Thune launches four-week Senate confirmation blitz before the August recess

Senate Majority Leader John Thune opens a summer push to confirm Trump nominees, with hearings next week for DNI pick Jay Clayton, acting AG Todd Blanche, Labor's Keith Sonderling and CDC's Erica Schwartz; FISA Section 702 stays dark until acting DNI Bill Pulte is removed.

Trump fires remaining Election Assistance Commission members, freezing the agency

President Trump ousted the last two Democratic commissioners and let the Republican resign, leaving the federal Election Assistance Commission — which funds and supports state election administration — unable to act months ahead of the midterms.

Signs point to a Pennsylvania budget deal by early next week

Ten days past the June 30 deadline, negotiators signaled progress: the GOP-controlled Senate scheduled Friday committee meetings and a Saturday voting session, while the Democratic-majority House set a Saturday appropriations meeting and a full session Sunday at noon.

Two Pennsylvanians could hold the top House Budget Committee posts

Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-02) is the panel's ranking member, and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-11) is in the mix to become the next top Republican — putting Pennsylvania in position to control both leadership spots on the House Budget Committee.

State Sen. Rothman's family firm took a fee on a $30M data-center land sale

Sen. Greg Rothman (co-op: Adams), a career real-estate agent and state GOP chair, said he was not involved in the June 2025 sale of Cumberland County land for a controversial data-center project, but confirmed his family firm RSR Realtors received a real-estate fee on the deal.

Fetterman and McCormick campaigns form a joint fundraising committee

Pennsylvania's U.S. Sens. John Fetterman (D) and Dave McCormick (R), on opposite sides of the aisle, have teamed their campaigns up to create a joint fundraising committee — an unusual cross-party pairing.

Referred to URBAN AFFAIRS AND HOUSING, July 9, 2026 [MONITOR]

PA General Assembly In app →

Referred to CONSUMER PROTECTION AND PROFESSIONAL LICENSURE, July 9, 2026 (keyword: public utilities)

PA General Assembly In app →

House · Bill On Concurrence (keywords: data center, data centers)

Senate · Third Consideration (watchlist)

FERC Commissioner David LaCerte said July 9 in Philadelphia that PJM's status quo is 'really untenable' and its stakeholder process has ground into gridlock, ahead of a July 23 FERC technical conference on fast-path reforms; PJM's real-time RTO price sat near $33.95/MWh (Western Hub $33.72) against 108.8 GW load Friday morning.

Illinois regulators approve a ComEd virtual power plant under the state's clean-energy law

Illinois regulators approved a Commonwealth Edison virtual power plant program under the state's new clean-energy law, an approach mirrored in Pennsylvania's pending HB 2264, which would authorize a VPP program in the commonwealth.

The U.S. Department of Energy closed a loan of up to $3.26 billion to AEP Texas, the transmission-and-distribution utility, one of several federal energy-financing moves reported this week alongside Duke trimming a rate-hike request under regulator pushback.

Mike Yastrzemski's game-sealing grand slam in the ninth and Matt Olson's first-inning home run carried Atlanta past the Pirates 10-5 on Thursday, dropping Pittsburgh to 47-47 as it opens a weekend home series against Milwaukee.