Stories

House Adopts $95 Billion "Reconciliation 3.0" Budget Blueprint 216-214 With SAVE Act Money Inside

On July 22, 2026, the House adopted H.Con.Res. 113, a $95 billion budget reconciliation blueprint, by a vote of 216-214. The framework directs four House committees — Armed Services, Agriculture, Administration and Intelligence — to draft legislation allocating roughly $60 billion for defense, $13 billion for intelligence, $12 billion for farm relief, and $10 billion to administer the Safeguard American Vote Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. Routing the SAVE Act through reconciliation is a way around the Senate filibuster that has blocked it repeatedly. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH), along with Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), joined every Democrat in voting no. The blueprint faces an uncertain path in the Senate, where Republicans including Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell have previously voted against the SAVE Act.

“We expect that we will confront the largest voter suppression effort in the history of the country. We're going to continue to stand strong against the voter suppression efforts of the Republican Party led by Donald Trump.”

House Passes Second Iran War Powers Resolution 214-208 as Senate Rejects Its Own 47-49

On Thursday, July 23, 2026, the House voted 214-208 to limit President Trump's authority to expand the war with Iran — the second war powers rebuke the chamber has passed since the war began, and the first since the ceasefire collapsed and the US resumed strikes in early July. The resolution, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), drew four Republican crossover votes: Reps. Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH). The vote came five days after an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack killed three US service members. Later the same day the Senate rejected a parallel measure 47-49, denying opponents of the war the bicameral rebuke they had secured weeks earlier. The House resolution is not legally binding.

“We have all the authorities necessary at this moment.”

Temporary Protected Status Ends for 350,000 Haitians After Senate Republicans Block Extension Bill

Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians ended in late July 2026 after a year of litigation and a failed effort in Congress. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination in November 2025; a district judge blocked it in February 2026, and on June 25, 2026 the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to end the program for Haiti and Syria. The D.C. Circuit rejected the administration's request to terminate protections on July 24, holding them in place until at least July 27. In the interim, Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) sought unanimous consent on July 22 and 23 to pass S. 4814, the House-approved bill designating Haiti for TPS through the next presidential election, which had cleared the House 224-204 in April on a bipartisan discharge petition led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) objected, blocking the bill. As protections lapsed, ICE prepared targeted arrest operations and deportation flights, with planning that included Ohio communities with large Haitian populations.

“Washington has invented a new definition of "temporary": Permanent. I object to this bill which would keep 350,000 Haitians here permanently. TPS was created for emergencies. Democrats have turned it into a one-way ratchet toward permanent mass immigration. Temporary must mean temporary. And elections must have consequences.”

House Passes Stock Trading Restrictions 232-198, but Exempts the President

On July 22, 2026, the House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act 232-198, with 13 Democrats joining Republicans. The bill bars members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from buying individual publicly traded stocks, and requires public notice 7 to 14 days before any covered sale, published online by the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate. Lawmakers may keep stocks they owned before entering Congress, may still buy private stock, and may hold certain investment funds. Most House Democrats voted no, objecting that the measure stops short of a full trading ban and exempts the president, vice president and cabinet — an exemption that drew particular attention given Trump's roughly 3,600 reported first-quarter trades. Republicans also attached a federal voter ID amendment, deepening the Democratic split. The bill's path in the Senate remains uncertain.

“Trust in our democracy cannot be a luxury item. It must be the everyday expectation of every American.”

Iranian Missile Attack on Jordan Air Base Kills US Service Members, First Combat Deaths Since March

On Friday, July 17-18, 2026, at least two Iranian ballistic missiles struck the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, used by Jordanian and US coalition forces. US Central Command said two service members were killed while partner forces defended against the ballistic missile and drone attack and another was initially missing; a third service member died in Iraq, bringing the toll from the attacks to three. Four more Americans were medically evacuated to hospitals in Jordan and later discharged. These were the first hostile US deaths since March, bringing the total killed in the war with Iran to at least 17. At Trump's direction the US launched retaliatory strikes the same day, completing an eighth consecutive night of attacks and targeting the IRGC units that launched the missiles. The deaths came five days before the House passed its second Iran war powers resolution.

“I just hope we go ahead and finish the job in Iran.”

The Pentagon Publishes the Clinical Rules for Hegseth's Mandatory Testosterone Testing — and Pulls Them Down the Next Day — Seven Weeks After a Senator Who Lost Both Legs in Iraq Said the Program Sounded "Like Gender-Affirming Care to Me"

On September 2, 2026 the Pentagon posted a draft "Clinical Guidance for Health and Human Performance Optimization" implementing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's July order that every active-duty and reserve service member aged 30 and older be screened annually for testosterone deficiency, with separate screening pathways written for men and women. On September 3 the document and the accompanying statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell were removed from the website. A U.S. official said the draft "has been temporarily rescinded to allow for updates," and that interim guidance remains in force — so the mandate itself stands while the clinical rules for carrying it out are rewritten. Hegseth announced the program on July 15, 2026, framing it as restoring rather than enhancing capability and calling it necessary for troops to operate at their "absolute best." Screening is mandatory at 30 and up and voluntary below it, with testosterone replacement therapy available to those who test low. No other military requires the screening absent a specific medical indication, and four of six physicians surveyed by Military Times said there was no solid evidence that universal screening at 30 would improve readiness. The Democratic reaction has run along two lines. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Army veteran who lost both legs in Iraq, and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, both pointed out that a government-funded hormone program for men sits awkwardly beside the same administration's ban on hormone therapy for transgender troops, and both asked why the screening does not extend to women in uniform given elevated infertility rates in the force. Houlahan called it the department's "latest culture-war obsession"; Sen. Mark Kelly, a Navy combat pilot, called the change simply "weird."

DOJ Misses Deadline on Epstein Files, Less Than 1% Released

Despite the Epstein Files Transparency Act passing the House 427-1 and the Senate by unanimous consent, the Department of Justice has released less than 1% of documents one month past the December 19 deadline. Reps. Khanna and Massie, who drafted the law, say DOJ is in "flagrant violation" and sought appointment of a special master. Victims' advocates note that alleged abusers' names are redacted while survivors' identifying details remain visible. On January 8, 2026, Khanna and Massie wrote to Judge Paul Engelmayer asking him to appoint a special master to compel compliance, arguing the Department had "flagrantly and consistently ignored" the law's disclosure requirements since it was signed on November 19, 2025. They followed with a January 30 letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. The standoff continued into the summer: on July 15, 2026, Massie, Khanna, Leger Fernández, Merkley and Luján introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, which would give state attorneys general, victims and members of Congress standing to sue the DOJ over non-compliance, with sponsors saying more than 3 million files remained unlawfully withheld.

“The Department of Justice's highest-ranking officials continue to break the law, denying justice.”

A UN Fact-Finding Mission Says There Are "Reasonable Grounds" to Believe the United States Committed War Crimes in Iran — Including the Strike on a Girls' Elementary School in Minab That Killed About 120 Children — Six Months After Trump Said "That Was Done by Iran" and the Pentagon's Own Investigation Stayed Secret

On September 17, 2026, the independent international fact-finding mission on Iran, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, reported that it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes during the opening of the February 2026 war — a pair of attacks the mission says killed at least 178 civilians. The central finding concerns the February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in the southern city of Minab, where Iranian officials say about 120 schoolchildren, most of them girls between 7 and 12, were among roughly 168 to 175 people killed. The mission concluded the strike was an indiscriminate attack causing loss of civilian life, amounting to a war crime under international law. The same report accuses Iran's government of crimes against humanity in its crackdown on anti-government protesters. The finding lands on a question US officials have refused to answer for six months. On March 7, aboard Air Force One, President Trump blamed Iran for the school bombing without evidence — "No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran" — while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing nearby, declined to echo him, saying only "We're certainly investigating." Open-source analysts identified a US Tomahawk cruise missile in footage of the strike; the US is the only combatant in the war that fields Tomahawks. A preliminary US assessment reportedly found the United States "likely" responsible but not deliberately targeting the school. Congress has pressed for the Pentagon's findings all year without success. In March, Tim Kaine led more than 40 senators demanding a "swift investigation"; in July, Kirsten Gillibrand led 24 colleagues demanding the Department release the investigation it reportedly completed in April. As of the report's publication, the White House, State Department and Pentagon had not responded to requests for comment, and the Pentagon investigation remains unreleased. Stances below are relative to the finding of US responsibility and the demand for public accountability: "support" marks officials pressing for the investigation and its release, "oppose" marks officials attributing the strike elsewhere or resisting the accounting.

Sen. Lindsey Graham Dies at 71, Drawing Bipartisan Tributes

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died the night of Saturday, July 11, 2026, at his Capitol Hill residence in Washington, DC, after emergency personnel responded to a cardiac arrest call. His office confirmed the death early Sunday, July 12, attributing it to a "brief and sudden illness." He was 71. A preliminary report from the DC medical examiner gave the cause as aortic dissection due to heart disease. Graham was first elected to the Senate in 2002 after four terms in the House, and had become one of President Trump's closest Senate allies after years as a leading foreign-policy hawk and ally of the late Sen. John McCain. His death drew tributes from across the political spectrum and from foreign leaders including Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Benjamin Netanyahu, and left Senate Republicans with a vacancy in a chamber where their majority is narrow.

“Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known, is dead! He was always working, and was a true American Patriot. Lindsey will be greatly missed!!!”

DOJ indicts Olympic canoeist David Hearn over Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool damage

On July 2, 2026, a District of Columbia grand jury indicted three-time U.S. Olympic canoe slalom athlete David Hearn on a single felony count of destruction of property valued at $1,000 or more, carrying a maximum of 10 years in prison. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the charge, alleging Hearn "forcefully and violently" pulled up roughly two square feet of newly installed liner and sealant at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a June 19 incident. Hearn, a Maryland resident, says he was cycling past when he stopped to touch a piece of blue lining that had already partially detached, and denies causing any damage. The pool had been resurfaced in "American flag blue" as part of a multimillion-dollar Trump renovation, then suffered peeling paint and an algae bloom that President Trump blamed on vandals. Hearn's defense attorneys, and outside legal observers, characterized the felony prosecution as an overreach meant to shift blame for the pool's problems.

“Today, a grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant, David Hearn, for felony destruction of property, for which he faces 10 years in prison.”

Supreme Court Rules States May Ban Transgender Girls From Girls' and Women's School Sports

On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the consolidated cases West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that states may bar transgender girls and women from competing on girls' and women's sports teams at publicly funded schools and colleges. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion, holding that determining eligibility for women's and girls' sports based on biological sex is consistent with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. The Court was unanimous that the West Virginia and Idaho laws do not violate Title IX, but divided 6-3 over the constitutional question. The decision upheld laws challenged by transgender students Becky Pepper-Jackson (West Virginia) and Lindsay Hecox (Idaho), handing Republican-led states a major victory in their campaign to restrict transgender participation in school sports.

“Title IX has played a vital role in expanding athletic opportunities for women and girls, and we must continue safeguarding those opportunities.”

Congress Passes 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (Senate 85-5, House 358-32) — Trump Cancels Signing Ceremony

Congress passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, the largest housing-affordability bill in decades, with the Senate approving it 85-5 on June 22, 2026 and the House passing it 358-32 on June 23, 2026. All 32 House no votes and all five Senate no votes were Republicans; all Democrats present voted yes. The bipartisan package streamlines federal housing-finance regulations, lets some builders bypass environmental reviews, creates a grant program for preapproved housing designs, and limits large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. It was led by Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, and House Financial Services Chairman French Hill and Ranking Member Maxine Waters. In a twist, President Trump abruptly canceled the planned signing ceremony, calling the bill "a yawn" and vowing not to sign it until Congress passes the SAVE America Act requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

“The housing crisis is a national emergency. Do something to make life more affordable for hardworking American taxpayers. Sign the bill.”