By Eduardo Bacci, The Investigative Journal
Both chambers of Congress remain in their pre-election recess this week, but the absence of floor votes has not meant an absence of consequential activity. The House met in a pro forma session Tuesday afternoon and the Senate did the same at 3:30 p.m., with no business conducted in either chamber, according to the House Republican Cloakroom and the Senate Daily Press Gallery. Off the floor, however, the House Oversight Committee opened a new investigation into jury-nullification training in the District of Columbia, a sitting member of Congress had her home searched under a federal warrant, the Justice Department served civil investigative demands on five television networks, and the Congressional Budget Office closed the books on a $2.0 trillion fiscal year 2026 deficit. Here is what moved on Capitol Hill, and what is queued for the lame-duck session that begins November 9.
1. Oversight Committee opens probe into D.C. jury-nullification trainings
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) on Tuesday sent document-request letters to two District of Columbia activist organizations, Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, over what the committee describes as training sessions designed to teach prospective jurors how to pass voir dire and then acquit defendants on political grounds. The committee’s October 13 release and the letters to Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams request all documents and communications relating to the sessions, coordination with outside partners, and funding sources.
The committee’s letter quotes remarks it attributes to an August 12 training session and asserts that attendees were instructed to conceal ties to prison-abolition groups during jury selection. Those characterizations are the committee’s; the organizations have not, as of publication, issued a public response to the letters, and TIJ was unable to independently verify the content of the trainings. Readers should treat the committee’s description as an allegation pending the groups’ reply and any documents produced.
The investigation is notable for its jurisdictional footing. Congress holds plenary authority over the District under Article I, and the Oversight Committee has used that authority aggressively in the 119th Congress on local crime and prosecution issues. Whether the committee can compel production from private advocacy groups absent a subpoena is a separate question; the letters are voluntary requests at this stage, and no subpoena has been noticed on the committee’s calendar.
2. Federal search of Rep. Omar’s residence draws scrutiny from both parties’ oversight hands
Homeland Security Investigations agents on Monday executed what the Justice Department called a “judicially authorized search warrant” at the Washington, D.C., residence of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as part of “an ongoing federal criminal investigation,” according to a DOJ statement reported by the Associated Press via MPR News. The department provided no further details. Omar confirmed the search and characterized it as political intimidation; she has not been charged with any offense, and no indictment has been made public.
Reporting from Axios and others indicates the warrant referenced potential immigration-related offenses, including false statements. Vice President JD Vance said publicly in May that the administration intended to investigate the congresswoman, per the AP account. Omar’s office has previously called the underlying allegations fabricated and defamatory. All of this remains allegation; nothing in the public record establishes wrongdoing.
For congressional-oversight purposes, the search raises questions that both parties’ Judiciary and Oversight staff will likely pursue when members return: what Speech or Debate Clause protocols were followed for materials seized from a sitting member, whether the Justice Department’s longstanding practice of avoiding overt investigative steps against candidates in the weeks before an election was applied, and what the House General Counsel’s office was told. The House is not scheduled to return before November 9, which limits immediate formal oversight to member letters.
3. DOJ serves civil investigative demands on five networks over White House pool suspension
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division has opened an inquiry into whether ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News violated the Sherman Act when they jointly suspended pooled television coverage of the president after the White House revoked credentials from reporters at three outlets, according to CNBC and Deadline. The department issued civil investigative demands on Friday seeking communications related to the pool arrangement.
The legal theory, that a concerted refusal to deal among competitors can constitute an unlawful group boycott, is well established in commercial contexts. Its application to editorial coordination among news organizations is largely untested and will almost certainly draw First Amendment challenges if the inquiry proceeds to enforcement. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, publicly criticized the use of antitrust tools for this purpose, per the CNBC report. No Republican members of the subcommittee had issued statements as of publication.
Expect this to surface in the Senate Judiciary Committee when the chamber returns. The department’s own Antitrust Division oversight hearing, typically held annually, has not yet been scheduled for this session.
4. Permitting reform: cloture vote locked in for November 9
Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture before the recess on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, the House-passed Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act, which the Senate intends to use as the legislative vehicle for the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026. The Senate Daily Press Gallery confirms the cloture vote will occur at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November 9, the chamber’s first roll call after the midterms.
The underlying text, released September 30 by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah), Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), and ranking members Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), is the broadest permitting package to reach the Senate floor in a decade. According to a section-by-section analysis by Holland & Knight, it would narrow NEPA’s definition of “major federal action,” impose a 150-day statute of limitations on most environmental challenges, favor remand over vacatur when courts find deficiencies, expand FERC’s backstop transmission-siting authority, and create special cost-allocation rules for data-center loads of 20 megawatts or more. The full text is posted on the EPW Committee site.
The vote count is the open question. Sixty votes are required, and the deal’s Democratic sponsors will need to deliver a bloc of their caucus against opposition from environmental groups over the judicial-review provisions. House engagement is the other variable: the House has its own permitting bills, and the chambers will have to reconcile before anything reaches the president’s desk, most plausibly as part of a December omnibus.
5. CBO: FY2026 deficit lands at $2.0 trillion; interest-rate sensitivity is the story
The Congressional Budget Office’s Monthly Budget Review for September, released October 8, estimates the federal deficit for fiscal year 2026 at $2.0 trillion, $218 billion more than fiscal 2025. Revenues rose $169 billion, or 3 percent, on stronger individual income and payroll tax collections, but outlays rose $386 billion, or 6 percent, driven by net interest, major benefit programs, defense, and education.
A companion CBO analysis released the same day, Projections of Deficits and Debt Under Two Scenarios With Higher Interest Rates, quantifies the exposure. If all interest rates run 150 basis points above CBO’s February baseline through 2036, cumulative deficits would be $6.0 trillion larger and debt held by the public would reach 133.1 percent of GDP in 2036 rather than 120.2 percent. Even a 50-basis-point overshoot adds $1.9 trillion. CBO notes the 10-year Treasury closed at 5.2 percent on October 1, well above the 4.3 percent average in its baseline forecast.
The analysis was prepared at congressional request and lands as appropriators prepare for the December 11 expiration of the current continuing resolution. The Congressional Research Service’s overview of the FY2027 CR (Division A of P.L. 119-103) confirms that all twelve appropriations bills are funded at FY2026 levels through that date.
6. FY2027 NDAA remains stalled; no compromise text filed
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 enters the recess without a path to conference. The House passed H.R. 8800 on July 22 by a vote of 216-212, but the Senate’s companion, S. 4784, has not moved since cloture on the motion to proceed failed 50-46 on July 14, according to the CRS status tracker. The majority leader entered a motion to reconsider, preserving the option of a second cloture attempt.
The most likely path, as in several recent years, is a negotiated text produced by the four Armed Services leaders and attached to a December vehicle, bypassing Senate floor passage of S. 4784. CRS notes that since FY1977 the NDAA has been enacted an average of 45 days after the start of the fiscal year, which would put a December enactment at the outer edge of the historical range. The House-passed text also carries the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act as an engrossed rider, which the Senate will need to strip or address.
7. GAO flags fragmented GPS modernization; Oversight fraud bills await Senate action
A Government Accountability Office report dated October 7, Precision Navigation Systems: Challenges Remain with Fielding New Capabilities, finds that the Department of Defense’s GPS modernization efforts remain behind schedule and over budget, that DOD canceled the Next Generation Operational Control System in 2026 after years of delay, and that complementary positioning, navigation, and timing programs are fragmented across the services. GAO made three recommendations on consolidation; DOD concurred. The report text is republished by USNI News.
Separately, the eleven anti-fraud bills the House passed earlier this year at the Oversight Committee’s urging, including the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act (H.R. 8464) and the Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act (H.R. 8463), remain pending in the Senate. GAO’s July report to the committee (GAO-26-109100) estimated annual fraud losses across federal programs at between $233 billion and $521 billion, per the committee’s summary. None of the bills has been scheduled for Senate committee action.
Looking ahead
The Senate will hold pro forma sessions on October 15 (9:30 a.m.), October 19, October 22, October 26, October 29, November 2, and November 5, with no business expected, before returning at 3 p.m. on November 9. The House holds pro forma sessions Tuesday and Thursday of each recess week. The lame-duck agenda, in rough order of deadline pressure: the permitting cloture vote on November 9, the FY2027 NDAA, and the December 11 funding cliff, which will determine whether the remaining appropriations bills move as an omnibus or under another CR.
TIJ investigative beats
Three items from this digest bear directly on TIJ’s standing accountability work. The Oversight Committee’s prediction-market inquiry, which it expanded on September 29 to Hyperliquid, Crypto.com, and PredictIt, intersects with our reporting on trading activity ahead of U.S. military operations. The CBO fraud-loss estimate of up to $521 billion annually, and the state-administered program reviews it references in Minnesota, California, and Ohio, remain open threads. And the permitting package’s data-center cost-allocation provisions will shape the regulatory landscape for the hyperscale buildouts we have tracked in several states.
Right of reply: Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams had not publicly responded to the Oversight Committee’s letters at the time of publication. Rep. Omar’s office has publicly denied the underlying allegations. The networks named in the DOJ inquiry have not commented on the record. TIJ will update this digest with any responses received.