Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
Food stamps lifted 3.1 million Americans out of poverty in 2025, Census figures show
Three million one hundred thousand people would have counted as poor last year if food-stamp benefits were left out of the poverty calculation, according to...
Senators press the Trump administration to release heating aid before November 1
Two senators from opposite parties are pushing the Trump administration to release winter heating aid before a legal deadline requires it, for different reasons and...
Trump moves to cancel $810 million Congress approved by letting the money expire September 30
A rarely used budget maneuver called a pocket rescission is set to let $810 million in money Congress already approved lapse on September 30, the...
Trump’s Energy Department commits $1.9 billion to grid projects it says will lower power costs for 100 million Americans
Chris Wright’s Energy Department is committing $1.9 billion to 31 electrical-grid projects across 26 states, funding the agency says could strengthen an aging transmission network...
Trump’s mileage rollback, due Monday, is estimated to save $930 per new vehicle while drivers burn $185 billion more in fuel through 2050
Buying a new vehicle could get $930 cheaper once a federal fuel-economy rollback set to be finalized Monday takes effect, but drivers as a group...
Medicaid spending climbed $47 billion this fiscal year to $655 billion, CBO says
Eleven months into the federal fiscal year, Medicaid has already cost $655 billion, up $47 billion, or 8 percent, from the same stretch a year...
Social Security spending rose $78 billion and Medicare $73 billion in 11 months, CBO says
Two of the federal government’s largest recurring costs grew at different speeds through the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026. Social Security outlays reached...
Interest on the national debt jumped $111 billion this fiscal year, CBO says
Net interest payments on the federal government’s public debt climbed to $1,052 billion over the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026, up $111 billion,...
Trump’s tariff revenue fell $17 billion in August from a year earlier as refunds reached about $110 billion, CBO says
Customs duty collections dropped $17 billion in August 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, a 59 percent decline, as the federal government...
The 2027 federal pay plan gives the lowest enlisted ranks a 7% raise
The largest single percentage in President Trump’s 2027 pay plan belongs to the troops earning the least. Service members in the lowest enlisted grades, E-1...
New Jersey began sending ANCHOR property tax payments September 15, and most arrive within 90 days
New Jersey homeowners began seeing ANCHOR property-tax payments arrive on a rolling basis starting Sept. 15, 2026, with the state’s Division of Taxation saying most...
Patented drug imports from Japan, the EU, South Korea and Switzerland face a 15% rate under Trump’s pharmaceutical tariffs
Patented drug imports tied to Japan, the European Union, South Korea and Switzerland carry a 15% tariff under the guidance Customs and Border Protection issued...
Trump’s replacement tariffs of 10% or 12.5% now reach imports from 60 trading partners
Sixty trading partners now face a Section 301 tariff of either 10% or 12.5%, a schedule that took effect July 24 and covers an estimated...
Federal law enforcement officers would get a 3.8% raise in 2027 under Trump’s plan while other civilian pay stays frozen
Law enforcement personnel are the one group inside the government’s 2027 pay plan whose compensation is scheduled to rise: a 3.8 percent increase, delivered not...
The Thrifty Food Plan behind food-stamp amounts cannot be reevaluated before October 1, 2027
October 1, 2027, is the earliest date USDA can next reevaluate the Thrifty Food Plan, the market-basket model that sets the cost basis behind every...
Medicaid expansion adults must renew coverage every six months starting with renewals in 2027
Medicaid’s adult expansion group is about to renew coverage twice as often. A CMS letter to state Medicaid directors, SMD 26-001, requires states to redetermine...
The FTC and 22 states say Amazon charged sellers a hidden ad surcharge that took in tens of billions
Amazon built a hidden surcharge into its advertising auctions and used it to extract tens of billions of dollars from sellers since 2019, the Federal...
Florida’s plan to exempt up to $250,000 of a home’s value from property taxes polls at 45 percent, short of the 60 percent needed
St. Pete Polls found 45 percent of likely Florida voters backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the state’s homestead property-tax exemption to as...
The minimum food stamp benefit is $36 in Guam and $32 in the Virgin Islands from October 1
The smallest monthly SNAP payment a qualifying one- or two-person household can receive climbs to $25 in the 48 states and Washington, D.C. on October...
A single person in Alaska can have up to $1,663 a month in net income and still get food stamps from October 1
A single adult in Alaska can earn up to $1,663 a month in net income and still qualify for food stamps once the Supplemental Nutrition...