Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
Under the Senate farm bill, states with food stamp error rates above 10 percent could pay up to 20 percent of benefits from 2030
A Senate Agriculture Committee bill would let the federal government push a much larger bill onto states that make too many mistakes issuing food stamps....
A Senate farm bill would delay states’ share of food stamp benefit costs by a year
A bill the Senate Agriculture Committee approved on September 16 would push back, by one year, a requirement forcing states to start covering part of...
A zero tariff for certain orphan, plasma and fertility drugs from 19 trading partners takes effect September 29
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on September 29, a zero tariff rate applies to a specific list of specialty drugs, including orphan-designated treatments, plasma-derived...
Trump’s drug-price deal could save state Medicaid programs $27.6 billion over ten years
The White House projects that its Medicaid drug-pricing deal with 26 pharmaceutical manufacturers will save federal and state governments a combined $64.3 billion over the...
Food stamp enrollment fell in every state but Alaska, a Stateline analysis found
Food stamp enrollment has fallen in every state except Alaska since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect in July 2025, according to a...
The minimum food stamp benefit rises to $25 a month on October 1
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has set the smallest monthly SNAP payment for a one- or two-person household at $25 starting October 1, a one-dollar...
Abbott formula settlement will send Tennessee $2.35 million after a nationwide recovery
Tennessee will receive $2,349,346.04 from Abbott Laboratories’ $384.9 million settlement over infant formula and nutritional therapy products, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced on September 18....
Abbott will pay $384.9 million in a multistate infant-formula settlement
Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay $384,999,040, or about $384.9 million, to resolve federal and state allegations that it caused government programs to pay for...
VA targets Nov. 30 for legal opinion on painful-motion rule behind $45 million in underpayments
The Veterans Benefits Administration has set Nov. 30, 2026, as its target date for getting a legal opinion on how VA should apply its painful-motion...
Pennsylvania recovered nearly $600,000 in wages and damages for more than 100 brewery workers
Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor & Industry recovered $582,828 in wages and damages for 124 workers at Bald Birds Brewing Company, the agency announced on September...
A Pennsylvania brewery paid $582,828 after workers went five weeks without payroll
Bald Birds Brewing Company paid $582,828 in owed wages and liquidated damages to workers after a Pennsylvania investigation found that the brewery failed for several...
Amazon raises starting pay to $20 an hour for U.S. core-operations workers
Amazon is raising minimum starting pay for full-time core-operations employees in the United States to $20 an hour, the company announced on September 16, 2026....
A DoorDash worker owed $1,000 could receive $3,000 under New York’s settlement
A New York City DoorDash worker who was owed $1,000 and never paid will receive $3,000 under the city’s $131.5 million settlement with the delivery...
DoorDash will pay $115 million directly to 260,000 delivery workers
DoorDash will pay more than $115 million directly to more than 260,000 New York City delivery workers who were underpaid, not paid at all or...
A borrower who took a student loan before July can still use income-based repayment, and newer borrowers cannot
The date of a borrower’s last student loan now separates two repayment menus. The Department of Education says the Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, launched...
Importers have 180 days after liquidation to protest a tariff, and a court case can cost more than the refund
A tariff refund can look straightforward in the abstract: a court says duties were overpaid, Customs returns the money, and an importer moves on. The...
The Tax Foundation estimates tariffs cost the average household $820 this year, down from about $1,000 in 2025
The Tax Foundation estimates that tariffs in force this year amount to an average tax increase of $820 per U.S. household, down from about $1,000...
The 10 percent tariff on everything expired in July, replaced by a forced-labor tariff
The 10 percent across-the-board tariff imposed under Section 122 did not remain in force after July. Tax Foundation’s tariff tracker says it ran from February...
The consumer bureau decides who gets money from its penalty fund, and consumers cannot apply for it
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Civil Penalty Fund does not work like a public application program. The bureau states that consumers cannot apply to receive...
Marketplace insurers have requested a median 15 percent increase for 2027, and last year’s requests grew before they were final
Marketplace insurers have requested a median 15 percent premium increase for 2027, according to KFF’s review of public rate filings. That is a request, not...