Congress on CrossGov.com

The Pentagon's $1.5 Trillion Request Meets a Stalled NDAA and a Stopgap That Funds Defence at $838 Billion

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The fiscal 2027 budget asked Congress for $1.5 trillion for national defence, a 42% jump. The Pentagon is starting the year on $838.5 billion, under a continuing resolution that runs to 11 December and bars new programmes. The annual defence authorisation bill, which Congress has passed every year for more than six decades, is stuck in the Senate.

The gap between what was asked and what exists is the widest in years.

FY2027 Appropriations: The House Has Passed 3 of 12 Bills, the Senate None, With Funding Running Out December 11

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ten days into fiscal 2027, Congress has finished none of the twelve bills that fund the government. The House has passed three: Military Construction and Veterans Affairs on 15 May by 400 votes to 15, Agriculture on 4 June by 213 to 210, and National Security and State on 15 July by 217 to 209. The Senate hasn’t marked up a single one. Everything runs on a stopgap that expires on 11 December.

GAO Finds New Impoundment Violations as the House Proposes a 25% Cut to Congress's Watchdog

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 7 October 2026 the Government Accountability Office issued two more decisions finding that the executive branch broke the Impoundment Control Act. One concerned the EPA’s Community Change Grants. The other found that HHS’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality withheld more than $78 million that Congress had appropriated.

They join a long list. In 2025 GAO found violations involving electric-vehicle charging money under the NEVI programme, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Head Start, the National Institutes of Health, FEMA and, in part, a DOE school-energy programme. By April 2025 it had 39 impoundment investigations open.

CISA's Cyber Incident Reporting Rule Sits at OIRA as the Agency Shrinks to 2,200 Staff Without a Confirmed Director

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The final rule under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, known as CIRCIA, went to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review on 1 October 2026. It hasn’t been published. When it is, it will require critical infrastructure companies to report significant cyber incidents to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within 72 hours, and ransom payments within 24 hours.

Congress passed CIRCIA in March 2022. The law gave CISA until 2025 to write the final rule. It’s more than a year late.

US Cyber Information-Sharing Law Runs on Stopgaps While the EU Cyber Resilience Act Reporting Clock Starts

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 11 September 2026 a new obligation started for every company selling software or connected hardware in the EU. If a vulnerability in one of their products is being actively exploited, they now have 24 hours to send an early warning, 72 hours to file a notification, and 14 days after a fix is available to send a final report. It applies to products already on the market too. ENISA, the EU cybersecurity agency, opened its single reporting platform the same day.

ICE Is Funded Through 2029 Outside the Normal Budget: Detention Near 69,000 and 2,365 Local 287(g) Agreements

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In September 2026 Immigration and Customs Enforcement made more than 48,000 arrests, according to an official speaking to NBC. Around the start of October it was holding about 69,000 people in detention. In fiscal 2025 the average was 42,500.

ICE can sustain that pace through a budget arrangement few agencies have. Its money no longer depends on the annual appropriations fight that just left most of the government on a stopgap. Two reconciliation laws, passed by simple majorities, fund ICE and the Border Patrol into early 2029.

US Government Funded to December 11 After a Year of Record Shutdowns

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Fiscal year 2027 started on 1 October with the US government open. That’s worth saying, because over the past twelve months it often wasn’t.

It’s running on a continuing resolution. H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, became Public Law 119-103 on 2 September 2026. It keeps agencies funded at existing levels until 11 December, 72 days into the fiscal year. If Congress does nothing more, funding lapses on 12 December. None of the twelve regular appropriations bills for the year has been enacted.

Federal AI Preemption vs State Laws: Colorado Retreats, California Holds and Congress Stalls

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There is still no federal law that overrides state AI rules in the United States. Twenty-one months into an administration that wants one, the score looks like this: one state law rewritten under pressure, one state law in force and untouched, and a federal bill that hasn’t been introduced.

The fight matters beyond America. The EU has one AI rulebook for 27 countries. The US could end up with fifty, or with one written by Washington, or with none. Which of those it gets will shape how AI is built for a large share of the world’s users.

Pocket Rescissions Explained: How a 1974 Law Against Nixon's Impoundments Became the 2025-26 Budget Fight

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 25 September 2026, five days before the fiscal year ended, the White House sent Congress a special message proposing to cancel $810 million across 11 accounts in seven departments. The biggest item was $567 million for refugee and entrant assistance at HHS. The House had already said it would be out until November.

That timing is the whole point of a pocket rescission. Under the 1974 law that governs it, the President can hold back money he has proposed to cancel for 45 days while Congress considers it. If the money expires before the 45 days are up, it’s gone, whatever Congress does. On 29 September GAO ruled that the President may not force the expiry of money Congress enacted and didn’t rescind. The money appears to have expired on 30 September anyway.

Section 232 Becomes the Main US Tariff Tool: Metals at 50%, Autos, Chips, Drones and Polysilicon Next

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 lets the Commerce Department investigate whether imports threaten national security and lets the President set tariffs if they do. Since the Supreme Court struck down the emergency tariffs in February 2026, it has become the administration’s main tariff tool. It now covers steel, aluminium, copper, cars, trucks, lumber, some semiconductors, patented drugs and drones, with polysilicon due in December.

The law suits the purpose. It needs no vote in Congress, has no time limit and sets no ceiling on rates. The courts have mostly deferred to the executive on what counts as national security.

US Debt Limit of $41.1 Trillion Expected to Bind in 2027: How Denmark, Germany and the EU Handle Borrowing Limits

Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The US federal debt limit stands at $41.1 trillion. The July 2025 budget reconciliation law raised it by $5 trillion. That bought about two years. The Congressional Budget Office’s February 2026 outlook says the Treasury will reach the limit sometime in 2027. The Bipartisan Policy Center expects it between late winter and mid-summer of 2027, with the Treasury’s accounting manoeuvres, known as extraordinary measures, adding another six to nine months.

GAO 2026 Duplication Report: $774 Billion Saved Since 2011, $100 Billion Still on the Table, and $186 Billion in Improper Payments

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Since 2011 GAO has published an annual report on duplication, overlap and fragmentation in the federal government: programmes that do the same thing, agencies that trip over each other, and money that could be saved by fixing it. The sixteenth edition came out on 12 May 2026.

The headline number is big. GAO estimates that acting on its past recommendations has produced about $774.3 billion in financial benefits since 2011, up about $49.3 billion since the previous report. GAO calls these rough estimates.