Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 9, 2026

Three Republicans and Three Democrats Tell Rubio and Bessent to Press Israel to Release the Palestinian Authority's Withheld Tax Revenues — Warning That the West Bank's "Fiscal Collapse" Would Serve "Extremist and Iran-Backed Groups, Not Israel, Nor the United States"

On September 9, 2026, six members of the House — three Republicans and three Democrats — sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging the administration to press Israel to stop withholding billions of dollars in "clearance revenues," the customs and tax receipts Israel collects on the Palestinian Authority's behalf and has increasingly held back, pushing the PA toward insolvency. The letter was led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Craig Goldman (R-TX), co-chairs of the Congressional Abraham Accords Caucus, and co-signed by Republican Reps. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). "Continued withholding of billions in clearance revenues risks accelerating the West Bank's fiscal collapse," the lawmakers wrote — "an outcome that would serve the interests of extremist and Iran-backed groups, not Israel, nor the United States." They asked Rubio and Bessent to work with Israel and the PA on "practical, security-conscious mechanisms that keep clearance revenues flowing to legitimate Palestinian institutions while ensuring none are diverted to terror financing," and argued that "despite its significant shortcomings and flaws, the PA remains the only current viable governing alternative to Hamas." The Times of Israel called it a rare bipartisan critique of Israeli policy from members who are otherwise among Israel's firmest supporters in Congress. The letter came as the administration was escalating its financial campaign against Iran's regional proxies — the State and Treasury departments launched "Operation Economic Outcast" against Hezbollah and Kata'ib Hezbollah financing on September 10 — and amid a separate fight over Israeli settlement policy with Britain. Neither the Israeli government nor the State Department had publicly responded as of September 11.

“Supporting Israel's security and defeating terrorist groups is central to America's foreign policy. Economic instability in the West Bank risks creating a vacuum that Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist organizations could exploit.”
Craig Goldman (R-TX) · Sep 9, 2026

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3 statements

Sep 3, 2026

Treasury and the IRS Propose Stripping Tax-Exempt Status From Any Private School That Considers Race — as Many as 18,000 Institutions, From Elementary Schools to Universities — and the Top Ways and Means Democrat Calls It "Racist Weaponization of the IRS"

On September 3, 2026, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued a notice of proposed rulemaking titled "Racial Nondiscrimination in Private Schools." Under the proposal, a private school that "adopts, maintains, or enforces a policy or practice that discriminates on the basis of race, color, or national or ethnic origin" would not be treated as operated exclusively for exempt purposes and would lose its federal tax exemption under section 501(c)(3). The rule reaches admissions, educational policies, scholarships and loans, athletics, and every other school-administered program, and Treasury estimates it may affect as many as 18,000 private educational institutions — elementary schools, trade schools, professional schools, colleges and universities. The rule rescinds prior IRS guidance the administration says permitted racial preferences, and permits race-neutral substitutes such as income-based or geographic criteria. Religious schools may still impose religious affiliation requirements. The proposal was scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on September 4, with comments due sixty days later, and would apply to taxable years beginning on or after May 31, 2027. Because 501(c)(3) status also governs the deductibility of donations, the rule puts at risk the charitable deduction for gifts to affected schools — a point tax practitioners flagged immediately. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the rule as civil rights enforcement. IRS chief Frank Bisignano said institutions that "promote discriminatory practices" would no longer receive the benefits of exemption. Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, called it a racist weaponization of the tax code, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund promised litigation.

“Under President Trump, this Administration is standing up for America's students by ensuring racial discrimination has no place in American education.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Sep 3, 2026

The Trump Administration Brings a Sanctioned Russian Finance Minister to a G20 Meeting on American Soil — Europe Refuses the Family Photo and Shaheen Says the White House Is Handing Putin a Platform

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov — sanctioned by the United States in April 2022 — attended the U.S.-hosted G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina on August 31, 2026. It was his first in-person G20 appearance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and he was there at the Trump administration's invitation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Siluanov bilaterally on the sidelines. According to Reuters, when Siluanov raised areas of possible cooperation, Bessent cut him off, saying nothing was possible until the war ends. European finance ministers objected loudly: German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the invitation "quite troubling" and said he would not pose for a photo with his Russian counterpart, and Siluanov was ultimately left out of the traditional family photo. Trump defended the invitation the next day. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tied the episode directly to the stalled Russia sanctions bill that the Senate passed 86-11 in August and that the House has not taken up. The meeting landed the same week Russian strikes killed civilians in Kyiv for a sixth consecutive day.

“We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 1, 2026

The United States Designates a British Protest Group and an Italian Web-Hosting Collective as Global Terrorists — the First Sanctions Under Rubio’s "Far-Left Terrorism" Doctrine

On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, the State and Treasury Departments designated three organizations as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224, the first sanctions imposed under the administration's push to reorient counterterrorism policy toward what it calls violent far-left terrorism. The three are Palestine Action, a United Kingdom protest group proscribed by the British government in July 2025 after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged military aircraft; Autistici/Inventati, an Italy-based collective that provides encrypted email, web hosting and anonymity services and that the State Department describes as supplying "the digital infrastructure for Antifa cells"; and Masar Badil, a transnational pro-Palestinian movement the Treasury says operates as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, along with two of its leaders. The designations block the groups' US assets and bar Americans from transacting with them. The action follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio's July 2026 summit in which delegations from more than 60 countries were pressed to treat far-left political violence as terrorism, and the administration's 2026 National Counterterrorism Strategy, which names violent far-left groups as one of three top threats — a reversal of the Biden-era emphasis on far-right and white supremacist violence. Civil liberties groups and Palestine Action itself say the designation criminalizes protest and civil disobedience. House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats had already written to Rubio in July warning that the Department was politicizing counterterrorism work, hosting a conference focused exclusively on left-wing extremism while cutting the offices that assessed extremist violence of all kinds. No member of Congress had issued an on-record response to the designations themselves in the first 24 hours.

“Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Aug 26, 2026

Aug 20, 2026· Updated

The National Debt Crosses $40 Trillion Months Ahead of Schedule — Driven in Part by the Tariff Revenue the Supreme Court Took Away — and the Treasury Secretary Says "There's Nothing Magic About the $40 Trillion Number"

On August 19, 2026, the Treasury Department reported that total federal debt outstanding had crossed $40 trillion for the first time, finishing the day at $40,047,425,768,420.22 — roughly $32.3 trillion held by the public and $7.8 trillion in intragovernmental holdings. The milestone arrived months earlier than the Congressional Budget Office had projected. The government borrowed $1.8 trillion in the first ten months of fiscal 2026 — more than in all of fiscal 2025 — and the gap widened after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, costing an estimated $250 billion in revenue and forcing Treasury to refund more than $100 billion in import taxes it had already collected. The debt has doubled in under a decade, having stood at just under $20 trillion at the end of the Obama administration. Republicans who control both chambers reacted with alarm rather than a plan. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Tex.) called the debt "an existential threat" and renewed his call for an Article V constitutional convention. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), whose chamber had just left town for August recess without acting on Trump's demand that it address the debt ceiling, told reporters "$40 trillion in debt — seems to me that should get our attention." Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted that voters had "40 trillion reasons 2 reject unaffordable socialist policies," drawing ridicule from critics who noted he had voted for the tax and spending bills that produced it. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called it "bad" and demanded a balanced budget. Democrats pointed at the majority. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), ranking member on the Budget Committee, said Republicans "only care about 'fiscal responsibility' when it's time to cut your health care." House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said "The Republican economy is a disaster. Vote them all out in November." The administration's answer was growth. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the next morning that "there's nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that," and said there was a "very good chance" the deficit under Trump had already peaked.

“There’s a very good chance the U.S. budget deficit under President Trump has peaked.”
Scott Bessent (R-SC) · Aug 20, 2026