Six debates on October 8 put three Senate seats, two governorships and one open House seat in front of voters, and the sharpest disputes were over the Iran war, tariffs and personal conduct. Michigan’s Senate candidates traded insults for an hour, Georgia’s Jon Ossoff and Mike Collins clashed over bigotry allegations and tariffs, and Maine’s … Read more
The Supreme Court opens its 2026-27 term today with arguments in a climate-liability case, with major disputes over religion, AR-15 bans, Arizona’s voting rules and the Trump administration’s immigration policies set for later this fall. The Court now issues about twice as many full-court rulings on emergency applications as on argued cases, according to Georgetown … Read more
The Trump administration announced on September 25 that it was canceling $810 million in funding that Congress had approved, using a maneuver called a pocket rescission days before the money expired on September 30. Senate Democrats tried to block the cuts on September 30, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) objected, the Washington Post reported. The … Read more
Jack Smith spent about four hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 29, standing by his decision to charge Donald Trump while Republicans accused him of abusing his office. Most coverage dwelt on Sen. Eric Schmitt apparently confusing the Iowa Hawkeyes with the Atlanta Hawks, CBS News reported, and that episode needs no more … Read more
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked the Stop Insider Trading Act, which would bar members of Congress and their families from buying new individual stocks. The 53-47 vote on opening debate fell seven short of the 60 needed. Republicans had attached a photo ID requirement for federal elections, which Democrats called a poison pill, and Democrats … Read more
On September 18, 2026, President Trump announced that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico would lose access to the White House. Within two days, Secret Service officers had confiscated three reporters’ credentials at the gate. The outlets sued, arguing the ban breaks both the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment. Their case revives a question the … Read more
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III announced on September 8, 2026 that he will step down by the end of the year, ending a seven year tenure atop the Smithsonian Institution. Bunch, the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian and the first African American and first historian to hold the post, confirmed his resignation in a statement, … Read more
Reading Almost every country has a central bank, an institution that manages the money supply and influences the cost of borrowing. In the United States it is the Federal Reserve, usually called the Fed. Congress created it in 1913, after a series of banking panics had repeatedly frozen the economy. Note what that means. The … Read more
Information current as of August 22, 2026. Open enrollment for the 2027 plan year begins November 1. Overview This post examines the argument over what happened to Affordable Care Act premiums after Congress allowed the enhanced premium tax credits to expire on December 31, 2025, and over what should happen next. A note on the … Read more
The White House has renewed its effort to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. In a letter dated August 5, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, who also directs the Office of Presidential Personnel, notified Cook that the president is considering removing her. The letter states that pursuant to the Supreme … Read more
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns dismissed the Justice Department’s civil rights lawsuit against Harvard University on Thursday, August 13, ruling that the government had not adequately alleged an ongoing violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The government filed the suit on March 20, 2026, alleging that Harvard was deliberately … Read more
The Senate was scheduled to begin a five-week recess on Thursday, August 6, returning September 14. As of Wednesday evening it had not adjourned, and Majority Leader John Thune described the accumulated workload to Politico as a train wreck. The chamber worked through several items Wednesday. It agreed by voice vote to proceed to H.R. … Read more
