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…

Weekly Update 6/29/2026

Weekly Update 6/29/2026

Appropriations: 

Partisan divide deepens as House Appropriations Committee clears $1.1 trillion Pentagon funding bill: The spending committee last week completed action on all 12 annual government funding bills, advancing a $1.1 trillion fiscal year 2027 Pentagon spending measure in a 34-27 party-line vote, the first time in recent memory that Pentagon spending has drawn a complete partisan split. No Democrats supported the legislation, with opposition stoked by Republican amendments to permanently rename the Defense Department as the Department of War, block funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, and restrict gender-affirming care for…

President and Administration:

Education Department's civil rights office closures create enforcement gaps: The administration’s closure of seven of the Education Department’s 12 regional Offices for Civil Rights (OCR) branches, combined with Secretary Linda McMahon’s decision to transfer special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and civil rights enforcement to the Department of Justice (DOJ), is raising concerns that students with disabilities and those facing discrimination will have fewer protections. The two offices have long collaborated on joint guidance, including a 2022 document on informal removals of students…

Supreme Court's parental notification ruling reshapes district policies and triggers federal investigations: The Supreme Court's ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta, issued earlier this term through the court's emergency docket without oral arguments, is reshaping school district policies and federal investigations. The decision found that policies limiting parental notification about students' gender transitions may violate constitutional parental rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 18 temporarily blocked California's AB 1955, the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today's Youth (SAFETY) Act, which prohibited districts…

Supreme Court hands Trump sweeping authority: The Supreme Court today struck down a nearly century-old precedent that had allowed Congress to protect the heads of independent federal agencies from presidential removal without cause. The 6-3 ruling, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., overturns Humphrey's Executor, a 1935 precedent that insulated leaders of roughly two dozen agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities…

Congress:

House Republican leaders fail to advance Reconciliation 3.0: House Republican leaders last week failed to secure agreement on a third party-line budget reconciliation package, known as "Reconciliation 3.0," after the House Budget Committee rejected leadership's pitch to advance a budget resolution. The standoff centered on demands from Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) that any resolution be fully offset "dollar for dollar" and "year for year" in current savings, without accounting…

OMB overstepping authority?: House Ways and Means Ranking Member Richald Neal of Massachusetts demanded that OMB Director Vought and HHS Secretary Kennedy withdraw a new regulation to increase the involvement of political appointees in reviewing federal grants. Neal wrote that the rule would "destabilize the bedrock of federal discretionary grantmaking and independent research--and is an affront to scientists, researchers, the Constitution, and the American people…

California: 

Watchdog report finds Education Department staff cuts compromised legally required functions: Federal auditors last week found that a 40% staff reduction at the Education Department in early 2025 appears to have eliminated units performing legally required functions. The reduction eliminated suboffices in 15 of the department's 17 offices, terminated 90 grants totaling $504 million, with teacher training and mental health programs most impacted, and canceled 129 contracts worth $1.3 billion. Impacted grants…

Newsom signs $351.7 billion budget, including education governance overhaul: California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week reached a budget agreement with legislative leaders on a $351.7 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2026-27, finalizing a deal that prioritizes austerity, builds reserves, and advances a major restructuring of state education oversight. The budget, which covers October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, includes $400 million in new housing and homelessness funding, more than $200…

Education: 

Federal judge strikes down Education Department rule excluding education from graduate borrowing definition: A federal judge last week struck down an Education Department rule excluding from the "professional" degree definition governing graduate student borrowing limits under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law sets higher annual borrowing caps for professional degrees ($50,000) than for other graduate degrees ($20,500). The department had limited the definition to 11 mostly doctoral-level…

Research links immigration enforcement to student absenteeism: New research from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University links immigration enforcement to increased student absenteeism, finding that students born outside of the U.S. were about two percentage points more likely to be absent after the President's 2025 inauguration, with 11th graders up…

States fall short on federal special education targets: More than half of U.S. states and territories failed to meet annual implementation targets for federal special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), according to state determinations issued June 18 by the Education Department. Only 20 states received a "meets requirements" rating for IDEA Part B services for students ages 3-21, while four states, Maine, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont, were labeled "needs…

Weekly Update 6/22/2026

Weekly Update 6/22/2026

Appropriations: 

OMB nominee aligns federal grants with President’s priorities, defends controversial funding tactics: Hal Duncan, the President’s nominee for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), told lawmakers during two Senate confirmation hearings last week that the administration will use federal grant approval processes to block funding for what it deems divisive ideologies and that he cannot commit to foregoing controversial pocket rescission tactics. Duncan said political appointees will control approval of more than one trillion dollars in annual federal grants to state and local governments, nonprofits, and educational…

President and Administration:

Education Department cuts student loan interest rates for autopay borrowers: Only 40% of federal student loan borrowers actively repaying loans currently use automatic payments, down dramatically from more than 80% pre-pandemic, prompting the Education Department to announce, on June 18, a one percentage point interest rate reduction for those enrolled in autopay effective July 1 through June 30, 2028. Borrowers must enroll in autopay by Sept. 30 to qualify if not already enrolled; those already using the payment method receive an additional 0.75 percentage-point discount on top of their existing 0.25 percentage…

Congress:

Senate Republicans show little urgency on third reconciliation bill despite President’s push: Multiple Senate aides last week said any third reconciliation bill would likely be led by the House, signaling little GOP appetite in the upper chamber despite the President’s push for a $350 billion package combining military funding with conservative policy victories. House Republican leaders and committee chairs have spent weeks discussing a new party-line measure, but the Senate has taken no concrete…

Rep. Bonamici seeks to impeach Education Secretary McMahon over program transfers: A day after the administration announced it would move programs for students with disabilities to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and civil rights enforcement to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) announced June 17 she will introduce a resolution to impeach Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Bonamici accused McMahon of making false statements to Congress…

Senate set to pass bipartisan housing affordability bill with investor restrictions: Legislation that would stop institutional investors from buying more than 350 single-family homes is now advancing toward Senate passage as part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a comprehensive bipartisan package designed to increase housing supply and reduce home costs. The bill also enables banks to increase investments in affordable housing and eliminates the outdated “chassis rule” that required…

California: 

Legislature passes budget with record 127 billion for schools and colleges: With higher revenue projections than Gov. Gavin Newsom expected, the California Legislature passed a state budget on June 18, providing several billion dollars in additional spending for TK-12 and community colleges for state FY2026-27. The Legislature's budget allocated a record $127 billion for schools and community colleges, including larger-than-required cost-of-living adjustments, $700 million for school kitchen upgrades or additions, $300 million for career and technical education, and additional funding for refugee assistance and homeless students. Chief among unresolved issues is Newsom's plan to withhold $3.9 billion in education funding until revenue projections from artificial intelligence stock…

Newsom-backed proposal: Revenue measures generate up to $5 billion annually: Revenue-raising trailer bills approved by the California State Senate on June 18 would extend a tax on managed care organizations, tighten corporate tax break caps, and expand a digital software tax, together generating up to $5 billion in ongoing annual revenues The 40-member Senate voted 27 to 9 on the measures, the minimum required for tax proposals, with Senate Budget Chair John Laird saying the changes would help prevent…

Education: 

Supreme Court declines to hear student speech cases, Alito signals future action: Justice Samuel Alito urged the Supreme Court in a June 15 dissent to revisit student free speech protections after the high court declined to hear two cases involving student expression in school districts. The first case involved an Indiana high…

Lawsuit challenges Education Department's discontinuation of English learner grants: The Southern Poverty Law Center, National Education Association, and researchers sued the Education Department on June 3, challenging the discontinuation of 28 grants from the National Professional Development grant program designed…

Education Department transfers special education and civil rights functions to other agencies: The Education Department announced June 16 it is moving its office overseeing special education and employment programs for adults with disabilities to HHS under a new interagency agreement. DOJ will assume the Education Department's civil rights office, student privacy…

Trump Admin. issues waiver on school accountability, funding: The Department of Education approved its broadest Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) flexibility waiver to date, marking the first time the administration has allowed a state to modify federal high school accountability requirements. The waiver, awarded to Indiana…

The Department of Justice (DOJ) launches investigations into 43 school districts over LGBTQ+ curricula: DOJ announced this month that it is investigating 43 school districts across California, Illinois, and Michigan regarding how they teach sexuality and gender identity and whether they provide parents the option to opt their children out of lessons that conflict with religious beliefs. The four California districts under investigation are the Graves Elementary School District…

Weekly Update 6/15/2026

Weekly Update 6/15/2026

Appropriations:

House appropriations bill would cut Education Department budget by 10%: A House Appropriations Committee bill advanced June 9 would cut the Education Department's fiscal year 2027 budget to $71 billion, a 10% reduction from the current year and below the administration's own $76.5 billion request. For K-12, the bill proposes $40.2 billion, a $4.6 billion cut compared to fiscal year 2026, including a nearly $2 billion reduction to Title I funding for low-income schools that Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the committee's top Democrat, said would result in 30,000 fewer teachers. The bill eliminates subsidized student loans and redirects roughly $16 billion in projected savings toward shoring up the Pell Grant program, which faces a projected $15 billion shortfall and serves more than six million students. It also eliminates funding for the Office of English Language Acquisition, increases charter school….

House defense appropriations bill advances over Democratic resistance: House Republicans advanced a $1.1 trillion Pentagon funding bill out of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee on June 11, setting the stage for a full committee markup scheduled for June 24. The legislation cleared the panel in a closed-door session over Democratic objections, with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), the subcommittee's ranking member, saying her colleagues want to see improvements before….

President and Administration:

President signs $70 billion immigration enforcement funding bill: President Donald Trump signed the Secure America Act, a $79 billion package,  into law on June 10, allocating $38 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $26 billion to Customs and Border Protection, and $5 billion more to the Department of Homeland Security through September 2029. The House voted along party lines 214-212 using the budget reconciliation process, which bypasses….

Federal court orders Trump's name removed from Kennedy Center facade:  The Kennedy Center’s board has voted to appeal a federal court ruling requiring the removal of the President’s last name from the building’s facade, with DOJ lawyers filing a notice of appeal after both the district court and a federal appeals court denied emergency stays on June 12.  Workers nonetheless began removing President Trump's name from the facade in the early hours of June 13, following a ruling last….

The President demands $350B Pentagon infusion and election overhaul in third reconciliation push: The president called on congressional Republicans to immediately pass a third party-line reconciliation bill that would deliver $350 billion in new Pentagon funding and advance the stalled SAVE America Act, an elections overhaul package. The President issued the demand in a Truth Social post, calling for action with "no games, no delays, and no weak compromises," just days after….

Administration appeals ruling striking down $100,000 H-1B visa fee: The administration last week appealed a federal judge's ruling that struck down a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, a program that allows employers to hire highly skilled foreign workers temporarily. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin vacated the fee on June 8, finding it amounted to an…

Congress:

Republicans break with leadership to pass pro-union bill: Twenty House Republicans crossed party lines last week to help pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act, a Democratic-led bill that would shorten the time between a union election and a first collectively bargained contract. Democrats used a discharge petition to force the bill to the floor over…

California: 

Republican Steve Hilton to face Democrat Xavier Becerra in California governor's race: Former Fox News host and Republican Steve Hilton will face former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in California's November gubernatorial general election, after both advanced from a crowded all-party primary field. With 88% of votes counted, Becerra led with about 28% support to Hilton's 25%, with billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who has already endorsed Becerra, received 23%…

California legislature reaches budget deal, breaks with Newsom on Medi-Cal cuts: California's Assembly and Senate announced a joint budget deal on Thursday, 6/11, that broadly aligns with Newsom's call for fiscal restraint but rejects his proposed cuts to Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, setting up a high-stakes negotiation with the governor this summer. The nearly $356 billion spending plan sets aside $29 billion in reserves and calls for a constitutional amendment to allow the state to save even more, while relying on three revenue measures Newsom proposed: a new tax on digital software, a renewed tax…

U.S. DOJ opens investigation into Newsom, wife, governor says: Gov. Newsom said today, 6/15, that he and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are under federal investigation by the DOJ and accused the president of weaponizing against him because of his potential 2028 presidential run. In a video message, Newsom said federal agents have been demanding records and reviewing years of documents. The investigation, Newsom said, is not based on evidence…

Silicon Valley revolts against Newsom software tax plan: Fifty major technology companies including Apple and Alphabet sent a letter to California legislative leaders on Thursday, 6/11 urging them to reject Newsom's proposal to extend the state's sales tax to digital software services. The letter, addressed to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, argues the tax would raise costs for widely used business tools like Microsoft Outlook and Slack, and that a parallel proposal…

HUD suspends funding for Los Angeles homelessness agency over fraud allegations: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) suspended federal funding for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) on Thursday, 6/11 following the opening of an inspector general investigation into allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement at the agency. HUD Secretary Scott Turner accused LAHSA of providing false statements, lacking adequate internal controls and failing to safeguard against conflicts of interest, including an incident in which the agency's former chief executive allegedly directed more than $2 million…

Education: 

Treasury previews rules for federal scholarship tax credit program as states weigh participation: The Treasury Department confirmed and previewed rules this week for public school student eligibility for a new federal scholarship tax credit program launching January 1, noting that formal regulations will be released before October. The program, created by last year's "One Big, Beautiful Bill," offers dollar-for-dollar federal tax credits of up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting…

House Education Committee grills superintendents on LGBTQ+ student policies: The House Education and Workforce Committee held a contentious hearing on June 10 in which Republican members pressed superintendents from Chicago, San Francisco and Virginia's Loudoun County on their districts' transgender student, parental notification and curriculum content policies. Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) organized the hearing around what he called "attacks…

DOJ opens compliance reviews of four California school districts over LGBTQ+ policies: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched compliance reviews on June 8 into four California public school districts, including San Francisco Unified School District, over their policies on parental notification and transgender student access to facilities…

Supreme Court declines to take up school gender transition notification case: The U.S. Supreme Court declined on June 2 to hear a case filed by California's Rocklin Unified School District over its policy requiring teachers to notify parents within three days of a student's gender transition or nonconforming status. The rejection is the latest…

Lawsuit challenges Education Department's cancellation of English learner teacher grants: The Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Education Association (NEA) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education over its abrupt cancellation of 28 national professional development grants for teachers of English learners. The grants were rescinded in September using keyword searches for terms like "equity" and "diversity," the suit alleges, rather than substantive…

New National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores show gains for lowest-performing 9-year-olds: The latest results from the NAEP Long-Term Trend showed reading and math gains for 9-year-olds in the 2024-25 school year, with the largest improvements among the lowest-performing students. Students at the 10th percentile in math gained 7.5 points, compared to 0.7 points for top performers; the lowest readers gained 9.3 points. Researchers from Dartmouth, Harvard and Stanford also documented 2025 gains in a separate Education Scorecard released last month. Gains did not extend to 13-year-olds, where math scores continued to decline, and analysts caution the increases may partly reflect a post-pandemic rebound rather than…

Weekly Update 6/08/2026

Weekly Update 6/08/2026

Solano: OVW Fiscal Year 2026 Grants to Support Families in the Justice System (Justice for Families) Program (Office on Violence

Appropriations:

House education funding bill advances out of subcommittee: An $8 billion cut to the Education Department's fiscal year 2027 budget cleared a House Appropriations subcommittee last week on an 11-7 party-line vote, advancing to the full committee for a markup scheduled for tomorrow, June 9. The legislation would fund the department at $70.7 billion, a 10% reduction from current levels. Among the most significant K-12 provisions is a $1.9 billion cut to Title I grants, which support schools serving low-income students, as well as elimination of funding for English language learners and Title II-A teacher training programs. The bill does include a modest boost to the maximum Pell Grant award, raising it to $7,445, and rejects the administration's proposal…

President and Administration:

President expected to nominate Todd Blanche as attorney general: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to receive a formal nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department (DOJ), according to administration officials, a move that sets up a potentially difficult Senate confirmation fight. Blanche has served in an acting capacity since April, when former Attorney General Pam Bondi was forced out following her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files. Blanche's relationship with the…

President, san evidence, alleges fraud in California primary: President Trump made a series of posts on Truth Social last week, alleging widespread fraud in California's June 2 primary elections, offering no evidence to support the claims. He suggested Democrats were "stealing" the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races as later-counted mail ballots shifted results in a more Democratic direction. California election officials pushed back, noting that later ballots have historically skewed Democratic because Republicans tend to vote earlier and in person. Under California law, mailed ballots postmarked by…

Kennedy Center ordered to remove Trump's name after court ruling: A federal judge's order last week forced the Kennedy Center to begin erasing President Trump's name from its official materials, reversing a December board vote that critics argued violated federal law. In a three-page memo obtained by the Washington Post, the center's general counsel directed staff to restore all references to "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts" and gave employees until June 12 to update signs, brochures, ID cards and the website. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the center's board had exceeded…

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant delays leave addiction and mental health providers in limbo: Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for addiction treatment, mental health services and overdose prevention have stalled at the SAMHSA, leaving providers uncertain about funding with the Sept. 30 fiscal year-end deadline approaching. About a dozen grants valued at nearly $600 million have been delayed for months, including the Services Program for Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women and the Treatment, Recovery, and Workforce Support Grant. Other affected funding includes grants for adult suicide prevention, certified community behavioral health clinics, medication-assisted treatment…

World Cup opens amid immigration enforcement tensions in host cities: The FIFA World Cup kicks off this week in the United States for the first time in 32 years, but immigration concerns are casting a shadow over the tournament across all 11 host cities. More than 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles voted last week to authorize a potential labor stoppage unless they receive assurances that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not conduct deportation operations at the venue. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not ruled out enforcement actions, leaving host cities uncertain about how…

Congress:

Senate passes immigration enforcement bill after 18-hour Reconciliation vote-a-rama: The Senate passed a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill along party lines last week, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) the sole Republican to join all Democrats in opposition in a final 52-47 vote. The bill funds ICE and Customs and Border Protection through the remainder of the President's term. The most contested amendment, offered by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), would have restricted payouts from the administration's proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund to law enforcement officers killed or injured during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The amendment received 52 votes in favor but required 60 to pass. The immigration bill now moves to the House, where the margins for passage…

House passes war powers resolution directing the administration to end Iran conflict: In a bipartisan rebuke of the administration's handling of a military conflict now in its fourth month, the House voted 215-208 last week to direct the President to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran or seek congressional authorization to continue. Four Republicans crossed party lines to support the measure: Reps. Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Thomas Massie (R-KY). Democrats invoked the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires Congress to consider such measures within a set timeframe, after Republican leaders…

Senate college sports bill gains White House backing: The President showed his public support behind the Protect College Sports Act last week, urging Congress to send him a bipartisan bill before the end of summer. The legislation, authored by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and ranking member Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), would establish a federal framework for collegiate athletics, setting limits on player transfers, banning coaches from switching schools mid-season and codifying certain names, image and likeness protections for student-athletes. The effort comes after the House's SCORE Act collapsed…

FISA Section 702 deadline: Congress has until June 12 to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes collection of digital communications from foreigners abroad but can also capture Americans' data in the process. The Senate last week rejected a motion to proceed to the extension bill 47-52, with….

California: 

Becerra advances to November runoff in governor's race: Former California Attorney General and Biden Cabinet Secretary Xavier Becerra secured a spot in the November general election last week following the state's June 2 top-two primary, though the identity of his opponent remained unresolved as ballot counting continued. Becerra rose rapidly this spring from the back of a crowded Democratic field to become the frontrunner. He will face either Republican commentator Steve Hilton or billionaire…

$200 million in school air quality funds could expire without budget deal: Nearly $200 million set aside to upgrade heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in aging California public schools may be returned to utility ratepayers by year's end unless state lawmakers reach a deal to extend the program before the budget deadline. The California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency Program, known as CalSHAPE, has been frozen since 2024 due to budget constraints, leaving $194 million unspent. The program was created in 2020 in response to wildfire smoke and COVID-19 air quality concerns and has previously awarded…

Monterey Park votes to ban data centers, first in state to do so: Voters in Monterey Park, a city of 60,000 people near Los Angeles, approved a ballot measure last week permanently banning data centers, making it the first California city to pass such a referendum and only the second in the nation after a small Milwaukee suburb did so in April. The measure passed with 86%…

Education: 

Harvard seeks to block admissions records lawsuit: Harvard University asked a federal judge last week to dismiss or pause the administration's lawsuit seeking the school's admissions records, arguing it substantially overlaps with a separate case a court has already temporarily blocked. In that related case, Massachusetts v. Department of Education, a judge halted the administration's attempt to require dozens of universities to submit six years of detailed admissions data. Harvard contends the DOJ…

Lawsuits challenged tech companies' use of student data: A growing wave of litigation is testing whether schools have legal authority to consent to student data collection on behalf of parents, a question that could reshape how education technology companies operate in classrooms. Lawsuits filed by the EdTech Law Center target companies including…

Treasury rescinds student debt collection contracts, citing procurement error: The Treasury Department reversed course last week on contracts worth an estimated $40 million assigned to five private debt collection firms to handle federal student loans in default, saying the orders were issued in error. The move came as the administration works to transfer the $1.7 trillion…

DOJ opens investigation into Arizona State University over diversity practices: Federal civil rights investigators launched a probe into Arizona State University (ASU) last week, alleging the school may have denied students equal access to admissions, scholarships, tutoring and educational support on the basis of race, color or national origin. The DOJ…