Appropriations Control, Legislative Gridlock & AI/Digital Government

The White House is seeking to block about $810 million in appropriated education and health funding through a pocket-rescission theory; GAO rejects the approach, states have sued, and Sen. Susan Collins objects. A judge's restraint of DHS immigration-promotional ads adds a publicity-or-propaganda spending dispute, while the December 11 funding cliff, expired Farm Bill, earmark demands, Crime Victims Fund legislation, benefit-payment proposals, and Anthropic transparency demands keep congressional control and implementation at issue. Rep. Nancy Mace's new survivor-defamation bill is a preliminary, lower-salience addition to the legislative agenda.