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If you like sports and you love Taylor (and her potential budding romances) ... This analysis of The Kansas City Chiefs by USA TODAY columnist Mike Freeman is for you.
Travis Kelce made his official return on Sunday and all we can say is he fit back into Kansas City’s offense like a perfect rhyme.
August slipped away, and as good as quarterback Patrick Mahomes is, as the season opening loss to the Lions showed, he needs Kelce, because without him, the castle crumbled overnight. Kansas City brought a knife to a gunfight. The Lions took the crown but it's alright. Then came the Jaguars.
- Mike Freeman
Travis Kelce made his official return on Sunday and all we can say is he fit back into Kansas City’s offense like a perfect rhyme.
August slipped away, and as good as quarterback Patrick Mahomes is, as the season opening loss to the Lions showed, he needs Kelce, because without him, the castle crumbled overnight. Kansas City brought a knife to a gunfight. The Lions took the crown but it's alright. Then came the Jaguars.
- Mike Freeman, USA TODAY columnist
From USA TODAY reporter Ken Tran:
As House Republicans remain engulfed by infighting and appear to be no closer to avoiding a government shutdown than they were weeks ago, House Democrats have started to quietly step up in the shutdown fight.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House GOP leadership are working to garner support among lawmakers for a short-term stopgap funding measure – called a continuing resolution – negotiated by centrist and conservative GOP lawmakers.
But House Democrats have begun discussions with other moderate Republicans on a fallback plan if the stopgap bill falls through.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers could bypass standard procedure and force a vote on a spending bill on the House floor if 218 members approve a measure called a discharge petition. That would effectively sidestep McCarthy and the House's right flank, which has called for hardline spending cuts.
Those discussions among moderate lawmakers could have heightened importance as the country draws closer to a shutdown with no clear resolution in sight. House Republicans on Tuesday failed to push through a procedural vote to begin debate on defense spending legislation, traditionally a non-controversial bill, due to protests from ultra-conservative lawmakers. Government funding is set to expire on Sept. 30.
Read more here.
As Biden tries to sell Americans on an economic rebound, most Americans aren't buying it, according to an exclusive poll from USA TODAY and Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School that reveals major concerns about the state of the economy and little hope of people's outlook improving. What's worse for the incumbent president, Americans say they trust Donald Trump − not Biden − to fix it.
Groceries. Housing. Gas. All of these are pushing people further and further into debt, they say.
Nearly 70% of Americans said the economy is getting worse, according to the poll, while only 22% said the economy is improving. Eighty-four percent of Americans said their cost of living is rising, and nearly half of Americans, 49%, blamed food and grocery prices as the main driver.
The White House has tried to get credit for an unemployment rate that's near a 50-year-low, a robust job market, including 13.5 million jobs added under the Biden presidency, and annual inflation that, according to the Consumer Price Index, is down to 3.7% from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022.
Yet only 34% of Americans said they approve of Biden's handling of the economy, compared with 59% who disapprove, according to the poll.
The poll, a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults by mobile and landline phones from Sept. 6 to Sept. 11, has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. Interviews of poll respondents by USA TODAY underscored a nation deeply worried about the economic future.