The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, just hours before a federal government shutdown. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats and Republicans remained at a stalemate Wednesday as government offices closed and hundreds of thousands of federal workers faced furloughs on the first day of a government shutdown that showed no sign of ending.

Proposals from each side of the aisle to fund and reopen the government failed again during morning Senate votes, mirroring the same vote breakdowns as Tuesday evening, when lawmakers could not reach a deal hours before the government ran out of money.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected up to 750,000 federal workers could be furloughed, leading to a $400 million per day impact on the economy.

Locked in their positions, Republicans failed to pick up enough Democrats to reach the 60 votes needed to advance their plan to fund the government until Nov. 21. 

Senators will break Thursday to observe Yom Kippur but will return Friday to again vote on the funding proposals.

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, along with independent Angus King of Maine, again joined Republicans in the 55-45 vote for the House-passed stopgap spending bill. GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted no.

Democrats also failed to find support to move forward their bill to fund the government through Oct. 31, roll back GOP cuts on Medicaid and permanently extend subsidies that tie the cost of Affordable  Care Act health insurance premiums to an enrollee’s income level. 

The Democrats failed to advance their plan in a party-line 47-53 vote. King, who caucuses with Democrats, voted in favor.

Shutdown tied to health care tax credits

Senate and House Democrats say they will not support a GOP path to reopen the government unless Republicans agree to negotiate on rising health care costs. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a press conference that Democrats are “ready to sit down with anyone at any time and at any place in order now to reopen the government, to enact a spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people and to address the devastating Republican health care crisis that has caused extraordinary harm on people all across the country.”

The New York Democrat pointed to harms in “rural America, working class America, urban America, small-town America, the heartland of America and Black and brown communities throughout America.” 

Democratic leaders blitzed Capitol Hill with their message on health care, holding press conferences and attending an evening rally Tuesday on the lawn outside the U.S. House. 

They pointed to new data published this week showing annual insurance premiums could double on average in 2026 if the subsidies expire at year’s end, according to an analysis from the nonprofit health policy research organization KFF. 

Open enrollment for next year’s ACA health insurance plans opens Nov. 1 in most states, and Oct. 15 in Idaho.

Uptake of ACA health insurance plans has more than doubled to over 24 million, up from 11 million, since the introduction of the subsidies in 2021, according to KFF. 

During their own budget reconciliation deal in 2022, Democrats extended the insurance premium tax credits until the end of 2025. The majority of ACA enrollees currently rely on the credits.

Democrats also want assurances that the White House and Senate Republicans will not cancel any more funds that have already been approved by Congress, as was the case this year when the administration and GOP lawmakers stripped funding for medical research, foreign aid and public broadcasting, among other areas.

‘This can all end today’

GOP leaders in the House and Senate continued to blame Senate Democrats for the government shutdown at the expense of furloughed federal workers and Americans who rely on their services. 

At a Wednesday morning press conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson said “troops and border patrol agents will have to go to work, but they’ll be working without pay.”

Johnson also claimed at the press conference that veterans benefits would stop. The claim is false, as Veterans Administration medical care will continue uninterrupted and vets will also continue to receive benefits, including compensation, pension, education and housing.

“As we speak here this morning, there are hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are getting their furlough notices. Nearly half of our civilian workforce is being sent home — these are hard-working Americans who work for our federal government,” the Louisiana Republican said, flanked by fellow GOP leaders on the Upper West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol overlooking the National Mall. 

Johnson decided in late September the House will be out until Oct. 6, canceling this week’s votes. 

The speaker said he will bring House members back next week, even if the government is still shut down.

“They would be here this week, except that we did our work — we passed the bill almost two weeks ago out of the House, sent it to the Senate,” Johnson said. “The ball is literally in (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer’s court, so he determines that.” 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “this can all end today” and “needs to end today.”

The South Dakota Republican said the funding lapse can cease when Senate Democrats vote for the GOP’s “clean” short-term funding bill. 

“We will continue to work together with our House counterparts, with the president of the United States, to get this government open again on behalf of the American people,” Thune said. 

Bipartisan deal and Trump

Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said later in the day that a bipartisan group huddled on the floor during votes to talk about a possible path forward on “health care fixes” and ensuring that if a bipartisan deal is brokered, the Trump administration will stick to it. 

Republican senators, he said, could give Democrats assurances they won’t vote for any more rescissions requests from the White House, which ask Congress to cancel already approved government spending. But other issues, like laying off federal workers by the hundreds or thousands, have to be a promise from the president. 

“If I find a deal, should Congress have to follow it? Yes. Should the president have to follow it? Yes. Well, what if the president won’t follow it? Oh, yeah, you got a problem,” Kaine said. “So you know, rescission, impoundment, those are Senate words. But a deal is a deal — people get that.”

Kaine also emphasized that it’s not a “clean” stopgap funding bill if the Trump administration unilaterally cancels some of the spending. 

“In the past, we voted for clean (continuing resolutions), but the president has shown that he’ll take the money back,” Kaine said, referring to the technical name for a short-term funding bill. “I mean, just in Virginia, canceling $400 million to our public health, $40 million economic projects just pulled off the table, firing more Virginians than any president. 

“So we just want you to agree, if we do a deal, then you’ll honor the deal,” Kaine said. “It’s not that much to ask.”

‘People are suffering’

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said he doesn’t expect the shutdown will have long-term ramifications for senators’ ability to negotiate bipartisan deals — a necessity in the upper chamber, which has a 60-vote threshold to advance legislation. 

“It’s all transactional,” Tillis said. “I think there’s going to be opportunities for some bipartisan work, but none of that happens, you can’t even really consider it when you’re in a shutdown posture.”

Cortez Masto, who voted to advance Republicans’ seven-week stopgap bill, said the GOP “created this crisis” on health care and “need to address it.”

“They have no moral standing — no moral standing —- to say that this is all on the Democrats. They are in control. They’ve created this crisis,” Cortez Masto said. “People are suffering and they need to come to the table.” 

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who was sworn in for the first time during the last shutdown, said he worries about longer-term effects. 

“My concern is it’s going to poison the well on negotiations going forward on a lot of things,” Hawley said. “I can’t speak for anybody but myself, but I would just say that these tactics are very destructive. And it’s destructive, not just for relationships, but for real people.”

Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat, speaks at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic caucus leaders on Tuesday blasted a vulgar deepfake of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted by President Donald Trump on social media. 

The chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Democratic Women’s Caucus, New Democrat Coalition, Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Equality Caucus also refused to back down on their health care demands as the federal government barrels toward a shutdown.

The GOP and Democratic lawmakers are in a deadlock, and funding is set to run out by midnight Tuesday, when the new fiscal year begins.

“We won’t vote for anything that doesn’t restore the cuts to Medicaid and doesn’t protect people that will be paying higher premiums,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, referring to Medicaid reductions made in the “big, beautiful” law enacted by Republicans earlier this year.

The New York Democrat said “we won’t mess around with Americans’ health care — people that are sick that deserve to have a first-quality health care system providing assistance to them in one of the most serious periods of their lives.” 

While Republicans want a “clean” stopgap funding bill to keep the government open, Democrats are calling for the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025 and the reversal of sweeping health care changes brought by the GOP’s mega tax and spending cuts law, including the massive funding cuts to Medicaid. 

‘Racist meme’ by Trump slammed

Trump posted the deepfake on his social media platform Truth Social just hours after his White House meeting with Schumer, Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, which failed to yield any funding deal. The Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday that some 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed if the government shuts down. 

The 35-second video appears to be AI-generated and uses the setting of Schumer and Jeffries, both New York Democrats, speaking to reporters outside the White House after their meeting with Trump. 

The fake video shows Jeffries with a sombrero and mustache and Schumer ranting that “if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us.” 

Espaillat of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus described the video as “insulting,” saying it shows Trump is “out of touch with the health care challenges of the American people.” 

The New York Democrat said “with your health care on the line, all he could do is put out this deepfake racist meme — not funny at all, not for any of us here, particularly for people that are ill and fighting for their lives that need health care.” 

Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández also blasted the video, saying “that’s not how you get to a deal.” Instead, the New Mexico Democrat said Trump’s decision to post it “looks like a little 6-year-old having a temper tantrum.” 

‘Bigotry will get you nowhere’

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat, said “the juvenile behavior coming out of the White House should not be dignified by any American.”   

Clarke noted that her caucus “will not support a partisan spending bill that slashes health care, guts federal jobs and raises costs, all while targeting the very communities that keep this country running.” 

In a social media post Monday responding to the fabricated video, Schumer said “if you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.” 

Jeffries also responded to Trump on social media Monday, saying “bigotry will get you nowhere” and “we are NOT backing down.” 

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., is pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Congress’ failure to pass a short-term government funding bill before midnight Tuesday will lead to the first shutdown in nearly seven years and give President Donald Trump broad authority to determine what federal operations keep running — which will have a huge impact on the government, its employees, states and Americans. 

A funding lapse this year would have a considerably wider effect than the 35-day one that took place during Trump’s first term and could last longer, given heightened political tensions. 

The last shutdown didn’t affect the departments of Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Labor and Veterans Affairs, since Congress had approved those agencies’ full-year funding bills.

Lawmakers had also enacted the Legislative Branch appropriations bill, exempting Capitol Hill from any repercussions. 

That isn’t the case this time around since none of the dozen government spending bills have become law. That means nearly every corner of the federal government will feel the pain in some way if a compromise isn’t reached by the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. 

States Newsroom’s Washington, D.C. Bureau offers you a quick guide to what could happen if Republicans and Democrats don’t broker an agreement in time.

How does the White House budget office determine what government operations are essential during a shutdown?

Generally, federal programs that include the preservation of life or property as well as those addressing national security continue during a shutdown, while all other activities are supposed to cease until a funding bill becomes law. 

But the president holds expansive power to determine what activities within the executive branch are essential and which aren’t, making the effects of a shutdown hard to pinpoint unless the Trump administration shares that information publicly. 

Presidential administrations have traditionally posted contingency plans on the White House budget office’s website, detailing how each agency would shut down — explaining which employees are exempt and need to keep working, and which are furloughed. 

That appears to have changed this year. The web page that would normally host dozens of contingency plans remained blank until late September, when the White House budget office posted that a 940-page document released in August calls for the plans to be “hosted solely on each agency’s website.”

Only a few departments had plans from this year posted on their websites as of Friday afternoon.

The White House budget office expects agencies to develop Reduction in Force plans as part of their shutdown preparation, signaling a prolonged funding lapse will include mass firings and layoffs.

While the two-page memo doesn’t detail which agencies would be most affected, it says layoffs will apply to programs, projects, or activities that are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

Trump will be paid during a shutdown since Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution prevents the president’s salary from being increased or decreased during the current term.

No one else in the executive branch — including Cabinet secretaries, more than 2 million civilian employees and over 1 million active duty military personnel — will receive their paycheck until after the shutdown ends. 

Are federal courts exempt from a shutdown since they’re a separate branch of government?

The Supreme Court will continue to conduct normal operations in the event of a shutdown, according to its Public Information Office. 

The office said the court “will rely on permanent funds not subject to annual approval, as it has in the past, to maintain operations through the duration of short-term lapses of annual appropriations,” in a statement shared with States Newsroom. 

As for any impact on lower federal courts, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said the federal judiciary was still assessing the fiscal 2026 outlook and had no comment. 

The office serves as the central support arm of the federal judiciary. 

During the last government shutdown from late 2018 into early 2019, federal courts remained open using court fee balances and “no-year” funds, which are available for an indefinite period. 

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has said that if those funds run out, they would operate under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act, which “allows work to continue during a lapse in appropriations if it is necessary to support the exercise of Article III judicial powers.” 

Supreme Court justices and appointed federal judges continue to get paid during a government shutdown, as Article III of the Constitution says the judges’ compensation “shall not be diminished” during their term.

What happens to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

The three programs exist largely outside of the annual appropriations process, since lawmakers categorized them as “mandatory spending.” 

This means Social Security checks as well as reimbursements to health care providers for Medicare and Medicaid services should continue as normal.

One possible hitch is the salaries for people who run those programs are covered by annual appropriations bills, so there could be some staffing problems for the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, depending on their contingency plans. 

The first Trump administration’s shutdown guidance for the Social Security Administration showed 54,000 of 63,000 employees at that agency would have kept working. The CMS plan from 2020 shows that it intended to keep about 50% of its employees working in the event of a shutdown. Neither had a current plan as of Friday.

Will the Department of Veterans Affairs be able to keep providing health care and benefits?

Veterans can expect health care to continue uninterrupted at VA medical centers and outpatient clinics in the event of a shutdown. Vets would also continue to receive benefits, including compensation, pension, education and housing, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs contingency planning for a funding lapse that is currently published on the department’s website. It’s unclear if the plan will be the one the Trump administration puts into action.

But a shutdown would affect other VA services. For example, the GI Bill hotline would close, and all in-person and virtual career counseling and transition assistance services would be unavailable.

Additionally, all regional VA benefits offices would shutter until Congress agreed to fund the government. The closures would include the Manila Regional Office in the Philippines that serves veterans in the Pacific region.

All department public outreach to veterans would also cease.

Will Hubbard, spokesperson for Veterans Education Success, said his advocacy organization is bracing for increased phone calls and emails from veterans who would normally call the GI Bill hotline.

“Questions are going to come up, veterans are going to be looking for answers, and they’re not going to be able to call like they would be able to normally, that’s going to be a big problem,” Hubbard said.

“Most of the benefits that people are going to be most concerned about will not be affected, but the ones that do get affected, for the people that that hits, I mean, it’s going to matter a lot to them. It’s going to change the direction of their planning, and potentially the direction of their life,” Hubbard said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for current VA shutdown guidance.

What happens to immigration enforcement and immigration courts? 

As the Trump administration continues with its aggressive immigration tactics in cities with high immigrant populations, that enforcement is likely to continue during a government shutdown, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s March guidance for operating in a government shutdown.

Immigration-related fees will continue, such as for processing visas and applications from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 

And DHS expects nearly all of its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees to be exempt — 17,500 out of 20,500 — and continue working without pay amid a government shutdown. 

That means that ICE officers will continue to arrest, detain and remove from the country immigrants without legal status. DHS is currently concentrating immigration enforcement efforts in Chicago, known as “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Other employees within DHS, such as those in Transportation Security Administration, will also be retained during a government shutdown. There are about 58,000 TSA employees that would be exempt and continue to work without pay in airports across the country.  

DHS did not respond to States Newsroom’s request for a contingency plan if there is a government shutdown.

Separately, a shutdown would also burden the overwhelmed immigration court system that is housed within the Department of Justice. It would lead to canceling or rescheduling court cases, when there is already a backlog of 3.4 million cases.

The only exceptions are immigration courts that are located within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detention centers, but most cases would need to be rescheduled. The partial government shutdown that began in December 2018 caused nearly 43,000 court cases to be canceled, according to a report by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC.

And 28 states have an immigration court, requiring some immigrants to travel hundreds, or thousands, of miles for their appointment. 

States that do not have an immigration court include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Will people be able to visit national parks or use public lands during a shutdown? 

Probably, but that may be bad for parks’ long-term health.

During the 2018-2019 shutdown, the first Trump administration kept parks open, with skeleton staffs across the country struggling to maintain National Park Service facilities.

Theresa Pierno, the president and CEO of the advocacy group National Parks Conservation Association, said in a Sept. 23 statement the last shutdown devastated areas of some parks.

“Americans watched helplessly as Joshua Trees were cut down, park buildings were vandalized, prehistoric petroglyphs were defaced, trash overflowed leading to wildlife impacts, and human waste piled up,” she wrote. “Visitor safety and irreplaceable natural and cultural resources were put at serious risk. We cannot allow this to happen again.”

The National Park Service’s latest contingency plan was published in March 2024, during President Joe Biden’s administration. It calls for at least some closures during a shutdown, though the document says the response will differ from park to park. 

Restricting access to parks is difficult due to their physical characteristics, the document said, adding that staffing would generally be maintained at a minimum to allow visitors. However, some areas that are regularly closed could be locked up for the duration of a shutdown.

But that contingency plan is likely to change before Tuesday, spokespeople for the Park Service and the Interior Department, which oversees NPS, said Sept. 25.

“The lapse in funding plans on our website are from 2024,” an email from the NPS office of public affairs said. “They are currently being reviewed and updated.”

Hunters and others seeking to use public lands maintained by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will likely be able to continue to do so, though they may have to make alternative plans if they’d planned to use facilities such as campgrounds. 

Land Tawney, the co-chair of the advocacy group American Hunters and Anglers, said campgrounds, toilets and facilities that require staffing would be inaccessible, but most public lands would remain available.

“Those lands are kind of open and they’re just unmanned, I would say, and that’s not really gonna change much,” he said. “If you’re staying in a campground, you’ve got to figure something else out.”

As with national parks, access to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and other hunting and fishing sites will differ from site to site, Tawney said. The Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t require permits for hunting on its lands, but access to some refuges is determined by a staff-run lottery drawing. If those drawings can’t be held, access to those sites will be limited, Tawney said.

What happens to the Internal Revenue Service?

How the Internal Revenue Service would operate during a government shutdown remains unclear. 

When Congress teetered on letting funding run out in March, the nation’s revenue collection agency released a contingency plan to continue full operations during the height of tax filing season. 

The IRS planned to use funds allocated in the 2022 budget reconciliation law to keep its roughly 95,000 employees processing returns and refunds, answering the phones, and pursuing audits. 

Ultimately Congress agreed on a stopgap funding bill to avoid a March shutdown, but much has changed since then.

The new tax and spending law, signed by Trump on July 4 and often referred to as the “one big beautiful bill,” made major changes to the U.S. tax code. 

Additionally, the agency, which processes roughly 180 million income tax returns per year, has lost about a quarter of its workforce since January. Top leadership has also turned over six times in 2025.

Rachel Snyderman, of the Bipartisan Policy Center, said workforce reductions combined with a string of leadership changes could factor into how the agency would operate during a funding lapse.

“It’s really difficult to understand both what the status of the agency would be if the government were to shut down in less than a week, and also the impacts that a prolonged shutdown could have on taxpayer services and taxpayers at large,” said Snyderman, the think tank’s managing director of economic policy.

Do federal employees get back pay after a shutdown ends?

According to the Office of Personnel Management — the executive branch’s chief human resources agency — “after the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods.” 

The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 requires furloughed government employees to receive back pay as a result of a government shutdown. 

That law does not apply to federal contractors, who face uncertainty in getting paid during a shutdown. 

What role does Congress have during a shutdown?

The House and Senate must approve a stopgap spending bill or all dozen full-year appropriations bills to end a shutdown, a feat that requires the support of at least some Democrats to get past the upper chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., control their respective chambers’ calendars as well as the floor schedule, so they could keep holding votes on the stopgap bill Democrats have already rejected or try to pass individual bills to alleviate the impacts on certain agencies.   

Neither Johnson nor Thune has yet to suggest bipartisan negotiations with Democratic leaders about funding the government. And while they are open to discussions about extending the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their health insurance from the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, they don’t want that decision connected to the funding debate.  

Democratic leaders have said repeatedly that Republicans shouldn’t expect them to vote for legislation they had no say in drafting, especially with a health care cliff for millions of Americans coming at the end of the year. 

Members of Congress will receive their paychecks regardless of how long a shutdown lasts, but the people who work for them would only receive their salaries after it ends. 

Lawmakers must be paid under language in Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 of the Constitution as well as the 27th Amendment, which bars members of Congress from changing their salaries during the current session. 

Lawmakers have discretion to decide which of their staff members continue working during a shutdown and which are furloughed.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police, which is tasked with protecting members amid a sharp rise in political violence, said a shutdown “would not affect the security of the Capitol Complex.” 

“Our officers, and the professional staff who perform or support emergency functions, would still report to work,” the spokesperson said. “Employees who are not required for emergency functions would be furloughed until funding is available.”

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, speaks at a press conference Sept. 17, 2025, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Democratic U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Delia Ramirez of Illinois joined advocates Wednesday outside the U.S. Capitol to blast proposed cuts to education spending.

The lawmakers and demonstrators rebuked a congressional spending panel’s bill that calls for $12 billion in spending cuts at the Education Department for the coming fiscal year and fulfills many of President Donald Trump’s education spending priorities as he and his administration seek to dismantle the agency.

Dozens of advocates from across the country marched from the Education Department’s headquarters to the U.S. Capitol to protest the proposed cuts, organized by the political arm of Popular Democracy, a network of community-based organizations across the country. The march culminated in a press conference, where Tlaib and Ramirez rallied with the advocates.  

Trump outlines ‘winding down’ of agency

Trump and his administration have sought to take an ax to the Education Department in an effort to dramatically overhaul the federal role in education.

Earlier this year, Trump requested $12 billion in spending cuts at the department for fiscal 2026. A summary of the department’s request said the cut “reflects an agency that is responsibly winding down.”

“You all know, and I feel this from my heart — the fact that the current president wants to gut and completely eliminate the Department of Education is not only despicable, it is unconstitutional,” Tlaib said. 

“You know the Department of Education is incredibly important for not only those living with disabilities, but different religious backgrounds, diverse communities,” she said. 

The Michigan Democrat added that “without the Department of Education, we know many of our kids will be left behind, unable to receive … the education and resources.” 

House and Senate bills differ

Though the House and Senate Appropriations committees share jurisdiction over funding the Education Department for the coming fiscal year, their bills stand in sharp contrast to each other. 

Senate appropriators largely rejected Trump’s proposed spending cuts in their bipartisan bill, which advanced out of the committee in July. Their measure tightens requirements for the department to have the necessary staffing levels to fulfill its statutory responsibilities and prevents the agency from transferring certain programs to other federal agencies. 

But the House Appropriations Committee’s bill, which also passed out of that panel, largely aligns with the president’s education agenda and spending cut priorities. 

Ramirez of Illinois blasted that bill, saying it “would gut support for English language learners, funding for teacher training and retention and dismantle entire community schools.”  

She noted that “in an effort to turn the clock back to when discrimination was legal, Republicans are obsessed with dismantling the Department of Education and every program that protects equal opportunity education for our children — that’s why Republicans are pushing to take away over $12 billion from our children’s public education.” 

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin | Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom

WASHINGTON — A trio of Senate Democrats urged Republican lawmakers at a Tuesday press conference to extend and make permanent the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025.  

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, warned that the expiration of these credits would lead to “skyrocketing” costs for millions of enrollees unless the GOP-controlled Congress takes action. 

The credits are used by people who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

Stopgap spending bill

The extension is among congressional Democrats’ broader health care demands in order to back any stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown before the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1. 

House GOP leadership did not negotiate with Democrats on the seven-week stopgap funding bill released on Tuesday.

Schumer, alongside House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said in a joint statement Tuesday that “the House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis.” 

They added that “at a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums.” 

At the press conference, Baldwin called for legislation she and Shaheen introduced earlier this year that would make the enhanced premium tax credits permanent to be included in the stopgap government funding bill. 

“Time is of the essence — families and businesses are planning for next year, and we need to get this done,” Baldwin said. “The only question is whether Republicans will join us and stand for lower costs for families or not.” 

Shaheen said that “as we near the deadline for government funding, I hope that our colleagues here in Congress will join us, that they will act to extend these tax credits and to keep health insurance affordable for millions of Americans.” 

Premiums expected to soar without action

The enhanced premium tax credits, established by Democrats in 2021 as part of a massive COVID-19 relief package, were extended in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act. They are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Premiums, on average, for enrollees would soar by more than 75% if the credits expire, according to the nonpartisan health research organization KFF. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday at a press conference that “Republicans have concerns” about the credits because they have no income cap and certain high-income people can qualify for them. He also said Congress has until the end of the year to decide what to do.

At the Democrats’ press conference, Schumer said President Donald Trump “has taken a meat ax to our health care system,” adding that “it’s vicious, it’s cruel, it’s mean” and pointing to some of the repercussions of the GOP’s mega tax and spending cut law on Medicaid recipients. 

Meanwhile, open enrollment begins in November, meaning Congress would have to act before the end of the calendar year to avoid premium spikes.  

A student walks along the campus of Howard University, an HBCU, on Oct. 25, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Howard is an HBCU. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it will redirect $495 million in additional funding to historically Black colleges and universities as well as tribal colleges. 

The U.S. Education Department’s announcement came just days after the administration decided to gut and reprogram $350 million in discretionary funds that support minority-serving institutions over claims that these programs are “racially discriminatory.” 

The department last week said it would cease funding for seven grant programs that go toward institutions that serve students who are Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian, as well as initiatives for minority students pursuing science and engineering careers. 

The agency argued that these programs “discriminate by conferring government benefits exclusively to institutions that meet racial or ethnic quotas.” 

Charter schools, civics education

Meanwhile, the department is also diverting $60 million toward grants for charter schools, and will award a total of $500 million for these schools, which receive public funds and are a form of school choice. The umbrella term “school choice” centers on programs that offer alternatives to one’s assigned public school.

The agency also said it’s investing more than $160 million total in American history and civics grants — a $137 million increase in the funds Congress previously approved. 

In its announcement, the agency said “these investments will be repurposed from programs that the Department determined are not in the best interest of students and families.” 

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said her department “has carefully scrutinized our federal grants, ensuring that taxpayers are not funding racially discriminatory programs but those programs which promote merit and excellence in education,” in a statement Monday. 

She added that the administration “will use every available tool to meaningfully advance educational outcomes and ensure every American has the opportunity to succeed in life.” 

There was no breakdown made available Monday as to which programs or individual institutions would gain funding.

HBCU ‘godsend’

Lodriguez V. Murray, senior vice president for public policy and government affairs at UNCF, which supports historically Black colleges and universities, said the extra funding is “nothing short of a godsend for HBCUs,” in a statement Monday.   

“We are grateful to have worked with the Trump Administration, Secretary McMahon, and her Department of Education team in achieving this one-time infusion of grant funding,” Murray said.  

Murray noted that “HBCUs are currently and have been underfunded since their inception” and “while we are grateful for these funds, we are still under-resourced.” 

The National Center for Education Statistics noted that in 2022, there were “99 HBCUs located in 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump stands with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon after signing an executive order to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The order instructs McMahon to shrink the department, which cannot be dissolved without congressional approval. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s aim to shutter the Education Department faces steep hurdles in Congress, where Republicans’ legislative efforts to abolish the agency remain stalled and appropriators have rejected many of his proposed cuts to education spending.

After campaigning last year on a pledge to shut down the department, Trump came into office promising to follow through, and made some preliminary moves.

He said he wanted Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job” and signed a sweeping executive order in March calling on her to facilitate the closure of the Education Department to the extent she is permitted to by law.

He won a key victory in the U.S. Supreme Court in July that temporarily cleared the way for the administration to move ahead with mass layoffs at the agency, a plan to dramatically downsize the department outlined in that March executive order and his directive to transfer certain services to other agencies. 

Court documents show that the department is planning to bring back more than 260 Office for Civil Rights staff affected by those sweeping layoffs stemming from a separate legal challenge against the administration’s actions earlier this year. 

But after a dizzying array of cuts and changes in the months since Trump took office looking to dismantle the agency, the GOP-controlled Congress — the only body that can abolish the 45-year-old department it created — is throwing up roadblocks to elimination.

Bills stalled

For starters, the handful of GOP bills in Congress to close down the department face a difficult path in the Senate, which requires at least 60 senators to advance most legislation. 

Republicans hold just 53 Senate seats. 

In the House, at least four Republicans — Thomas Massie of Kentucky, David Rouzer of North Carolina, Barry Moore of Alabama and Nathaniel Moran of Texas — have introduced bills this year to eliminate the department. Those bills were referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce, which has not voted on any of them. 

In a brief interview at the Capitol on Sept. 3, the committee’s chair, Michigan Republican Tim Walberg, said he still intended to eventually dismantle the agency, but had not committed to any particular bill.

“Our intentions are to ultimately dissolve the Department of Education — we know we have to do that in a way that makes sense and so, we’ll take a look at all bills,” Walberg told States Newsroom. 

“I can’t say whether they will all come up or not, but we know that, working with the secretary of Education, we’re going to right-size it, and some things we’ll eliminate, other things we’ll shift, as we’ve done already, over to the Department of Labor to take on some workforce areas,” the Michigan Republican said. 

The chair acknowledged that there would not be enough votes in the Senate to abolish the agency. 

“So what we can do that seems right for our students, for our parents and for our teachers, we’ll do,” Walberg said. 

GOP efforts to dismantle the department are also underway in the Senate. 

Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, alongside Sens. Jim Banks of Indiana and Tim Sheehy of Montana, reintroduced a measure in April to abolish the agency. 

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also reintroduced a bill in March with Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Bernie Moreno of Ohio to shutter the department. The measure is a companion bill to Massie’s legislation. 

A spokesperson for Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said the Louisiana Republican is “working with the administration and colleagues on how Congress can best codify the President’s reforms into law,” in a statement to States Newsroom.

The spokesperson noted that “President Trump and Republicans are committed to returning education authority to local communities best equipped to meet the needs of students and families.” 

Senate rebuffs Trump spending cuts

The administration’s attempts to dramatically scale back funding for the department in fiscal 2026 have not been met with much enthusiasm by appropriators in the Senate. 

The House and Senate Appropriations committees share jurisdiction over the bill to fund the department for the coming fiscal year. 

The Senate committee advanced a bipartisan bill in July, which largely rejects Trump’s proposed cuts to education spending and his attempt to dismantle the department. 

The bill tightens requirements for the department to have the necessary staffing levels to fulfill its statutory responsibilities and prevents the agency from transferring certain programs to other federal agencies. 

The legislation also allocates $79 billion in discretionary funding for the coming fiscal year, roughly the same as the current level, which could be seen as a slap in the face to the administration’s budget request that called for $12 billion in spending cuts at the agency. 

House includes deep cuts but keeps Pell spending

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations subcommittee dealing with education spending advanced its spending proposal for the agency on Sept. 2, sending the bill to the broader panel. 

The bill aligns much more with the administration’s spending cut priorities and education agenda, calling for $67 billion in discretionary funding at the department.

Part of the bill also reduces funding for Title I grants — which support school districts with high percentages of students who come from low-income families — by $5.2 billion, according to a summary from committee Republicans. 

The majority notes that “despite outsized investment, America’s public schools continue to fail children and families.”

But spending proposals in both the House and Senate reject the administration’s request to significantly reduce the maximum award for the Pell Grant, a government subsidy that helps low-income students pay for college. 

Instead, each proposal maintains the maximum award at $7,395. 

House and Senate appropriators have several steps to go before they can even reach the negotiating phase on the bill — which also includes spending on other agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services — and get it closer to becoming law.

It’s possible there might not even be a final agreement for months as lawmakers struggle to come to an overall agreement on how much to spend in the coming fiscal year, but the Senate’s bipartisan plan might give that chamber more of an advantage if those negotiations take place. 

The updated Free Application for Federal Student Aid for the 2026-2027 school year will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The updated form to apply for federal student aid will launch for all students by Oct. 1, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told congressional leaders in a letter this week. 

The department began testing in early August for the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — to address any bugs or technical issues before opening it up to everyone in the fall. 

The agency signaled earlier this year that the form would open up to the general public by Oct. 1, the typical opening date for the annual form that’s now congressionally mandated. 

The department noted that for the 2026-27 FAFSA, 2,435 forms were started, 1,372 were submitted and 1,347 had been processed, as of Monday. 

McMahon’s letter to lawmakers on Tuesday followed the botched rollout of the 2024-25 FAFSA, which faced several highly publicized hiccups during then-President Joe Biden’s administration’s attempts to implement a makeover after Congress passed the FAFSA Simplification Act in 2020.

The rollout of the following 2025-26 form, still under the Biden administration, took a staggered approach that included several rounds of testing and gradually increased the number of people able to complete the form. 

Though that form debuted earlier than the 2024-25 application, the full rollout still came nearly two months later than the usual Oct. 1 date. 

“Under President Trump’s leadership, our team has prioritized technical competence and expertise, which has led to the earliest testing launch of the FAFSA form in history,” McMahon said in a statement Wednesday. 

“The Biden Administration failed the FAFSA rollout two years ago, leaving millions of American students and families without clear answers or a path forward in their educational journey,” she said. “Congress gave us a mandate to improve the form and deliver it on time for students, families, and institutions of higher education — and I am proud to certify that the form will launch on time this fall.” 

McMahon’s letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and Workforce follows a law signed by Biden last December that ensures the FAFSA rolls out by Oct. 1 each year. 

The law also requires the Education secretary to notify Congress by Sept. 1 annually on whether the department will meet that Oct. 1 deadline.

The Hubert H. Humphrey Building, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., as seen on Nov. 23, 2023. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration demanded Tuesday that dozens of states remove from sex education materials any references to a person’s gender departing from their sex assigned at birth, or lose federal funding.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families warned in letters to 40 states, the District of Columbia and several territories that they could lose a total of $81.3 million in remaining federal funds for the Personal Responsibility Education Program, or PREP, if they do not get rid of these references within 60 days. 

The policy appears to target any reference to transgender or nonbinary people. For example, in a letter to an adolescent health program specialist at Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services, the federal agency asked that a definition of transgender and related terms be deleted from school curricula.

In a statement shared with States Newsroom, Laurel Powell, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, said the move was part of Trump’s “all-out fight to erase government recognition of transgender people.”

“Sexual education programs, at their best, are age-appropriate, fact-based and informative at a time when young people need this information to keep themselves healthy,” Powell said. “When they do not acknowledge the existence of trans people they fail in their goal to inform, and cutting this funding denies young people the information they need to make safe, healthy, and informed decisions about their own bodies.” 

PREP focuses on preventing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, and targets youth who are experiencing homelessness or in foster care, or reside in rural areas or places with high rates of teen birth, according to the agency. 

The states that HHS sent letters to Tuesday are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

Latest demand

The demand marks the latest effort from the administration to do away with “gender ideology,” which the administration says includes “the idea that there is a vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one’s sex.” 

GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, noted in a fact sheet that “gender ideology” is “an inaccurate term deployed by opponents to undermine and dehumanize transgender and nonbinary people.”

The letters came less than a week after the administration terminated California’s PREP grant after refusing to remove “radical gender ideology” from the education materials. 

Failure to comply with this demand, the agency said, could result in the “withholding, suspension, or termination of federal PREP funding.” 

“Accountability is coming,” Andrew Gradison, acting assistant secretary at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, said in a statement. 

Gradison added that the administration “will ensure that PREP reflects the intent of Congress, not the priorities of the left.”

The effort also comes as the administration continues to crack down on gender-affirming care.

Trump signed earlier executive orders that: restrict access to gender-affirming care for kids; make it the “policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female;” bar openly transgender service members from the U.S. military; and ban trans women from competing on women’s sports teams. 

President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hold hands during a roundtable event at the Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville, Texas, on July 11, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s push to bolster the GOP’s narrow congressional majority in next year’s elections has prompted a rare nationwide mid-decade redistricting battle that has rapidly taken shape over the past weeks. 

Indiana GOP lawmakers’ White House visit this week highlights how the race to redraw congressional districts for partisan advantage may soon expand beyond Texas and California — two states that have reached new stages in their dueling redistricting efforts. Missouri could also be on its way to redrawing its map to favor Republicans.

“Drawing districts to put your thumb on the scale is almost as old as the country,” said David Niven, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati who conducts research on gerrymandering, elections and voting rights.

“The revolutionary twist is: Almost all of the history of gerrymandering has been about personal gain and about advancing your friends’ interests — this is a real dramatic turn toward using gerrymandering for national political control.”

The national scuffle originated with Trump urging Texas to draw a new congressional map to defend the GOP’s razor-thin control of the U.S. House. The map could give Republicans five new congressional seats in the 2026 midterms.

The GOP has 219 U.S. House seats, with Democrats holding 212 spots and four current vacancies — a slim margin that has created hurdles for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, as he tries to enact Trump’s agenda and cater to both the demands of the president and the GOP conference’s factions. 

As Republicans in the Hoosier State face mounting pressure to join in on the redistricting fight, Indiana GOP state lawmakers are headed to the White House on Tuesday.

The meeting was scheduled before Vice President JD Vance’s Aug. 7 meeting with Indiana GOP leadership as part of the administration’s redistricting push but after redistricting was added to Texas’ special legislative session agenda in July, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 

As of last week, Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun remained noncommittal about whether he would call a special session to redraw the state’s lines, per the Capital Chronicle. 

California, Texas redistricting battle heats up 

The Indiana lawmakers’ visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. comes as Lone Star State Republicans inch closer to adopting a new congressional map and California Democrats fight back with their own effort. 

The Texas Senate on Saturday approved the new map, which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would “swiftly” sign into law.

Texas lawmakers approved the new congressional map after two weeks of delays following widespread opposition from Texas’ Democratic legislators. 

But the Golden State is ramping up its retaliatory efforts against Texas Republicans.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a legislative package Aug. 21 that calls for a special election, in which voters will decide the fate of a new congressional map that could give Democrats five more seats in the U.S. House. 

Newsom has framed the effort as pushing back against political hardball by Trump. 

“We got here because the president of the United States is struggling,” Newsom said shortly before signing the legislative package. 

“We got here because the president of the United States is one of the most unpopular presidents in U.S. history. We got here because he recognizes that he will lose the election. Congress will go back into the hands of the Democratic Party next November. We got here because of his failed policies,” he said. 

The California governor added that Texas “fired the first shot.”

“We wouldn’t be here if Texas had not done what they just did, Donald Trump didn’t do what he just did.” 

Meanwhile, Trump said Monday that the Department of Justice will file a lawsuit over Newsom’s redistricting efforts.

More states could follow 

Missouri could also soon follow in Texas’ redistricting footsteps to give the GOP more of an advantage in the upcoming midterms. 

Trump took to social media Aug. 21 saying “the Great State of Missouri is now IN,” adding that “we’re going to win the Midterms in Missouri again, bigger and better than ever before!”

The administration has put pressure on Missouri in recent weeks to redraw their lines to help defend Republicans’ majority in the U.S. House by eliminating one of two Democratic districts in the state.

Though Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe said no decisions about calling a special legislative session had been made, a spokesperson for the Republican said he “continues to have conversations with House and Senate leadership to assess options for a special session that would allow the General Assembly to provide congressional districts that best represent Missourians,” according to the Missouri Independent.

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore said Sunday he is considering redistricting efforts in the state, where the GOP currently holds just one of eight congressional seats. 

“I want to make sure that we have fair lines and fair seats, where we don’t have situations where politicians are choosing voters, but that voters actually have a chance to choose their elected officials,” Moore told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” 

“We need to be able to have fair maps, and we also need to make sure that if the president of the United States is putting his finger on the scale to try to manipulate elections because he knows that his policies cannot win in a ballot box, then it behooves each and every one of us to be able to keep all options on the table to ensure that the voters’ voices can actually be heard, and we can have maps.”

A homeless encampment near the Lincoln Memorial is cleared by employees of the Washington, D.C., government on Aug. 14, 2025. City officials put notices at the camp that they would be breaking it down after President Donald Trump issued his "crime emergency" order. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Officials have already cleared dozens of homeless encampments in the District of Columbia in recent days as President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the nation’s capital for a “crime emergency” at the same time takes aim at people without housing.

Advocates working to end homelessness within the district and across the country raised alarm to States Newsroom over these removals and their impact on people without housing and the providers trying to serve them. The drive to push out homeless people came after Trump in July signed an executive order that attempts to overhaul federal policy on homelessness, declaring: “Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe.”

Multi-agency teams had eliminated 48 encampments in the District of Columbia as of Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing. 

Metropolitan Police Department patrol units “are actively working with city officials to locate and clear additional encampments and remove homeless residents off of Washington’s streets,” she said.

Leavitt told reporters days prior that homeless people in the city would be “given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services,” and would be “susceptible” to fines or jail time if they refused.

A day before Trump declared his “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11, the president wrote on social media that homeless people must move out “IMMEDIATELY.”

“We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” he wrote. 

Days later, bulldozers and garbage trucks were at work dismantling campsites.

According to WTOP News last week, leaders in the surrounding area of Montgomery County, Maryland, were preparing for a potential rise of homeless people in the county as a result of the president’s crackdown.

An annual point-in-time count released in May from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments saw 5,138 people experiencing homelessness in the district on one night in 2025 — a 9% decrease compared to 2024.

Homeless people’s belongings tossed

Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center, said “things seem so fluid and so chaotic that it’s hard to get an accurate representation” of where Trump’s campaign to get homeless people out of sight stands.

Rabinowitz said last week he witnessed the tossing of people’s belongings and the evictions of people experiencing homelessness, noting that “it was fast, it was chaotic, it was expensive, and it didn’t help anybody.”

“We know that clearing encampments makes it harder for people to get into housing,” he added. “People’s IDs that they need to get into housing are destroyed, people’s medications that they need to stay healthy are thrown away, people’s bikes that they need to get to work are often trashed.”

Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said the practice and policy of fining, ticketing and arresting people rather than creating housing and services for them is “devastating” — both to people experiencing homelessness and the providers who serve them.

Oliva said outreach workers can lose track of people that they’ve been working with for a long time, destroying trust between the two.

“That’s some of what I’ve seen over the last week here — as providers are trying to keep people as safe as possible, it’s getting harder to track them down to make sure that they can provide the services that are necessary for folks.”

Street outreach teams at work

Lara Pukatch, chief advocacy officer at Miriam’s Kitchen, said the organization, which works to end chronic homelessness in Washington, D.C., is “deeply concerned about what’s happening.”

Pukatch said the group’s street outreach teams “have really been working almost around the clock to address what’s going on,” including sharing information with people living outside when they hear about threats of encampment evictions to make sure they know what’s happening and the options they have.

“This also involves working nights, working weekends, connecting people to the life-saving supplies and supports that they’ve always needed, but in addition, really working hard with people to make sure that they’re safe and that they are not going to be further harmed or traumatized by what’s happening in the city.”

July executive order

Trump’s federal takeover in Washington, D.C., and the encampment clearings build off of the sweeping July executive order he signed.

The order says it aims to end federal support for “Housing First” policies that “deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency.” The “Housing First” model focuses on providing immediate housing, with services offered afterward.

The order also calls on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner to ensure that programs receiving federal housing and homelessness assistance require people with “substance use disorder or serious mental illness” obtain treatment or mental health services in order to participate.

Part of the order also encourages involuntary civil commitment expansion, where individuals with mental health conditions are placed into treatment facilities against their wishes.

Administration officials who say they are fighting crime in the district have also emphasized actions of homeless people. Vice President JD Vance, talking to National Guard troops at Union Station on Wednesday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said when he visited the transit center with his children two years ago, they were “screamed at by violent vagrants and it was scaring the hell out of my kids.” 

Now, he said, “DC is already safer than it was nine days ago. We’re going to make it safer still to come. This is your city. You should feel free to come and visit here, have a meal, see all these incredible monuments, and actually enjoy yourself.”

Supreme Court decision

Oliva, of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, noted that while the events of the past week are “certainly alarming,” they mark a broader trend that has gained steam, beginning with the 2024 Supreme Court decision that allowed cities to punish homeless people for sleeping outdoors, even where there is no shelter available to them.

“What we’ve seen since President Trump came into office is a series of policies put in place — or attempted to put in place — through executive orders that really don’t do anything to address the root causes of homelessness because we know that homelessness itself is not actually a criminal issue, it’s an economic issue,” she said.

Though the president’s federal takeover has a 30-day limit, Trump wants an extension, leading to questions about how long these actions will continue. 

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON —  A federal judge in Maryland has struck down the U.S. Education Department’s attempts to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion practices in schools.

The Thursday ruling marks a blow to President Donald Trump’s administration as it continues to take significant strides to try to crack down on DEI efforts across the federal government.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher found both an agency Dear Colleague letter threatening to yank federal funds for schools from K-12 through colleges and universities that use race-conscious practices in aspects of student life and a memo ordering state education leaders to certify compliance to be “unlawful,” vacating the two.

Gallagher’s ruling follows a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers union and its affiliate, AFT-Maryland, as well as the American Sociological Association and a public school district in Oregon.

She noted that both the letter and certification requirement are “unconstitutionally vague.”

Gallagher is one of three federal judges who blocked different parts of the agency’s initiatives back in April, which brought enforcement of the letter and the memo on certifying compliance to a halt.

“The administration is entitled to express its viewpoints and to promulgate policies aligned with those viewpoints,” wrote Gallagher, who was appointed by Trump. “But it must do so within the procedural bounds Congress has outlined. And it may not do so at the expense of constitutional rights.”

Feb. 14 letter to states

The department drew swift legal action after sending a Feb. 14 letter to school districts that threatened to rescind federal funds for schools that use race-conscious practices in programming, admissions, scholarships and other aspects of student life.

The letter gave a sweeping interpretation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2023, which struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

The four-page letter raised a myriad of questions for schools over what exactly fell within the requirements. The department in March issued a Frequently Asked Questions document on the letter in an attempt to provide more guidance.

Adding fuel to the fire, the department in April gave state education leaders just days to certify all K-12 schools in their states were complying with the letter in order to keep receiving federal financial assistance.

Reaction from department, union

“While the Department is disappointed in the judge’s ruling, judicial action enjoining or setting aside this guidance has not stopped our ability to enforce Title VI protections for students at an unprecedented level,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement shared with States Newsroom on Friday.

“The Department remains committed to its responsibility to uphold students’ anti-discrimination protections under the law,” the spokesperson added.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said “the court agreed that this vague and clearly unconstitutional requirement is a grave attack on students, our profession, honest history, and knowledge itself,” in a Thursday statement.

Weingarten added that “it would hamper efforts to extend access to education, and dash the promise of equal opportunity for all, a central tenet of the United States since its founding.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, left, and Texas Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, right, listen as Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu speaks to reporters during a press conference at the DuPage County Democratic Party headquarters on Aug. 3, 2025 in Carol Stream, Illinois. Wu was with a group of Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state so a quorum could not be reached during a special session called to redistrict the state. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Fueled by President Donald Trump’s aims to bolster the U.S. House’s razor-thin GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections, a rare mid-decade redistricting fight in Texas grew increasingly bitter in recent days and engulfed other states.

As Democratic legislators in the Lone Star State fled to block a new congressional map, a handful of both blue and red states eyed their own redistricting plans, lawsuits cropped up and members of Congress pledged bills to curb redistricting wars.

While Texas is the only state that has so far taken formal action to redraw its U.S. House lines, a full-blown arms race could be imminent.

Here’s a breakdown on the redistricting battle as the drama unfolds:

How did all of this interest in redistricting kick off?

Republicans in Texas drew a new congressional map at the urging of Trump that could give the GOP five crucial new congressional seats in 2026.

Midterm elections typically lead to the loss of congressional seats for a president’s party. 

Meanwhile, the GOP currently holds 219 seats in the House, while Democrats hold 212 spots, with four vacancies. That extremely narrow majority has created immense challenges for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, as he tries to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda and cater to the president’s demands as well as factions in the GOP conference.

Though congressional districts are typically redrawn every decade following each U.S. Census, the move, particularly in Texas, is not unprecedented and is allowed.

What’s going on in Texas?

Texas Republicans unveiled a draft of the new congressional map in late July, which looks to reshape and flip major metro areas’ districts held by Democrats.

According to The Texas Tribune, the Department of Justice sent Texas’ leaders a letter in early July that said four of its districts violate the U.S. Constitution. The proposed map would dismantle those districts, per the Tribune.

More than 50 of Texas’ Democratic legislators left the state to try to block the legislature from adopting the new map, according to the Tribune.

This move has drawn the ire of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who went so far as to file a lawsuit asking to remove the Texas House Democratic Caucus chair, state Rep. Gene Wu, after Wu left the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also said Tuesday that he will pursue a court ruling that declares the seats vacant for the House Democrats who do not return by Friday.

Texas GOP U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has also called on the FBI “to take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.” Trump on Tuesday, asked by a reporter if the FBI should “get involved,” said, “Well, they may have to.”

How is California reacting?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been among the most vocal Democratic governors in suggesting retaliating against Texas Republicans by redrawing his populous blue state’s own lines before the 2026 elections.

State laws in California and other Democratic states make mid-decade redistricting tougher than it is in Texas.

While pro-democracy groups have praised California’s nonpartisan commission as the “gold standard” of independent redistricting, Newsom has indicated he would ask state lawmakers to temporarily scrap it to join the arms race he says Trump started in Texas.

At a Monday press conference, Newsom justified his exploration of mid-decade redistricting in the Golden State by describing Trump’s recent and historic record as anti-democratic.

“These folks don’t play by the rules,” Newsom said. “If they can’t win playing the game with the existing set of rules, they’ll change the rules. That’s what Donald Trump has done … Here is someone who tried to break this country, tried to light democracy on fire on Jan. 6. He recognizes he’s going to lose in the midterms.”

What other states are looking at potentially redistricting?

Vice President JD Vance is slated to visit Indiana Thursday in an attempt to push redistricting, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Braun said that as of now, no commitments have been made, when asked about redistricting efforts in the Hoosier State, per the Capital Chronicle.

Leaders of large Democratic states, in addition to California, are considering their own redistricting in response to Texas.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote in an op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle Tuesday that she would “not sit on the sidelines” and watch “Republicans dismantle democracy.”

“What Texas is doing isn’t a clever strategy, it’s political arson — torching our democracy to cling to power,” Hochul wrote. “The only viable recourse is to fight fire with fire.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker appeared alongside Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and a group of exiled Texas Democratic lawmakers at a news conference Tuesday. Pritzker said it was “possible” the state would pursue redistricting, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Other Democratic governors — even including Laura Kelly of ruby-red Kansas — raised the prospect during a Democratic Governors Association meeting in Wisconsin last week of pursuing mid-decade redistricting if Texas follows through.

Republican states are also considering jumping in the fray.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican, told a news radio station last week that it was “likely” lawmakers would convene in a special session to redraw district lines after pressure from Trump.

And Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican who holds the most competitive of Nebraska’s three U.S. House seats but plans to step down, told the Nebraska Examiner that Republicans in the state were having conversations about potential redistricting.

What downside do some see?

An arms race to shorten the cycle for redrawing congressional lines could come at a cost for efforts to overhaul the redistricting process.

Common Cause, a national pro-democracy group that advocates for election reforms including nonpartisan redistricting, urged Democrats not to respond to Texas.

A redistricting arms race would only result in “rigged elections across America,” Emily Eby French, the policy director for Common Cause Texas, said on a press call last week. It was wrong for Republicans to put “a thumb on the scale” through redistricting, she said, but also wrong for Democrats to do the same.

“The real solution is for Democrats to help us lift the Republican thumb off of the Texas scale and every other scale in America until we reach free and fair elections for everyone.”

Are party leaders egging this on?

Trump, whose urging appeared to prompt Texas Republicans to action, has consistently pushed lawmakers in that state to reinforce the GOP advantage there.

Tuesday, he said on CNBC that Republicans were “entitled” to five more House seats in Texas.

Martin, the DNC chair, responded in Illinois.

“No party is entitled to any district,” he said. “We have to go out and earn the votes.”

Still, Martin advised Democrats in blue states to do the opposite by responding in kind to Texas Republicans.

In an interview with States Newsroom last week, Martin suggested Democratic states drop any commitment to nonpartisan redistricting in response to Texas.

“We’re not here to tie one of our hands behind our back,” he said. “We can’t be the only party that’s playing by the rules.”

How is Congress reacting?

At least two GOP House lawmakers — representing blue states looking at retaliatory redistricting efforts against Trump — are taking it upon themselves to introduce bills in Congress that bar these initiatives.

GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California introduced a bill in the House this week that would ban mid-decade redistricting across the country.

Kiley said Newsom “is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” in a statement earlier this week.

“Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, also said he plans to introduce legislation to prohibit “partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting.”

The New York Republican told CNN on Tuesday that “this is fundamentally why Congress is broken,” adding that “you do not have competitive districts and so, most members are focused on primaries and not actually engaging in a general election.” 

An elementary school student concentrates while performing a sit-up during physical education class. (Photo via Getty Images)  

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is bringing back a physical fitness test to public schools after over a decade, but details of the new test, including timing and implementation, remain to be seen.

Trump signed an executive order July 31 that reestablished the Presidential Fitness Test — a source of both fear and achievement among youth — and committed to revitalizing the “President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition,” which would develop the test.

“Rates of obesity, chronic disease, inactivity, and poor nutrition are at crisis levels, particularly among our children,” the executive order notes. “These trends weaken our economy, military readiness, academic performance, and national morale.”

The president designated Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to administer the test.

The council is tasked with creating “school-based programs that reward excellence in physical education and develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award,” according to a White House fact sheet.

Expert hopes for ‘holistic’ revamp

The order did not provide any details on what the test will look like or how or when it will roll out.

Laura Richardson, a clinical associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Michigan, said she hoped to see an updated version of the test that focused more on level of activity than on a student’s performance.

“I’m hopeful that maybe it will be reevaluated and revised and really have some tools that don’t just look at how fast you are or how strong you are, but more holistic in the tools we need to get our children to be active in childhood that should then continue through the trajectory into adulthood,” Richardson told States Newsroom.

Richardson added that testing alone would not be sufficient to see improvement in kids’ physical fitness, and called for increasing resources to schools to help students be more active.

“Sedentary behavior is really widespread — we’re seeing increasing obesity among all ages,” Richardson told States Newsroom. “We can test … but if we’re not giving the tools to the teachers and the students and the parents, we may continue to see the same data.”

Bill would codify test

Rep. Jeff Van Drew announced last week that he will introduce a bill to codify Trump’s executive order.

In a statement, the New Jersey Republican said he coordinated with the administration, including Kennedy, when writing the bill.

“Every parent wants their kid to grow up strong and healthy,” he added. “This bill is about making sure they are given the tools to do just that.”

Latest version of test

The Presidential Fitness Test dates back to President Dwight Eisenhower, who set up the President’s Council on Youth Fitness in 1956 following alarming findings on the state of youth fitness in the United States compared to youth in European nations.

The test initially included sit-ups, a mile run, a shuttle run, pull-ups or push-ups and a sit-and-reach, according to Harvard Health.

Since then, the test has seen several versions. The most recent major revamp was in 2012, when President Barack Obama’s administration replaced the Presidential Fitness Test with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which aimed for a more individualized and health-focused approach.

The program, which came after criticism of the Presidential Fitness Test and concerns about its psychological effects on youth, aimed to minimize “comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health,” according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion within the Department of Health and Human Services. 

President John F. Kennedy, an uncle of the current HHS secretary, expanded on Eisenhower’s efforts. In a 1960 essay, “The Soft American,” the president-elect at the time described physical fitness as a “vital prerequisite to America’s realization of its full potential as a nation.”

According to HHS’ Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, President Kennedy also promoted “taking the 50 mile hikes previously required of U.S. Marine officers” in a national public service advertising campaign.

President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Presidential Physical Fitness Award Program in 1966 for “exceptional achievement by 10- to 17-year-old boys and girls,” per HHS. 

A sign for the Public Broadcasting Service  is seen on its building headquarters on Feb. 18, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.  (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced Friday that it will be shutting down.

The announcement came just one day after a major Senate appropriations bill omitted funding for the nonprofit that funds public media and a week after President Donald Trump signed a bill into law that yanked $1.1 billion in previously approved spending for CPB. 

CPB, which Congress authorized in 1967, provides funds for National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service and hundreds of local stations across the United States. President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans have criticized NPR and PBS of left-leaning bias, an accusation the public media organizations have rejected.

“Despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB, we now face the difficult reality of closing our operations,” Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement Friday.

“CPB remains committed to fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities and supporting our partners through this transition with transparency and care,” Harrison said.

She added that “public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country.”

CPB said employees were notified Friday that the majority of staff positions “will conclude with the close of the fiscal year on September 30, 2025,” and a small transition team will stay through January 2026.

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026, which did not include any CPB funding.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the panel, expressed her disappointment over the lack of a CPB allocation in the bill during a committee markup. 

“It is a shameful reality and now communities across the country will suffer the consequences as over 1,500 stations lose critical funding,” Murray said.

In a win for the Trump administration, Congress passed a rescissions package in July that clawed back $9 billion in previously approved spending for public broadcasting and foreign aid, including $1.1 billion for CPB.

Trump signed the measure into law just days later. 

U.S. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, left, and the top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, at a committee markup on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Photos from committee webcast)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Thursday largely rejected Trump administration proposals to slash funding for education programs, medical research grants, health initiatives and Ukraine security assistance.

Instead, senators from both parties agreed to increase spending in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026, as well as the Defense bill, and rebuked the White House’s move to dismantle the Department of Education.

The pushback against President Donald Trump was significant as Congress heads toward a possible standoff and partial government shutdown when the fiscal year expires on Sept. 30.

In response to the Trump administration’s separate cancellation of grants and freezing of funds approved by Congress, senators also included language in the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill to create deadlines for formula grants to be released to states on time.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said the bill to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education “prioritizes funding to make Americans healthier and supports life-saving medical research through targeted funding.”

The measure provides $116.6 billion for HHS, an increase of $446 million in discretionary funding over the previous fiscal year. Included is a $150 million increase for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease research, as well as a ban on an administration cap on indirect costs at the National Institutes of Health, according to a summary from Democrats. The cap on how much NIH pays research universities and medical schools for indirect costs is the subject of a permanent injunction in an ongoing lawsuit.

Trump’s budget proposal also cut funding for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to $4.2 billion, but senators voted to instead allocate $9.1 billion for the agency.

Also included is $8.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant and nearly $12.4 billion for Head Start.

The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, said that while the bill rejects many of the funding cuts from the Trump administration, it’s “only half of the equation.”

“We have an administration right now that is intent on ignoring Congress, breaking the law, and doing everything it can without any transparency, to dismantle programs and agencies that help families,” she said. “There is no magic bullet that will change that unfortunate reality.”

Murray also expressed her disappointment that the bill did not fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Trump sent what is known as a rescissions request to Congress, approved by both chambers, that yanked $1.1 billion in previously approved funding over the next two years for the agency, which funds NPR and PBS.

The Labor-HHS-Education spending bill for fiscal year 2026 passed out of the Senate committee with a bipartisan 26-3 vote.

Senators also passed the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2026 on a 26-3 vote.

Dismantling of Education Department spurned

The bill text tightens requirements so that Education Department staffing levels must be sufficient to carry out the agency’s missions, and its work cannot be outsourced to other agencies or departments to fulfill statutory responsibilities, according to Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the spending panel dealing with Labor-HHS-Education spending. 

The agency saw a reduction in force, or RIF, earlier this year that gutted more than 1,300 employees and hit wide swaths of the department. The Supreme Court cleared the way earlier in July for the agency to temporarily proceed with those mass layoffs.

The bill also provides $5.78 billion for School Improvement Programs — which support before- and after-school programs, rural education, STEM education and college and career counseling, among other initiatives.

Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request had called for $12 billion in spending cuts at the Education Department but the committee allocated $79 billion in discretionary funding.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended Trump’s sweeping proposals while appearing in June before the Senate Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee.

During Thursday’s markup, Murray called the president’s proposal to defund the Department of Education “absurd.”

“I still hope we can do more when it comes to demanding accountability, transparency, and that this administration actually follows our laws,” Murray said. “We all know President Trump cannot dismantle the Department of Education or ship education programs to other agencies. Authorizing laws prevent that.”

The agency has witnessed a dizzying array of cuts and changes since Trump took office, as he and his administration look to dramatically overhaul the federal role in education and dismantle the department.

The bill maintains the same maximum annual award for the Pell Grant from the previous award year at $7,395. The government subsidy helps low-income students pay for college.

Trump’s budget request had called for cutting nearly $1,700 from the maximum award.

Health spending

Baldwin said the overall bill is a “compromise.” She pointed to how Republicans and Democrats agreed to increase funds for the 988 Suicide hotline by $2 million and by another $20 million for substance abuse recovery.

The spending bill will also provide $1.6 billion for State Opioid Response grants, which is a formula-based grant for states to address the opioid crisis.

Senators rejected the Trump administration’s request to cut National Institutes of Health research by 40% and instead included a more than $400 million bump in funding for a total of $48.7 billion.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff said that he was grateful that the committee worked on a bipartisan basis to reject major Trump cuts for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in his home state.

“I made (it) very clear that I would not accept the destruction of the CDC,” Ossoff said. “I am grateful that Republicans and Democrats on this committee are coming together to defend this vital institution based in the state of Georgia.”

Advocates for medical research praised the legislation.

“Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray deserve special recognition for their leadership in making this a priority. Thousands of ACS CAN volunteers from across the country have been writing to their lawmakers on this issue and it’s deeply encouraging to see their voices have been heard loud and clear,” Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said in a statement.

AmeriCorps, Job Corps funding sustained

Trump’s budget request also proposed $4.6 billion in spending cuts at the Department of Labor. 

The spending bill also maintains funding for Job Corps, a residential career training program for young adults, at $1.76 billion.

Trump’s budget request sought to eliminate the program entirely.

The administration says the program is “financially unsustainable, has an exorbitant perparticipant cost, risks the safety of young adults, and has often made participants worse off,” according to a summary of the budget request.

The spending bill also includes $15 billion for the Social Security Administration, an increase of $100 million from the president’s budget request, to address staffing shortages.

The administration also proposed the elimination of AmeriCorps.

However, senators kept funding for AmeriCorps for fiscal year 2026 at $1.25 billion.

Defense spending also increased

The Defense appropriations spending bill for fiscal year 2026 that senators worked on represented an increase from the president’s budget request.

“I think not only the prior administration, but this administration as well, have underestimated the level of challenge that we have,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the Defense appropriations panel.

The Kentucky Republican said the bill provides $851.9 billion for fiscal year 2026.

He said the topline is higher than the president’s budget request because “we cannot seriously address these challenges while artificially constraining our resources” — challenges such as the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.

The bill also rejects the Trump administration’s effort to slash funding to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“Shutting off engagement with Ukraine would undermine our military’s efforts to prepare for the modern battlefield,” McConnell said.

During the markup of the defense spending bill, Sen. Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, introduced an amendment to require the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse costs to the Department of Defense for immigration enforcement.

As the Trump administration aims to carry out its plans for mass deportation of people without permanent legal status, it’s intertwined the U.S. military and immigration enforcement, ranging from deploying the National Guard to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles to housing immigrants on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba military base.

Durbin said that so far, DHS has cost the Defense Department $900 million, from personnel costs to housing immigrants on military bases.

Durbin said the cost to house 180 people on Guantanamo Bay cost the Department of Defense $40 million over three months.

His amendment failed on a 14-15 vote. 

Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 25, 2025. (Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Susan Monarez as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

Monarez — whom the Senate confirmed on a party-line vote, 51-47 — will now be responsible for the national public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Atlanta-based agency has faced backlash as HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pursues a vaccine-skeptical agenda.

GOP Sens. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Dan Sullivan of Alaska did not vote.

Monarez was the acting director of the CDC between January and March. She previously served as the deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, which is part of HHS.

Monarez, who has a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology, will be the first person without a medical degree to hold the title since 1953.

The White House originally selected former Florida U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to lead the CDC but withdrew the nomination in March.

Monarez’s confirmation followed a procedural vote earlier Tuesday that saw her advance, 52-47, along party lines.

Kennedy continues to face scrutiny after he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in June and named eight new members — a number of whom are viewed as skeptical of vaccines.

Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, launched an investigation alongside seven Democratic members of the committee Tuesday regarding Kennedy’s firings and replacements within the critical vaccine panel.

“By removing all 17 of ACIP’s members and replacing them with eight individuals handpicked to advance your anti-vaccine agenda, you have put decades of non-partisan, science-backed work — and, as a result, Americans’ lives — at risk,” the senators wrote in a letter to Kennedy.

Those seven Democratic committee members include Sens. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Andy Kim of New Jersey and Tim Kaine of Virginia. 

Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City is pictured on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that bars payments from university boosters and some other private-sector donors to college athletes.

The NCAA changed its rules in 2021 to allow athletes to profit from their own name, image and likeness, or NIL. A White House fact sheet Thursday said third-party payments from boosters and other private donors “created a chaotic environment that threatens the financial and structural viability of college athletics.”

“Waves of recent litigation against collegiate athletics governing rules have eliminated limits on athlete compensation, pay-for-play recruiting inducements, and transfers between universities, unleashing a sea change that threatens the viability of college sports,” the order said.

A patchwork of laws exists across states, with no federal NIL law in place. A federal judge in June approved the terms of a nearly $2.8 billion antitrust settlement, which paved the way for schools to directly pay athletes.

“While changes providing some increased benefits and flexibility to student-athletes were overdue and should be maintained, the inability to maintain reasonable rules and guardrails is a mortal threat to most college sports,” the executive order said. 

According to the White House fact sheet, the order’s prohibition of “third-party, pay-for-play payments” does not apply to “legitimate, fair-market-value compensation that a third party provides to an athlete, such as for a brand endorsement.”

The order also seeks to preserve and expand “opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women’s and non-revenue sports” and calls on the secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to clarify the “status” of college-athletes.

A day before the order, two U.S. House panels advanced a measure that would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation and bar them from being recognized as employees.

That bill, the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act, or ‘‘SCORE Act,” was approved in the House Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce committees, which both have jurisdiction.   

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday slammed the “assault” on public education by President Donald Trump’s administration, underscoring the impact of billions of dollars in funds still frozen for K-12 schools and ongoing efforts to dismantle the Education Department.

Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, who hosted a forum alongside several Democratic colleagues that also heard testimony from education leaders, advocates and leading labor union voices, said Trump is engaged in “an all-out, coordinated attack on public education.”

The agency has seen a dizzying array of cuts, overhauls and changes since Trump took office as he seeks to dramatically redefine the federal role in education and take an axe to the agency.

This month, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily cleared the way for the administration to carry out mass layoffs and a plan to dramatically downsize the Department of Education that Trump ordered earlier this year.

“How can we expect our schools to plan for the upcoming school year when they are confronted with chaos and uncertainty from this administration?” Hirono said at the forum.

Compounding the issue, the administration garnered bipartisan backlash after notifying states that it would be withholding $6.8 billion in funds for K-12 schools just a day before July 1, when these dollars are typically sent out as educators plan for the coming school year.

The administration last week confirmed the release of a portion of those funds that support before- and after-school programs and summer programs, totaling $1.3 billion, but it has yet to release the remaining $5.5 billion that go toward migrant education, English-language learning, adult education and literacy programs, among other initiatives.

“How dare they take the monies that you appropriated, that schools need right now, as schools start in the next two weeks, taking it away from summer school, from after-school, from kids that need English-language acquisition — how dare they do that?” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said at the forum.

“How come we have to constantly go in and sue them and sue them and sue them to get things that you already appropriated?” said Weingarten, who leads one of the country’s largest teachers unions.

Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, said the withheld money was devastating to students with disabilities.

“This funding delay is sabotaging student learning, educator preparedness and essential services, causing heavy impacts on those students with disabilities,” she said.

“To educators, this isn’t a delay, it’s a breach of public trust,” she said, adding that the freeze is “forcing schools to make tough choices about how they now have to reallocate funding.”

National school voucher program

The forum also took aim at a sweeping national school voucher program included in the mega tax and spending cut bill that Trump signed into law July 4.

The permanent program starts in 2027 and allocates up to $1,700 in federal tax credits for individuals who donate to organizations that provide private and religious school scholarships.

“What we are seeing is just a wholesale dismantling and disruption of the public education system,” said Denise Forte, president and CEO of the nonprofit policy and advocacy group EdTrust.

“And with this new national voucher scheme — which is exactly what it is — that’s really about making sure that students from wealthier families who had already been participating in private schooling will have access to even more public dollars.”

Former Education secretary speaks out

Earlier Thursday, former U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona also criticized Trump’s “attacks” on education, including the billions of dollars in frozen funds.

“The irony is, this is really impacting many of the communities that really were rooting for this current administration,” Cardona, who was Education secretary under then-President Joe Biden, said on a press call hosted by Defend America Action that also featured Karen Smith, a member of Pennsylvania’s Central Bucks School District School Board as well as Nick Melvoin, a member of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.

“They’re being impacted the most in many ways,” Cardona said. “I always say, all students are going to be impacted, but the students furthest from opportunity are going to be impacted the most and more severely and more quickly, so let’s put that perspective on what’s happening in education — policies have consequences, and the consequences are going to be felt for decades, just from what was done in the last five months.” 

Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University pictured on Sept. 13, 2024. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) 

WASHINGTON — A measure that would set a national framework for college athletes’ compensation got one step closer to becoming law Wednesday after advancing in two separate U.S. House panels.

The bill’s fate remains uncertain as it makes its way through Congress, and Democrats argue that the legislation would give “unchecked authority” to the NCAA on athletes’ pay and fails to provide labor and employment protections for athletes.

Two panels with jurisdiction over the matter — the House Energy and Commerce and Education and Workforce committees — approved the legislation, known as the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements Act, or ‘‘SCORE Act.”

The Energy and Commerce Committee’s vote fell along party lines, 30-23. 

On the Education and Workforce panel, the 18-17 vote featured all Republicans who were present voting in favor of the measure except Rep. Michael Baumgartner of Washington state. All Democrats on that panel voted against the measure. GOP Reps. Kevin Kiley of California and Elise Stefanik of New York did not vote.

Rep. Tim Walberg, chair of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, said the bill “brings much needed stability to college athletics.”

“Since the NCAA lifted Name, Image and Likeness and transfer rules in 2021, college athletics have been in a period of chaos as constant litigation and efforts to classify student-athletes as employees jeopardize thousands of academic and athletic opportunities,” the Michigan Republican said during his committee’s consideration of the bill.

Kentucky GOP Rep. Brett Guthrie, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said during his panel’s markup that “without this bill, student-athletes will be left to fend for themselves against bad actors, non-revenue generating sports could face devastating cuts and legal uncertainty will continue to hang over all of college sports.”

The full House will not consider the legislation until at least September, when members return from their summer recess that began one day ahead of schedule Wednesday.

A federal standard

The effort, nominally bipartisan, comes as the college sports world grapples with the fallout from the NCAA’s 2021 guidelines that let student-athletes profit from their name, image and likeness, or NIL. A patchwork of laws exists across states, and there is currently no federal NIL law.

A federal judge in June approved the terms of a nearly $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that paved the way for schools to directly pay athletes.

The bill would prohibit college athletes from being recognized as employees and would require colleges to “provide comprehensive academic support and career counseling services to student athletes that include life skills development programs,” such as those regarding mental health, nutrition, strength and conditioning and financial literacy.  

The bill’s lead sponsors are GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida and Democratic Reps. Janelle Bynum of Oregon and Shomari Figures of Alabama.

Guthrie, Walberg and GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Lisa McClain of Michigan, Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin and Russell Fry of South Carolina were also original co-sponsors.

‘Extreme employment ban’

Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, said that “instead of holding the revenue-rich NCAA and its powerful conferences accountable, the SCORE Act provides a series of blank checks and bailouts that will not uplift or protect college athletes,” during the panel’s markup.

The Virginia Democrat said the bill “imposes obligations without oversight, fails to include concrete protections and outright bans college athletes from ever having labor or employment protections.”

“This extreme employment ban will not only open the door for further exploitation of college athletes and protect athletic departments’ bottom lines more than the students they serve, it is a broad stripping of athletes’ rights, and that should not be the solution,” he said.

Rep. Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, voiced similar concerns during his committee’s markup.

The measure “fails to offer meaningful protections to college athletes and completely ignores the true crisis facing colleges and universities,” he said, adding that President Donald Trump “continues to destroy America’s higher education system with reduced federal research dollars, taxes on endowments and cuts to federal student aid.”

Pallone also said the bill “gives the NCAA and conferences nearly limitless and unchecked authority to govern how athletes get paid, if they can transfer schools, and how much time they can be required to spend training, traveling and competing.”