Government Operations

Senate Breaks Spending Deadlock and Restarts Budget Negotiations

The Senate Appropriations Committee is moving forward with markup of four fiscal year 2027 appropriations bills after weeks of deadlock over spending...

Macroeconomics

Staring Down Insolvency For Social Security 2032

The insolvency clock for Social Security is ticking faster than previously expected. A new trustees report moved the projected depletion date of the Old-Age...

Congress

Senate Clashes Over SBA Cuts at Small Business Hearing

Why it matters: The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship convened on June 17, 2026, to examine small business entrepreneurship across...

Macroeconomics

New Trump Accounts Plan May Favor Higher-Income Families More

I notice the writing guidelines ask me to incorporate terms like "Trump social media accounts," "presidential account ownership," "Trump Twitter accounts,"...

Macroeconomics

NAPEO Hires ArentFox Schiff for Tax Lobbying

The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO) has added outside lobbying muscle, registering ArentFox Schiff LLP as a new lobbying...

Government Operations

U.S. Debt Hits WWII-Era Milestone

The United States is staring down a federal debt crisis that has been decades in the making, and the government's own nonpartisan watchdog is now saying, in...

Macroeconomics

Asimat Al-Hadharat Hires Ballard Partners for Economics Lobbying

Asimat Al-Hadharat is a first-time entrant into federal lobbying, having filed a new client registration with Ballard Partners LLC signed June 10, 2026. The...

Macroeconomics

China's Power Grows in Western-Led Financial Institutions

A new Congressional Research Service report lands at a moment when Washington's relationship with Beijing is under strain across nearly every front, and it...

Congress

Multiple Economic Forecasts Offer Conflicting Fiscal Predictions

With Congress in the middle of a high-stakes debate over a sweeping reconciliation package, the question of which economic numbers to trust has never been...

Macroeconomics

Iran Conflict Shields U.S. Gas Prices While Allies Surge

A new Congressional Research Service report published June 11 finds that the Iran conflict's impact on natural gas prices has split sharply along geographic...

Congress

Senate Examines Main Street Retail Crises

Small business retail is under pressure from tariffs, shifting consumer behavior, and generational spending changes — and Congress is paying attention....

Congress

"AI and The American Dream" Hearing Led By Warren, Scott

How Congress shapes — or fails to shape — artificial intelligence policy will determine whether the technology's economic gains are broadly shared or...

Macroeconomics

Bessent Defends Tax Law as Democrats Grill IRS Deal

Why it matters: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee on June 4, touting the administration's tax record while...

Commerce

Michelin North America Lobbies on Trade, Tax Policy

Michelin North America reported $227,803 in in-house lobbying spending for the first quarter of 2026, according to a lobbying disclosure filed June 1. The...

Macroeconomics

Social Security COLA Formula Mismatches Retiree Needs

Every year, a formula buried in federal statute quietly determines whether tens of millions of Americans can keep up with rising prices. The Social Security...

Macroeconomics

A Pandemic Debt Reckoning Forces Congress to Act

A new Congressional Research Service report lays out the full dimensions of a slow-moving financial crisis: hundreds of thousands of small businesses that...

Macroeconomics

Regulators Face Capital Scrutiny As Banking Rules Shift

The House Financial Services Committee's prudential regulators oversight hearing on June 4 lands at a pivotal moment for American banking policy — with...