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☔Expect some possible showers this morning and tonight, with clouds in between.

GBH’s Adam Reilly was in Washington yesterday covering Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “These hearings are grueling affairs; they go on for hours. Today was about six hours long,” Adam said after the hearing. “The questioning from half of the room for the panelists — like Mayor Wu — is extremely hostile. There’s always the risk that if you say the wrong thing at the wrong moment, you’re going to go viral in a really destructive way.”

But Wu had strong moments, Adam said, “at least, for people who agree with her politics and share her worldview.” He also said Wu did not sound fazed after Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, suggested that the Department of Justice think about criminally prosecuting Wu and three other mayors who testified.

“As we heard throughout the many hours of testimony today, Boston follows the laws,” Wu said. If you have nine minutes to spare, check out Adam’s full conversation with GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath.

Four Things to Know

$180,000 payback: Everett’s city council is calling on Mayor Carlo DeMaria to reimburse the city $180,000 in bonus payments he’s received over the years for serving out his terms in office — an unusual pay structure that the state’s inspector general called improper. Members of the council also told the mayor they’d like $150,000 for an audit of all payments made to him since 2016.

Sen. Ed Markey said he believes his fellow Democrats should be speaking directly with American voters. “We need to persuade them that the cuts to health care are their families, the cuts to education are their families, the endangerment of the water, the air, of the land that people live on, are their legacy, their tradition that they should want to pass on to their children,” he said. “Nothing Donald Trump said [Tuesday] night showed that he’s working for those working people. ... If we talk to those voters who voted for him, we have a chance to build a winning majority this year to block him.”

What do DOGE cuts actually mean? Jonathan Kamens worked for the U.S. Digital Service as the lead cybersecurity expert on VeteransAffairs.Gov, the website where veterans can access their benefits and VA services. The portal contains sensitive personal information, including diagnoses, disabilities, bank account details, and Social Security numbers. Kamens told GBH’s Boston Public Radio that staffing was already stretched thin before the mass layoffs. “If you don’t maintain the cybersecurity of a website, eventually someone breaks into it,” he said.

Not quite chugging along: A report from the Massachusetts State Auditor’s Office found that the MBTA should have charged Keolis — the private company that runs the commuter rail — $3,324,126 in penalties and overpayments from 2020 through 2023. That money could have gone to system improvements, Auditor Diana DiZoglio said. Among the issues found: improperly maintained station repair logs and improperly documented Americans with Disabilities Act inspections.

Boston Mayor Wu testifies before Congress on immigration policies

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was in Washington yesterday — along with the mayors of Chicago, Denver, and New York — to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on how local law enforcement officers interact with federal immigration officers. The four mayors were called because they lead what are sometimes called “sanctuary cities.” That’s a term without a universal definition but, when people use it, they’re typically talking about a place that has at least some legal limits on how much local police departments and jails cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, said the four cities were offering a false promise with their policies and “disgracing a legal immigration system that came here — and the immigrants that came here the right way.”

“How can you get a comprehensive immigration policy when you’re defying it from the very get-go?” Gosar asked. “You’re building it on false premises and false tenets.”

“Respectfully, congressman, you could pass bipartisan immigration legislation, and that would be comprehensive immigration law,” Wu responded. “The false narrative is that immigrants, in general, are criminals. Or that immigrants, in general, cause all sorts of danger and harm. That is — that is actually what is undermining safety in our communities. If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms. Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our city safe.”

Read a full accounting of Wu’s testimony, including fact-checking, here.