Following the recent “revolt” of House Republicans against President Donald Trump and his push to extend a mass surveillance program, GOP Senate leaders are “privately fuming” at their House counterparts for “dumping many crises in their laps,” Punchbowl News reported Tuesday.

Beyond House Republicans’ rejection of Trump’s push to extend the mass surveillance program, the House GOP also rejected a plan approved by Senate Republicans to partially fund the Department of Homeland Security amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, another instance that frustrated Senate GOP leadership.

The now-frequent rifts between House and Senate Republicans, Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen and John Bresnahan wrote, “have made clear that there’s only one functional chamber on Capitol Hill right now – the Senate – and it’s barely so.”

“This is putting a ton of new pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), whose majority is suddenly at risk. President Donald Trump’s sagging approval ratings and the GOP’s inability to notch legislative wins due to constant infighting are a burden too,” they wrote in Punchbowl News’ morning newsletter.

“Plus, Thune is dealing with a MAGA onslaught over the SAVE America Act, a relentless push to gut the filibuster and an Iranian war that’s exacerbating affordability concerns while providing Democrats with new political ammo.”

Speaking with Punchbowl News Monday, Thune suggested that limitations placed on both chambers were at the core of the rifts and disagreements between House and Senate Republicans.

“They’ve got their limitations, and so do we,” Thune told Punchbowl News. “So we’ve just got to figure it out.”

On the SAVE Act, the voting requirements bill backed by Trump, one Republican senator told Punchbowl News that Thune had been carrying on a “charade” to placate far-right senators even as the bill faces obstacles in both chambers.

“John is playing footsie with MAGA on the SAVE Act. Nothing he does will ever satisfy them,” said the GOP senator, speaking with Punchbowl News on the condition of anonymity. “Why are we carrying on with this charade?”

Reacting to reports out of the Beltway that Republican lawmakers are crossing their fingers and hoping either Supreme Court Justices Sam Alito or Clarence Thomas will make a surprise retirement announcement just prior to the midterm election, MS NOW Now’s Jonathan Lemire reported that Democrats have their own opinions about what is transpiring.

Last week it was reported that both of the elderly justices will be returning, which dashed the hopes of some far-right lawmakers who want Donald Trump to pack the court with younger right-wing extremists.

On Monday, the Hill reported, “Senate Republicans who fear their three-seat majority could be in danger in this year’s midterm election would welcome the retirement of conservative Justice Samuel Alito as an 'October surprise' that could change their political fortunes by rallying GOP-leaning voters to the polls.”

On “Morning Joe,” Lemire addressed the report with Politico’s Jonathan Martin.

“There are Republicans who are hoping for Justice Alito or Justice Thomas, they've both been rumored to potentially retire as a motivating factor for Republicans to come out…. Both justices have put it out there that they don't plan to,” he began. “But JMart, Democrats also are talking about this, and they have said –– I've talked to a couple in the last week or so who have said, ‘Wait, there's talk that Alito and Thomas are going to stay; that's actually a smokescreen that they are going to retire’, that they're banking on complacency and they are going to come out and they will fulfill that October surprise.”

Martin replied, “Yeah. You and I lived through 2018; otherwise a really good election for Democrats, also Donald Trump's first midterm in a previous life. But guess what happened in 2018? Well, you had the Brett Kavanaugh story and that had a huge impact on the Senate races.”

“I can go on and on, races that were thought to be competitive,” he recalled. “Democrats just collapsed, especially in red America, because of that Supreme Court story. I'm not saying that Kavanaugh is going to be analogous to whatever happens with the possibility of Alito or Thomas stepping down, but it does present the opportunity to juice the political right at a time when they are demoralized right now, because obviously, Democrats have enthusiasm, and President Trump hasn't given his folks a lot to come out for.”

- YouTube youtu.be

Friends,

I want to make sure you know that Lori Chavez-DeRemer has resigned as Secretary of Labor [translated: she was told to resign by the White House], after facing investigations by the Department’s inspector general into multiple allegations of misconduct.

She’s alleged to have been drinking during the workday from a “stash” of alcohol in her office, arranging official trips for herself that were extended vacations, taking subordinates to an Oregon strip club while on one such trip, showing no interest in the work of the department, and having an affair with a member of her security team.

Sources have described Chavez-DeRemer as the “boss from hell,” saying she demanded staffers run personal errands for her or perform other menial tasks unrelated to their government jobs. More than two dozen department employees from across the political spectrum described in interviews with The New York Times a toxic workplace characterized by an absentee secretary, hostile aides, and a deeply demoralized staff.

In other words, Chavez-DeRemer was turning the great department I once headed and loved into s--t. And I hold Trump responsible because he appointed her.

As I shared with you a few weeks ago, I loved the Department of Labor from the moment I entered the Frances Perkins Building on Constitution Avenue as secretary of labor in January 1992. I loved its mission: to protect and raise the standard of living of working Americans.

I loved its history. The first secretary of labor, Frances Perkins — appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 — was also America’s first female Cabinet secretary. She was the guiding light behind the creation of Social Security, the 40-hour workweek, the National Labor Relations Act, and much more.

I hung the painting of Frances Perkins behind my desk in my huge second-floor office. Whenever I felt discouraged, I looked at her, and she bucked me up. (Although I’m Jewish, I called her Saint Frances.)

I admired the Department of Labor’s career staff, who were dedicated to helping American workers. I was deeply impressed by the assistant secretaries, the deputy secretary, the chief of staff, and other appointees with whom I toiled, often six or seven days a week from early morning to late at night.

Never before or since have I had the privilege of working with such talented people who cared so much about what they were accomplishing for the American people, and who made such a positive impact on so many lives.

We raised the minimum wage for the first time in many years, even under a Republican-controlled Congress. We implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act. We fought against sweatshops. We took on big corporations that were cheating their employees. We kept workers safe. We … well, I could go on and on. (And I have, in my book Locked in the Cabinet, which you can also find here, but please don’t order from here.)

But like so much else Trump has done, he’s turned what was once a great department into a f---ing mess. And it frankly breaks my heart.

It’s what you get when you have a president and White House staff who don’t give a rat’s a-- about whom they appoint to positions of power except for their loyalty to Trump and how they look on television.

Trump and his White House assistants don’t mind if his appointees wreck our government because they don’t care about government. Hell, they came to government to wreck it. If the public loses confidence in, say, the Department of Labor, that’s perfectly fine. If Congress slashes its funding, so much the better.

What they do mind is if a cabinet member makes Trump look bad, which is why Krisi Noem and Pam Bondi are now history — along with Chavez-DeRemer.

It infuriates me because I’ve seen government work for the people. I’ve witnessed public servants who care deeply and bust their a--es in service to this country. I know how important government can be if it’s doing the job it should be doing.

I loved the Department of Labor because it has improved the lives of millions of Americans. I worked like hell as secretary of labor because I believed in what we were doing. That it’s been treated like crap is an insult to generations of hardworking DOL employees, to American workers, to America.

The least we can all do is flip Congress in November, so senators and representatives who care about this country can oversee the departments of the government and try to remedy some of the wreckage that Trump and his appointees have wreaked on America.

In the meantime, goodbye and good riddance to Madam Secretary Chavez-DeRemer.

• Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/. His new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org