U.S. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) of Washington, D.C. is 88. She has been asked repeatedly if she plans to run for re-election. While she says yes, her office has said maybe.

She “keeps personally telling reporters she will run for re-election — only for her staff to walk it back,” Axios reported on Tuesday.

“I’m certainly going to run for reelection,” Norton told Axios’ Andrew Solender Tuesday morning.

Norton also told an NBC News reporter last week, “Yeah, I’m gonna run for re-election.”

“An hour-and-a-half-later, Norton’s spokesperson Sharon Nichols told Axios: ‘No decision has been made. She wants to run but is still discussing it with people closest to her.'”

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Axios’ report details a pattern of declarations and walkbacks.

“On June 10, Norton said, ‘I’m gonna run. I don’t know why anybody would even ask me.’ Her office walked it back a few hours later, saying ‘she’s in conversations with her family, friends, and closest advisors to decide what’s best.’ Norton also told Axios in April that she was considering a run for Oversight Committee ranking member only for her office to walk it back hours later.”

The New York Times last month reported that Norton’s colleagues and friends say she “is struggling to do her job.”

For example, as she “attended a recent gala to accept an award honoring her decades-long career in Congress, she appeared to be struggling to read her brief remarks.”

“A pall fell over the audience as Ms. Norton stumbled through her speech, according to an attendee,” the Times reported, citing an article by Washingtonian magazine.

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The Times also described Norton as “the oldest member of the House,” and said she “has become frail” and “sometimes does not seem to recognize people she has known for years.”

By the end of this year, 77 House Democrats and 58 House Republicans will be 65 years or older, according to The Washington Post.

There are four vacancies in the U.S. House of Representatives for seats that were held by three Democrats and one Republican.

Currently, there are 212 Democrats and 219 Republicans. Were all 435 seats full, there would be 215 Democrats and 220 Republicans, making Speaker Johnson’s margin one of the closest in nearly a century. While Norton is a non-voting member of Congress, the District of Columbia is represented only through her role.

READ MORE: Trump Border Czar: Blame Congress for ICE Masks

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President Donald Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, says that if Americans object to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wearing masks during their often warrantless detentions of undocumented immigrants, they should take it up with Congress—which, he claims, is fueling the controversy by comparing ICE to Nazis.

In recent months, numerous reports have surfaced of  ICE agents—some wearing masks and lacking identifying patches—detaining undocumented immigrants, lawful residents, and even U.S. citizens, sparking widespread outrage across the country.

The acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, on Sunday defended agents wearing masks, and said he would continue to allow them.

“As Donald Trump has ramped up his unprecedented effort to deport immigrants around the country, ICE officers have become notorious for wearing masks to approach and detain people, often with force. Legal advocates and attorneys general have argued that it poses accountability issues and contributes to a climate of fear,” The Guardian reported.

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While acknowledging he is “not a proponent of the masks,” Lyons told CBS News on Sunday, “if that’s a tool that the men and women of ICE [need] to keep themselves and their family safe, then I will allow it.”

But some state and local officials want to ban the practice.

“Images of masked, armed agents in plain clothes grabbing people off the streets and rushing them into unmarked vehicles have alarmed many Americans — and put pressure on lawmakers to respond,” Axios reported on Saturday. “A growing number of Democratic-leaning states and cities are weighing proposals to ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks and require them to display IDs when making arrests.”

Tom Homan, speaking to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, said that the practice of wearing masks will continue, but he alleged the blame lies with Congress—and specifically its “far-left” members.

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“Look, the masks, I think, are important,” Homan said. “How do we get rid of the masks? Stop the hateful rhetoric. The assaults on ICE officers are up 800%.”

“I specifically mean members of Congress. If members of Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left—the out-of-control people—it emboldens them to take action.”

“I’m just asking, let’s stop the hateful rhetoric. If you question what ICE does, then let’s go to Congress and talk about the immigration law and what changes are needed, but again, they’re simply enforcing the law that they’re required to enforce and uphold the oath that they took to enforce those laws.”

There is no law that says ICE is required or allowed to wear masks—or banned from doing so.

“There is no constitutional protection or ban on immigration agents wearing masks or face coverings,” The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Homan on ICE officers: “The masks I think are important. How do we get rid of the masks? Stop the hateful rhetoric … I specifically mean members of Congress. If members of Congress can compare ICE to the Nazis, that gives some of those people on the far left — it emboldens… pic.twitter.com/3JiJKLnDzV

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 22, 2025

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The White House on Monday asserted that new “data” proves the U.S. economy is “back on track,” but inflation—a leading concern for consumers—has surged to its highest level in months. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of inflation, according to a recent poll.

“Even the media admits the U.S. economy is ‘regaining its swagger’ under President Donald J. Trump — and you need not look further than the banner economic news from the past week for proof,” the White House posted on its website in a selective assortment of data points, some of which don’t present a complete picture.

The administration’s post links to a Wall Street Journal article that offers a bit of a different take from the White House’s version: the economy’s “swagger” had actually dropped under President Trump.

“When President Trump slapped tariffs on nations across the globe this spring, many economists feared higher prices and spending cuts would flatten the economy,” the Journal reported. “Consumer sentiment collapsed. The S&P 500 stock index fell by 19% between February and April. The world held its breath and waited for the bottom to drop out.”

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The article goes on to say, “that didn’t happen,” and “businesses and consumers are regaining their swagger.”

Not all is perfect, however, the Journal makes clear.

“There are still signs of turbulence in the U.S. economy. Growth has been subdued. Inflation, while down from pandemic peaks, is still higher than the Federal Reserve would like. Manufacturing activity shrank for the fourth straight month in June, and immigration raids are damping spending among Hispanic consumers,” the paper noted. “Trump has repeatedly delayed the higher tariffs for imports from many countries he threatened in April, and the risk of fallout from steeper levies still looms.”

While inflation may be “down from pandemic peaks,” it has risen in each of the past three months: from 2.3% (April) to 2.4% (May) to 2.7% (June). And the Journal warns, the “effect of tariffs could still be on the way.”

And according to the White House, “inflation is falling as domestic production surges.”

The White House, however, chose to discuss “core inflation,” which does not include critical items like food and energy. Prices on items like beef have just hit record highs, with CNN reporting, “Beef prices are the new egg prices. They’re soaring.”

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“Wholesale prices,” the White House boasted, “came in completely flat, below market expectations,” but, as MarketWatch reported, the “wholesale report doesn’t capture the cost of imports as well as the consumer-price index, which showed a sharper increase.”

The White House also pointed to “strong wage gains,” but according to the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, wage growth since February has been flat at 4.3%, until June, when it dropped to 4.2%.

Meanwhile, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll published Sunday, nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) disapprove of President Trump’s handling of inflation—a key factor in his winning the November election. Just 36% approve.

The vast majority of those who approve are Republicans: 76%. Just 5% of Democrats agreed.

The Hill on Monday reported that the CBS News/YouGov poll “also found that half of U.S. adults think the Trump administration’s policies have made them ‘financially worse off,’ and 62 percent think the White House’s policies have driven food and grocery costs up.”

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