Washington Policy Pulse

Bipartisan Senate Legislation

• 🔥 Rural Housing Affordability Bill: Senators unveiled a bipartisan bill to modernize housing assistance...

Escalating White House rhetoric on Iran: Trump warned on Truth Social that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if no deal by 8 p.m. deadline to...

Senators unveiled a bipartisan bill to tackle housing affordability in rural areas by modernizing assistance eligibility requirements, potentially aiding roughly 30 million homebuyers.

House GOP hangs by a thread: Republicans hold 218-214 (217 needed with vacancies), so just 3 defectors could flip control to Democrats via...

Escalating Democratic push for accountability amid Iran war rhetoric:

• Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), sole Iranian-American in Dem Caucus, to file...

Ethical firestorm hits Trump's SecDef pick amid Iran strikes:

• Hegseth's broker contacted BlackRock in Feb. for multimillion-dollar iShares Defense...

Democrats in a Feb. 24 House Judiciary hearing, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, used author Bess Kalb's canceled Montana school reading to exemplify...

Growing Dem resistance targets Trump plan moving loan oversight from Education Dept to Treasury.

• Key critics: Warren, Sanders call it an illegal...

Supreme Court Orders

• 🔥 Veterans Benefits Case Added: The Supreme Court added Johnson v. United States Congress, involving challenges to the...

Congress's pattern of dodging tough fiscal targets continues:

• 2011: Aimed for balanced budgets—intuitive but unattainable.
• 2020s: Switched to...

• Bannon win: Supreme Court sends Steve Bannon's contempt conviction back to lower court, where Trump DOJ seeks to dismiss his indictment for defying...

Rural health crisis hits hard: 18 TN hospitals closed since 2010, 61% vulnerable—highest nationally; 400+ nationwide at risk.

Recent GOP win: Secured...

• Trump seeks $1.5 trillion for Defense Dept. in FY2027
• That's a 44% jump over this year's funding
• Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) flags serious doubts on the massive ask
  Fiscal hawks in Congress signal tough road ahead.

Stark executive-congressional clash on forests amid wildfire threats:

• Trump admin rips HQ to Salt Lake City, shutters 10 regional offices and 50+...

Partisan fireworks at Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on immigration enforcement:

• Democrats walk out after clashing with GOP senators.
• Hearing...

Key challenges blocking a 2026 Farm Bill:

• 2018 bill extended 3 times post-2023 expiration, process dragging >3 years since 2022 hearings.
• House...

Senate Budget Subcommittee #3 convenes joint hearing on health care, addressing transgender Californians and gender-affirming care in federal policy context. US hosts 2.1 million transgender adults and 724,000 youth.

The White House AI framework urges Congress to enact federal AI laws, directly challenging state regulations and fueling debate on a national policy framework.

At a Senate Budget Committee hearing last week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) warned that the Trump administration's cuts to Social Security amount to a slow-moving train wreck.

Semiconductor Export Legislation

• 🔥 MATCH Act Introduction: U.S. Congress introduced the MATCH Act to tighten chip tool export controls to...