Happy Wednesday. Capitol Hill feels a bit giddy today, with lawmakers expected to leave soon to campaign in the final weeks leading up to the election. October is the new August, apparently!  Here’s what’s happening today:

• The House and Senate are both expected to pass a funding extension.
• Harris is sitting down with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle for an interview.
• Hurricane Helene is barreling toward Florida.
• Today is the new National Lobster Day! You can thank Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King for that.

I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to cmartel@thehill.com. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.  

©  GIPHY/GIPHY News

After weeks of dramatic speculation over how the government would be funded after Sept. 30, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) backed off his partisan funding plan. Now, the House and Senate are expected to pass a clean extension today.

The order of events: The House is expected to vote midafternoon to fund the government through mid-December. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Senate will also vote on the proposal this afternoon. He said he will not entertain any amendments that could delay the process.

💡Why Johnson backed off: Up until a few days ago, Johnson was adamant that he would push through a more partisan government funding plan that included a Trump-backed voting proposal — one that Democrats would never be on board with. He didn’t have enough votes, and the politics of a shutdown are atrocious for Republicans less than six weeks from Election Day.

What’s hanging over everyone’s heads: Hurricane Helene is brewing and is expected to intensify into a major hurricane later today, potentially hitting Florida tomorrow. That could impact travel for lawmakers. Keep scrolling for more on the storm.

As Taylor Swift says, ‘I think I’ve seen this film before’: Once again, Republicans needed the help of Democrats to fund the government, despite having the House majority. In fact, House Republicans came out of this funding fight with no major wins. The Hill’s Emily Brooks and Mychael Schnell report that some blame this on their own caucus’s dysfunction.

Read more on the dysfunction: ‘House GOP feels deja vu as new funding fight ends with no wins’

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee just released a scathing report on the Secret Service’s multiple failures leading up to the assassination attempt against former President Trump in July.

The committee described the potentially life-threatening incident as “preventable” by law enforcement. Details from the report

©  The Hill, Greg Nash

The Hill hosted a reception last night to celebrate the honorees of our annual “Notable Staffers” list.

Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) told stories and described how their staff keeps the wheels turning on Capitol Hill.

See who made the list: ‘The 25 staffers who make Capitol Hill run’

From Jim Jordan: “This is quite the panel. Raskin’s my favorite Democrat to argue with and Chip is my favorite Republican to argue with!” The audience erupted in laugher.

Imagine your boss with no distractions and the ability to text you lol: Roy mentioned texting his staff while flying on airplanes. Other members chimed in about how much they must annoy their staff with all their mid-flight thoughts and ideas. Lol.

You got us, Jamie 😉: Raskin said at one point, “I think this is a wonderful thing to ... focus on the staff ... I was thinking for a second that it was a very altruistic, philanthropic thing to do. And then I realized: You’re just trying to build up the pipeline for leaks to get into the newspapers.” This got a big laugh from the other members on stage.

Raskin also explained that while lawmakers spend roughly 50-60 percent of their time thinking about public policy, they have to spend the other 40-50 percent thinking about politics and elections. He said staff is able to focus on the policy side.

Remember when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) famously read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ on the Senate floor?: Well, Roy used to be a staffer for Cruz and explained the backstory to that. He said Cruz wanted to read his daughters a bedtime story. He scrambled around Capitol Hill trying to find books. “One of my buddies who lived two blocks away brought us a bunch of Dr. Seuss books,” he said.

Representation on Capitol Hill: Horsford shared that out of 535 offices on Capitol Hill, there are only 17 Latino and Latina chiefs of staff and 20 Black chiefs of staff.

📸 Photo of the room

Love!: Members of The Hill and NewsNation at the Notable Staffers event.

©  The Hill, Greg Nash

© GIPHY, NFL

Vice President Harris is heading to Pittsburgh today, where she will unveil her manufacturing policy plan. This is Harris’s eighth visit to the state since July, according to NPR.

Happening at 7 p.m.: Harris will sit down for an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle today while in Pittsburgh. She hasn’t done many interviews since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, so this is notable.

Meanwhile, former President Trump is spending his day in North Carolina. He’s speaking at a manufacturing facility in Mint Hill this afternoon. It’s manufacturing day today, apparently.

New polling: Harris now has a 7-point lead over Trump nationally, according to a new Reuters and Ipsos survey. The last edition of this poll showed Harris with a 5-point lead. Compare that to Quinnipiac University’s poll released Tuesday showing Trump outpacing Harris by 1 percentage point, 48 to 47 percent, well within the margin of error.

President Biden said on ABC’s “The View” that he is “at peace” with his decision to step down from the 2024 presidential race.

Some quotes from Biden: “I never fully believed the assertions that somehow there was this overwhelming reluctance of my running again,” Biden said.

“My polling was about, always within range of beating this guy.” (hat tip to The Hill’s Alex Gangitano)

• ‘News Outlets Brace for Chaos on Election Night (and Perhaps Beyond)’: The New York Times 😅
• ‘Trump is losing his edge on the economy among voters’: The Washington Post
• ‘Mark Robinson Scandal in North Carolina Injects Chaos Into Presidential Race’: The Wall Street Journal
• ‘Trump Was President Once’: “And it was a total failure, even by the standards he set for himself.” The Atlantic’s David A. Graham
• ‘Republicans’ Electoral College Edge, Once Seen as Ironclad, Looks to Be Fading’: The New York Times

Helene intensified into a hurricane this morning and is expected to make landfall in Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday night.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has issued a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties.

🌀 Weather Channel forecast

🌀 Helene’s projected path, from the National Hurricane Center

🌀 NOAA’s latest Satellite images of the storm

🦞 Celebrate: Today is National Vessel-for-Butter Day, I mean National Lobster Day!

The Senate just approved the resolution last week to make today National Lobster Day. How it happened, via the Portland Press Herald

© GIPHY, Food Network Canada

🐻 Oh good, the bear understood English!: A man had a run-in with a bear in his garage. 📹 Watch how he handled it, via CBS News

👃 'Tis the season for free COVID tests, fa la la la la: Households will be able to get four at-home COVID testing kits from the federal government. Here’s how to order them

The House and Senate are in. President Biden is in New York City, and Vice President Harris is in Pittsburgh. (all times Eastern)

• Noon: Two Senate votes. Another vote is expected around 3:45 p.m. 📆 Today’s agenda
• 1 p.m.: Former President Trump campaigns in Mint Hill, N.C. 💻 Livestream
• 2 p.m.: Biden hosts a bilateral meeting with General Secretary Tô Lâm of Vietnam.
• 3:15 p.m.: Harris campaigns in Pittsburgh. 💻 Livestream
• 3:30 p.m.: Biden hosts an event with world leaders launching a joint resolution to support Ukraine. 💻 Livestream
• 5:30 p.m.: First and last House votes. 📆 Today’s agenda
• 6:15 p.m.: Biden and first lady Jill Biden host a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• 7 p.m.: Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) campaigns in Traverse City, Mich. 💻 Livestream
• 10:25 p.m.: The Bidens return to the White House.

Let’s leave things on a lighter note. These cookies have moooooves.

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