The Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved by voice vote its lineup of six early primaries for the 2028 election cycle, kicking off with South Carolina and Nevada.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said during Saturday’s meeting that the early lineup reflects the diversity of the party’s electorate. 

“Our 2028 nominee, whoever they are, will have to earn the support across the full breadth of America — every region, every demographic, every generation, every economic station in life,” he said. “No shortcuts. No coronation. You want to lead this party? You go earn it.”

Saturday’s vote ratified the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee vote in late July to recommend the lineup for approval by the full party. 

Throughout the meeting, speakers and party officials from each of the six states to hold an early contest praised the impact the calendar will have for regions that haven’t always been top of mind for national candidates. 

Jaime Harrison, the former DNC chair who challenged the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2020, said the calendar will tell a “whole new generation” of voters that the party is fighting for them.

Other speakers included Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, New Hampshire Democratic Committeewoman Donna Soucy and Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel Jr.

Martin said that the lineup is a “stronger, more representative path to selecting our nominee.”

“This is much bigger than a lineup of dates on a calendar,” Martin said. “This is about our approach to winning back the presidency. It’s about the kind of Democratic Party and the kind of country we aspire to be.” 

South Carolina, Nevada come out on top

For the second straight presidential cycle, South Carolina will kick off the party’s nominating process. 

The full lineup of primaries is as follows: 

• South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028
• Nevada on Feb. 1, 2028
• New Hampshire on Feb. 8, 2028
• New Mexico on Feb. 15, 2028
• Michigan on Feb. 22, 2028
• Virginia on Feb. 29, 2028

The lineup includes at least one state from each of the DNC’s four regions. The party’s rules and bylaws committee also voted in July to expand the number of early primaries to six, selecting New Mexico and Virginia to hold the additional contests.

Several speakers Saturday said the calendar will better serve Latino and Black voters. 

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-New Mexico, said the calendar will show Latino voters they aren’t ignored. 

“With over 4.2 million Latinos in the early voting states, Latinos will not (just) be talked about,” she said. “Our stories will shape the policies of the next president of the United States, who will be a Democrat.”

Terry McAuliffe, the former governor of Virginia and DNC chair from 2001 to 2005, said the calendar will put the party’s 2028 nominee “through the crucible” and force them to reach rural, suburban, urban and military voters alike. 

Iowa left out

Notably, the early lineup excludes Iowa, despite a push from its state party officials to keep it among the initial contests. 

The Hawkeye State had long held a first-in-the-nation spot in the Democratic presidential nominating cycle, including in 2020 and 2016. But after delays in reporting results of the 2020 caucus, leading to no declared winner on the night of the caucus, many national Democrats looked elsewhere to kick off the nominating cycle. 

In a speech opposing the 2028 calendar Saturday, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said that it “fundamentally misses the mark.”

“It’s a product of broken promises, and it excludes huge swaths of the country and the voters that Democrats need to win the kind of majorities it takes to restore democratic principles and reject this misguided and corrupt Trump administration,” she said. “The 2028 calendar has no representation of states with a majority of central or mountain time zones, and no Midwest state is among the first four.”

Hart noted that Republicans have kept the Iowa Caucus as its first contest of the 2028 presidential nominating process, and the resulting surge in spending in the state during its contest could harm Democratic candidates for elected office in the state if that spending is not met by Democrats. 

New Hampshire, which has also long held an early position in the nominating process, kept its position, however. 

Democrats look South 

The primary calendar reflects Democrats’ effort to court voters in the South, as well as a partial shift away from the Midwest. 

Martin began the meeting Friday — held in Austin, Texas — by emphasizing Democrats’ chance at flipping a Texas Senate seat, long held by Republicans. 

An Emerson College and Nexstar Media poll conducted from Aug. 9-10 showed state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, within one point of Republican nominee and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

On Friday, the DNC also announced a new initiative to help local Democratic parties in Southern states build up their infrastructure in order to win elections. 

The DNC said in a statement Friday that the Southern States Resource Hub will seek to address “years of underinvestment” in those Southern parties, and allocate resources for organizing, voter registration, data collection, fundraising efforts and communications systems so they can better compete in a region with a rapidly changing electorate.

WASHINGTON — Todd Blanche took the oath of office as U.S. attorney general at a brief ceremony in the Oval Office Monday, following the Senate’s narrow vote to approve his nomination as the nation’s top law enforcement official over the weekend. 

Blanche, who served as acting attorney general and was President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer before joining the government, succeeds Pam Bondi — whom Trump ousted in April — as head of the Department of Justice. Trump announced Blanche as his pick to permanently lead the department in June. 

U.S Circuit Judge Emil Bove, another of Trump’s former personal attorneys, administered the oath of office.

After the Senate voted, 50-49, to approve his nomination early Saturday morning, Blanche wrote on social media that he was “deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice as our great nation’s 88th Attorney General.” 

“To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice, thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe,” Blanche wrote. 

Blanche’s nomination had drawn widespread concern and scrutiny from congressional Democrats, as well as some Republicans, over actions such as his role in establishing Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund.” The $1.8 billion Justice Department fund aimed to compensate those “who suffered weaponization and lawfare,” including many who faced prosecution related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Lawmakers of both parties have described it as a “slush fund,” and Blanche has stated that it will not move forward under his tenure as attorney general.  

Asked if the fund has a future after an executive order signing ceremony Monday afternoon, Trump said that it “will be up to Todd Blanche.” 

A contentious vote

In a vote early Saturday morning, every Senate Democrat voted against Blanche’s confirmation. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine broke ranks from their party and voted against him.

Blanche ultimately won over several holdout Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who said Blanche had acknowledged his past “mistakes” and sought to halt the Justice Department fund. He also secured support from Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom are set to leave office after their terms end this January. 

Speaking on the floor Friday evening before Blanche was confirmed, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chair, praised Blanche as a “tough, fair prosecutor dedicated to the rule of law.”

“Between his proven track record, his presentation in committee and the support he’s received from across the country, I am convinced that Mr. Blanche is the right choice to lead the Justice Department,” Grassley said. “A vote for Todd Blanche is a vote for the safety of the American people.”

Congressional Democrats quickly denounced Blanche officially taking over the department. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, blasted Blanche’s ascension as the nation’s top law enforcement official on social media earlier Monday afternoon. 

“Republicans in Congress voted to turn Trump’s personal attorney, Todd Blanche, into Trump’s personal Attorney General,” Raskin wrote. “We need a DOJ committed to the rule of law, not the corrupt rule of a kleptocrat.”

WASHINGTON — Congress is considering a hike of hundreds of billions in dollars in defense spending, which would represent a surge in military funding not seen since World War II. 

Whatever the exact level of spending ultimately flows to military installations and defense contractors, some states will likely benefit far more than others, a States Newsroom analysis of federal defense data shows. Just a handful of states makes up a core of military production, topping the lists of federal defense spending, the data shows. 

President Donald Trump has requested a total Pentagon budget of $1.5 trillion, an unprecedented increase of 42% over the previous year. While that full sum is unlikely to pass Congress, it lays out his vision for defense.

The House and Senate are considering their own versions of the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets national defense policy. Both chambers propose boosting total base spending to $1.15 trillion, with Trump’s even bigger increases potentially targeted to come through the budget reconciliation process. 

Here’s where in the country a new round of defense funding may end up, and where it won’t, given historic spending patterns.

Where is defense spending typically concentrated? 

According to Defense Department data from fiscal years 2020 through 2024, three states have consistently reaped the most federal funding: Texas, California and Virginia. 

Each has received nearly $50 billion or more annually since the 2020 fiscal year. While other states such as Florida, Maryland and Connecticut rank in the top states by funding, none has cracked more than 10% of total Pentagon spending — which Texas, California and Virginia regularly reach. 

Matt Borron, executive director of the Association of Defense Communities, said that many communities with military installations will stand to benefit from a spending increase. But he said that funding often doesn’t prioritize infrastructure or maintenance issues, which he described as “low on the totem pole.” 

“A lot of times our communities are worried about the infrastructure that supports the mission, and even the installation itself,” he said. “The facilities on base, are they up to speed? Are they being maintained? Is the housing still adequate?” 

He said that, with the defense bill’s focus on building up the military’s industrial capabilities and workforce, many communities will likely see benefits from the funding. 

Borron, whose organization lobbies for communities with defense installations, said that it is important to invest in the right places. More money doesn’t necessarily mean a better product or faster product, he said. 

“National security starts at home,” he said. “You need these communities to be this innovation hub. You need it to have great quality of life, so servicemembers and their families want to live there.” 

Virginia, Connecticut lead per capita

When accounting for population, a handful of states receive a bigger share than others. 

Virginia, which neighbors the nation’s capital and is home to the Pentagon, and Connecticut, which houses several large shipbuilding and Navy facilities, received the most defense spending per resident in both 2020 and 2024, along with sitting near the top of the pile when it comes to overall DOD funding.

Maryland, which also neighbors the capital, Alaska and Hawaii also ranked highly in per capita spending. 

Even within states, spending is often concentrated in specific counties that contain major installations. 

In Texas, Tarrant County — home to Fort Worth — alone received more than $120 billion in defense spending from fiscal years 2020 through 2024, nearly 50% higher than the next highest amount. 

 

Some states often don’t come out on top, however. 

Many Pacific Northwest and Northern states, including Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Minnesota, routinely rank toward the bottom of both per capita and total military spending. 

In the 2024 fiscal year, defense spending made up just a half percent of total GDP in both Oregon and Minnesota. 

The economic impact

For many communities with military installations or manufacturing facilities, national defense is their primary industry. 

Military installations can spur hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to flow to local economies. According to a recent report from the Texas state comptroller, defense installations in 2025 added almost $150 billion to the Texas economy and supported about 628,000 jobs. 

Many states have embraced their identity as centers of military activity. 

In a 2023 op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., wrote that a strong defense industry and reliable state economy “come as a package deal.” 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on July 10 that military installations each provide “tremendous value” to communities across his state. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., despite voting against the defense policy bill in committee due to its overall size, said provisions of the bill that would support the state’s defense manufacturers and installations enhance “Connecticut’s vital role as an arsenal of democracy.” 

But some experts say the economic benefits can often be overstated. 

Julia Gledhill, an analyst at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit think tank that studies global peace and international security issues, said federal defense spending should not be used as a tool for economic development. 

In fiscal year 2024, according to DOD data, defense spending made up less than 2% of gross domestic product in a majority of states. Just eight states relied on defense spending for more than 5% of their GDP. 

While defense spending has a significant impact for many communities, she said, if an economic boost is the goal, there’s better places to put the money. Sectors like education or healthcare both have higher returns on investment, she added. 

“The purpose of the military is not job creation,” she said. “The purpose of military spending is not economic development.”

Instead, Gledhill said the defense budget should reflect only what is needed. 

Military readiness 

Speaking to reporters during a cabinet meeting at Camp David in July, Trump described the increasing spending as an “unprecedented investment in the United States armed forces.” 

Buying more for the sake of buying more is not necessarily going to improve the military’s overall operational readiness, Gledhill added.

“We’re spending more and more, and we’re buying more and more, and it’s actually hurting military readiness rates, in direct contrast to what we’re hearing from the likes of Secretary Hegseth,” she said, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. 

She pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a federal agency watchdog, that found that the F-35 fighter jet, the Defense Department’s most expensive weapons system, has increased in sustainment costs while declining in performance. 

That report found that the F-35’s mission capable rate — which is the percentage of the time it is able to carry out an assigned mission — decreased from 67% to 44% from fiscal years 2021 to 2025. The percentage of time that it is capable of completing all assigned missions, or the full mission capable rate, similarly decreased from 38% to just 25%, according to the GAO. 

In the president’s 2027 defense budget request, the number of desired F-35s increased from 47 purchased in 2026 to 85  — a total spending increase of more than $8 billion. 

And increasing military spending at such a significant rate, without a clear reason, Gledhill said, will have an impact on the rest of the federal government, citing cuts in Republicans’ 2025 tax and spending cut law to Medicaid and nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

She added that, despite continually rising defense spending, veterans and military families continue to struggle and face high food insecurity. 

“I think that we can take care of people if we were a bit more judicious about the weapons that we procured,” she said. “That would actually strengthen the military.”

Reporting for this project was supported by the Dow Jones News Fund.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday the federal government will fund $180 million in grants for mining schools across the country as part of his administration’s goal of rebuilding the U.S. coal industry. 

The grants will include $100 million from the Department of Energy spread across the 14 accredited mining schools in the U.S., while the Department of Defense will dedicate just over $80 million for three major schools of mining and metallurgy: the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University. 

The Johns Hopkins University grant will help to create a new “multi-material recycling innovation hub,” while the South Dakota School of Mines’ funding will go toward establishing a consortium of workforce development programs alongside the University of Kentucky and Missouri S&T University.

Trump framed the announcement as part of his ongoing effort to rebuild the U.S. coal industry and reopen mines, a central pillar of his energy policy. He has previously sought to shorten the regulation process for new mines and limit the impact of environmental regulations. 

Trump stressed the national importance of funding mining programs, given that other countries, such as China, graduate students at a far higher rate. Accredited mining programs at U.S. educational institutions graduate less than 170 mining engineers each year, he said, while China graduates more than 3,000 annually. 

“We’re not doing you favors,” Trump told a crowd, including miners and many of the schools’ representatives, at a ceremony at the State Department building in Washington. “We’re doing ourselves favors. We need your industry.”

Half of the U.S. mining workforce is set to retire within the next three years, he added. 

“That’s why my administration is making an unprecedented financial commitment to our nation’s mining schools,” Trump said. “It’s going to keep us nice and young and vibrant.”

In addition to increasing support for mining education, Trump announced more than $2 billion worth of new mining contracts and projects. 

Those investments include $150 million for Minnesota-based Niron Magnetics to develop rare-earth-free magnets that are domestically produced to support the defense industrial base and $1.4 billion for Sila Nanotechnologies, a California-based firm, to “expand production of silicon-carbon battery anodes and build out a lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facility to strengthen the supply chains of satellite operations, unmanned aerial systems, and munitions,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Several of the speakers during the ceremony Friday, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, highlighted the national security benefits of increasing U.S. mine production. 

“At the core of this is our industrial strength,” Rubio said. “But also our national sovereignty — that we never depend on other countries for things we need to prosper and to defend ourselves as a people.”

WASHINGTON — The deployment of National Guard troops hailing from all across the country to Washington, D.C. is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion in additional funds through 2029. 

The estimate from Jules Hurst III, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Pentagon’s comptroller, came in response to a series of questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as a part of Hurt’s confirmation process. 

“While American families are getting flattened by skyrocketing costs, Donald Trump is spending $1.4 billion to keep troops on the streets in Washington for years on end. The National Guard are not pawns and taxpayer dollars are not a piggy bank for Trump’s political stunts,” Warren wrote in a statement.

According to the information provided by Hurst, the National Guard deployment is planned to continue until January 2029, the end of Trump’s second term. 

D.C. mission

Under Trump’s requested budget for the next fiscal year, his Make DC Safe and Beautiful mission — which has led renovation efforts of many of the city’s iconic landmarks and sought to reduce crime —  would receive $605 million in funding. That would include more than $375 million for payroll expenses and travel allowances and nearly $230 million for operational expenses, such as housing and meals. 

Trump first deployed around 800 National Guard troops in Washington in August 2025, an effort to tackle what he called a “crime emergency” in the city. The move came after similar deployments in many Democratic-led cities across the country, including in Los Angeles and Chicago. 

He also sought to federalize and deploy troops in Portland, Oregon, but was later blocked in the federal courts. He threatened similar actions in locations including New York and Baltimore, often following with political battles with those states’ Democratic leaders. 

National Guard deployments across the country cost nearly $500 million in 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  In general, the office estimated, deploying 1,000 National Guard troops to a U.S. city costs between $18 million and $21 million each month. 

D.C. deployment grows 

The initial deployment in Washington has since grown, with thousands of troops from states all across the country now deployed in the nation’s capital.

As of Aug. 1, there are more than 4,600 National Guard members deployed in Washington. About 680 of those guardsmen are from the District itself, while most are predominantly from the South. 

Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi have sent the most guard members. 

But that total headcount has risen as many states and territories sent additional troops to help support events as part of the Trump-led Freedom250 celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial in July. 

For some states, their National Guard members have been deployed quietly to the nation’s capital, including in Idaho, where the state made no formal announcement of the move. 

The Department of Defense’s budget estimates for fiscal years 2028 and 2029 assume a total headcount of approximately 2,500 National Guard personnel in Washington through January 2029. Future funding includes a planned $625.8 million for fiscal 2028 and $198.3 million for fiscal 2029. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Ethics Committee announced Tuesday that it will review allegations that Republican Rep. Max Miller of Ohio may have “engaged in domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use.” 

The announcement came shortly after Miller said on X earlier Tuesday he was planning on filing paperwork requesting that the committee investigate him, as he has “nothing to hide” and wants to “clear (his) name from these horrific attacks” on him and his family.  

“We will be providing the committee all necessary documents needed for a detail(ed) examination,” he wrote. “The accusations continue to change, but my facts stay the same. I am looking forward to my colleagues reading everything for themselves.”

The second-term lawmaker is facing intense public scrutiny over allegations that he abused his ex-wife, who is the daughter of fellow Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter. Miller strongly denies the allegations. 

In a statement Sunday, his former father-in-law said Miller “needs serious psychological help” and should not serve in Congress.

After filing for divorce from his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, in 2024, Miller has been embroiled in divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their child. The allegations have been public for several months. But in July, the magazine Mother Jones reported on court documents in which Moreno told police detectives investigating their daughter’s broken collarbone that he was abusive and may have been responsible for the injury. 

According to the report, Moreno said that Miller had thrown scalding water from a pan at her, pushed her and pointed a gun at her head during an argument. 

‘Total and complete depravity’

Speaking to reporters in Washington Tuesday, Bernie Moreno said his daughter Emily “lives in constant fear” of Miller, CBS News reported. 

“Deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of,” he said. 

Moreno said that he picked up his granddaughter from Miller this week at a police station so Emily Moreno didn’t have to interact with him. He said Miller wouldn’t hand over their toddler’s favorite stuffed animal, and she spent the next couple days unable to sleep. 

“This is the level of total and complete depravity,” he said. 

The remarks came after Moreno spoke publicly about his former son-in-law for the first time on Sunday, issuing a scathing indictment of Miller, who he described as a danger to his daughter who should not be serving in Congress. Miller is currently running for reelection in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District. 

Moreno has received criticism of his own — including from Miller — for not publicly addressing the allegations sooner. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Moreno said his daughter had explicitly asked him to turn down the temperature and avoid drawing attention. 

But since rising again in mid-July, the attention on Miller has reached a fever pitch as the allegations mounted.

Miller has been vocal about it on his social media pages. He hosted a 20-minute livestream on X in which he defended himself from the allegations and announced he had no intention of dropping his reelection bid. He also released a DropBox page containing scores of documents he said were proof against the allegations. 

But some of those documents contained deeply personal information, including sensitive photos of the child, Politico reported Tuesday. A lawyer for Miller has taken responsibility for the inadvertent inclusion of the photos in the documents, Politico reported, and has apologized to Emily Moreno. 

In his remarks to reporters, Bernie Moreno said he believes the publication of the photo is a felony, and anyone that touched it or transmitted it electronically should be jailed. 

“Now you have hundreds of thousands of psychotic human beings that have that,” he said. “To say, ‘Oops’ is grotesque.” 

A group of current and former U.S. Department of Agriculture employees are calling on the Trump administration to halt the mandated relocation of more than 2,500 employees from its Washington, D.C., headquarters to five regional offices across the country. 

In an online briefing hosted by federal union leaders Thursday, speakers said the reorganization process USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has led will amount to widespread layoffs, as many workers will choose not to relocate across the country. 

Rollins’ effort, launched one year ago Friday, would move department staff away from the nation’s capital. The department should have no more than 2,000 employees in the region, according to a July 2025 memo Rollins signed. 

Kevin Shea, former acting secretary of the USDA under President Joe Biden, said the relocation could impact the department’s ability to carry out its core services such as fighting pests and diseases, protecting forest land and ensuring food safety. 

“All of this requires an adequate and qualified workforce,” he said. “These new proposed actions, added to the damage already done, all but ensures that we’ll not have one.”

Department layoffs

Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, the USDA has lost more than 20,000 employees,  according to Office of Personnel Management data. Most left through early retirement or buyouts offered by the U.S. Doge Service, union officials said. 

But speakers Thursday warned that thousands more will choose to leave instead of relocating across the country to a regional USDA office. Those offices, as outlined in Rollins’ July 2025 memo, include Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

In that memo, she wrote that the relocation will ensure that the USDA is “closer to the people it serves while achieving savings to the American taxpayer.” 

But most USDA staff already work outside the nation’s capital. The department had about 4,600 employees in Washington when Rollins announced the reorganization efforts last year. A majority of the staff reductions have come from across the country. 

‘A forced choice’

Genny Kotyk, a Forest Service employee and president of the National Federation of Federal Employees’ Forest Service Council, said the impacts of federal cuts are already being felt. 

She said that the employee reductions and reorganizations of the Forest Service, which is the largest U.S. firefighting agency, are affecting the response to the damaging wildfire season currently impacting Canada and some Midwestern and northern states. 

In 2025, the Forest Service saw more than 6,500 employees leave through a combination of layoffs, buyouts and early retirements, according to OPM. 

“We’re looking to lose, potentially, another 6,500 employees that are going to be forced to either change their job duties, have a longer commute, or move completely across the country, or resign, or retire,” she said. “Forty percent of those employees have some kind of fire qualification, and because they’re higher level staff, they typically also have a more seasoned career and have higher level fire qualifications.”

Kotyk said that her union polled nearly 3,000 of its bargaining unit employees about the reorganization, and only 7% said they’d be willing to relocate. 

Chearice Vaughn, who works for a USDA office that oversees grants and loans for rural development projects, said she and 45 members of her team received a notice to relocate from Washington to Dallas, Texas. She said of those who received relocation notices, 86% were people of color. 

“It’s a forced choice: uproot your entire life, or leave federal service,” Vaughn, also president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3870, said. 

Still, she said, it’s not about “45 names on a spreadsheet in Washington.”

“It’s about whether the next little town waiting on clean water gets it in time,” she said. “It’s about whether the next small business owner in a town with no other lender gets a chance at all. We built these things once. We’re asking to be allowed to keep building them.”

Legal challenge

Although USDA is continuing with its relocations and department-wide reorganization, some employees are seeking to block the change. 

Several national labor unions, as part of their efforts over the past year to block the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government, filed a request for an injunction in federal court in San Francisco seeking to block USDA from ordering the relocations. 

The case is ongoing. 

USDA spokespeople did not return a message seeking comment Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted Friday that South Carolina should hold the party’s first primary in the 2028 presidential election cycle. 

The recommendation came after a competitive 26-19-4 vote in South Carolina’s favor over Nevada and New Hampshire. The decision is now pending final confirmation from a full vote of the DNC next month. 

If finalized, it will mark the second straight presidential primary cycle led by South Carolina, after the Palmetto State served as the first contest in 2024.

The committee also voted to expand the maximum number of early primaries to six, up from the base of four — with one state representing each region of the DNC. 

The committee voted in favor of New Hampshire, Michigan and Nevada to make up the other three early primaries that represent regions. New Mexico, whose Feb. 15 primary is ahead of Michigan’s, and Virginia were selected as the additional two states to hold an early primary. 

Notably, Iowa, which for years was home to first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses for Democrats, will likely not be part of the early group in 2028, if the committee’s recommendations are upheld. 

That decision came despite a pitch from Iowans to Democratic leaders that the party cannot afford to lose Iowa voters or the input of rural Midwesterners.

Iowa prevailed as first in the nation in the 2016 and 2020 election cycles, but many Democrats sought a shift away from the state after significant controversies with how the caucuses were run in 2020. There were long delays in reporting the results, and no winner was declared on the night of the caucus. 

In addition, former President Joe Biden backed South Carolina as the new leader in the nominating process after his victory there in 2020 propelled him to the front of the presidential field ahead of Super Tuesday.

Voting rights ruling cited

During the meeting Friday, many committee members championed South Carolina as a choice from the party to better reach its Southern constituents and base of Black voters. 

Committee member Donna Brazile, a national Democratic consultant and two-time DNC chair, was the first to recommend South Carolina. Citing the recent Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, she said Democrats must break down the barriers many Americans face to have their voices heard. 

“We must start our process where democracy must still be fought for in the full view of the nation, where our coalitions can be tested, strengthened, and made real,” she said in emotional remarks, her voice occasionally wavering. “ We’re the party that will give every American citizen, every eligible voter a seat at our table, and again, that starts in the South, (with) Black voters.” 

The committee’s co-chairs, Minyon Moore and James Roosevelt, Jr., said in a statement that the calendar is “rigorous, fair, and efficient” and the “most diverse calendar Democrats have ever had for an open nominating contest.”

After committee members voted for their recommendations, DNC Chair Ken Martin in a public statement praised “their diligent work and commitment to a fair and transparent selection process.”

“As a result of their hard work, today, Democrats took a critical step toward retaking the White House in 2028 by ensuring we have the strongest possible nominee,” he said. 

The early group

The committee’s recommended dates for the six primary contests are as follows: 

• South Carolina on Jan. 22, 2028
• Nevada on Feb. 1, 2028
• New Hampshire on Feb. 8, 2028
• New Mexico on Feb. 15, 2028
• Michigan on Feb. 22, 2028
• Virginia on Feb. 29, 2028

The full DNC will vote on the proposal during its next meeting, which will span from Aug. 13-15. 

WASHINGTON — Advocates and public health experts urged Republicans in Congress on Wednesday to implement a two-year delay on requiring states to begin sharing the costs for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. 

Provisions of the Republican-backed law that President Donald Trump signed last year that go into effect in October 2027 will require states with high SNAP error rates — the percentage of benefits that are overpaid, underpaid or go to recipients who are ineligible — to begin covering some of the program’s costs. It marks a stark change for SNAP, which is solely funded by the federal government. 

In an online briefing hosted by the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Invest in Louisiana, speakers said Congress should use the government funding process to protect access to affordable food for American families. 

Sharon Parrott, the center’s president, said that Republicans are “looking right past this emergency” and using their current budget resolution to help farmers struggling with increased costs that have resulted from Trump’s tariffs and oil prices that have been driven up by the war with Iran — but not low-income grocery shoppers.

“Republican leaders in Congress are ignoring the urgent need to help low-income families and kids who are losing SNAP and can’t afford groceries,” she said. “Congress could use the budget process to help both farmers and families. At a minimum, Congress needs to slow down the hasty implementation of the massive cost-shift in SNAP costs to states.”

She said that since the GOP law, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, altered SNAP eligibility requirements, more than 4.5 million people have stopped receiving food assistance benefits. Nearly one-third, 1.5 million, are children. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the changes to SNAP would reduce federal spending by nearly $190 billion over the next 10 years.

Local leaders push back

Wednesday’s briefing comes amid similar calls from community organizations and state and local leaders from across the country. 

On Monday, the United States Conference of Mayors sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee asking them to reconsider SNAP changes enacted over the last year and shifting funding to states. 

“At a time when many Americans continue to face economic challenges, we should be working to expand opportunity and food security, not create new barriers to assistance,” the letter, signed by more than 200 mayors, read. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday that Republicans and Democrats must work together to draft a farm bill that restores SNAP and protects funding for food assistance. 

Schumer added that he will not support any farm bill that does not provide states more time to prepare to shoulder the program’s costs. 

Time is running out to get a cost-shift pause through Congress. 

The House is scheduled to adjourn Friday, and won’t be back in session until Aug. 31. Even then, it will just be back for a few weeks, before again adjourning for almost all of October. The Senate will adjourn after the first week in August and will similarly be out for the beginning of September and almost all of October. 

All about the error rates

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will require most states with error rates of above 6% to cover between 5% and 15% percent of the benefits’ total cost. States under a 6% error rate will be exempt. 

But some states with the highest SNAP error rates — of about 13.3% or higher — will be given an extension to lower their error rates before being forced to bear some of the program’s costs. Depending on the error rate, the states will be granted up to an extra two years to begin sharing costs. 

“Congress can act right now to stop the bleeding and steer us away from this oncoming childhood hunger crisis by extending that same two-year delay to every state — not just the few that benefit from the existing carveout,” said Ty Jones Cox, the budget and policy center’s vice president for food assistance. 

States with the highest error rates in fiscal 2025 included Alaska at 23%, and Delaware and New Mexico both at approximately 16%, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. 

Cox said the center estimates nearly half of U.S. states will likely have to pay $100 million or more because of the cost-sharing changes. 

“These are huge costs,” she said. “States are working hard to reduce their error rates, but they’re up against the wall. The law didn’t give them any time or resources to do so.”

Cox said that states that plan to maintain SNAP benefits will have to find the funding from other places, if they are unable to generate more revenue. She said some states may choose to eliminate summer EBT or end universal school meals to continue funding the program. 

Given the steep costs, some states, such as Alabama, have floated the possibility of cutting their SNAP programs entirely if they are unable to lower error rates, Parrott said. 

Public health impacts

The effect of losing SNAP benefits extends beyond food insecurity, said Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

Besides clean air and water, and a supportive family and environment, he said, food is the most important determinant of a child’s health and future success. 

Racine added that the long-term benefits of SNAP are not being taken into account when decisions regarding its future are made. 

“The benefits of SNAP accrue to that child, accrue to that family, but they accrue to people around them,” he said. “[If] you have a child who’s not suffering from hunger in the classroom, and their ability to concentrate is improved, that has impact on their fellow classmates who are not on SNAP.”

WASHINGTON — A top U.S. Food and Drug Administration official said Monday that a false positive report for the parasite cyclospora from a Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce sample does not change the basis for an ongoing agency investigation. 

FDA had announced Sunday the false positive on a Taylor Farms lettuce sample, amid an outbreak of cyclosporiasis that has sickened more than 1,600 people.

But in a call with reporters Monday afternoon, acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas said the false positive report doesn’t change the basis for the probe or the epidemiological data supporting Taylor Farms’ voluntary recall of some of its iceberg lettuce products.

“I want to stress that our investigation continues, including into other potential sources and commodities for other clusters of illnesses,” he said on the call. 

The announcement comes after the FDA previously reported on Saturday that a sample of iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms in central Mexico had tested positive for the parasite. As of Sunday, the FDA said there are no confirmed samples of Taylor Farms lettuce testing positive for cyclospora.

The FDA did not cite any other positive tests for the source of the outbreak, which has been linked to severe gastrointestinal illness.

As of Monday morning, a banner on an FDA webpage tracking the outbreak still reads: “Do not eat recalled iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. FDA’s investigation is ongoing.”

The FDA also said: “Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive.”

5 states affected

After an FDA investigation into the source of the outbreak affecting at least five states identified shredded lettuce provided by Taylor Farms and sold in many Taco Bell restaurants in the United States as a potential reason, the California-based produce firm announced a voluntary recall of many of its lettuce products. 

The sample that generated the false positive was not part of the current recall, according to FDA acting Deputy Commissioner for Food Donald Prater. 

Prater said that it was important to communicate the finding given the ongoing outbreak and public health risk. The FDA detected the false positive during a subsequent quality check in the lab and immediately issued the correction, he said. 

“The reevaluation of the sample does not alter the data supporting the outbreak advisory that prompted the current voluntary recall,” Prater said on the call with reporters Monday. “FDA’s traceback investigation and the outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms’ location in central Mexico.” 

The FDA and Taylor Farms continue to work together to ensure that “product implicated in this outbreak” has been removed from store shelves and not sold on the market, the Sunday statement continued. 

Taylor Farms statement

In its own statement Sunday, Taylor Farms said the FDA had “apologized” to the company after informing it of the mistaken result. 

“Based on initial information provided by health officials, in an abundance of caution, we completed a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico,” the company’s statement read. “Recalled product was limited to iceberg lettuce grown and processed in central Mexico. All other Taylor Farms products, including all Taylor Farms brand products available for purchase, are not involved in the recall.” 

In the call with reporters on Monday, however, an FDA official said that the agency informed the company of the false positive report and explained how it happened, but did not offer an official apology. 

“We did not offer an official apology, but did explain factually the issues,” the official said. 

The multistate outbreak of the parasite has mostly been concentrated in the Great Lakes and Appalachian regions, with cases identified in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the FDA. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been more than 1,644 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, the food-borne illness caused by ingestion of the parasite, with 94 of those cases leading to hospitalization. There have been no reported deaths. 

The CDC’s webpage on the cyclosporiasis outbreak was last updated on Saturday, before the false positive was announced. 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened on Friday to prosecute election officials in states that don’t “participate in securing the elections” ahead of the November midterms. 

Election officials who do not comply with administration directives to enhance security of voting machines and to share voter data with the federal government through the powerful Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements computer program would be subject to fines and even prison time, he said.

“If the states that choose not to participate with the SAVE program and they choose not to participate in securing the elections, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states, and hold the election officials accountable,” Mullin said during a press conference. 

The Trump administration will make it mandatory for states to undergo security enhancements of their voter machines and withhold grants or reimbursements to any states that do not, he said.

The mandate was necessary, he said, because foreign adversaries produce parts that are vital pieces in U.S. voting machines, and can “change voter registration and your vote.”

“The machines have to be secured and your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed,” he said, summarizing the department’s message to state officials. “Our machines are vulnerable. There are steps that can be made right now that can secure those.”

Earlier Friday, Mullin sent a letter to the secretaries of state of four states the department reviewed — Nevada, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — to warn them of the “tens of thousands of non-citizens who are illegally on the states’ voter rolls.”

Leaders from those states immediately pushed back against Mullin and President Donald Trump’s claims. 

It is unclear what authority Mullin would use to investigate state election administration. The U.S. Constitution empowers states to run elections.

But it is clear the Trump administration considers election security a top priority in the leadup to the midterms.

Mullin’s remarks followed President Donald Trump’s address to the nation Thursday evening in which he declared that the U.S. election systems are vulnerable to foreign cyberattacks and nations such as China and Iran have sought to influence the outcome of past elections, including in 2018 and 2020. 

Noncitizen voting

Trump has long focused on voting by noncitizens, which is rare. 

Mullin on Friday said the Homeland Security Department reviewed voter rolls in a handful of states and discovered more than 250,000 noncitizens who were registered to vote. 

The federal government will make it a priority to “look at who voted in their states” and hold their election officials accountable, Mullin said. 

The federal government will go through the records “one by one,” he said at the press conference, and pursue maximum charges for anyone found to have voted illegally, which includes up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. 

SAVE in court

The SAVE program allows local jurisdictions to determine someone’s immigration status for purposes such as applying for government jobs, benefits and driver’s licenses. 

The administration wants states to use the powerful computer system to check the citizenship of people on voter rolls and is battling in court to restore that use of the program after a federal court ruled in June the expansion was unlawful.

Mullin blamed the program’s pause on “activist judges” who don’t want secure elections. 

The SAVE program is distinct from, but shares its acronym with, the SAVE America Act, a bill that proposes to restrict voter access by adding requirements to register and cast ballots, including photo IDs. The bill is stalled in the U.S. Senate and does not include funding for election security infrastructure. 

Democratic officials cry foul

In Mullin’s letter to Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, which was shared with States Newsroom, Mullin shared “concerning results” of a preliminary review of Nevada’s voter registration data showing there were as many as 15,903 noncitizens registered to vote. 

“I hope that you share in the commitment to ensure that only U.S. citizens participate in our federal elections,” Mullin wrote. “Allowing just one non-citizen to vote cancels the vote of one U.S. citizen.” 

Mullin said his team would help support the state to “take steps to protect Nevada voters and ensure that ineligible voters will not impact upcoming federal elections.”

Aguilar, a Democrat, told States Newsroom in a statement Friday that the department’s estimate is “wildly speculative at best.” The department “hasn’t shared anything that backs it up,” he added.

Aguilar said there are multiple safeguards in place to prevent noncitizens or any other ineligible voters from casting a ballot, and that Nevada runs “some of the safest, most secure and accessible elections in the country.”

“The Administration lacks a fundamental understanding of how elections work,” Aguilar wrote. “They just want to cause chaos and doubt ahead of the midterms.” 

In a statement Friday afternoon, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Republican, said all evidence shows that noncitizen voting is “extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania.” 

Every resident must take multiple steps to verify their identity before they cast a ballot or register to vote, he said. 

“While the Department has made clear that we cannot share Pennsylvanians’ private, personal information, we will review any information provided by DHS so that we can evaluate the validity of these claims,” Schmidt said. 

California under fire

California has repeatedly come under fire from Trump regarding its elections. In his speech Thursday evening, he cast doubt on the integrity of the state’s recent Los Angeles mayoral and gubernatorial races. 

Secretary of State Shirley Weber described the claims as fallacious and unsubstantiated. 

“Non-citizen voting remains exceedingly rare,” she said. “In California, election officials work every day to maintain accurate voter rolls and ensure that only eligible voters are registered.”

She said her team will carefully review Mullin’s letter to assess the methodology for its claims, and “welcome legitimate best practices that comply with state and federal law while protecting Californians’ personal information.” 

“However, the information provided during the President’s remarks and on the White House website, do not inspire any level of confidence in the methodology used or the conclusions reached,” she added. “If the President is truly committed to election integrity, he must stop undermining confidence in our democracy, making it harder for eligible Americans to vote, and attempting to seize authority that the Constitution clearly reserves for the states.”

The nation’s election infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks by foreign actors, President Donald Trump said during a primetime address Thursday night, citing a batch of documents he declassified — but providing no proof broad interference actually occurred or affected an election outcome.

Democrats and advocates quickly criticized the remarks as another attempt by Trump to give Republicans an advantage in crucial midterm elections and sow distrust of results, following his firing of members of the Election Assistance Commission, demands by his administration for state voter rolls, an executive order limiting mail-in ballots and more.

Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and some non-state groups “have the capability to compromise U.S. election infrastructure,” Trump said, quoting one of the documents, which were compiled by White House and intelligence community staff. The document said its authors did not know if any adversaries planned to interfere in elections.

Trump claimed that voter rolls in at least 18 states were “bought, stolen, or hacked by China” ahead of the 2020 election. The attempted methods of interference, he said, ranged from influencing voters to trying to produce fake ballots in favor of Democratic nominee Joe Biden.  

Standing behind a lectern at the White House, Trump said during the 2020 election, the People’s Republic of China carried out the “largest compromise of election data in history,” and said varyingly that China had illicitly accessed tens of millions or up to 220 million voters’ personal data. 

“Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in (elections), but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly,” he said. “And that’s what we’re doing.”

Trump announced he was immediately declassifying five sets of documents that he said proved foreign interference in the election and 2018 midterms, as well as “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.” 

“Just as disturbingly, this vital information has, for many years, been covered up and hidden from you, the American people,” he said.

He claimed that the election vulnerabilities were known by members of the “deep state” who included top members of the intelligence community and worked to hide “the extent of China’s sinister election meddling,” including while he was president prior to and during the 2020 election. 

He further accused Biden’s Department of Justice of killing any investigation into the matter and preventing its disclosure. 

The documents were posted on a whitehouse.gov webpage Thursday evening.

Trump also said the vulnerabilities were another reason to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that in its various versions would restrict voter access by adding requirements to register and cast ballots, including photo IDs. The bill, which is stalled in the U.S. Senate, does not include funding for election security infrastructure. 

Midterms impact

Many Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said the remarks were not about the 2020 cycle, but were ultimately meant to undermine confidence ahead of this year’s midterms.

“Trump knows he has lost American families,” Schumer said in a statement following the address. “He knows he has made their lives more expensive, endangered their friends & families with an unnecessary war, and embarrassed the country on the global stage. And rather than pivot his policies, he is working to rig the midterms before a single vote has even been cast. We won’t let him.”

Former vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris wrote shortly before Trump’s speech that he wanted the American people to believe their vote does not matter. 

“He wants you to lose confidence in our electoral system so you stay home this November,” she wrote on X. “He knows how discontent the American people are, and he wants to make sure that you do not vote.” 

Election forecasters say the most likely result of the midterms is that the GOP retains control of the U.S. Senate and Democrats gain a majority in the House.

Chinese meddling attempts

During his roughly 25-minute-long remarks, Trump avoided explicitly repeating his debunked claims the 2020 election was rigged, only implying it at one point.

“We’re taking swift action to ensure that sensitive voter data is better protected so we can never be bought, we can never be hacked, and we can never watch a stolen election again,” he said.

Instead, Trump said the documents showed U.S. elections are “vulnerable to being rigged and stolen.”

He said China did try to meddle with voter registration and influenced public opinion against him by paying U.S. journalists “large sums of money to write more negative articles about him.” He did not say that was the reason he lost the election and he did not identify the journalists.

According to the Election Assistance Commission, voter rolls are sometimes commercially available and are often obtainable through public records requests. 

Trump said another set of documents revealed a scheme by a get-out-the-vote group in Muskegon, Michigan, to file fraudulent voter registrations. He did not say the scheme, which has been discredited, affected any votes counted in Michigan’s 2020 election.

In a statement, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said the state’s elections “are safe and secure.”

“Any suggestion otherwise is designed to undermine our voters’ basic rights,” she said.

Trump also claimed that 278,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in the U.S., citing a Department of Homeland Security report released shortly before his speech. That figure may be higher, he claimed, because Democratic-led states have not shared their voter information. 

The White House documents released Thursday link to a one-page document created by the department, which cites a “review” of voter information in four states: California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada. It does not reference any specific data. 

Throughout his speech, Trump took aim at the media, including NBC News and ABC News, which had both said they would not broadcast his speech live. CBS ultimately broadcast a portion of his speech in a special report after it began. 

2020 claims

Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election began almost immediately after his loss. 

Trump and his allies filed dozens of lawsuits challenging the results of the election, nearly all of which were dropped or thrown out for lack of evidence. 

The post-election campaign culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by Trump’s supporters on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to disrupt Congress’ certification of Electoral College results. A U.S. House committee investigating the attack concluded Trump was responsible for inciting it by knowingly lying to his supporters about the election results. 

The investigation also found Trump sought to use Department of Justice resources and his influence among state-level Republicans to reverse the results.

Trump also faced a federal indictment for his conduct leading up to the riot. That prosecution was dropped when he won the 2024 election. After returning to office last year, Trump also pardoned everyone convicted of charges related to the attack.

Dems push back: ‘totally bogus’ 

Immediately after Trump’s remarks, Democrats slammed the president’s claims about China’s election interference. 

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in a post on X that the “shocking ‘bombshells’ about China are totally bogus.” 

“The fact is our intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that China did not even try to change a single vote in the 2020 election,” he wrote. “A single concurring opinion suggested China may have tried to sway voters’ opinions… but that’s been public knowledge since 2021.”

During his speech, Trump, without evidence, cast doubt on the integrity of the Los Angeles mayoral race and the state’s recent gubernatorial race. 

California’s primary election was Tuesday, June 2, but election officials are allowed to take roughly a month to complete vote counting. The lengthy process is a product of the state’s large population, as well as its reliance on voting by mail. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom echoed other Democratic officials and said the speech, which he described as “the ramblings of a mad king,” was about the midterms. 

“Before a single vote has been cast, he’s already laying the groundwork to rig this election and convince YOU not to trust the results if they don’t go his way,” he said. “Don’t fall for it.” 

WASHINGTON — Four senators from Maryland and Virginia, all Democrats, said Thursday they have sent a letter to the Department of the Interior, demanding answers on the Trump administration’s plan to redevelop the East Potomac Golf Links. 

The senators had sent a similar letter in January with a list of questions, but wrote in their new correspondence that they had yet to receive a response. The letter was signed by Sens. Angela Alsobrooks, Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. 

The four had said they had “serious concerns” that the Trump administration prematurely canceled the lease held by the National Links Trust, a nonprofit that managed the East Potomac Golf Links, Langston Golf Course and the Rock Creek Park Golf Course — all located on municipal property. 

Though the Trump administration and the nonprofit reached a deal in May that would allow it to continue operating the Langston and Rock Creek courses, President Donald Trump has plowed forward with his plans to transform the East Potomac Golf Links into a championship-level course, which the senators wrote could impact its affordability and accessibility for everyday users. 

“The municipal golf courses of Washington, D.C. are public assets with deep historical, recreational, and community value,” the senators wrote. “Decisions affecting their future, and the health and safety of those who use them, must be guided by law, transparency, and fidelity to the public trust.” 

Senators demand ‘transparent plan’

In their letter, the senators said that Congress, which has oversight over Washington, D.C., has not been informed of any of the project’s details, such as its funding, scope, expected period of disruption, or how it will impact current users. 

“A public commitment to preserve access is welcome, but it is not a substitute for a transparent plan that ensures East Potomac Park remains a genuinely affordable municipal golf course and public parkland for residents of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia,” they wrote. 

They asked that, by July 20, the department answer a list of eight questions, which include how it plans to preserve the course’s affordability, its plans to protect historic cherry trees located in East Potomac Park and its compliance with federal environmental and public health regulations. 

The National Park Service wrote in a statement to States Newsroom that it does not comment on congressional correspondence, but added that it takes them “seriously and carefully reviews each matter.” 

The Department of Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

‘Old and run down’

The East Potomac Golf Links project comes amid Trump’s plans to transform or update many of the district’s iconic landmarks. Among them are the ballroom planned to replace the White House’s former East Wing, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations and even a 250-foot triumphal arch. 

In a post on Truth Social last month, Trump described the course as “old and run down” and “virtually unplayable.” He said that the new course, designed by Tom Fazio, who has also designed several of Trump’s own golf courses, will be “one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World.” 

While Trump said the planned course will remain open to the public, it will also be able to host major golfing events, such as the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship. 

According to Trump, construction work on the updated course will begin Sept. 1.

Local concern

The redevelopment has drawn scrutiny from some city residents and preservation groups, including the D.C. Preservation League, which filed a suit alongside two local golfers against the Interior Department in February challenging the plan. 

In their initial filing, the league argued that the dramatic transformation would threaten the course’s current status as a more affordable and accessible option for local residents, pricing out longtime players. 

They further argued that the redevelopment has failed to follow federal environmental protection and historic preservation laws, as soil taken from the demolition site of the White House’s East Wing was dumped in the park last year without consideration of the impact it would have or testing for harmful pollutants. 

In a response, the Interior Department said that it did in fact test the dumped soil before it arrived at the course. 

But at a hearing last week, Judge Ana C. Reyes ordered the Interior Department to provide more specific information about the administration’s timeline for construction and actual redevelopment plans. 

The department has a deadline of July 17 to provide the information.