Weekly Update- 2/2/2026
Weekly Update 2/2/2026 Capitol Advocacy Partners
President and Administration:
FBI searches Fulton County elections office seeking 2020 ballots: On Wednesday (1/28), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant at an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia. According to the warrant, they were seeking 2020 election materials including physical ballots, vote tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls. A source told CBS News that this operation is linked to the 2020 presidential election. The FBI seized around 700 boxes of 2020…
Federal Reserve keeps rates steady: The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75% at its first meeting of the year, extending a pause after three quarter-point cuts at the end of 2025, even as the administration has publicly pressed for much lower borrowing costs. In its policy statement, the Fed said economic activity is…
Congress:
Johnson says no quick House vote to end partial shutdown and blames Democrats for their ICE demands: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said a House vote on government funding will take several days, ensuring the partial federal shutdown continues as lawmakers clash over limits on immigration enforcement. He is leaning on the President’s support after the President negotiated a Senate deal to temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while Congress debates new restrictions on ICE. Democrats refuse to fast-track the bill without stronger reforms, including requiring…
California:
Broadband Funding Delays: State officials and broadband industry leaders warned that California could face more delays getting access to the $42.45 billion in the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, which is an internet subsidy created by the Biden Administration. California remains one of the 13 states and territories awaiting federal approval of final plans. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) first received sign-off in 2024 for $1.8 billion in broadband…
Fire fight: On (1/30), The President signed an executive order seeking to shift authority over rebuilding permits after the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires from state and local governments to the federal government, an unusual move that the President said was aimed at speeding approvals for residents rebuilding homes and other structures destroyed in the fires. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (D) quickly rebuked the order, which would represent a major…
Education:
Department of Education – agency information collection activities; comment request; National Special Education Spending Study: The U.S. Department of Education, through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), issued a Federal Register notice proposing a new information collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for the National Special Education Spending Study. The study will collect data from state, local, and Tribal…
Administration finds California’s ban on ‘forced outing’ of students violates federal law: The administration announced that California’s policy allowing schools to withhold information from parents about a student’s gender identity violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the policy improperly restricts parental…
San José State violated federal law with trans athlete policies, Education Department finds: The U.S. Department of Education found that San José State University violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) by allowing a transgender athlete to compete on its women’s volleyball team. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR)…
Summary of 2025 Actions: Trump disrupted or cut billions for education in 2025: During the first year of the administration, federal agencies cut, canceled, or disrupted more than $12 billion in education funding, significantly reshaping the federal grant landscape for K–12 schools and higher education institutions…
4-day school weeks and teacher retention: New research drawing on 17 years of Texas teacher job movement data found that districts switching to four-day school weeks saw teacher turnover fall by about 2.7 percent, but the change did not meaningfully improve recruitment or the overall experience and education levels of teachers working in those districts. Cade Lawson…
More states are pairing cell phone bans with media literacy: A new report from Media Literacy Now found that at least half of U.S. states have enacted laws to advance media literacy education, including 11 states, California among them, that passed new legislation since January 2024, as lawmakers respond to the spread of artificial intelligence-generated misinformation online. This law now requires the commission to consider incorporating artificial intelligence literacy content into mathematics, science…
Legal battle emerging over Long Island charter system's plans to open new schools: New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) filed lawsuits against the State University of New York (SUNY) challenging approval of three new Academy Charter School locations in Brentwood and Central Islip. The union argues SUNY…