Washington, DC

1. Houthis join the fight
2. FDA cyclospora cleanup
3. House to-do list
4. Green card rule redux
5. K3 drives debate

Gas prices ▲ to more than $4 a gallon amid renewed fighting between the US and Iran.

Houthis declare blockade of Saudi ships

The Houthis entered the US-Iran conflict today, declaring a maritime embargo on a critical waterway that threatens to worsen the global fuel crisis. The Iran-backed militants say they’ll block Saudi ships from the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, an access point to the Red Sea that has allowed Saudi oil to exit the Gulf even when the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked. Oil prices surged to nearly $90 a barrel on the news, following a weekend of intense fighting that left three Americans dead. Both sides have said they’re open to a diplomatic solution, but de-escalation appears out of reach for now. “Every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!” President Donald Trump posted to social media today.

FDA ‘false positive’ claim causes cyclospora confusion

The Food and Drug Administration tried to clean up confusion it caused this weekend about the source of the multistate cyclospora outbreak, explaining that imported lettuce grown by Taylor Farms in Mexico is still the most likely culprit, despite determining a test on a product not subject to the company’s voluntary recall was a false positive. The FDA has “increased surveillance sampling at the southern border,” said acting Deputy Commissioner for Food Donald Prater, which is where the initial positive was determined. A subsequent laboratory-quality check determined the result was a false positive. The FDA defended notifying Taylor Farms and publicly disclosing the initial finding, saying the agency believed it was “actionable public health information.” Taylor Farms said the FDA “apologized” for the error, but an FDA official disputed that, saying the agency “explained the official facts” but “did not offer an official apology.”

— Lauren Morganbesser

A packed week for House Republicans

House Republicans are pressing forward with a packed schedule in the last week in session before their five-week August recess. Leadership is teeing up an annual defense authorization bill, stopgap government funding legislation, a budget blueprint, and legislation cracking down on lawmaker stock trading. But they have to get past the hurdle of the “rule” vote, first in committee and then on the floor as soon as tomorrow. Republican leaders need to work to win over fiscal hawks, who are upset that the $95 billion budget blueprint to fund the Iran war, bolster farm aid, and legislate parts of the SAVE Act voter ID bill doesn’t offset the new spending with cuts elsewhere. Other lawmakers are still skeptical of the Trump administration’s Iran conflict funding ask. Any of those aggrieved GOP lawmakers could obstruct the rule.

— Nicholas Wu

Green card rules likely to face challenge

The Trump administration took a further step to limit legal migration into the US today, publishing a rule in the Federal Register that could deny green card applicants who would use public benefits. The rule, which will take effect on Sept. 18, revives the “public charge” policy of the first Trump administration, which the Biden administration narrowed. The rule gives the Department of Homeland Security broad discretion when deciding whether immigrants would be burdens to the US, or “public charges,” allowing officials to consider factors like an applicant’s use of food stamps or Medicaid. Immigration advocates panned the change, which experts say is likely to invite legal challenges. David Bier, an immigration analyst at the Cato Institute, summed up the arguments against it: “The rule is arbitrary and capricious by replacing a clear rule with no rule, and the subregulatory guidance would violate the [Administrative Procedure Act].”

— Morgan Chalfant

Tech and business titans join AI regulation debate

Proposals to regulate artificial intelligence are swirling around Washington — and business and tech titans are speaking up. Today, Michael Bloomberg railed against the government taking stakes in AI companies, an idea proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and floated by Trump. “Somewhere, Karl Marx is smiling,” Bloomberg wrote. Over the weekend, David Sacks, the former White House AI czar, jumped into a debate that sprang up after Beijing startup Moonshot AI rolled out its new open source model, Kimi K3. Sacks argued that Washington should clearly state risks of using Chinese models and regulate against them, if they are real, but he warned against what OpenAI’s Dean Ball described on X as the emerging “FUD” model — manufacturing fear, uncertainty, and doubt to deter usage. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering creating an independent AI watchdog at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg News reported.

White House

• President Trump said that “in no way shape or form” will Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be arrested in the US, after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was looking into it, given Netanyahu’s outstanding International Criminal Court warrant.
• Trump quietly installed a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson in the Rose Garden this week, the fifth statue he has added there. — WaPo
• Trump spoke by phone with new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham after he was sworn in. “The prime minister began by congratulating the president on a successful World Cup and agreed that England had an excellent tournament,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Congress

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that “hopefully” the upper chamber will take up the Russia sanctions bill championed by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., this week. He also didn’t rule out adding sanctions on Iran, but “that’s going to be a question for the bill sponsors and the White House.”
• House Republican leaders are hoping to set up an Iran briefing tomorrow, ideally with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. — Politico

Campaign

• Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., told Sean Hannity in an interview that she plans to run for the Senate seat left vacant by the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham, after alerting the White House of her interest last week, as Semafor first reported.

Courts

• A federal judge temporarily halted Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery while considering a lawsuit claiming the merger would illegally reduce competition.

National Security

• The Pentagon withheld information about dozens of US troop injuries from Iranian attacks, citing operational security. — NYT
• The director of the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, a federal AI testing body, resigned. — Axios

World

• Top officials from former President Joe Biden’s administration say they should have applied greater pressure on Israel’s government to limit its military actions in Gaza and toward Iran. — The New Yorker
• The European Union plans to ease methane rules after pressure from the US. — WSJ

Education

• School closures have grown by 35% across the US over the past four years amid shrinking budgets and smaller student populations. — WaPo

Media

• The Trump administration sought phone records from several New York Times journalists and their relatives to try to identify confidential sources who provided information about the security of President Trump’s new Air Force One plane.

— New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on dealing with President Trump.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel