Michigan Matters: Talking Political Parties and Trump's Impact
Runsestad, who will continue in both jobs, talks about the immediate task before him, which revolves around settling party finances. And he talked about upcoming statewide races and finding candidates.
He also discussed President Trump's policy changes, including tariffs, federal funding and the impact in Michigan. Runestad also met with Vice President JD Vance two weeks ago when he was in Traverse City and talked about it.
David Wasserman appears and talks about the two political parties. Wasserman, who is much sought after as a political expert by national shows, shared thoughts on Michigan's role in the 2026 midterm elections.
He shares thoughts about candidates for Michigan's governor, the open U.S. Senate seat and more.
Wasserman will headline the upcoming Michigan Political Leadership Program's annual dinner, where almost 1,000 politicos from across the state will gather at the Lansing Center.
(Viewers can watch a recent interview with Michigan Democratic Party chair Curtis Hertel Jr.
here
.)
(Watch Michigan Matters at its new time: 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit, 9:30 a.m. Sundays on Detroit 50 WKBD).
(Carol Cain is the 13-time Emmy-winning senior producer and host of Michigan)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Senate approves more than $180 billion in 2026 funding before August recess
The Senate on Friday passed its first tranche of government funding bills for fiscal year 2026 ahead of its upcoming August recess, but Congress is bracing for a potentially messy fight to prevent a shutdown when they return in September. The chamber approved three bills that provide more than $180 billion in discretionary funding for the departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), military construction, legislative branch operations and rural development. The bills passed in two parts: on an 87-9 vote for military construction, VA, agriculture and FDA funding; and an 81-15 vote for legislative branch funding. The votes cap off days of uncertainty over whether the Senate would be joining the House on a monthlong recess with any of its 12 annual funding bills passed out of the chamber. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), who heads the subcommittee that crafted the full-year VA funding bill, said Friday that he sees the first batch of bills as more of a 'test run.' 'It's just been so long since we've done our appropriations bills. A lot of people just [forgot] the procedures,' he told The Hill, noting that in the previous congressional session senators 'really didn't do bills.' Appropriators say the vote marks the first time since 2018 that the Senate has passed funding legislation before the August recess. 'It's really a matter of just kind of legislating again, and the more we do it, the easier, the easier it'll be as we go back,' Boozman said. In the past week, senators had gone through several iterations of their first funding package of the year, as leaders on both sides worked through frustrations in their ranks over proposed spending levels and actions by the Trump administration that incensed Democrats. Well over half of the funding approved Friday is included in the annual VA and military construction bill, which calls for upwards of $153 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2026. That includes about $133 billion for the VA and roughly $20 billion for the Department of Defense military construction program. More than $113 billion in discretionary funding would go toward VA medical care. The annual agricultural funding plan calls for $27 billion in discretionary funding for fiscal 2026. It includes $8.2 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), about $7 billion in funding for the Food and Drug Administration, roughly $1.7 billion for rental assistance, and nearly $1.23 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Democrats have also highlighted $240 million in funding in the bill for the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which was targeted in President Trump's latest budget request. The annual legislative branch funding plan calls for about $7 billion for House and Senate operations, the U.S. Capitol Police and agencies like the Library of Congress (LOC), the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the Architect of the Capitol. Capitol Police would see a boost under the plan, along with the CBO, while funding for the LOC, the CRS and the GAO would be kept at fiscal 2025 levels. Lawmakers also agreed to $44.5 million in emergency funds aimed at beefing up security and member protection, citing safety concerns following the shootings of Minnesota lawmakers earlier this year. Republicans had previously been uncertain about whether the third bill would be passed as part of the package this week until Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a senior appropriator, said a deal was worked out to allow him to vote on the measure separately from the other bills. Kennedy has criticized the legislative branch funding bill for its proposed spending levels. 'It just doesn't seem appropriate for us to be spending that much extra while everybody else has to take a cut,' he told reporters in late July. 'Now, some of my colleagues point out, yes, but the extra spending is for member security.' 'If you're going to spend extra money on member security, find a pay-for within the bill. I just think the optics are terrible and the policy is terrible,' he said. 'We ought to hold ourselves to the same standard we're holding everybody else, and that's why I'm going to vote no.' Republicans also blame Sen. Chris Van Hollen's (D-Md.) resistance to the Trump administration's relocation plans for the FBI's headquarters for weighing down efforts to pass the annual Justice Department funding bill. Senators had initially expected that bill, which also funds the Commerce Department and science-related agencies, to be part of the package until those plans fell apart earlier this week amid a clash over Trump administration plans to relocate the FBI headquarters. Speaking from the Senate floor on Thursday, Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that crafted the annual funding deal, said he had been pushing for an amendment aimed at ensuring the FBI would 'have a level 5 security headquarters.' He noted his previous attempt during committee consideration that temporarily led to the adoption of an amendment to the DOJ funding bill that sought to block President Trump's plans to keep the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C. However, the change was later scrapped after staunch GOP opposition threatened to tank the bill. 'It didn't happen because members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republicans and Democrats, didn't think that was the right thing to do – to preserve what we had set out before and make sure that the men and women [of the FBI] have a level 5 security headquarters,' he said. 'We did it because the President of the United States was going to throw a fit if that provision stayed on.' Van Hollen said he hopes the bill will be able to 'get back on track' in September. However, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), chair of the subcommittee alongside Van Hollen, offered a rather gloomy outlook for the bill's next steps after recess. He argued much of the focus in September is likely to be on getting a deal on a funding stopgap, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), to keep the government funded beyond the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. 'When we get back from recess, we'll move to working on the CR to get us so I would guess if the CJS has a path, it's probably just the CR and will continue,' Moran said. 'All the work that we've done goes away, and we'll go back to CR and fund those agencies at the same level and same way that we did last year.' 'Every time we say we want to do appropriation bills, then there's someone who has a reason that, 'Not this time,' 'Not this one,' 'Not – because I didn't get what I want,'' he said. 'And this time we're arguing over an amendment that was allowed to the senator who's objecting, but he wanted a commitment that he get the outcome he wants.' 'And he didn't win in committee, and he wouldn't win on the Senate floor, but he can, I wouldn't think, but he can make his case. But he rejected that option,' he said.
an hour ago
Who is Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner fired by Trump?
WASHINGTON -- The head of the agency that compiles the closely watched monthly jobs report usually toils in obscurity, but on Friday, the current holder of that job was loudly fired by the president of the United States. Erika McEntarfer, a longtime government employee, bore the brunt of President Donald Trump's unhappiness with Friday's jobs report, which showed that hiring had slowed in July and was much less in May and June that previously estimated. He accused her without evidence of manipulating the job numbers and noted she was an appointee of President Joe Biden. McEntarfer, a longtime government worker who had served as BLS head for a year and a half, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press. But her predecessor overseeing the jobs agency, former co-workers and associates have denounced the firing, warning about its repercussions and saying McEntarfer was nonpolitical in her role. Here's what to know about Erika McEntarfer: McEntarfer, whose research focuses on job loss, retirement, worker mobility, and wage rigidity, had previously worked at the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies, the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy and the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a nonpolitical role. She has a bachelor's degree in Social Science from Bard College and a doctoral degree in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. McEntarfer was nominated in 2023 to serve as BLS head, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions recommended that her nomination go to the full Senate for a vote. She was confirmed as BLS commissioner in January 2024 on a bipartisan 86-8 Senate vote. Among the Republican senators who voted to confirm her included then-Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who is now Trump's vice president, and then-Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who is now Trump's secretary of state. Before her confirmation hearing, a group called the Friends of the BLS, made up of former commissioners who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, members of statistical associations and credentialed economists, said McEntarfer's background made her a great choice for the job. 'The many reasons to quickly confirm Dr. McEntarfer as the new BLS Commissioner all boil down to this: the agency, like the entire statistical system, is undergoing an intense, significant period of change and Dr. McEntarfer's wealth of research and statistical experience have equipped her to be the strong leader that BLS needs to meet these challenges,' Friends of the BLS wrote. William Beach, who was appointed BLS commissioner in 2019 by Trump and served until 2023 during President Joe Biden's administration, called McEntarfer's firing 'groundless' and said in an X post that it 'sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau.' Former Labor Department chief economist Sarah J. Glynn, who received regular briefings from McEntarfer about BLS findings, said McEntarfer was generous with her time explaining what conclusions could or couldn't be reached from the data. If the data didn't support something an administration official was saying, McEntarfer would say so, Glynn said. She also never weighed in on how the administration should present or interpret the data, Glynn said — she would simply answer questions about the data. 'She had a sterling reputation as someone who is concerned about the accuracy of the data and not someone who puts a political spin on her work,' Glynn said. Heather Boushey, a senior research fellow at Harvard University, served with McEntarfer on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and said McEntarfer never talked politics at work. 'She showed up every day to focus on the best analysis and the best approach to her field and not get political. That is what I saw from her time and again. She is brilliant and well-respected among labor economists generally,' Boushey said. 'She wasn't coming into my office to talk politics or the political implications of something. She definitely wasn't engaging on that side of things.'
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Gridlock crumbles as Senate advances spending bills in race against shutdown
The Senate advanced a package of spending bills late Friday night, breaking a partisan gridlock that threatened to derail the government funding process. Moving the three bills, including funding bills for military construction and Veterans' Affairs, agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the legislative branch, appeared on ice for much of the week as lawmaker after lawmaker on either side of the aisle looked to block the bills. But a path forward was found, and the bills were put on the floor, and after several votes on amendments, the final package passed. However, the bill to fund the legislative branch was added to the package separately in response to a roadblock by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who ultimately relented to allow the bill to hit the floor. He announced his plan to vote against that piece of the package because the bill increased spending, like the others, but specifically for Congress. "I just think we need to set an example, and when we're increasing our spending 6% and others less," Kennedy said on the Senate floor. "We're sending a message that we're special, and I don't think we are." Now it heads to the House, where Republicans are already incensed that the Senate's bills go over their approved spending levels. The advancement of the bills is a victory for members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and for Republican leadership, who are working to ward off a possible government shutdown as tensions over the "big, beautiful bill" and President Donald Trump's $9 billion clawback package linger. It's also the first time since 2018 that the upper chamber passed spending bills before September. "These bills all mean a great deal to each of us," Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said on the Senate floor. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., previously threatened that if Republicans went through with the rescissions package, it would have grave effects on the forthcoming sprint to fund the government. But, with the deadline to fund the government by Sept. 30 — or to pass a short-term funding extension — fast-approaching, neither party wants to carry the blame for blowing up the appropriations process, at least for now. While passing the spending package out of the upper chamber proved a bright spot, lawmakers are still looking for a path forward in confirming a slew of Trump's nominees. The president re-upped his call for Senate Republican leadership to cancel recess to pass each nominee on the Senate's calendar, which has now ballooned to over 150 picks, as Democrats continue their blockade of the process. Lawmakers are set to vote on a trio of nominees Friday night and are expected to run through nearly a dozen more over the weekend, unless a deal is made.
