Congress
35 briefs
Trump Wants to Suspend the Gas Tax. The Industry That Runs on Gas Does Not.
Gas is up 50% since the Iran war started. An 18-cent relief would cost the highway fund $30 billion and the trucking lobby is already fighting it.
Colorado Rewrites Its AI Law. Congress Is About to Overwrite All of Them.
After two years and a lawsuit from Elon Musk, Colorado passed a weaker AI accountability law. A House Republican bill would nullify it before it takes effect.
Pump Relief as Political Triage
Gas hit $4.52. Trump wants to kill the gas tax. Congress needs to pass it. The Highway Trust Fund will pay.
Judge Calls DOGE's NEH Grant Cuts 'Blatant.' Trump Will Ignore Her.
A federal judge ruled 1,400 humanities grants were canceled unconstitutionally by DOGE staffers who used ChatGPT and DEI keywords to slash $100 million in congressionally appropriated funds. The ruling will almost certainly not stick.
Moderate Republicans Block Medicaid Cuts, for Now
Vulnerable GOP senators blocked the third reconciliation bill over Medicaid fear, but the cuts already signed into law via H.R. 1 are hitting millions of Americans right now.
Republicans Just Introduced a National Abortion Ban Labeled Something Else
Rep. Kat Cammack's Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act criminalizes the most common second-trimester procedure. Call it what it is: a national 12-week ban written to sound procedural.
The Senate Banned Prediction Markets in Hours. It Has Never Managed to Ban Stock Trading.
Senators passed a unanimous rule banning themselves from Polymarket and Kalshi in a single day. The same body has failed for years to pass stock trading restrictions. The asymmetry is not an accident.
Congress Is Funding a Deportation Machine That Can't Be Turned Off
DHS got its funding back. ICE and CBP didn't. Now Republicans are routing $140 billion in immigration enforcement through mandatory accounts designed to survive future Congresses and future presidents.
Brazil's Congress Just Voted to Free the Man Who Tried to Overthrow Its Democracy
Two-thirds of Brazil's Congress overrode Lula's veto of a bill that would reduce Bolsonaro's 27-year coup sentence to just over two years. The Supreme Court is the last line of defense, and Bolsonaro's son is already tied with Lula in presidential polls.
Trump Declares the Ceasefire He Controls Has Ended the War He Started
On Day 60 of the War Powers clock, Trump told Congress the Iran ceasefire means hostilities have terminated. Legal experts say that is not how the law works.
Congress Extended Warrantless Surveillance for 45 More Days. It Has Done This Twice This Month.
FISA Section 702 lets the government collect Americans' communications without a warrant when they talk to foreigners. A bipartisan coalition came within striking distance of real reform. Congress chose the extension instead.
SCOTUS Guts the Voting Rights Act, and the Ruling's Logic Goes Further Than Louisiana
The court's 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais makes it nearly impossible to draw a majority-minority district without simultaneously making it unconstitutional. That paradox was the point.
Trump Declared the Iran War 'Terminated.' US Forces Are Still There.
The administration invoked a legal fiction to bypass a 53-year-old law, and Congress let it happen. The precedent is more dangerous than the war itself.
Trump Has Until Thursday to Get Congress to Authorize His War
The 60-day War Powers clock expires May 1. Congressional Republicans are nervous. Trump is ignoring the question.
Day 72: The DHS Shutdown Has Already Won by Continuing
The Senate passed $70 billion for ICE and Border Patrol on a 50-48 vote. The House refuses to take it up until after a 'skinny' bill. Markets give 88% odds the shutdown lasts past April. Trump endorsed renaming ICE to NICE.
The Medicaid Clock: Eight Months to Build What Arkansas Couldn't in Three Years
H.R. 1 mandated Medicaid work requirements effective January 1, 2027. States have less than 18 months to build the verification infrastructure. Nebraska starts first in May. The evidence from every prior work requirement program shows the same outcome: eligible people lose coverage, employment doesn't increase.
The $166 Billion Refund Nobody Can Actually Collect: The IEEPA Ruling's Unfinished Business
The Supreme Court killed Trump's Liberation Day tariffs in February. The refund process launched April 20. But 56,000 importers are chasing $127 billion through a new government portal, while Congress hagles over whether small businesses will ever see a dime.
RFK Jr. Told the Senate He Is Not Cutting Medicaid. His Budget Cuts $15.8 Billion From HHS.
While RFK Jr. testified that he was not reducing Medicaid coverage, his own 2027 budget proposal would impose new eligibility restrictions, eliminate payments to family caregivers, and defund programs used disproportionately by disabled children and rural hospitals.
The Big Tobacco Moment That Isn't
Two landmark verdicts against Meta and Google have parents lobbying Congress. The companies will appeal. The real question is whether the courtroom victory can survive Section 230 and the First Amendment.
The 60-Day Clock Runs Out May 1. Trump Has No Intention of Stopping.
The War Powers Resolution says the Iran war needs congressional authorization by Thursday. The White House says the law does not apply. Congress has not decided whether to find out who is right.
No One in Washington Wants to Own the Haiti Decision
The Supreme Court hears arguments April 29 on whether the Trump administration can deport Haitians back to a country in active gang war. Congress just voted to stop it. Both institutions are trying to hand the problem to the other.
Republicans Want a National Privacy Law. The Price Is Wiping Out California's.
The SECURE Data Act would give Americans the right to delete their data and opt out of targeted ads. It would also kill every state privacy law in the country and strip consumers of any right to sue. The tech industry is quietly thrilled.
Trump Wants a Single AI Law for All 50 States. He's Lost the Senate 99 to 1.
The White House's National AI Framework asks Congress to preempt every state AI law in America. States have enacted 145 laws and introduced 1,208 more. Congress stripped the preemption provision from the big bill 99-1.
FISA Section 702 Is About to Expire. Republicans Killed the Bill That Would Have Saved It.
Twenty Republicans joined most Democrats to block the five-year extension Trump demanded. Then the same chamber voted unanimously to punt for ten days. The program expires Monday.
Ten Republicans Voted Against Trump on Immigration. It Will Not Matter.
The House passed a bill protecting Haitian immigrants. The Senate will kill it. Trump will veto anything that survives. The vote was not for policy; it was for the record.
The Fourth Time Is Not the Charm
Senate Republicans blocked the Iran war powers resolution again. But the 60-day War Powers Act clock is ticking, and their private words no longer match their public votes.
The Aviation Safety Bill Was Too Weak. Then Congress Weakened It More.
67 people died in the Potomac River crash 15 months ago. The House safety bill needs a two-thirds vote tonight. Victims' families say it lacks strict timelines. Senators Cruz and Cantwell say it needs improvement. The NTSB said the original was 'watered down.'
The Surveillance Law Both Parties Hate Is About to Lapse
FISA Section 702 expires April 20. The White House wants a clean extension. House Republicans are blocking it for warrant requirements. The military says a lapse would blind US intelligence in an active war.
The Court Ordered $133 Billion Back. Now What?
The Supreme Court struck down Trump's IEEPA tariffs. A federal court ordered refunds. Trump is already testing a workaround using a different statute. The constitutional crisis is just starting.
Regulate the Machine or Regulate the Person
Both parties want to regulate AI but disagree on the target: Republicans want to control how the technology is built; Democrats want to control how individuals misuse it. The difference is not semantic.
Funding Half a Border Agency
Congress reopened DHS after 40 days but left ICE and Border Patrol unfunded. Now Republicans want reconciliation to finish the job without Democrats. The shutdown is over in name only.
Two Parties, Two Theories of What AI Is
Both parties want to regulate AI, but they disagree on whether the problem is the technology itself or what people do with it, and that gap cannot be bridged.
Shutdown Theater
DHS ordered furloughed workers back to their desks during a shutdown, which is either a constitutional violation or proof that 'shutdown' no longer means what it used to.
Congress Ended the DHS Shutdown by Defunding the Part Trump Actually Wanted
The Senate reopened DHS after 52 days by funding TSA, FEMA, and Coast Guard while leaving ICE Enforcement and Border Patrol without appropriations. The administration called it a win. It wasn't.
Zero Federal AI Laws, 1,561 State Bills, and a White House Framework Nobody Has to Follow
The US has no binding AI law while the EU enforces its Act across 27 countries. The federal-state collision is now the biggest AI governance story in the world.