📝 The Readback: Dispatch from Finchella

IN THIS EDITION

Inside the Super Bowl for fintech nerds

The shutdown dispatch: Week 3

That’s Not Gonna Fly on Fly Out Day

The Capitol Hill ghost town: A photo tour

THE TOP

Inside the Super Bowl for fintech nerds

Welcome to The Readback, our weekend digest featuring the best of Punchbowl News this week – a quick roundup of all our scoops, analysis and Capitol Hill insight you won’t find anywhere else. We’ve also included a few of our favorite outside reads from the week.

All about fintech: This week, I had the pleasure of returning to one of my favorite Washington rituals. D.C. Fintech Week is now “Finchella,” and it’s just as wonky as ever.

I’ve got a soft spot for D.C. Fintech Week. I’ve been attending for as long as I’ve been covering financial regulation and policy. The conference has always been a bonanza for sourcing, policy news and general expertise in the field. Chris Brummer, the Georgetown Law professor who kicked off Fintech Week for the first time in 2017, deserves a lot of credit for making this thing what it is.

And this year’s Fintech Week felt like a true homecoming! I got to be part of the festivities, rather than just an observer. We hosted multiple events, including a community briefing with myself, my editor Dave Clarke and colleague Samantha Handler. My personal favorite event was another panel I moderated with a set of former regulators who went into the private sector, talking about their switch from the public sector.

They were good sports, too – even when I poked them about the paydays that come with leaving the government behind.

Here’s some bonus journalism for you. On the sidelines of Fintech Week, I recorded a podcast interview with Citigroup’s Chief Legal Officer, Brent McIntosh. A former Treasury Department official from the first Trump administration, McIntosh and I dove deep into the banking industry’s status in Washington, the biggest policy fights happening now and what exactly Citigroup wants to accomplish in crypto.

Listen to the full interview here.

Selfishly, I’ve started to like Fintech Week even more since I’ve started writing for Punchbowl News. Most days, I love being the rare financial policy reporter who works on Capitol Hill full-time. But I often feel like I need to do my work on the margins of whatever’s driving the news of the day. While my colleagues and peers drill down on the latest appropriations battle or bombshell from the White House, I’m the guy trying to squeeze in a question about deposit insurance reform or stablecoin yields.

But at Fintech Week, I’m no longer the odd cousin of congressional reporters. It’s my Super Bowl! These are my people! I can’t throw a pre-made sandwich more than a dozen feet without hitting a subject matter expert I ought to talk to. It’s a privilege and a joy. Also, I’m very tired, and I will be sleeping a lot this weekend.

What I’m watching: I’m smackdab in the middle of rewatching one of my favorite shows of all time: “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” The 2005 animated series is a delightful kids show that grapples with heavy themes – colonialism, nationalism, genocide, family rifts and trauma – in 20-minute bursts.

I love binge-watching this show. But my girlfriend, who’s watching for the first time, is more of a one-episode-at-a-time person. I can live with that! I’m chill! But we’ve been on the precipice of watching one of my favorite episodes in the whole run for a full week now. All my Avatar-heads out there will know that “The Blind Bandit” is when the show really takes off. That episode is next in the queue. It’s been a busy week, and I’m reeeeeally chomping at the bit to hit play. It’s gonna be great! Eventually!!

– Brendna Pedersen

We’re excited to announce our participation in the annual Meridian Ball and Global Leadership Summit. Punchbowl News Founder and CEO Anna Palmer and Senior Congressional Reporter Andrew Desiderio will lead conversations focused on national security and defense during the summit on Oct. 24. Register here to watch our sessions on the livestream.

Punchbowl News Defense coverage is coming soon. Sign up for our interest list here.

The shutdown dispatch: Week 3

Last week, I wrote about how the Senate was unusually calm during the government shutdown. Seven days later, and not much has changed.

Consider this: The Senate took off Monday for the Columbus Day federal holiday. The chamber returned to session on Tuesday evening and left for the week on Thursday afternoon.

That’s right: A three-day work week while federal workers miss paychecks and the shutdown surpassed the two-week mark. (The House didn’t even bother to come in, I should note.)

While the Senate was in session, not much happened anyway. Senate Democrats voted to reject the House-passed continuing resolution for the 10th time. Senate Republicans tried to pass the defense appropriations bill. Democrats blocked that, too.

Senators began to express more pessimism as the week stretched on. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who’s known for speaking his mind, told reporters he thinks this would be the longest shutdown in history. That would mean the funding impasse would stretch well into November, which seems more plausible every day.

The Capitol complex itself was an odd place to be this week. Tour groups are largely absent from the building, given the closure of the Capitol Visitors Center. But exceptions are made for member-led tours, leading to the unusual sight of sitting senators showing dozens of constituents around the building.

Morale is starting to sag for federal workers going without pay. As I picked up a hamburger from the Senate Carryout on Thursday, I overheard U.S. Capitol Police officers bemoaning their newly bestowed “volunteer” status.

Altogether, the atmosphere was far more subdued than countless major moments from earlier this year. Compared to the dash to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill over the summer, or the confirmation process of President Donald Trump’s cabinet in the winter, the general public feels less invested in the ongoing shutdown.

The senators themselves seem resigned to the fact that the shutdown will stretch on. Even though things were far from business as usual, it truly felt like just another week in the Senate. And that business-as-usual mindset may be a major factor behind the length of this shutdown. If senators can return home each weekend like things are largely normal, neither side is likely to feel the pressure to move away from their position.

What I’m reading: My good friend — and former boss at Slate’s “Hang Up and Listen” sports podcast — Stefan Fatsis is out with a fantastic new book that every word lover will devour. In Stefan’s book, “Unabridged,” he delves into the history of the American dictionary and embeds himself with professional lexicographers from Merriam-Webster in the process. I’m a couple of chapters in and I can’t recommend it enough!

– Max Cohen

That’s Not Gonna Fly on Fly Out Day

On Fly Out Day, we like to keep things fun and punchy. What started as a joke has quickly become one of my favorite segments of the show: That’s Not Gonna Fly.

There is no shortage of poorly executed stunts and bad ideas on Capitol Hill, and we don’t miss our chance to call them out.

This week’s episode had it all: from MSNBC’s Laura Barrón-López’s naked cyclists in Portland, Ore., to New York Times’ Carl Hulse’s more serious point about the Pentagon press restrictions. Plus, Punchbowl News CEO Anna Palmer’s excellent on-brand submission about one senator’s not-so-humble commute to D.C. The panel was on fire, and Hulse even had “the naked truth” ready to go before I could cue him.

One of my favorite That’s Not Gonna Fly takes was from our first episode with the Boston Globe’s Jackie Kucinich and CNN’s Manu Raju. If there is a pun to be made, we will make it. We are very fortunate to have some of the best reporters in Washington as part of the PBN Townhouse family.

Capitol Hill is never boring, which is one of the reasons why it is the best beat in Washington. Congress is equal parts drama, gossip, chaos and ego. The characters themselves are fascinating, the thorns in leadership’s side, the loners, the loyalists, the lifers. Every day has a “that’s not gonna fly” moment just waiting to happen.

The segment has become a good reminder that politics is human and, therefore, can be absurd and hilarious. And honestly? That’s why I love doing it.

What I’m listening to: I am listening to 10% Happier with Dan Harris, an awesome podcast focused on finding financial success. Listen to the one with David Gelles about Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard! Also… why am I always re-watching “New Girl”?

– Haley Talbot

The Capitol Hill ghost town: A photo tour

Halloween is around the corner, so a tour of our legislative ghost town seems appropriate. Mercifully, for the faint of heart — points at self — there’s no gore, scary sounds or bats flying about. Although if the shutdown continues for much longer, spider webs could be woven across the empty corridors and offices.

At the Capitol Visitor Center, the statue of Helen Keller stands near the steps of Emancipation Hall. Quiet. No one is here to see her. No throngs of visitors gawking at the statues of other greats like Jeannette Rankin, the first female member of Congress, or the towering white model of the Statue of Freedom.

It’s an eerie scene compared to the usual bustle of the Capitol. The CVC is always teeming with visitors from around the world, with a cadre of tour guides in their signature red jackets directing them around.

The hallways connecting lawmakers’ offices to the Capitol are quiet and empty, where they’d be crowded with members and their staffers trying to ward off the throngs of reporters waylaying them for quotes.

Even the footsteps of the few people walking around sound disturbingly louder.

The House side cafeterias are mostly closed, although there’s food on the Senate side.

One overzealous office managed to get their Halloween skeletons and pumpkins on the office door well in advance.

As my colleague Max Cohen writes above, the House has been gone for weeks, and the senators, who seem resigned to a long shutdown, scooted off to their respective homes on Thursday after just three days of work.

If you don’t have the credentials to get you into the Capitol, but wonder what it looks like during a shutdown, I have created a handy virtual tour of the ghostly complex for you. Take a look at the slideshow to experience the creepy quietness of Congress.

What I’m reading/watching: I’m throwing it back and just started James Baldwin’s 1953 novel, “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical book is a complex coming of age story that explores a teenage boy’s struggle with religion, an abusive father, sexuality, race and more.

I also got sucked into the latest season of “Love is Blind” and regret my life for doing so, but I must finish what I started.

– Elvina Nawaguna