Weekly Update- 7/13/2026
Weekly Update 7/13/2026
President and Administration:
21st Century ROAD to Housing Act becomes law sans Trump's signature: A bipartisan housing bill took effect this week after the constitutionally mandated 10-day window for presidential action closed at midnight. The President scheduled to sign the bill at a Capitol Hill ceremony last month but abruptly canceled the event, later writing on Truth Social that he would not sign the bill in protest over the Senate's failure to pass the SAVE America Act, a voting regulations…
Ceasefire collapse and renewed strikes push U.S.-Iran conflict: After overnight U.S. strikes on Iranian military sites in retaliation for attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the President declared on July 8 that the ceasefire and peace process with Iran appeared finished, calling Iranian leaders "liars" and describing negotiations as "a…
Administration reconstitutes the national climate research office under a climate science skeptic: A federal program responsible for the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment has been rebuilt under new leadership after the administration dismantled it last year, but the choice of director is drawing scrutiny from the scientific community. Matthew Wielicki, a former University of Alabama geochemist who has publicly suggested climate scientists fabricate data to…
Congress:
Proposed OMB grant rule would give political appointees control over federal grants: A sweeping rule proposed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would give political appointees new authority over federal grant decisions across every federal agency, drawing bipartisan opposition. The guidance would also become binding across all federal agencies once finalized. The rule would let appointees approve or reject discretionary grant awards, terminate any grant…
House GOP factional standoff persists as leaders search for a path to reopen the floor: House Republican leaders return this week to the same factional standoff that halted floor business before the July 4 recess, with no clear resolution in sight. A procedural rule failed 224 to 198 after 14 Republicans joined Democrats, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), in a rebellion…
Graham's death and McConnell's hospitalization leave Senate Republicans without key leaders: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who chaired the Senate Budget Committee, died July 12 of an aortic dissection, days after reaching an agreement with the administration on a Russia sanctions package. Graham had also served as the administration's most reliable Senate liaison, helping pass last year's reconciliation bill and this year's immigration enforcement measure, and was preparing to lead a third reconciliation package this fall. Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, will serve the remainder of the late senator’s term in Washington, after both President Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) expressed support for the appointment. A special candidate…
California:
Administration advances controversial Mojave groundwater pumping project: A federal permit clearing the way for a decades-long effort to pump groundwater from the Mojave Desert advanced Thursday after the Bureau of Land Management approved a 50-year right of way for Cadiz Inc. to convert an existing 220-mile natural gas pipeline into a water pipeline on federal land. The approval also authorizes seven pumping stations, and Cadiz says the pipeline could initially move up to 25,000 acre feet of water annually…
California lawmaker waters down bill to repeal campus protest rules after opposition: Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, a Democrat who represents the 57th district which includes parts of Los Angeles, agreed to significantly scale back a state bill that would have repealed 2024 rules requiring California's public universities to address behavior creating a hostile environment on campus, after facing strong opposition at a Senate Education Committee hearing. The amended version, which advanced on Wednesday…
Education:
Education Regulatory and Congressional Efforts
Education Department moves to shut down Equity Assistance Centers through proposed rule: After multiple failed attempts, the Education Department is pursuing a proposed rule to rescind regulations for Equity Assistance Centers (EACs), which provide desegregation and civil rights technical assistance to schools, districts, and school boards under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Four EACs operate nationwide and received nearly $7 million in fiscal year 2024, serving 24 state education agencies…
Education Department outlines regulatory agenda on civil rights, student loans, and special education: The administration released an update to its 2026 Unified Agenda, outlining proposed Education Department regulations expected this year. This is a process that agencies engage in on a regular basis, though the timing of this most recent set of proposals by ED was outside the traditional cycle. The agenda states an agency’s intended areas of focus for regulatory or de-regulatory actions but does not commit the agency to a particular timeline or set agenda. Key topics that ED indicated they will focus on in the new notice include finalizing rules defining sex…
House chair introduces 10-bill package to permanently transfer Education Department functions: Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, introduced a 10-bill package that would permanently codify the administration's interagency agreements by transferring Education Department programs to other federal agencies. The bills would move federal student aid to Treasury; career, technical, and adult education and K-12 and higher education programs to Labor…
Education Department launches crackdown on sexual misconduct by school staff; issues Dear Colleague letter: A new initiative from the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) targets sexual misconduct by staff in K-12 schools, with Secretary Linda McMahon issuing a Dear Colleague letter warning schools receiving federal funding must shield students under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Title IX or risk losing federal dollars. The department is…
Education and the Courts
Supreme Court asked to take up K-12 admissions case that could reshape diversity policies nationwide: A parent group is asking the Supreme Court to review a Maryland case challenging Montgomery County Public Schools' admissions policies for magnet STEM programs, filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation. The petition asks the court to clarify whether 14th …
Transgender students drop NH lawsuit after Supreme Court upholds sex sports separation: Two transgender girls in NH withdrew the first lawsuit against the administration's ban on transgender athletes in girls' sports, citing the Supreme Court's June 30 ruling in Little v. Hecox and the personal cost of continued litigation. The court held six…
Education and Public Programs
Federal scholarship tax credit creates uncertainty for microschools & afterschool programming over eligibility rules: A new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act allows taxpayers to receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit, up to $1,700, for donations to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs), with scholarships available to students at public, private, or religious schools. Recent Treasury Department guidance states that homeschool programs qualify only if they are “treated as a school under state law,” creating uncertainty for microschools and learning models that operate outside…
GAO report shows that Students with disabilities are spending more time in general education classrooms: A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that 42 states and the District of Columbia increased the share of students with disabilities in general education classrooms between the 2012-13 and 2023-24 school years, driven…
Free school meals at risk as SNAP and Medicaid cuts reduce eligibility: A July 7 analysis from the Center for American Progress warns that cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) could jeopardize schools' access to the Community Eligibility Provision…