Washington, DC

1. Dems wrestle over strategy
2. MTG’s warning for GOP
3. Gaza deal in jeopardy
4. Wall Street’s latest fight
5. Tariffs plan B?
6. Trump eyes Putin talks

Washington View: Pritzker wages information war

Trump to talk rare earths with Australia’s Albanese … China’s leadership meets … Afghanistan-Pakistan truce holds

Dear reader,

This week, Semafor turns three. We’re feeling pretty grown up — but wait until you see where we go over the next year, especially in Washington, the biggest hub for our journalism and convening.

We launched with the idea, hardly controversial here, that the news is broken. We sought to offer a straight-up-the-middle antidote to the hyper-polarized, overwhelming media swarm. We do our best to read and watch the developing news and ideas so you don’t need to keep your arms around everything, to deliver a briefing open to points of view from across the US political spectrum and around the world. We’re pleased to have found, in you, a growing audience for that vision, and to have met so many of you at our gatherings.

Our work in Washington, DC, has steadily become a must-read for the people we cover in the White House and on Capitol Hill. We’ve brought you ahead-of-the-curve reporting on the shutdown, DHS’ massive advertising budget, the chaos at housing regulators, and the political wedge issue of data centers.

We also recognize that there are other centers of power in the world, from Wall Street to Singapore, ones with deep ties to DC. Our recent story from Abu Dhabi and Kenya paints a picture of an American tech offensive against China stalling out, and our reporting from the Gulf has broken regular news on the global chip race. We’re in the process of expanding our coverage of China’s place in the global economy — but you’ll be able to find whatever’s most urgent for the Washington reader inside this daily briefing.

Whether you’ve been with us for three years or are newer to Semafor, we appreciate your readership — and our door is always open for feedback.

— Burgess, Elana, and Morgan

Shutdown Day 20: What do Dems need?

It’s Day 20 of the shutdown, and Democrats are wrestling with what they need to see in order to open the government back up. Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s public offer to allow a vote on renewing expiring health care subsidies isn’t enough; Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says they haven’t talked directly about that idea. Many Democrats want House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump to sign off on anything; Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said on NBC that otherwise it’s an “empty offer.” Trump keeps saying there’s a deal to be made — and rank-and-file senators are still trying to figure out what their chamber can do. “I can only take care of the Senate,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told Semafor. “Whatever is going to come out of here, I need to be sure that Americans aren’t going to have their premiums increase.”

— Burgess Everett

Greene to GOP: Get back to America First

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says her party will pay a price in next year’s midterm elections if it can’t bring down Americans’ cost of living. “I can’t see into the future, but I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck-to-paycheck,” the Georgia Republican told Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller. “They’ll definitely be going into the midterms looking through the lens of their bank account.” It’s only the latest criticism Greene has leveled against GOP leaders; she’s pointed to Republicans’ refusal to negotiate a bipartisan deal on health care costs until Democrats agree to their government funding bill as just one way the party has lost sight of its MAGA ideals. Democrats have co-opted Greene’s message, but she says she hasn’t changed: “I’m staying focused on America First, and I’m urging my party to get back to America First.”

Trump hopes to rescue peace deal

Trump and his top advisers are hoping to rescue the Israel-Hamas peace deal this week by ramping up their involvement as clashes break out between the two sides. Vice President JD Vance is heading to Israel on Tuesday alongside Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner (two key architects of the deal), Axios reported. Tensions between Israel and Hamas escalated sharply on Sunday, with Israel conducting dozens of air strikes in Gaza and temporarily pausing aid shipments after accusing Hamas of attacking its troops, in violation of the truce. The Trump administration is acutely aware of how fragile the deal is, and advisers have acknowledged the difficulty in implementing phase two. Vance’s upcoming trip highlights the administration’s focus on maintaining the tenuous agreement, which is one of Trump’s most significant achievements of his second term.

— Shelby Talcott

Big banks dig in on deposit insurance

Big banks are digging in against a bipartisan proposal to dramatically expand deposit insurance, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller reports. The bill from Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., would guarantee business checking accounts up to $10 million — instead of just $250,000 — and expand coverage to almost all financial institutions except big banks. Community banks have hailed the measure, which they argue promotes “balanced” coverage. But big banks insist it goes much further than it needs to. “Significantly expanding deposit insurance seems like a solution in search of a problem,” Amanda Eversole, president and CEO of the Financial Services Forum, told Semafor. The pushback may well be working: Two senior Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee, Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota and John Kennedy of Louisiana, told Semafor they remain undecided.

Trump looks past SCOTUS on tariffs

Trump is starting to consider the possibility the Supreme Court might not be on his side with his aggressive tariff regime, despite the conservative bench backing him in a number of initial rulings on his policies. Trump over the weekend told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo he’d have to figure out a plan B if the tariff ruling doesn’t go his way. “If that happened, we’d have to pay back money,” Trump warned, arguing that striking down his sweeping tariffs would be a national security issue. He’s even considering going to the Supreme Court himself next month for oral arguments on the topic. The Supreme Court is also poised to weigh in on his National Guard deployments; the administration asked the high court to allow troops to be deployed to Illinois after an appeals court upheld a decision to block the deployment.

— Shelby Talcott

Trump gives Putin another chance

Trump is looking to give diplomacy with Vladimir Putin one last try to end the war in Ukraine, after an angry White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday. Before the meeting, Trump seemed willing to provide long-range missiles to Kyiv, but pivoted following a conversation with the Russian leader. “With a single phone call, Putin appears to have changed President Trump’s mind,” one person told Politico. The “volatile” meeting with Zelenskyy saw Trump warn that Putin would “destroy” Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. Putin made clear to Trump last week that he wants Kyiv to surrender Donetsk to Russia as a condition for peace — though that’s a less sweeping demand than previously. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, not special envoy Steve Witkoff, will be leading planned talks between Trump and Putin in Budapest, “a change that was seen as positive by Ukrainian and European officials,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.

“It’s become one of the defining experiences of modern politics, and it can happen to a foreign leader, a CEO, the governor of an American state: You wake up one morning and find yourself in the center of a social media storm in which Donald Trump has set the terms,” Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith writes in this week’s Washington View column.

“The form it takes is almost entirely visual. There are videos flying around, with or without context; the US government is producing some, promoting others from random X accounts. Dubious photos, winking AI jokes, and TikToks swallow facts and arguments, and Trump and his allies rapidly and cheerfully move from claim to claim. There is not a lot of emphasis on factual claims, press releases, forceful statements.” And Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has found himself in the center of a storm like that since last month, Ben writes, as he tries to debunk the White House.

Regulation is evolving faster than ever, redefining how companies innovate and how consumers engage. From pharmaceuticals to food and beyond, shifting policies are reshaping markets, competition, and access to essential products and care. For patients and consumers alike, these changes determine everything from treatment availability to everyday safety.

Join Semafor as we explore how businesses can stay resilient amid regulatory flux, what policy approaches best encourage responsible innovation, and how industry and government can work together to ensure accountability while unlocking progress.

Oct. 28 | Washington, DC | RSVP

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: With the approach of Nov. 1, when open enrollment for health insurance begins, “there’s a sense within the Senate Democratic Caucus that this deadline is in fact their off-ramp to end the shutdown.”

Playbook: Run For Something, a progressive candidate recruitment group, is seeking backers for a $50 million five-year plan aimed at strengthening the Democratic party’s presence outside its traditional strongholds, with a memo painting “a dire picture for Democrats if they don’t invest in red-leaning states.”