📝 The Readback: What the shutdown taught us about Dems

IN THIS EDITION

What the shutdown told us about Democrats

Punchbowl News hits the road for TribFest

Fly Out Day with Emmer: Behind the scenes as an intern

My first Reddit AMA

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What the shutdown told us about Democrats

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.

Reopened: At long last, the government is back up and running. The longest ever shutdown in American history ended this week after 43 days. I’ll take you through the behind the scenes scramble for reporters like me in the final days of the funding impasse later here. But first, let’s review the eight Democrats’ move to vote with Republicans to end the shutdown.

As always in Congress, the solution came from the Senate. After weeks of the same failed vote on the House-passed continuing resolution, a group of Senate Democrats defected from their party’s stand. The much-scrutinized gang of eight Democrats agreed to a deal combining three year-long appropriations bills with a government funding fix until the end of January.

In Thursday’s PM edition, we walked you through how this “hated eight” was explaining themselves to their voters. Their argument for their decision was that President Donald Trump and Hill Republicans were dug in against negotiating on health care while the government remained closed.

Given a month and a half of GOP rigidity, the Democrats argued, it was time to cut a deal that protected SNAP, reopened the government and ensured federal workers got their paychecks.

Almost every Democrat on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail disagreed.

What does it say about the modern Democratic Party that this kind of dealmaking is despised?

All you have to do is look at the Democrats appearing before primary voters next year to get a sense of where the party’s energy is.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a moderate consensus-seeker who’s leaving the chamber after 2026, was a chief architect of the deal. Her daughter, Stefany Shaheen, is running in the open Democratic primary in New Hampshire’s 1st District. The younger Shaheen slammed the deal as woefully inadequate.

Beyond that, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the race to replace Shaheen — Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) — also came out against the deal. No major Democratic candidate in a competitive 2026 Senate race supported the deal.

At this juncture, Democrats nationwide are telling their representatives they want one thing above all else — to fight. Any concession to Trump’s White House is seen as a failure.

Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who opposed the deal and urged his members to hold off on opening the government, isn’t being spared. A growing list of House members and outside progressive groups are calling for his ousting.

While Schumer’s leadership position isn’t in danger, it’s becoming clear that whoever succeeds the New York Democrat in leadership will face increased pressure to ignore Republicans. In some ways, it’s a similar dynamic that played out in the Senate GOP when Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) exited leadership as a reviled figure.

Behind the scenes: Covering the final days of the shutdown in the Senate was filled with surprises and long hours. The chamber was in for a rare Saturday session.

I took the afternoon shift for the team and joined a core group of loyal reporters (and staffers) trying to find out where the bipartisan group was meeting. We wandered around the basement of the Capitol (where senators have offices called “hideaways”) to no avail.

We instead turned our attention to the second floor of the Capitol, where we camped outside the Senate chamber in hopes of grabbing leadership for some guidance.

But to our dismay, the Senate convened and adjourned on Saturday without taking a single vote. Senate Majority Leader John Thune didn’t even close the floor himself. That task fell to Whip John Barrasso, who didn’t speak to reporters as he left the chamber. That’s just life as a reporter sometimes.

The real drama played out on Sunday night, when the eight Democrats voted to push the procedural measure over the line and hit exactly 60 votes. That vote stretched on longer than anticipated because Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) had flight troubles and needed to be rushed in from Dulles right before midnight.

What I’m reading: This New York Times deep dive into the Great Lakes legacy that the Edmund Fitzgerald leaves behind, half a century after the fateful wreck.

– Max Cohen

You can find The Readback in your inbox every Saturday at 8 a.m. And don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] with feedback. Enjoy The Readback.

Punchbowl News hits the road for TribFest

It was great to be back at the Texas Tribune’s annual TribFest this year, where Punchbowl News once again hosted a full day of events at the three-day festival in Austin.

TribFest brings together lawmakers, journalists, political strategists, cultural icons and other newsmakers outside the bubbles of Washington or New York. That means it’s not your typical stuffy conference but rather a fun and laid-back gathering that’s true to Austin.

This year was no exception. Plus, who doesn’t love the Austin food scene and a chance to escape D.C. as it starts to get cold again?

On Thursday, we hosted four buzzy events. The first was a conversation that I moderated with CNN’s Jake Tapper about his new book, “Race Against Terror.”

The book is a riveting true-crime account of how two former federal prosecutors quite literally traversed the globe to bring a suspected terrorist to justice. Among other things, Jake revealed that he first heard about the case while at a paintball party for his son’s birthday — yes, really.

Jake and I also nerded out a bit about partisan gerrymandering and the hollowing-out of the dealmaking middle in Congress. Ironically, former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a moderate who lost his reelection bid last year, was in the audience. Tester stopped by the green room afterward and we had a good catch-up chat.

Jake and I also had some fun teasing the Texas crowd about our beloved Philadelphia Eagles. Shocker, I know.

Next up was Punchbowl News Founder and CEO Anna Palmer’s conversation about the 2026 midterms with three political veterans: Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jon Ralston of the Nevada Independent and former White House Communications Director Jen Palmieri.

It was a reminder that some of our country’s best political reporters are based far outside D.C. — and that’s a good thing! Greg and Jon are true authorities on Georgia and Nevada, respectively, and their reporting on these two crucial states is indispensable. Even though they might disagree about which is more important!

Later, Anna hosted an interesting panel discussion in conjunction with BlackRock that focused on retirement savings. The panel included Mack Brown, the legendary former UT-Austin head football coach.

To cap things off, I interviewed Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who had just gotten in from D.C. after the House voted the night before to reopen the government.

Gonzales made news on a few fronts. The Texas Republican told me he doesn’t plan on endorsing in the bruising Senate GOP primary featuring Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas).

“I’ve done a lot of fun things in my time in Congress — that would not be one of them,” Gonzales said.

Lastly, the interview was the first time Gonzales commented publicly on the suicide of one of his district staffers and reports alleging that he was having an affair with her.

Gonzales vigorously denied the accusations and said “no one’s contacted me, I haven’t contacted anyone.” A local news outlet in San Antonio reported on that element of our conversation here.

What I’m reading: Speaking of Ralston, I’m about halfway through his phenomenal new book, “The Game Changer,” about former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The book comes out in January and it’s the definitive biography of the man who helped remake the Senate and the Democratic Party. I cannot recommend it enough.

— Andrew Desiderio

Fly Out Day with Emmer: Behind the scenes as an intern

On Thursday, I had the exhilarating experience of spending part of my work day helping produce Punchbowl News’ weekly show, Fly Out Day.

At the famous Punchbowl News townhouse, my job was to capture social media content, and at one point, I was recruited to take the batteries out of a dying smoke detector that was beeping so loud nobody could think. This was quite the change of pace from working inside the hallways of the Capitol.

This week, our guest was House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, fresh off a late-night vote to reopen the government after the longest shutdown in American history.

The Minnesota Republican downplayed the effects of the government closure, saying “the vast majority of Americans weren’t really impacted” until about two weeks ago, when the FAA instructed airlines to reduce flights.

He said the country will soon forget because “the attention span of America is a nano-second.”

Emmer dismissed the potential impact of the shutdown on the GOP’s chances of keeping the House. He instead argued the economy will be the top issue for voters.

“Do people feel like they’re in a better place than they were when Donald Trump was first elected?” Emmer said. “I think that’s going to be the key.”

Epstein files: Emmer answered many questions about the potential release of the Epstein files, arguing Democrats are overly focused on highlighting any connection to Trump rather than helping the victims.

When asked if the fallout could hurt Republicans’ chances in upcoming elections, Emmer said the media was overdramatizing the potential release of the files.

“I think you guys have been making it an issue the whole time,” Emmer said. “This has never been about justice.”

While the entire day was a highlight, the best moment was getting a bone-crushing handshake from Emmer. I shouldn’t be surprised that the former hockey player has absurd fist strength.

You can watch the full Fly Out Day interview here.

What I’m reading: In light of the former Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing her retirement, I’m reading her book, “The Art of Power.” The book chronicles her time as a speaker who used her power for the common good.

— Zach Bradshaw

My first Reddit AMA

Reddit is one of my favorite corners of the internet.

I’ve used it for everything from choosing the music festival entrance with the shortest line to trading gossip with the only 50 other people in the country who watch the same obscure reality TV show as I do.

Reddit helps passionate people find other passionate people. And it’s an amazing crowd source. (Many AI platforms are trained heavily on Reddit.)

So it was an honor to take part in Punchbowl News’ Reddit AMA with my colleague Max Cohen last week.

I’ve participated in many Reddit AMAs, although almost all of them have been centered around grilling the journalists behind true crime podcasts.

But I had never used Reddit for work or to talk about politics before. But as the questions started rolling in, I realized that I had been missing out. Reddit is a place to go deep in the weeds with political nerds. It’s like #ElectionTwitter where everyone is anonymous.

I got to game out how many seats Republicans were likely to net in redistricting, dive into the results of the Virginia House of Delegates races and how the 2018 election results should inform how we think about the 2026 midterms.

Max discussed the future of Senate Democratic leadership post Chuck Schumer, the likelihood of extending the Obamacare premium tax subsidies and the Maine Senate primary.

If you’re interested, you can check it out here!

What I’m reading: I’m about to finish “The Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee. This is a fascinating exploration of the 5,000 year history of cancer. This is my 43rd book of the year!

– Ally Mutnick