Weekly Update 10/19/2026

Weekly Update 10/19/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners

Appropriations: 

Education Department pays multiyear grants up front, leaving fewer awards for new applicants: Federal education grant applicants this year faced fewer openings than the Education Department advertised. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the top Democrat on its education subcommittee, said in a letter last week that the department is withholding about $630 million across about 35 programs by frontloading, or paying several years of a grant at once instead of funding more grants. The department estimated 148 awards for Child Care Access Means Parent…

President and Administration:
FEMA memo signals a smaller federal role in disaster recovery: Cities that count on federal help after wildfires, floods, and storms should plan for more of that work and cost to fall on them. In an Oct. 15 memo to staff obtained by Politico Pro, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Cameron Hamilton said the agency will build state and local emergency management capacity to reduce reliance on federal aid and will cut unnecessary centralization in Washington, D.C. The memo…

Federal marketplace cuts widen as CMS ends 189,000 duplicate enrollments: Californians are shielded from the latest federal crackdown on Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment, but the federal marketplace keeps shrinking. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said last week it ended 189,000 enrollments on the federal exchange held by people who also had Medicare, Medicaid, or Children's Health Insurance Program coverage or who had died, projecting $1.5 billion in savings and saying no one lost insurance. That follows CMS's September cancellation of 760,000 enrollments for suspected fraud; KFF Health News…

Education:

Districts warn that ending E-rate would shift internet costs to local budgets: School districts could lose their fifth-largest federal funding stream if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) scales back E-rate, the 30-year-old program that discounts internet service for schools and libraries. Initial comments closed last week on an FCC proposal asking whether E-rate should be limited, including to rural areas, or sunset; reply comments are due Nov. 12, and the proposal sets no date for a…

California among 16 states still undecided on federal scholarship tax credit: Students in states that skip the new federal school choice program will lose access to scholarships for tutoring, after-school programs, and private school tuition. Education Week reports that 16 governors, including California's, and the District of Columbia mayor have not said whether they will opt in before the Federal…

Ohio will appeal a second state ruling against its voucher program as spending tops $1 billion: State constitutions are emerging as a key test for large private school choice programs as Ohio’s largest private school choice program now heads to the state Supreme Court. EdChoice, the state-funded voucher program that pays private school tuition of up to $6,166 for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and up to $8,408 for high schoolers to attend private schools, was found unconstitutional…

Oklahoma authorizing board again rejects religious charter school: The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board rejected Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School's application for a second time last week, one vote short of approval, after a federal judge ruled that a private operator does not become a…

PR CLIENTS: Puerto Rico Head Start providers seek waiver from English-only instruction proposal: The administration's proposed Head Start overhaul would hit Puerto Rico harder than anywhere else. The plan requires instruction exclusively in English, but 99% of children in the island's more than 700 Head Start centers come from Spanish-speaking homes, and fewer than 10% of its Head Start teachers are fluent in English, local leaders said. The change would require costly materials and teacher training, with providers warning of teacher resignations or difficulties in recruiting bilingual teachers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has stressed that providers have the option to pursue waivers, a path…

California:

Testing contractor breach exposes records of seven million California students: California districts and charter schools should be ready for questions from families after the state's testing contractor was hacked. The California Department of Education said last week that someone using a compromised login copied the names, addresses, demographic information, and disability status of all seven million students enrolled in California public schools over the past three school years from systems run by the Education Testing Service (ETS), the nonprofit that administers the state's standardized tests. The files were copied between May 22 and Sept. 18…

Test scores inch up as falling enrollment squeezes school budgets: Shrinking enrollment may matter more to district budgets this year than modest test score gains. State data released last week show enrollment fell by 74,000 students to 5.7 million, and because California funds schools based on daily attendance, many districts will see less revenue, CalMatters reports. English proficiency rose half a percentage point to 49.3%, and math rose 1.1 points to 38.4%, both still below the levels before the pandemic of 51.7% and 39.7%, according to Politico Pro. Chronic absenteeism fell to 18.3%, down from a peak of 30%…

State audit finds Medi-Cal has not investigated most of its highest risk providers: Health providers should expect closer scrutiny of Medi-Cal billing after a critical state audit. State Auditor Grant Parks reported last week that the Department of Health Care Services had not begun investigating 26,000 of the 28,000 Medi-Cal providers it considers at highest risk of fraud or abuse, and classified the department as high risk for fraud, waste, and abuse.  The uninvestigated providers billed at least $12 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The department disputed the findings as incomplete. The report makes no recommendations and…

California sues to stop immigration arrests at state courthouses: City and police leaders may field more questions about immigration enforcement near courthouses as California takes the issue to federal court. Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, arguing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests at state courthouses violate the Tenth Amendment and a longstanding common law bar on civil arrests at courthouses. Bonta said monthly arrests in and near courthouses have grown about six and a half times in a year, with…

Weekly Update 10/12/2026

Weekly Update 10/12/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners

Grant Management

Drawdown Blackout Periods: Grantees may now be in a blackout period for submitting drawdown requests for grant or formula funds. Timing varies by agency and grant, but you should generally…

Education Department another agency to require written justification for grant drawdowns: Education Department grantees will soon need to submit separate explanations to accompany their draw down requests for awarded and approved federal funds. Under a Sept. 28 memo, the Department of Education will require grant recipients (formula and competitive) to provide written justification for drawing down previously approved funds beginning Nov. 1. The requirement stems from a February 2025…

Appropriations: 

GAO keeps finding illegal impoundments but has not sued: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded last week that the White House illegally withheld more than $1 billion for education and health care research programs. In a related decision, GAO found the Department of Health and Human Services violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law governing when a president may delay or cancel funds Congress has appropriated, by leaving more than $78 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality unobligated after layoffs removed its grant staff. GAO issued more than six such findings during the President's second…

President and Administration:

Immigration enforcement partnerships expand under shortened federal training: Police departments weighing new federal immigration enforcement funding should look closely at the training that comes with it. Emails obtained through a public records request show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cut training for local officers deputized under 287(g) agreements, which let police help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest people for civil immigration violations…

HHS backs thresholds for scheduling concentrated kratom products: Federal regulators are moving to restrict concentrated synthetic kratom extracts, often sold in gas stations and tobacco shops as beverages, teas, powders, shots, capsules, or gummies. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classify 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) and a related compound, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI), as Schedule I…

Education:

Federal agencies warn schools that mental health screenings require written parental consent: Schools that survey or screen students' mental health face a federal funding risk. In a joint letter to state attorneys general last week, the Departments of Education and Justice said any form or survey that can evaluate a student's mental health requires…

Lawmakers in both parties urge HHS to revise Head Start rule: A proposal to loosen federal standards for early childhood programs drew about 40,000 public comments before the period closed last week. The HHS rule would give the roughly 1,600 Head Start programs, serving nearly 700,000 children, more flexibility. The HHS would cut the cap on administrative…

Top House Education Democrat outlines K-12 oversight and legislative priorities: The Education Department's transfer of K-12 programs to other agencies could face new congressional oversight. If Democrats retake the House in midterm elections, according to Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee. He said that as chair he would examine the interagency agreements moving K-12 programs to the Department of Labor and press…

New York opts into federal scholarship tax credit ahead of January launch: States are deciding whether to join the federal scholarship tax credit, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, after the Treasury proposed rules this month. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul opted in last week, saying public school students could benefit. Created by the 2025 reconciliation law, it gives donors…

Education Department targets districts accused of ignoring staff sexual misconduct: Federal civil rights enforcement is examining how school systems handle abuse allegations against their own employees. Last week, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations under an initiative launched in July…

Private schools face vague new standards to keep tax exemptions: Proposed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules would revoke the tax exemption of any private school, including elementary and secondary schools, with a policy or practice that discriminates based on race or ethnicity for any purpose. The rules reach admissions…

California:

Adult charter school seeks new authorizer as it fights $243 million state claim: A bankruptcy filing in Sacramento is putting charter oversight and repayment liability back in focus for authorizers. Highlands Community and Technical Schools, which serves about 2,000 adults seeking diplomas, English classes, or job skills at six campuses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month after repayment negotiations with the state broke down. A state audit last year found the school…

Weekly Update 10/05/2026

Weekly Update 10/05/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners

Appropriations: 
Courts weigh challenges to $810 million funding cancellation: A federal judge has temporarily protected $56.1 million in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing counseling funds from expiring as lawsuits challenge the administration's Sept. 25 proposed cancellation of $810 million in federal funding. The administration used a “pocket rescission”, a tactic in which the President proposes canceling funds less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year, allowing the funds to lapse before Congress can act, a tactic the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded was unlawful on Sept. 29. Judge Jia Cobb paused…

Senate appropriators draft protections for research grant decisions: Senate appropriators from both parties are drafting language that could be added to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill to keep National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant decisions rooted in scientific review. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-WA) lead the effort, which follows the administration's decision to drop a planned…

Senate Budget chair blocks bill to reverse funding cancellation: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, objected Sept. 30 to a bill from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Patty Murray (D-WA) that would have restored the $810 million and barred rescission requests sent less than 90 days before funds expire. Johnson said he supports the President doing "whatever it takes" to reduce federal spending. Several Republican appropriators, including Senate Appropriations Committee…

Rural homebuying funds set to lapse as lawmakers press for answers: Roughly $232 million for the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Single Family Direct Home Loans program was set to expire at the end of the 2026 fiscal year (October 1) after USDA’s Rural Development agency spent just $518 million of the roughly $1 billion provided by Congress, according to Politico Pro. About $250 million of unspent funds will carry over to the next fiscal year, but the $232 million set to expire would help as many as 850 families get the financing they need to purchase homes, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). The program finances about…

Administration funds television ads with border security funds: Federal spending records show the administration is paying for television ads with funds Congress approved for border security upgrades, drug trafficking enforcement, and memorials for officers killed in the line of duty. On Sept. 19, OMB moved $20 million into a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) line for commemorative events by drawing on $6.7 billion the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided to Customs and Border Protection…

President and Administration:

Senate confirms Sonderling as Secretary of Labor: Keith Sonderling, who has led the Department of Labor (DOL) on an acting basis since April, now holds the job permanently after the full Senate confirmed him 47 to 41 on Sept. 30 in a party line vote. He took over after former Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer stepped down amid an inspector general investigation into alleged misconduct by her and top aides. The President nominated Sonderling in June, and White House allies…

Judge blocks election conditions on FEMA counterterrorism grants: Cities and counties that sued over new strings on counterterrorism money won last week, as U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali found the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) lacked authority to tie the grants to how local governments run elections. In June, FEMA said it would withhold 20% of the funding from states and local governments that did not agree to check voter citizenship through a federal database…

Treasury opens investment accounts for more than 60 million children: The Department of the Treasury announced on Oct. 1 that every child under 18 with a valid Social Security number now has a federal tax-deferred investment account, bringing enrollment above 60 million children. The accounts, formerly called Section 530A accounts and now called “Trump Accounts”, were created by the 2025 tax law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The announcement…

Education:

Treasury releases proposed rules for new federal scholarship tax credit: The federal scholarship tax credit, created under the 2025 tax law, will allow taxpayers beginning in 2027 to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), which provide scholarships for eligible K-12 education expenses in participating states. Treasury and the IRS released proposed regulations Oct. 2 implementing…

Education Department awards fewer grants and restricts access to future funds: The Education Department is awarding far fewer competitive grants than it announced, including four literacy grants instead of 25 and roughly half of 30 planned teacher preparation grants. Some awards commit future years' funding upfront but bar grantees from using it until the department approves continuations, mirroring proposed rules that would allow cancellations…

Education Department restores 2020 Title IX rules: A final rule effective Sept. 29 formally replaces the previous administration's Title IX regulations, which federal courts had vacated, with the 2020 rules governing how schools respond to sexual misconduct reports. Those rules set a stricter definition of sexual harassment and give more…

Senate bill would pay states to keep phones out of classrooms: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) introduced bipartisan legislation last week to fund states that bar students from using phones, smartwatches, tablets, and similar devices for the full school day. States could spend the money on enforcement, including lockers, lockboxes, and storage…

California:

California funds coverage as federal changes drop lawfully present immigrants from Medicaid: About 148,000 Californians are expected to have lost Medicaid coverage after a provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that ends eligibility for many immigrants with legal status, including refugees, asylees, and trafficking victims, took effect on Oct. 1. California is spending $365 million on a separate state program to keep them covered through July 2027, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. Across nine states and the District of Columbia, more than 281,000 immigrants are expected to lose coverage this month, suggesting a larger impact than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of about 100,000 more uninsured by…

FEMA releases funds to keep Los Angeles wildfire case management running: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released $11 million on Sept. 30 to continue a disaster case management program serving nearly 6,000 Los Angeles residents recovering from last year's wildfires, on the day the program was set to shut down. FEMA had approved $13 million for the program but disbursed only $3 million, prompting California lawmakers and disaster response groups to press the agency for the remaining funds. Case managers help survivors handle insurance claims, loans, housing searches, and federal paperwork…

Weekly Update 9/28/2026

Weekly Update 9/28/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners

Appropriations: 

White House moves to cancel almost $1 billion in funding Congress appropriated: The administration is seeking to cancel nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved funding using a process known as a “pocket rescission,” which Senators have pushed back strongly against. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) said…

President and Administration:

White House drops planned executive order for politico grant funding control: Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said last week the administration abandoned the plan after she urged that research grants be awarded on merit. The order would have created a board to control National Institutes of Health (NIH) grantmaking with a goal of cutting Harvard University's funding, giving White House Budget Director Russ Vought a seat and veto power over…

Watchdog finds Homeland Security grant terminations delayed some disaster mitigation projects by nearly a year: Following a February 2025 executive order directing agencies to work with the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to review and terminate grants within 30 days, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) paused all obligated grant disbursements and terminated 362 grants, deobligating about $1 billion, according to a Government Accountability Office…

Supreme Court allows states to screen voter rolls using expanded federal citizenship database: Following a March 2025 executive order, DHS overhauled its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, long used to check immigration status for benefits and licenses, by adding Social Security data so election officials could verify voters' citizenship. In an emergency order last week in Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters, the Supreme Court found improper a June ruling by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan blocking the system, noting that federal law limits large voter roll changes with…

White House restores press access for Politico, CNN, and MS NOW after court order: Reporters from Politico, CNN, and MS NOW regained access to White House grounds on Sept. 24 after initially being turned away that morning despite a temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly requiring the administration to restore their credentials for at least two weeks while litigation continues. The outlets had been barred from White House grounds…

Average 30 year mortgage rate reaches 7% for the first time since January 2025: Concerns that higher energy prices from the war with Iran will spread through the economy have pushed the 10-year Treasury yield, which underpins mortgage rates, above five percent for the first time since before the global financial crisis. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose to 7.03% last week, according to Freddie Mac, up from 6.3% a year ago and from below six percent in late February. Annual inflation ran…

NBC News polling average shows presidential approval at 39%: An NBC News Decision Desk poll in April found 32% of adults approved of the President's handling of inflation and the cost of living, down from 40% in April 2025. Trump’s overall approval stands at 39%, with 59% disapproving, in a new NBC News polling average that weights publicly available polls meeting standards for methodology and transparency, down from 50% at the start of his term. Approval among independents has fallen to 26%,…

Congress:

Health and Human Services has spent about $500,000 of $101 million Congress provided for teen pregnancy prevention grants: With less than a week remaining in fiscal year 2026, 92 lawmakers led by Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) sent a Sept. 25 letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) raising concerns over the agency’s withholding of funds for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP). Congress provided $101 million for the program in a February spending…

Senate rejects resolution to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined Democrats last week in supporting a war powers resolution to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the lone Democrat opposed. The resolution failed in one of the Senate’s final votes before leaving Washington, meaning Congress has not formally rebuked the President…

Senate returns this week to take up data center electricity cost bill before leaving Washington: A bill from Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) would set a federal standard requiring data center operators to cover energy infrastructure upgrade costs, but state public utility commissions would only be required to consider adopting it. After the bill passed the House earlier this month, Democrats blocked a fast-track attempt in the Senate, arguing it falls short, and are expected to block it again when Republican…

California:

California Supreme Court orders Riverside County sheriff to return seized ballots and affirms attorney general oversight of sheriffs: Earlier this year, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized about 650,000 ballots from a 2025 special election on a redistricting measure after a local watchdog group alleged vote tallying discrepancies, continuing his investigation despite repeated warnings from Attorney General Rob Bonta. In a unanimous decision last week, the California Supreme Court found Bianco unlawfully took custody of the ballots and ordered them returned, and a second unanimous ruling in Bonta v. Bianco…

Environmental Protection Agency agrees to restore about 25 University of California research grants in settlement: University of California (UC) researchers who sued seven federal agencies last year over grant terminations reached a partial settlement last week with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to court filings. The EPA agreed to restore about 25 grants worth $19 million, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs, and not to terminate, indefinitely suspend, or disallow costs from them, while denying liability, as the other six agencies continue to litigate. The EPA acknowledged the grants were cut for their ties to…

Newsom signs bills requiring faster cleanup and higher penalties after Boyle Heights warehouse fire: Local governments will have to move more quickly to eliminate rats and fleas from a disaster site once a state of emergency is declared under AB 817, one of two bills Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Sept. 27 responding to the slow cleanup of the June Lineage cold storage warehouse fire in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood. The bill, by Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, also requires cold food storage facilities to maintain a contingency fund accessible during states of emergency. SB 716, by state Sen. María Elena Durazo, raises the maximum…

Education:

Education Department pauses comprehensive oversight of K-12 funding, watchdog finds: The Education Department suspended its consolidated monitoring of Elementary and Secondary Education Act programs this year, including Title I for high poverty schools, leaving billions in federal funding at heightened risk of undetected fraud, waste, and abuse, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found. GAO also found the department's formula produces unreliable chronic…

States split on federal scholarship tax credit as rules near release: Thirty states have opted into the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, but California has not, as the White House reviews Treasury Department rules expected by the end of the month. Starting next year, donors to nonprofit scholarship granting organizations can claim a dollar-for-dollar credit of up to $1,700…

Federal data show violent victimization of students at school rose in 2024: Students ages 12 to 18 reported 27 victimizations per 1,000 students at school in 2024, compared with 17.7 away from school, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report based on the National Crime Victimization Survey. Nonfatal violent victimization at school rose from 14.2 to 21.8 per 1,000 between 2023 and 2024, with simple assault accounting for much of it, though the overall rate has not changed…

Weekly Update 9/21/2026

Weekly Update 9/21/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners

Grant Management:

Upcoming Federal Fiscal Year-End: With only seven weekdays until the end of the Fiscal Year on September 30, it is critical to act promptly on any grant or No-Cost Extension (NCE) ending on September 30. All program activities must be completed, and all allowable expenditures and obligations must be incurred by the end of the month. For mid-stream grants with a budget year ending September 30, we encourage you to be diligent on planned expenditures and obligations, ensuring all activities and expenses comply with your grant terms. Please make every effort to fully utilize available grant funds by September 30—the less funding…

President and Administration:

Administration weighs commission to review National Institutes of Health grants: An Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposal to give political appointees more power over federal grant-making is blocked until December by a recently-passed Continuing Resolution, but a parallel effort surfaced last week in the Oval Office. White House budget director Russell Vought criticized the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for funding priorities he said conflict with an executive order barring grants and contracts tied to equity. Officials discussed an executive order creating a commission…

Major TV networks decline White House pool duties: ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said Monday they would stop providing pooled television coverage of President Donald Trump after the White House barred CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO from the grounds. The networks said the public has an interest in receiving independent information…

Court ruling leaves most Federal Emergency Management Agency staffing reductions intact: Responsibility for disaster response continues to shift toward state and local governments, and a recent federal court ruling is unlikely to slow that trend. Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for Northern California ruled that drawing up plans to terminate half of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) workforce violated a 2005 law passed after Hurricane Katrina that protects the agency's independence from political decisions by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials. Local governments…

Watchdog finds federal government paid $9.5 billion in administrative leave during 2025 downsizing: Reducing the federal civilian workforce was among the administration's earliest cost-cutting targets, and a congressional watchdog has now put a price on how it was carried out. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported last week that paid administrative leave rose 435% during the first year of the administration, a sixfold increase since 2023, totaling $9.5 billion, of which roughly $6.7 billion was tied to the deferred resignation program. Federal data show 139,963 employees took the offer, with…

Judge Orders 30-day notice before demolishing Kennedy Center: A federal judge declined Rep. Joyce Beatty’s (D-Ohio), an ex officio trustee, request for an emergency hearing challenging the Kennedy Center board’s decision to close the building for renovations. U.S. District Judge Cooper ordered the government to provide 30 days’ notice if it plans to demolish the performing arts center. The decision follows a second vote by Trump appointed board to close the center, despite ongoing legal challenges over the president’s efforts to rename the building and control its future. The President said that the Kennedy Center…

Congress:

Senators press Flock on license plate data sharing and immigration enforcement access: Communities nationwide are reevaluating or canceling contracts with Flock Safety amid bipartisan concern that its automated license plate reader cameras are used to track people and facilitate police misconduct. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote to Flock CEO Garrett Langley last week, citing incidents in which the company allegedly failed to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from viewing license plate data, along with a Texas case in which law enforcement…

Senate committee advances farm bill amid dispute over state nutrition costs: The it covers will not run out until the end of the year. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry voted 12 to 11 along party lines last week to send a new bill setting national agriculture and nutrition policy to the full Senate. The return of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), absent since being hospitalized in June, broke a deadlock that had left the evenly divided committee unable…

Senate blocks consideration of cryptocurrency market structure bill: A measure that passed the House in July 2025 with a bipartisan vote and was shaped over months of negotiation among industry executives, Congress, and the White House failed to reach the Senate floor last week. Senators voted 50 to 49 to block consideration of the Clarity Act, which would establish business-friendly rules for cryptocurrencies, leaving supporters short of the 60 votes required to…

Surveillance law faces November deadline for congressional action: Congress allowed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expire in June for the first time since its enactment in 2008, though a quirk in the law lets the government operate the program through March 17. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) recently notified Congress that a vote after November 20 could leave the program without coverage, because the Justice Department and the surveillance court overseeing it need months to implement and approve any amendments. Privacy advocates…

Education:

Agriculture Department proposes shifting research funding from formula grants to competitive awards: Formula grants, formally called capacity grants, are awarded to land-grant universities under calculations written into law, including the Smith-Lever program for cooperative extension and Hatch Act support for state agricultural research stations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has asked Congress to zero out Hatch Act funding in its fiscal 2027 budget request, cut Smith-Lever grants from $325 million to $175 million, reduce forestry-related formula grants to states, and add more than $298 million to the competitive Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. Congress denied a similar fiscal 2026 request and provided the Hatch Act program…

Judge blocks rule imposing time limits on student and scholar visas: A federal rule that would have reshaped how long international students, researchers, and professors can remain in the United States is on hold as litigation proceeds. Massachusetts District Judge Dennis Saylor temporarily blocked DHS rule on September 14, one day before it was to take effect, finding the higher education groups suing were likely to succeed in showing the department violated the…

Former secretaries and union seek watchdog review of Education Department staffing cuts: Three former secretaries and the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252 wrote to acting Inspector General Mark Priebe last week requesting more thorough accounting of the roughly 2,000 employees who left the Education Department through layoffs, retirements, and voluntary separations in 2025. The letter asks what the department spent on litigation, arbitrations, grievances, and Merit Systems Protection Board proceedings, what the reductions in force cost…

Federal judges rule against Trump administration education funding actions: Two federal judges ruled last week that the Education Department and OMB exceeded their authority in separate education funding disputes. A Massachusetts judge found the department unlawfully canceled previously awarded teacher-preparation grants based on the administration’s anti-DEI executive order and barred it from applying the same rationale to upcoming grant awards. In a separate case…

California: 

Teachers union sues state over nearly $6 billion in deferred school funding: Proposition 98, approved by voters in 1988, requires roughly 40% of state revenues to go to education each year, a guarantee totaling $127.1 billion this year. The California Teachers Association filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court last week, alleging that the state violated its constitution when the last two budget agreements deferred $1.9 billion and then $3.9 billion intended for local school districts…

Rating agency warns of utility downgrades after Legislature declines wildfire liability changes: Utility borrowing costs flow through to customer rates, and a major rating agency signaled last week that two of California's largest utility companies could soon pay more to raise capital. Fitch Ratings changed its outlook for Edison International, parent of Southern California Edison, and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) from stable to negative after the Legislature declined to adopt Governor Gavin Newsom's…

House votes to nullify federal waiver for California oceangoing ship emissions standards: A federal judge ruled this month that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot reclassify California's Clean Air Act waivers as rules subject to congressional review, but the ruling does not stop Congress from acting on waivers EPA already sent. The House voted 216 to 211 last week to pass H.J. Res. 210 from Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA), a Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying the waiver that lets…

California expands community college authority to award bachelor's degrees: Community colleges in California can now award bachelor's degrees tied to regional workforce demand, a significant change to higher-education hierarchies that have held for more than 60 years. Under two bills, AB 2694…