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On Politics

Mon Sep 21 2026

Zachary Schermele | Congressional Correspondent

@zachschermele

Hello, readers. Welcome back to On Politics. Zach Schermele here, USA TODAY's congressional correspondent. It's Monday, the start of a week of very high-stakes meetings between world leaders in New York City and here in Washington. Let's get into it.

The ban backlash

Major TV networks suspended their White House pool coverage this morning and will no longer send camera crews for the foreseeable future to cover most of President Donald Trump's events that are open to the press. As my colleague Joey Garrison reports, the decision was made in solidarity with CNN, after Trump denied White House access to reporters for the cable channel, as well as MS NOW and POLITICO. The move from the five networks that make up the television pool ‒ ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, in addition to CNN ‒ means a broadcast television feed that is distributed widely for media won't be carried.

•	In other words: Many regular Americans, and people across the world, will have less access to visuals and information about the president, at least for now, starting on a critical week in foreign policy news, when both the United Nations General Assembly gathering and a summit in DC between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are happening.
•	Bottom line: It's a major escalation of an unprecedented free-speech battle at the highest levels of American politics.

A politics rundown

•	CNN, MS NOW and Politico sue Trump over White House ban
•	JD Vance defends White House media ban as outlets sue
•	These key races will decide which party controls the House

Daily photo gallery: Correspondents report from the street after being denied White House access

Tech leaders invited to state dinner

Elon Musk and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman are among the tech leaders expected to attend a White House state dinner welcoming Xi Jinping, amid growing concerns about the speed of artificial intelligence development. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Google’s Sundar Pichai will join Musk and Altman at the dinner on Thursday, senior U.S. officials told our Pentagon reporter Miles J. Herszenhorn . Top industry leaders have called for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence, arguing that a more measured pace is necessary to ensure global safety.

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Will Congress rein in AI?

When a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist emerged from a closed-door meeting with members of Congress last week about AI safety , he had a stark warning: They may have just a year left to meaningfully rein in the rapidly advancing technology. Yet that sense of urgency is far from widely shared among lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Beyond disagreements over the finer details of artificial intelligence regulation, the lack of uniform time sensitivity is frustrating Democrats and Republicans alike , who think Congress needs to take significant action sooner rather than later.

•	"We don’t need to be in a hurry," Rep. Nathaniel Moran, a Texas Republican who has co-authored bipartisan legislation to shut down rogue AI models, told me. "We need to make sure to be prudent and wise in our decision-making."

Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on the other hand, warned of a risk of "mass destruction" without swift regulation.