Senate Advances Lulu’s Law and Contentious FAA Nomination
The Watchful Tide and the Unseen Storm by DALL-E 3
Senate Advances Lulu’s Law and Contentious FAA Nomination
Bread and Circus: The Complete Record of American Governance
Today’s newsletter covers official U.S. government happenings from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches yesterday, as well as key economic indicators. Below, you’ll find concise summaries of each document, with links to the original sources for further reading.
What Happened Yesterday:
🦅 Executive Branch: No activity
🏛️ Legislative Branch: 2 documents (1 Congressional Record - Daily Digest, 1 Congressional Record - Senate Section)
⚖️ Judicial Branch: No activity
📊 Economic Indicators: 1 documents (1 Pew Research report)
Total words condensed: 30,854 into 1,084
The Big Picture
On July 8, 2025, the Senate made notable progress on several fronts. It passed Lulu’s Law, which authorizes the government to send emergency wireless alerts about shark attacks, a new public safety measure with immediate practical use. The Senate also advanced key nominations for government positions in banking, energy, and aviation, including contentious debates over the FAA nominee Bryan Bedford, whose past lobbying against pilot safety rules raised concerns. Additionally, defense committees moved parts of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act forward, signaling ongoing efforts to finalize the country’s defense budget. These developments matter because they shape how the government responds to emergencies, manages critical agencies, and funds national security.
Meanwhile, public opinion research from Pew reveals a complex global picture of how people view the United States and other major powers. While many in 12 countries, including Israel, Japan, and South Korea, see the U.S. as their closest ally, significant portions of populations in Canada and Mexico view the U.S. as a top threat. Views on China and Russia also vary widely by region and political affiliation, highlighting deep divisions in international perceptions. These attitudes matter because they influence diplomatic relations and cooperation on global challenges, potentially affecting trade, security alliances, and conflict dynamics in the near future.
Pattern to Watch
A clear pattern emerging from these developments is the increasing focus on national security and public safety amid a backdrop of political division and shifting international perceptions. The Senate’s push to confirm nominees for key defense and regulatory roles, alongside advancing the defense budget, shows a prioritization of strengthening government institutions responsible for safety and security. At the same time, the Pew survey indicates growing polarization in how countries and political groups view major powers like the U.S., China, and Russia, which could complicate diplomatic efforts. Continued confirmation battles over nominees with controversial backgrounds and further defense spending decisions, combined with evolving public opinion polls, will signal whether this focus on security amid geopolitical uncertainty intensifies or leads to new policy directions.
🦅 Executive Branch
No activity today.
🏛️ Legislative Branch
Congressional Record
On July 8, 2025, the Senate passed a law called Lulu’s Law (S.1003) that lets the government send emergency wireless alerts about shark attacks. The Senate also started talking about several important government job picks, including Jonathan Gould for a banking role and Preston Griffith for an energy job. They voted to limit debate on Griffith’s nomination with 47 votes for and 41 against, and on Bryan Bedford’s nomination for the Federal Aviation Administration, with 47 votes for and 42 against. The Senate planned more votes on these and other nominations on July 9. Meanwhile, several defense committees approved parts of the big defense spending bill for 2026, called the National Defense Authorization Act, moving it closer to full Senate review. The House did not meet that day. These actions are important because they fill key government positions and advance laws that affect public safety and national defense. Read full document →
Random excerpts from the Senate
On a day when Americans are supposed to celebrate our independence and our blessings as citizens of this great Nation, Donald Trump signed one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in modern history--the biggest giveaway to billionaires ever, the biggest cuts to Medicaid, devastation to our healthcare economy and America’s clean energy economy, with millions of projected job losses--so many job losses that it could well cause us to fall into recession. When it is harder to find jobs, more people get fired, and prices go up. This vote will haunt our Republican colleagues. It will haunt them every time a rural hospital closes. It will haunt them every time seniors are unable to get home care. It will haunt them as premiums go up, as the uninsured rates spike, as kids go hungry, as jobs disappear, and as our adversaries grow stronger while America grows weaker.
— Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Minority Leader
Mr. Bedford has then led a trade association that spent millions of dollars lobbying against the 1,500-hour rule and other pilot training policies, including as recently as the first quarter of this year. And in 2022, Mr. Bedford’s company petitioned the FAA for an exemption from the 1,500-hour rule. That effort failed, but as head of the FAA, he will be in the very job that he basically tried to lobby to say, Let’s weaken safety standard rules. My colleagues and I gave Mr. Bedford multiple chances in our Commerce Committee nomination hearing to tell us that he, if confirmed, would not weaken that rule, but he repeatedly refused to give us an answer or commitment. To me, that was the evidence that I needed to understand, if the 1,500-hour rule, which has been in place since the Colgan Air tragedy, could be at risk if Mr. Bedford were confirmed. Mr. Bedford would not commit to recusing himself from ruling on his own company’s exemption request from the 1,500-hour rule for the entirety of his 5-year term as FAA Administrator. In other words, he could decide to grant his own company an exemption, the same thing he tried to do when he was in the private sector lobbying the FAA.
This study asked people in 25 countries which country they think is their most important friend and which country they see as the biggest threat. About half or more of people in 12 countries said the United States is their top friend, including almost all people in Israel, Japan, and South Korea. But in six countries, many people said the U.S. is the biggest threat, like 59% of Canadians and 68% of Mexicans. People near Russia mostly see Russia as the biggest threat, while in the U.S. and some Asia-Pacific countries, China is seen as the main threat by 42% of Americans and about half of Australians and Japanese. Views also change by politics; for example, in the U.S., 58% of Republicans see China as the biggest threat, but 39% of Democrats say Russia is the biggest threat. These results show that people’s feelings about other countries depend a lot on where they live and their history, which is important because it affects how countries work together or disagree on world issues. Read full document →
