President Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers facing tough reelection campaigns to run on his record in the White House despite his sagging popularity, and he pledged to campaign in all of the roughly three dozen contests that are likely to determine control of Congress.
Also, a federal judge in Boston will hear arguments Thursday on whether to extend her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service requiring states to use a new mail balloting system for the midterms as part of an executive order by Trump. The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.
Here's the latest:
The Labor Department reported Thursday filings for benefits ticked up to 206,000 last week from a revised 204,000 the week before. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, rose modestly to 207,250 last week.
Claims for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them because they can be a sign of where the job market is headed. For the past year, claims have mostly stayed within a historically low range of 200,000 to 230,000 a week.
Companies, remembering the worker shortages that followed the end of COVID-19 lockups, are still reluctant to let go of staff. The unemployment rate is low at 4.1%.
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The latest pieces of President Trump’s wide-ranging Washington makeover are set for an airing Thursday in front of a federal panel that already has blessed other big-ticket plans from the designer-in-chief.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which this spring approved Trump’s White House ballroom proposal after he razed the Executive Mansion’s East Wing without authorization, will discuss a proposed fence around Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
The panel also will review a proposed underground security screening center for White House visitors. It’s the first time the commission will take up either idea, and votes aren’t expected. But the commission and the separate U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thus far have not been an obstacle for Trump’s plans for the capital.
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The president took the unusual step of correcting a misleading statement by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had said in an interview that no U.S. forces had died in the Iran war.
“Sec. Lutnick had Venezuela on his mind when he said nobody was killed,” Trump posted on social media. “18 people were killed in Iran!”
Lutnick had said in a Wednesday CNBC interview that no Americans had died in the conflict that began at the end of February. But Lutnick in his remarks was specifically talking about the Iran war, which he called “an economic chokeout.”
A federal judge in Boston will hear arguments Thursday on whether to extend her prohibition against the U.S. Postal Service requiring states to use a new mail balloting system for the midterms as part of an executive order by President Donald Trump.
The hearing in the closely watched case comes the day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani is considering whether to order a preliminary injunction that would bar the Postal Service from requiring the new system to be used for the midterms. Last week, she imposed a 14-day temporary restraining order to keep it from being used. That order expires next week as more states begin sending out mail ballots.
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Republican lawmakers facing tough reelection campaigns to run on his record in the White House despite his sagging popularity, and he pledged to campaign in all of the roughly three dozen contests that are likely to determine control of Congress.
Voters’ dim views of the economy and the war in Iran have put Republicans in a tough spot as the midterm election season enters its final stretch. But during a dinner in the Rose Garden, one of the spaces he has controversially renovated since returning to office last year, the president told his party’s most vulnerable lawmakers they had a triumphant story to tell voters.
“All you have to do is talk about it, and you’re going to win and you’re going to win big,” Trump said a week before the party gathers in Dallas for an unusual midterm convention.
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President Donald Trump speaks during an event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
