Here in Washington, Congress is back – and the clock is ticking. Funding for the federal government runs out at month’s end. If Congress doesn’t act, all but essential services will halt. Bipartisanship will be required to prevent a shutdown. The good news is that talks might be in the offing, but stay tuned.

A host of other issues – from the Jeffrey Epstein files to tariffs and the war in Gaza – are also roiling Capitol Hill. But the big news on Tuesday was a federal judge’s ruling that President Donald Trump’s military deployment to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. In our lead story today, the Monitor’s Henry Gass and Story Hinckley lay out what this means for the president’s plans to deploy troops to other cities.