ‘carrying’ almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer.”
Rates are elevated because of rising U.S. national debt and higher energy prices because of the Iran war. The interest rate on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was above 5% in Wednesday afternoon trading.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is meeting Wednesday with Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat running for Senate in Michigan.
El-Sayed is in Washington talking with Senate Democrats after he defeated Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, who Schumer had backed, in a primary last month. Schumer has pledged to help the Democrat even as he has run on an anti-establishment platform.
After meeting with several Democratic senators, El-Sayed said that the party is united and “we’re having really productive conversations about what it takes to win” his race against Republican Mike Rogers.
He said the party needs solidarity because “we really can take the majority back, and that path runs through Michigan,” El-Sayed said.
Turkish officials told Mahan Air to suspend flights Wednesday to its neighboring country, according to a person briefed on the matter, a week after the U.S. Treasury issued new penalties targeting the remaining facets of Tehran’s already beleaguered aviation ecosystem.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public, said the decision is also a direct result of recent travels by Treasury officials to Ankara and the larger region to reinforce America’s economic campaign against Iran.
There was no official announcement from Ankara as of Wednesday afternoon, but the Turkish aviation news website, AirportHaber, had reported the details earlier.
The legislation also names the American mastodon as the national fossil mammal of the United States.
Indiana Republican Rep. Erin Houchin said he hopes the measure inspires young people and encourages them to “put down their phones, go outside and go dig.”
The bill was approved unanimously, without a formal roll call, after a brief debate. It would next go to the Senate.
The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says he is going to block a proposed sale of $2.8 billion in heavy weaponry to Israel over concerns that the munitions would not be used in accordance with U.S. and international law.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-NY, the ranking member of the committee, said he would withhold approval for the sale because of “grave, unresolved concerns about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.”
Meeks’ objections, along with any other potential ones, will not likely affect the sale, which was informally notified to lawmakers on Tuesday, because once it is formally notified to Congress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio can bypass the normal process by making an emergency determination that the transaction is in the national security interest.
The $2.8 billion package includes 40,000 powerful 2,000-pound bombs, according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plan.
The former vice president’s appearance with the Senate nominee comes as the Democrats push to unify voters in a battleground state that could determine which party controls Congress. The two will attend a roundtable discussion about Black maternal mortality on Tuesday, according to El-Sayed’s spokesperson.
Harris and El-Sayed have spoken multiple times since she endorsed El-Sayed after his primary victory, but this is the first time they’ll appear publicly together.
Michigan’s bitter primary highlighted divisions among Democratic voters, notably on U.S. support for Israel. El-Sayed, running on a progressive platform, beat Rep. Haley Stevens, who was backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, by about 1 percentage point.
Some other top-ranking Democrats have joined the unification effort. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged a crowd of hundreds in Detroit last month to vote for Democratic candidates down the ballot.
Wiles said in a post on the social platform X on Wednesday that her pathology results came back clear.
Wiles, 69, announced in March that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and that she would remain in her position while seeking treatment.
She is a longtime Trump ally who rose from his campaign co-chair to become his closest adviser and counsel.
The FBI and Coast Guard boarded two oil tankers bound for the United States to investigate following indications that cyberattacks had compromised the ships’ networks, officials said Wednesday.
The FBI said in a statement that investigators on Aug. 21 and Aug. 24 responded to reported network breaches of two foreign-flagged commercial oil tankers, and that a multi-agency team of cyber experts boarded both vessels in the Gulf of America to assess potential harm to the ships’ operational and information technology systems.
“Currently, there are no reports of operational disruptions, vessel instability, physical danger to crews, or environmental impacts,” the statement said, adding that the crews of both ships had cooperated with the investigations.
The FBI statement did not identify a potential culprit of the breaches.
Warsh declined to say what message he sent Trump after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate to curb inflation.
Trump has repeatedly called for rate cuts and attacked Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, on social media for not lowering rates. Higher rates generally lower inflationary pressures, while lower rates can foster more growth and rising price levels.
“I’ve got nothing for you on a discussion with the president,” Warsh told reporters at a news conference.
Warsh said the economy appears resilient and the labor market is strengthening, which is why Fed officials felt comfortable raising the benchmark interest rate to combat elevated levels of inflation.
The Federal Reserve chair said he “would be hard pressed to describe broad financial conditions as restrictive,” so officials agreed a rate hike would not hurt the economy as the Fed tries to return inflation to its 2% target.
Fed officials separately estimated median inflation of 3.7% this year.
“Given that resilience and the potential for even greater performance, an attitude of optimism is exactly what I heard,” in the two-day meeting among Fed officials, Warsh said.
The rate hike is a surprising turnaround for Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who was appointed by Trump and took over the top job in May. Warsh often suggested last year when under consideration by Trump that the Fed could reduce its key rate, echoing the president’s call for lower borrowing costs.
And in April, when Warsh’s nomination was under consideration by the Senate Banking Committee, Trump said in a television interview that he would be disappointed if Warsh didn’t cut rates. On the same day, however, Warsh told the committee he did not promise Trump he would cut rates and said he would be “an independent actor” as Fed chair.
Yet the ongoing disruptions from the Iran war, which have pushed up average gas prices more than 7% from just a month ago, threaten to spread through the economy and keep broader inflation stubbornly high.
The House will soon vote on a broad package of sanctions targeting Russian officials and key pillars of its economy as lawmakers look to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of the financial resources needed to wage the war against Ukraine.
The bill is named after Graham, the late South Carolina senator who spent more than a year working on it.
If the House passes it on Wednesday, it would then go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.
The bill represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since Trump returned to the White House.
The fencing went up Wednesday, a day after the Trump-aligned board voted to close most of the performing arts center for repairs.
That vote came after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump’s name to the building.
The Republican president had said in a social media post that the closure was necessary for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would proceed only if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.
The Senate health committee hearing adjourned after Saphier was questioned about vaccine safety and whether she would follow the law or potentially unlawful orders from administration officials.
Saphier said she would follow the law.
Canada has retaliated against U.S. tariffs and rejected trade terms that Carney says would weaken its sovereignty. The EU has taken a different course, reaching a trade agreement with the Trump administration that set a 15% U.S. tariff ceiling on the vast majority of EU exports even as Europe eliminated tariffs on U.S. industrial goods.
That contrast has loomed over Carney’s push for closer European ties. In a closely watched speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he urged middle powers to work together to increase their leverage in an era of great-power rivalry.
“When we only negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered,” Carney said. “It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination.”
Carney’s Davos speech drew a personal rebuke from Trump, and von der Leyen’s overture to America’s neighbor could raise the temperature again.
Ursula von der Leyen made the striking overture as Trump’s threats drive Ottawa closer to Europe.
Trump’s tariffs and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have soured the relationship between the North American neighbors. Canada is seeking to reduce its dependence on the United States, the destination for roughly 70% of its exports, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has called for a “unique alliance” with the EU.
In her annual State of the European Union address on Wednesday, von der Leyen said Canada and the EU would build on their existing free trade agreement, known as CETA, with a broader “Alliance for the Future” aimed at creating “a common prosperity and economic security space,” rooted in shared democratic values.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he’ll skip any possible protests of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the U.N. General Assembly next week.
The Democrat told reporters “I do not have any plans to attend any protests at the U.N. General Assembly” when asked about Netanyahu’s incoming visit, instead saying he is focused on security and getting the city ready to host world leaders.
Mamdani has been a fierce critic of Netanyahu and Israel’s military actions in Gaza, saying during his campaign that he would direct the city’s police to arrest the prime minister under the International Criminal Court’s warrant over his role in the war in Gaza. Mamdani later acknowledged that the city lacks such authority.
Netanyahu is expected to arrive late on Sept. 23, address the General Assembly the next day and fly back to Israel that night, according to Israel’s U.N. envoy.
Trump signed an executive order in July calling for signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History warning of what it argues are exhibits that present history inaccurately.
Though none have appeared, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently told Sen. Jeff Merkley they’re still happening.
“The purpose of these signs is straightforward: Americans should enter the NMAH with relevant information about curators’ interpretation of history and their stated goal of changing the viewpoints of visitors to the museum,” Burgum wrote in a Sept. 3 letter to Merkley. The Atlantic first reported Burgum’s letter.
The Smithsonian is in the midst of a leadership change after Lonnie Bunch announced plans this month to step down as secretary. In an interview with the AP last week, Anthea Hartig, the American history museum’s director, expressed faith in the institution’s ability to do its work.
“I wake up every day confident in Americans’ ability to embrace the complexities of their past,” she said.
Standing on the Capitol steps before lawmakers head home to campaign, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries assailed the “do nothing” Republican majority and promised Democrats will do better.
“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down grocery prices on Day One. They promised to stop endless wars in the Middle East,” Jeffries said. “But Republicans have done nothing to make life more affordable for the American people.”
He said the Democrats’ message is simple: “We hear you… And we are committed to making life better for you.”
Jeffries also warned that it’s time for the corruption to end: “House Democrats are going to hold the crooks accountable.”
Sen. Cassidy asked Saphier what her message would be to parents on vaccines, in light of Trump’s comments on the causes of autism. Trump and Secretary Kennedy have repeatedly suggested a link between childhood vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine, and the development of autism, even tough studies by the CDC and others have ruled that out.
“I don’t know what causes autism, but I have not seen reputable evidence that would suggest that vaccines cause autism.” Saphier told Cassidy, “I can tell you that I do not believe the MMR vaccine to be lethal. I believe the MMR vaccine is our greatest tool for combatting measles.”
If confirmed, Saphier will be in the difficult position of navigating Kennedy’s efforts to scale back vaccine guidance at a time when the U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles in decades.
