Government & Policy
Legislation, executive orders, regulatory changes, and government actions that directly impact personal finances, taxes, benefits, or the economy.
Latest in Government & Policy
A veteran can restore full VA home-loan entitlement after a sale and buy again with no down payment
A veteran who sells a home financed with a VA-backed mortgage does not forfeit the zero-down benefit that made the first purchase possible. The Department...
The children of a permanently disabled or deceased veteran can get up to 36 months of education money through Chapter 35
A veteran does not have to survive military service, or even to have died, for a benefit to reach the next generation. Through the Survivors’...
Special monthly compensation adds VA money for severe losses like a limb or blindness
The Department of Veterans Affairs pays some disabled veterans extra money each month on top of their regular compensation when their injuries involve the most...
A totally disabled veteran who cannot work may draw pay at the 100% rate through VA unemployability, even at a lower rating
A veteran whose service-connected injuries make steady work impossible can be paid at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ full 100% compensation rate even when the...
A House bill would repeal the federal income tax on Social Security benefits, though it has not cleared committee
Legislation to end the federal income tax on Social Security benefits has been introduced in the House, a change that would lift take-home checks for...
A bill in Congress would let homeowners 65 and older shield up to $1 million of home-sale profit from capital-gains tax
A House proposal introduced this summer would sharply raise the amount of home-sale profit that older homeowners could keep free of federal capital-gains tax, lifting...
Eighteen states will soon block soda and candy from food-stamp purchases
For the first time in the six-decade history of the food-stamp program, a group of states is preparing to bar recipients from using benefits to...
A family a dollar over the health-subsidy cliff can lose thousands in marketplace help
The most punishing feature of the health insurance marketplace returned in 2026: a hard income cliff where earning one extra dollar can erase every penny...
Medicaid’s new 80-hour-a-month work rule takes effect by January 1, and adults 55 to 64 must document the hours or lose coverage
Most states must begin requiring many Medicaid enrollees to complete 80 hours a month of work or approved activity by January 1, 2027, or face...
The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, and businesses have now been refunded $100 billion of the $166 billion they overpaid
About $100 billion in tariff money has now been returned to the businesses that paid it, roughly 60 percent of the $166 billion collected under...
Trump’s promised $2,000 tariff-dividend checks are still only a proposal, and an adviser says no formal plan will reach Congress until next year
President Trump has repeatedly floated sending most Americans a $2,000 payment funded by tariff revenue, but as of late August 2026 the figure remains a...
The VA reimburses eligible veterans for mileage to and from medical care
Getting to a VA appointment can mean a long round trip, and for veterans on fixed incomes the fuel and tolls add up over a...
A Specially Adapted Housing grant helps a severely disabled veteran buy or fix a home
For veterans left with the most severe service-connected disabilities, small home modifications are not enough; the house itself may need to be built or rebuilt...
A VA HISA grant helps pay for home changes like ramps and roll-in showers
An aging or disabled veteran who can no longer safely step over a tub wall or clear a front-door threshold does not always need to...
Car buyers can deduct up to $10,000 of loan interest, but the break fades once income tops $100,000
A temporary tax break lets buyers of new American-assembled vehicles write off the interest on their auto loans, up to $10,000 a year, but the...
The new $6,000 senior deduction starts shrinking above $75,000 of income and disappears for higher earners
A new tax break aimed at older Americans comes with a ceiling that quietly erases it for anyone comfortably above the middle of the income...
The IRS again shot down the viral rumor of a $2,000 tariff-dividend check this year
A rumor that will not die keeps promising older Americans a $2,000 windfall, and federal tax officials keep saying it is not coming. Viral posts...
The White House is announcing a new round of drug-pricing deals that give state Medicaid programs foreign prices
The federal government is widening a campaign to pull American drug prices toward what other wealthy nations pay, and the newest step reaches into state...
The VA will step in to help a veteran avoid foreclosure on a VA-backed home loan
When a veteran with a VA-backed mortgage falls behind, the Department of Veterans Affairs does not simply watch the servicer move toward foreclosure. Because the...
A veteran rated fully disabled can get extra VA money for a dependent spouse and children
A veteran rated 100% disabled who lives alone receives $3,938.58 a month in VA compensation, but the same veteran with a spouse and one child...