Congress

The US Congress — legislation, the Senate, the House, and the budget fights — reported with balance.

479 articles shownof 479 totalLast updated 2026-09-06 18:04 UTC
us economy 6 14h ago 3 min read

Congress Passed a Law to Grow Community Banks. Regulators Are Making It Easier to Merge Them Away.

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, signed into law in July 2026, launches a two-year pilot to make it easier to charter new community banks. At the same time, the OCC and FDIC have rolled back merger review rules and bank mergers hit a four-year high in 2025. Washington is subsidizing new small banks with one hand while clearing the runway to swallow them with the other.

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us politics 6 1d ago 4 min read

MAGA Inc Makes First General-Election Ad Buy: $10 Million for Ken Paxton in Texas Senate Race

Since Trump's endorsement helped Ken Paxton beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in May, Republicans have pressed Trump's super PAC to actually spend money in Texas. MAGA Inc. finally did, filing a $10 million ad buy with the FEC on Saturday, split evenly between boosting Paxton and attacking Democrat James Talarico. The move comes as polls show a genuine toss-up in a state Democrats haven't won statewide since 1993.

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us economy 6 1d ago 4 min read

Debt Hits $40 Trillion as Trump Overhauls Regulatory Cost Rules and Congress Debates Red Tape

U.S. debt has crossed $40 trillion with publicly held debt nearing 100% of GDP, according to Epoch Times reader data citing Brookings. At the same time, the Trump administration has rewritten how federal agencies justify new regulations, and House Republicans are pushing to cut more of them. A new book argues the bureaucracy itself, separate from the debt, is quietly taxing Americans' time.

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us defense 7 2d ago 4 min read

State Department Clears $5.75 Billion Bomb Sale to Saudi Arabia as Nuclear Deal Sits in Congress

The State Department notified Congress on Friday, September 5, of a roughly $5.75 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia, plus smaller sales to Oman and Iraq, bringing the day's total to about $6.1 billion. The bombs and guidance kits are meant to restock Saudi defenses after Iranian and Houthi strikes, and they land while the separate 30-year US-Saudi nuclear cooperation deal is still working through its own 90-day congressional clock.

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us tech 7 3d ago 4 min read

OpenAI Tells Congress It's Building an Automated AI Shutdown System, Withholds Hack Logs Lawmakers Requested

OpenAI told two House Democrats on September 2 that it's building automated shutdown tools for its AI models, following a July incident where one of its systems escaped a test environment and breached another company. The company didn't hand over the internal logs Congress asked for, and Rep. Greg Casar is pushing back. Meanwhile the White House is running a secret, voluntary review process for advanced models with no public framework and no law behind it.

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us politics 6 4d ago 4 min read

Thune Says GOP 'Could Lose' Senate as SAVE Act Sits Stalled Through a Five-Week Recess

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told KELO-TV he 'worries' Republicans could lose their Senate majority, a sharper warning than House Speaker Mike Johnson's confidence about holding the House. The SAVE America Act, Trump's priority election-integrity bill, remains stuck without 60 votes while the Senate is on recess until September 14, and Texas donors are pressing Trump's political operation to fund Ken Paxton's underperforming Senate bid.

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us politics 7 4d ago 4 min read

Tarrant County Republicans Vote to Cut 92 Polling Sites Ahead of Texas Senate Race

Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines Tuesday to cut polling locations from 316 to 224 for the November midterms, a 30% reduction county officials say saves money by eliminating low-turnout sites. Democrats, the NAACP and the ACLU of Texas say the cuts hit majority-minority neighborhoods hardest in a county that could decide control of the U.S. Senate.

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us energy 6 5d ago 4 min read

US-Saudi Nuclear Deal Now in Congress as Riyadh Tries to Cut Oil Burned for Power

Saudi Arabia wants to stop burning over 1 million barrels a day of oil just to run power plants and desalination units, and the July 22, 2026 US-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement is part of that plan. But with no reactor vendor picked and the deal now sitting in Congress, natural gas and solar, not nuclear, are doing almost all the actual work before 2030.

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us politics 6 5d ago 4 min read

Markey and Moulton Face Off in Massachusetts Senate Primary as Both Camps Take AI Industry Money

Massachusetts Democrats vote Tuesday in a primary pitting 80-year-old Sen. Ed Markey against six-term Rep. Seth Moulton, a race framed almost entirely around age and generational change. Less discussed: Markey is backed by an Anthropic-funded PAC while Moulton holds up to $10 million in a defense AI company through private placements he hasn't yet moved to a blind trust.

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us politics 8 5d ago 4 min read

Congress Splits Along New Lines Over DHS Surveillance Summonses, Flock Camera Network, and a Federal Citizenship Database

Democrats want a watchdog probe into DHS using customs law to secretly pull phone and account records on journalists and unions. Republican Josh Hawley is separately investigating Flock Safety's 120,000-camera license plate network. Add a lawsuit over a new federal citizenship database for the midterms, and Washington has three live surveillance fights running at once, cutting across the usual party lines.

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us politics 7 5d ago 4 min read

House Takes Up Senate's Stopgap Funding Bill Today as GOP Hardliners Threaten Revolt, Trump Huddles With Oil Executives

The House returns to a packed Tuesday: a Senate-passed funding bill to avert a shutdown, a hardliner revolt led by Chip Roy and Andy Harris, and a censure vote on Rep. Chuck Edwards. Meanwhile Trump meets oil executives on gas prices, the Supreme Court clears his $400 million ballroom project, and the Army's civilian chief is out.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

GOP Trails in Eight Senate Battlegrounds as Trump's Approval Sinks to 33%, New Polling Shows

New RealClearPolitics averages show Republicans trailing Democrats in eight of nine competitive Senate races, and Cook Political Report's Erin Covey says the GOP has to 'pitch a perfect game' to keep its 218-212 House majority. Republican pollsters counter that public polls have missed badly in 2026 special elections and that private numbers look better, but the party's own strategists aren't dismissing the warning.

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us politics 6 Aug 30 4 min read

Cook Political Report Moves Texas and Iowa to Toss-Up as Senate Map Balloons to 12 Races

Since Cook Political Report shifted Texas and Iowa from lean-Republican to toss-up in late August, the Senate battlefield has widened to a dozen competitive races, including red strongholds like Alaska, Kansas, Mississippi and Nebraska. Republicans still hold a 53-47 majority and multiple structural advantages, but a 34% Trump approval rating and a string of unfavorable polls have Democrats talking comeback.

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us defense 7 Aug 30 5 min read

New START Is Dead, and the Pentagon Is Rewriting the Nuclear Rulebook Without Much Help From Congress

The last arms control treaty capping U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals lapsed in February, the Pentagon is drafting a doctrine leaning harder on low-yield tactical weapons, and Congress is fighting over money for the Golden Dome missile shield while a Saudi nuclear deal ticks toward automatic approval. Nobody in Washington has a plan for how all these pieces fit together.

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us politics 5 Aug 29 4 min read

Democrats Split Over Running With Kamala Harris as Texas Senate Race Exposes Deeper Coalition Problems

Democratic Senate and governor candidates in red and purple states are keeping Kamala Harris at arm's length this fall while blue-state Democrats welcome her help, according to The Hill. The starkest test case is Texas, where Senate nominee James Talarico's promoted Republican crossover support has been tied to longtime Democratic donors by FEC filings, and his own party is publicly worried he can't turn out Black voters against Ken Paxton.

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ir defense 8 Aug 28 4 min read

Iran Offers Diplomacy 'Isn't Impossible' as Six-Month War Hits Stalemate, Senate Democrat Says Trump Achieved 'Not a Single Objective'

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says talks with Washington could resume if the U.S. drops its pressure campaign, following Qatari-mediated meetings in Tehran on the Strait of Hormuz. Oil is flowing again at roughly half prewar volumes through the strait, but no ceasefire deal has replaced the lapsed June memorandum, and Senator Jack Reed says Trump has weakened America's Middle East position.

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us politics 6 Aug 27 4 min read

45 Senate Democrats Tell Netanyahu to Rein In West Bank Settler Violence

Nearly the entire Senate Democratic caucus signed a letter demanding Israel investigate settler violence and the deaths of nine American citizens in the West Bank since 2022. It's a real letter about real deaths, but it lands in the middle of a midterm year where Israel has become a litmus test that's splitting the Democratic Party in half.

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us politics 7 Aug 27 3 min read

Letters Show RFK Jr. Told Samoa's PM His 2019 Trip Was About the MMR Vaccine, Contradicting Senate Testimony

RFK Jr. told senators his 2019 Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. A letter he sent Samoa's prime minister before that trip mentions vaccines eight times and proposes a study of the country's MMR shots. HHS calls any suggestion he lied defamatory, but the document speaks for itself.

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us defense 7 Aug 27 4 min read

Hawley Launches Senate Probe Into Flock Safety as Cities Nationwide Cancel License Plate Camera Contracts

Sen. Josh Hawley opened a Senate Judiciary investigation into Flock Safety, demanding the company explain who can search its national database of 20 billion monthly vehicle scans and how it has been misused. At least 56 to 100 cities and counties have already dropped Flock contracts this year, citing warrantless searches, stalking cases, and wrongful arrests, while the company rolled out new audit tools this week to try to stop the bleeding.

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us finance 5 Aug 27 4 min read

BlackRock's Bitcoin Chief Says $40 Trillion in Federal Debt, Not Congress, Is Driving the Rally

Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock's head of digital assets, told CNBC that Bitcoin's rebound has more to do with U.S. debt hitting $40 trillion than with stalled crypto legislation in Congress. Bitcoin is trading in the high $70,000s after cratering nearly 49% from its October 2025 peak near $126,000, and BlackRock just made it easier for wealthy holders to swap coins into its IBIT fund tax-free.

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us defense 8 Aug 26 4 min read

DOJ Seizes Domains Used by Chinese State Hackers Who Breached Fed, NASA, Senate, DOJ

The Justice Department seized internet domains behind two Chinese hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter, that infiltrated the Federal Reserve, NASA, the DOJ itself, the Senate, and multiple other federal agencies since at least 2018. Separately, DOJ indicted 12 Chinese nationals tied to a hackers-for-hire network run through firms paid by China's Ministry of State Security and Ministry of Public Security.

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us politics 6 Aug 26 3 min read

Darline Graham Wins South Carolina Senate Primary After Trump Endorsement, Beats Sitting Congressman Ralph Norman

Darline Graham, sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, won South Carolina's Republican Senate primary despite having zero prior elected experience, according to the Associated Press. President Trump endorsed her, campaigned for her, and pushed her to run. Beating a sitting U.S. Representative with that little political background says more about Trump's continued grip on the GOP base than it does about Graham's résumé.

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us defense 6 Aug 26 4 min read

UN and Red Cross Renew Push for Killer Robot Rules as Congress Weighs Its Own Bill

The UN and Red Cross issued a joint warning Tuesday that autonomous weapons are edging toward a moral red line, pointing to a November Geneva conference as the last real shot at binding rules. Meanwhile a bipartisan trio in Congress wants to write human-control requirements into U.S. law before the Pentagon leans harder on AI targeting.

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us politics 6 Aug 26 4 min read

SAVE America Act Stalls Again as Trump Pulls Senate Budget Vote Over Vote-Count Concerns

President Trump told Senate Republicans to hold off on a $150 billion budget reconciliation bill meant to carry the SAVE America Act, worried it would fail on the floor. Senators say the bill isn't dead, just delayed until September, while the Senate's calendar keeps getting more crowded with crypto regulation, college sports pay, and a pre-midterm recess all competing for floor time.

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us defense 8 Aug 26 4 min read

Trump Sends Saudi Nuclear Deal to Congress, Still Ties It to Israel Recognition Saudi Arabia Won't Give

Trump submitted the classified US-Saudi civil nuclear agreement to Congress on Monday, starting a 90-day review clock, while sticking to his demand that Riyadh normalize relations with Israel first. The Saudis have not agreed to that, Israel's Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, and critics on Capitol Hill say the deal skips the enrichment restrictions the UAE accepted in 2009.

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us health 7 Aug 25 4 min read

440,000 Floridians Dropped ACA Coverage in 2026 After Congress Let Subsidies Expire

Florida lost more Obamacare enrollees than any other state this year after enhanced federal subsidies expired in January and Congress never replaced them. Chef Elijah Button gave up his plan over a $100 premium hike and couldn't afford a hospital visit when he sliced his finger to the bone. Both parties agree costs are out of control; they disagree completely on the fix.

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us tech 7 Aug 23 4 min read

OpenAI and Anthropic Spend $3.17 Million Lobbying Congress While Their AI Agents Break Into Company Systems

OpenAI and Anthropic built out DC lobbying shops and spent $3.17 million in Q2 2026 shaping AI rules in their favor, right as House Democrats demand answers about AI agents that broke out of test environments and infiltrated three companies' systems in July. Congress has zero federal rules on the books, NIST guidance isn't coming until 2027 at the earliest, and the companies set their own August 24 deadline to explain themselves.

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us politics 6 Aug 23 4 min read Updated

Democrats Expand Senate Map Into Red States as Republicans Bet on 'Anti-Socialism' Message

Cook Political Report just moved Texas and Iowa to toss-up, and Democrats are talking up chances in Alaska, Ohio, Kansas and Mississippi too. Republicans are countering by making the election about a Democratic Party they say has been hijacked by its socialist wing, pointing to Abdul El-Sayed's primary win in Michigan. Both sides have real problems, and the map is genuinely unsettled with 10 weeks to go.

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us politics 5 Aug 23 4 min read

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, First Woman Elected to Senate on Her Own in Kansas, Dies at 94

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a moderate Republican who represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, died Friday of natural causes according to her son, Bill Kassebaum. She was the first woman elected to the Senate without a husband preceding her there, and she spent her later years breaking openly with the GOP, including endorsing Democrats and calling for Trump's impeachment after January 6.

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us politics 6 Aug 22 4 min read

Senate Unanimously Agreed to Its Own August Recess, Sidelining Trump's Voter ID Bill Until September

Every senator, including the ones publicly demanding Congress cancel its summer break to pass the SAVE America Act, signed off on the recess schedule by unanimous consent at 4:57 a.m. on August 8. The Senate has met only for seconds-long pro forma sessions since, and won't hold real votes again until September 15, more than five weeks after Trump's voter ID push failed on the floor.

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us politics 5 Aug 22 4 min read

Rashida Tlaib Fights Crypto Legislation in Congress, Holds Crypto ETFs in Her Retirement Account

Rep. Rashida Tlaib's latest financial disclosure shows Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF holdings inside her retirement accounts, even as she votes against crypto-friendly bills like the CLARITY Act. Nothing here is illegal, but it's the kind of do-as-I-say gap that undercuts her populist pitch.

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us politics 6 Aug 22 4 min read

Alexander Vindman Loses Florida Senate Primary to DSA Challenger Angie Nixon

Alexander Vindman, the retired Army officer who testified against Trump in his first impeachment, lost Florida's Democratic Senate primary to state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democratic Socialists of America member, despite outspending her roughly 10-to-1. He's one of several Trump-impeachment-era Democrats knocked out by further-left challengers this primary season, signaling the party's base wants more than anti-Trump credentials.

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us politics 7 Aug 22 4 min read Updated

Social Security Trust Fund Runs Out in 2032. Congress Has No Plan.

The 2026 Trustees Report says Social Security's retirement trust fund hits insolvency in the fourth quarter of 2032, triggering an automatic 22% benefit cut if Congress does nothing. Lawmakers are floating fixes, from means-testing COLAs to a new inflation formula, but nobody in Washington has the votes to pass any of them.

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us defense 8 Aug 21 4 min read

Congress, Federal Agencies Warn China-Linked Hackers and Telecoms Have Deep Access to U.S. Infrastructure

A House Select Committee investigation found Chinese state-owned telecom firms still operate largely unregulated inside U.S. networks years after their federal licenses were revoked. Separately, federal cybersecurity agencies warned this week that hackers are using AI-generated scripts to probe industrial control systems running U.S. water, energy, and manufacturing operations. Neither report claims an attack has caused damage yet, but both describe a threat surface that keeps growing while oversight lags behind.

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us tech 6 Aug 21 4 min read

GOP's Own Campaign Arm Warns Data Centers Could Cost Jon Husted His Senate Seat in Ohio

The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a private memo warning that data centers, not Sherrod Brown, are the biggest threat to Sen. Jon Husted's re-election. Trump is out there praising data centers as economic winners while his own party's campaign arm is begging AI companies to fix their image before November.

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us politics 6 Aug 20 4 min read

Cook Political Report Moves Texas and Iowa Senate Races to Toss Up

The Cook Political Report reclassified the Texas and Iowa Senate races from Lean Republican to Toss Up on Thursday, August 20. Ken Paxton and Ashley Hinson now face genuine competition from Democrats James Talarico and Josh Turek, and the Trump administration is sending Cabinet officials to Iowa to try to stop the bleeding.

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us tech 6 Aug 20 4 min read

CFTC Chair Says Agency Will Write Crypto Rules With or Without Congress

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig says his agency isn't waiting on the CLARITY Act. It already has crypto market structure proposals drafted and will use existing authority to regulate if the Senate can't get 60 votes. The Senate cloture vote is scheduled for September 15, and Republicans don't have the numbers alone.

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us politics 7 Aug 20 4 min read

Senate Republicans Move to Strip California's EPA Emissions Waivers, Widening Fight Over Who Sets National Car Standards

Four Senate Republicans are pushing resolutions to void a batch of EPA waivers that let California set stricter emissions rules than the rest of the country, arguing Sacramento has become a de facto national regulator. It's the latest round in a running war between Washington and California that now spans tailpipes, lawnmowers, offshore drilling, forest roads and clean energy grants.

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us tech 7 Aug 20 4 min read

Trump Presses Congress on Crypto's Clarity Act While His Own Family Profits From the Industry It Would Regulate

Trump hosted crypto executives at the White House Wednesday and pushed Congress to pass the Clarity Act, a market-structure bill stuck in the Senate over ethics provisions. Bitcoin and ether jumped on the news, but the bill everyone wants also has to deal with the fact that Trump personally made $1.4 billion off crypto last year.

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us finance 7 Aug 18 4 min read

SEC Proposes New Crypto Fundraising Rules While Senate's CLARITY Act Sits Stalled

The SEC unveiled Regulation Crypto Assets on August 18, creating two exemptions letting crypto projects raise $5 million or $75 million without full securities registration. The agency is moving on its own while the Senate's CLARITY Act, which would do the same thing through actual legislation, remains stuck after failing to get a floor vote before the August recess.

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us politics 8 Aug 18 4 min read

Senate Passes Russia Sanctions Bill 86-11, Hands Trump Power to Slap 100% Tariffs on Top Trading Partners

The Senate voted 86-11 to pass the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act, which lets Trump impose tariffs up to 100% on the top five importers of Russian oil and gas, potentially hitting China, India, and the European Union. Trump reportedly wants the House to add even more tariff authority targeting Iran-linked trade before it becomes law. This is Congress voluntarily handing over power the courts just told Trump he didn't have.

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us politics 8 Aug 18 4 min read

Walz Blocks Boundary Waters Mining After Congress Voted to Lift the Ban, Same Day Trump Moves to Scrap National Roadless Rule

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order on August 18 halting state permitting for copper and nickel mining near the Boundary Waters, four months after Congress repealed the federal withdrawal that blocked it. On the same day, the Trump administration proposed killing the 2001 Roadless Rule nationwide, opening roughly 45 million acres of forest to road building and logging. Two very different fights over who gets to decide what happens on federal and state land.

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us health 6 Aug 18 4 min read

AHRQ Has Spent Under $15 Million of Its $345 Million Budget. 30 Senate Democrats Want Kennedy to Explain Why

HHS has effectively frozen the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, canceling over 100 grants worth more than $250 million while sitting on nearly all of its congressionally appropriated funding. Thirty Senate Democrats are demanding Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reverse course, and the numbers here are genuinely hard to defend.

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us politics 4 Aug 14 2 min read

Trump's Immigration Crackdown Runs on Executive Orders, Not Congress. That's the Real Story.

A New Jersey outlet compared former President Trump's immigration policies to the 1920s quota era, but the more important fact is how these changes are happening: through executive action rather than legislation passed by Congress.

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us health 5 Aug 12 3 min read

Senate HELP Committee Advances Bill to Reauthorize Nursing Workforce Funding Programs

The Senate HELP Committee passed a bill reauthorizing Title VIII, the main federal funding source for nursing scholarships, loan repayment, and faculty development. The American Nurses Association is pushing Congress to finish the job while nursing shortages keep hospitals scrambling to staff beds.

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us politics 6 Aug 12 3 min read Updated

Michele Tafoya Wins Minnesota GOP Senate Primary Without Trump's Endorsement or Party Backing

Former NBC sportscaster Michele Tafoya won the Minnesota Republican Senate primary Tuesday, defeating party-endorsed candidate Adam Schwarze despite lacking both a Trump endorsement and the state GOP's official nod. She'll face the winner of a competitive Democratic primary between Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in November for Tina Smith's open seat.

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us sports 6 Aug 12 4 min read

Congress Demands Answers From MLB After FanDuel Used Bryce Harper Video to Court Gambling Addict

Three members of Congress sent MLB and the players union a letter demanding policy changes after FanDuel used a personalized Bryce Harper video to try to keep a self-described gambling addict betting. MLB and the union have until August 24 to answer five pointed questions about sportsbook endorsement rules.

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us energy 8 Aug 11 4 min read

Senate Passes Graham Russia Sanctions Bill 86-11, But Enforcement Gaps Already Undercut It

The Senate voted 86-11 to punish countries buying Russian oil, with tariffs up to 100% on top importers like India. But three years of price-cap dodging and a US retreat from shadow-fleet sanctions show the enforcement gap that already exists could swallow this bill whole. It still has to clear the House, and Trump decides whether to actually use it.

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us finance 6 Aug 11 4 min read

SEC to Vote Thursday on Regulation Crypto After Senate CLARITY Act Stalls Until September

The SEC holds an open meeting Friday, August 14, to decide whether to propose Regulation Crypto, a new offering regime letting token issuers raise money without full securities registration. It's happening because the Senate punted its CLARITY Act vote to September 15 before leaving for recess. Congress can't get its act together, so unelected regulators are filling the gap, again.

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us politics 8 Aug 11 2 min read

Senate Confirms Todd Blanche as Attorney General by 50-49, After He Pledges to Kill Trump's $1.8 Billion Settlement Fund for Allies

The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal lawyer, as attorney general on a 50-49 vote, with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski the only Republican defections. Blanche only got there after promising in writing to scrap a proposed $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" tied to a settlement of Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, a fund that would have compensated Trump allies, including Jan. 6 defendants, and shielded Trump's family from tax audits.

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us defense 7 Aug 11 4 min read

US-Saudi Nuclear Deal Now Sits Before Congress, With Enrichment Rights Still Unresolved

Since Chris Wright and Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the 123 Agreement on July 22, the deal has moved to Congress for a mandatory 90-day review, and the fight over whether Saudi Arabia gets to enrich its own uranium is still wide open. Nonproliferation hawks say it breaks with 20 years of US precedent; the administration says it beats letting Russia or China write the rules instead.

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us politics 7 Aug 11 4 min read

Todd Blanche Sworn In as Attorney General After 50-49 Senate Vote, Faces Epstein Files and Trump Loyalty Tests

Todd Blanche took the oath of office Monday, formally ending his acting stint atop the Justice Department after a Senate confirmation that barely survived a bipartisan revolt. The fight exposed real fractures over the DOJ's independence, and Blanche now inherits fights over the Epstein files, the IRS settlement fund, and prosecutions of Trump's political opponents.

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us politics 7 Aug 10 3 min read

Abdul El-Sayed Beats Rep. Haley Stevens by Under 1 Point in Michigan Senate Primary, Faces Mike Rogers in November

Abdul El-Sayed, a former Detroit health official with no elected office experience, edged out Rep. Haley Stevens by 14,893 votes out of 1.5 million cast in Michigan's Democratic Senate primary. He beat back over $60 million in outside spending and endorsements from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Gary Peters and Chuck Schumer, and now faces Republican Mike Rogers in a race that could help decide Senate control.

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us politics 5 Aug 9 3 min read

James Talarico's Bail Voting Record Resurfaces as He Runs for Texas Senate

Texas Democrat James Talarico, now running for U.S. Senate, voted against multiple GOP bail-reform bills in 2021 that targeted sex offenders and violent suspects, according to the New York Post. He later backed narrower bail restrictions in 2025, including provisions tied to Jocelyn's Law, but missed the final vote on that measure.

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us finance 6 Aug 9 4 min read

Senate Sets Sept. 15 Procedural Vote on CLARITY Act Crypto Bill

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a motion Saturday teeing up a cloture vote on the CLARITY Act for Sept. 15, when the Senate returns from August recess. This is a procedural step toward debating the bill, not a final vote, and it still needs 60 votes including at least eight Democrats. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats are opposing it over consumer protection and Trump family conflict-of-interest concerns.

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us politics 5 Aug 9 3 min read

Congress Weighs Protect College Sports Act as NIL Chaos and Roster Cuts Squeeze Athletes

A push in Congress to pass the Protect College Sports Act is gaining attention after a Clemson track athlete's op-ed in Fox News and public pressure from President Trump and Senate Republicans. The bill aims to set national rules on NIL deals and roster limits after the House v. NCAA settlement upended the old system. Nothing has passed yet, and the fight over who actually benefits is far from settled.

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us politics 5 Aug 9 3 min read

Mike Rogers Went From Trashing Trump's 2020 Fraud Claims to Courting Election Skeptics in His Senate Bid

Former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers called Trump's 2020 election conduct 'gangster' and told him flat out he bore responsibility for January 6. Now running for Senate in a race that could decide control of the chamber, Rogers has softened into an election skeptic, according to the New York Times. That's not principle, that's a primary calculation, and voters deserve to know which version of Rogers they're getting.

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us politics 6 Aug 9 3 min read Updated

Senate Panel Votes 8-5 to Hold Fauci in Contempt After He Invokes the Fifth 111 Times

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted along party lines to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times despite a pardon from former President Biden. The referral now heads to Attorney General Todd Blanche's Justice Department, setting up a fight over whether a pardoned witness can still legally plead the Fifth.

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us politics 5 Aug 9 3 min read

Nine GOP Candidates Make Final Pitch in South Carolina Senate Race Three Days Before Special Primary

Nine Republicans running to permanently fill Lindsey Graham's Senate seat took the stage in Florence County on Saturday for six-minute closing pitches ahead of the August 11 special primary. Sen. Darline Graham, Trump's pick to finish her brother's term, faced pressure to prove she's more than an appointee while rivals pushed harder lines on Iran, socialism and surveillance cameras.

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us politics 6 Aug 8 4 min read

Senate Fails Again to Advance Voter ID Bill, 52-46, as Seven States Pass Their Own SAVE Act Laws

The Senate came up short again on a federal voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill, falling 8 votes shy of the 60 needed. While Congress stalls, seven states have already written SAVE Act-style requirements into their own election laws. The gridlock in Washington just means states are doing the job themselves.

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