“$4.25-$4.40/gal becoming possible for a national average gas price with diesel likely going to $5.35-$5.50/gal for a national average in the next couple weeks,” wrote Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Congress isn’t working. Literally.

And your legislators are doing little to address that — including working in Washington.

The Senate is not much better. The legislative chamber is slated to stay in D.C. through Aug. 7, but will then be out until mid-September and take almost all of October off. Over the next three months, the Senate will only be in session for five weeks.

Before the Congress-stans jump on this, yes, I know that members often work when they go home. And the reason they are off so much in the back half of this year is because of the 2026 midterms and campaign needs.

But let’s be real here: Being out of D.C., and away from what they are elected to do, is incredibly out of touch with how most Americans live and work, making it entirely understandable that Gallup found in April that just 10 percent of Americans approved of its performance, while 86 percent disapproved — tying the record high.

For voters, said former representative Susan Wild, being out of D.C. for so long makes it “look like Congress is on vacation when I am toiling away at my workplace in August, just trying to figure out how I am going to pay the rent and groceries.”

“The perception is a big problem,” Wild said. “If this were a Congress that had gotten some big things done and they were going home for the month of August and they weren’t going to spend a whole lot of time in session, that would be a different thing. ... But here we are, and there isn’t really a whole hell of a lot of show.”

Our colleague, Mariana Alfaro, found Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee) somewhat dejected when asked about Republicans running out of time to pass a number of the party’s priorities.

“We’re going to run towards the finish line. Obviously, we’ll come back after August recess, and hopefully take up some of the president’s initiatives,” Burchett said. But, said the congressman, President Donald Trump has had to lead using executive orders because he and other Republicans “can’t get any committees to do anything.”

These absences have real-world — and political — implications.

First are the real-world impacts. There are countless issues that Congress needs to address, from government spending, to the future of the social safety net to questions about the ongoing war with Iran. Sure, it has been hard for Congress to do basically anything this year, but none of that will happen with Congress out of session.

But then the political. By being gone for so long this year, Republicans are effectively conceding that what they have to run on right now is all they will have in November.

That’s a telling admission, because a number of Republicans in vulnerable races were hoping to have achieved more on important political issues, like affordability. But as has been the case for months, these vulnerable Republicans will have to hang their campaigns on legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at a time when everything in that law is markedly unpopular.

Republicans are in power, but not all Republicans agree that this is a problem.

“We’ve got to get through the Senate,” said Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), following with the time-honored congressional tradition of blaming the other chamber. “Those of us in the House are often frustrated with our colleagues in the Senate not being able to move faster.”

Steil added: “I think we’ve made great progress. I mean, everybody would always like to see more, but I think we’ve made great progress in the past 18 months.”

And Republicans tasked with holding the House largely dismiss this argument, noting (correctly) that this dynamic is often at play around every midterm election.

“We firmly believe we have everything we need legislatively for a strong campaign message,” said a House Republican operative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the party’s private campaign strategy. The operative cited tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other actions on border security, energy and housing.

“It’s always helpful to have more. Any member would love some more talking points,” the operative said. “But we are not really too worried about more. I mean, if they come back, what else are they going to do other than bicker and fight?”

But Wild argued that the lack of actual working time in D.C. is a huge opening for challengers in this year’s midterms. Most voters have no idea what the congressional schedule is, she said, but introducing them to it could be a clear attack.

“You could put this stuff out there and have taxpayers shake their heads,” Wild said. “If taxpayers are thinking about it, they are thinking, ‘What exactly am I paying these people for?’”

Our picks

From The Post

Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray sat down with Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) on Thursday for a wide-ranging interview about the war in Iran (McCormick says the war is changing how the United States actually fights), the rise of artificial intelligence and the growing backlash to data centers.

The last topic piqued our interest — we have covered it a lot — and it stood out that McCormick leaned into the idea that China is “playing in this debate” on local concerns around data centers, suggesting it is seeding some of the opposition.

“In China, AI and data centers have an 80-plus percent popularity, positivity. In America, it’s 20 percent,” McCormick said. “That’s not an accident. There are forces supporting a campaign against the idea.”

(McCormick’s wife, Dina Powell McCormick, is president and vice chairman of Meta and helps guide the company’s data-center strategy.)

What we’re watching

It’s another loss for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Former Arizona state lawmaker Amish Shah won the Democratic nomination Wednesday in a key House race in the suburbs north of Phoenix, defeating DCCC-backed Marlene Galán-Woods.

The committee went big for Galán-Woods, spending over $500,000 on air for the former television journalist. But she was unable to overcome Shah, who was the party’s failed nominee for the seat in 2024.

Why does this matter? It’s yet another loss for the committee in a primary, the third of this cycle.

California Assembly member Jasmeet Bains was backed by the committee when she lost to educator Randy Villegas in California’s Central Valley, and Maine Auditor Matt Dunlap overcame DCCC money when he defeated state Sen. Joe Baldacci in Maine’s northernmost district.

These losses highlight the limits of the party’s major organs amid deep voter distrust in establishment politics. By comparison, 39 of the 41 candidates the DCCC endorsed before their 2018 primaries won, according to a Third Way scorecard. The committee has intervened in far fewer contests this year but has already lost three.

“When the DCCC decides to put a candidate in a competitive primary on Red to Blue, it is done after polling and research into different general election match-ups and discussions with Caucus members, local leaders, labor, and other stakeholders,” said Courtney Rice, top spokesperson for the committee. “Given Democrats’ big tent, there is not always consensus, but the decisions are never made in a vacuum.”

In your local paper

The Spokesman Review (Spokane, Washington): A Native American tribe in northeastern Washington state is grieving the impact fires have had on thousands of acres of sacred land. “We need to start taking better care of (Mother Earth), because if it wasn’t for her, nobody would be here. She’s our air. She’s our water,” said Gun Shows, the first female police officer of the Colville Tribes.

Iowa Capital Dispatch: The Senate Majority PAC, the primary super PAC tasked with vaulting Democrats to power in the Senate, said Thursday it would spend an additional $17 million in Iowa, bringing its spending against Republican Ashley Hinson in the state to over $30 million. Iowa Rep. Josh Turek is the Democratic nominee.

From you

We received interesting responses to both our question on democratic socialists and our piece about Sen. Ed Markey’s age in his race against Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts).

“I agree he is too old,” a Boston voter wrote about Markey. “But Moulton is too self-serving & inconsistent. I live in MA and have to choose between the two. I will take old and progressive.”

And Ken Burleson wrote, “As early as I can remember, campaigns had fought the age issues.”

“Sometimes folks in positions such as politicians sometimes forget about retiring (it is a hard thing to come to grips with sometimes),” wrote Burleson. “But this article makes a good case for term limits, not age limits.”

And then there was our question about Francesca Hong, the democratic socialist running for governor in Wisconsin.

“I’m 81, and I’m more supportive of Dem Socs than run-of-the-mill Dems,” wrote Webb Wiggins. “We need Progressives to get us out of the fear Dems seem to feel. Support as much as you can — ignore what you can’t support.”

“What I see these days is the misuse and abuse of names to denigrate candidates and even some people,” wrote Prescott. “We need all rational views for our politics to work to represent our people. What is being done is fear tactics used on people who don’t really validate the misuse.”

Send a reply

A fascinating analysis by Federica Cocco and Shannon Najmabadi found that the wealth that families have grown over a lifetime is evaporating as the costs of growing old are skyrocketing. Is this something that worries you? Have you dealt with this issue, and what would be your advice for people going through it? Is this an issue that Congress should address? Let us and your fellow Early Brief readers know at earlytips@washpost.com.

Thanks for reading. You can follow Dan on X at @merica.