Congress’ tax bill is selling out America’s public lands and waters

  Congress is moving forward with President Donald Trump’s bill to provide tax cuts for billionaires while ripping social services away from millions of Americans. In particular, the natural resources section of this massive bill reveals how congressional Republicans are trying to sell out public lands to the highest bidder to fund those insider tax breaks, while Big Oil campaign donors and other Wall Street insiders stand to see financial gain.

  If passed, this bill would be the largest successful attack by Congress on U.S. lands and waters in modern American history. It would give the oil industry free rein over more than 293 million acres of public lands and waters—an area larger than Texas and California combined—for drilling through its first rounds of mandated lease sales alone.* Factoring in expected tax cuts and other legal changes that would benefit fossil fuel CEOs, the tax bill would be a massive win for Big Oil and a massive loss for the American public.

Citizenship voting requirement in SAVE Act has no basis in the Constitution – and ignores precedent that only states decide who gets to vote

  The Republican-led House of Representatives passed on April 10, 2025, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act – or SAVE Act. The bill would make voting harder for tens of millions of Americans.

  The SAVE Act would require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to first “provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship” in person, like a REAL ID or a passport.

GOP lawmakers eye SNAP cuts, which would scale back benefits that help low-income people buy food at a time of high food prices

  Congress may soon consider whether to cut spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the main way the government helps low-income Americans put food on the table. The Conversation U.S. asked Tracy Roof, a political scientist who has researched the history of government nutrition programs, to explain what’s going on and why the effort to reduce spending on SNAP benefits, which can be used to purchase groceries, could falter.

Congress’ war on math

  The congressional majority is seeking to extend expiring portions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Relative to sunsetting these tax cuts as provided under current law, the cost of their extension would be $4 trillion over the coming decade—or around $400 billion per year. But, instead of reflecting this reality, the majority is attempting to force the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to say the fiscal impact is instead zero dollars by using a “current policy” baseline rather than the “current law” baseline that is defined in statute. This approach is unprecedented in the 50 years since the CBO was formed and Congress acted within the current budget framework.

The SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions of citizens

  The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation would require all Americans to prove their citizenship status by presenting documentation—in person—when registering to vote or updating their voter registration information. Specifically, the legislation would require the vast majority of Americans to rely on a passport or birth certificate to prove their citizenship. While this may sound easy for many Americans, the reality is that more than 140 million American citizens do not possess a passport and as many as 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s name do not have a birth certificate matching their legal name.

Members of Congress undermine the country – and their own legitimacy – with antidemocratic rhetoric

  Blame was cast far and wide after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Obviously, the shooter was to blame, but depending on your perspective, you also blamed Democrats, Republicans, or both for the highly charged partisan rhetoric that has heated up American political life and, for at least some people, made violence seem like an option.

Project 2025 would increase gun violence, reversing historic declines

  Gun violence is falling at a historic rate for the second year in a row after surging nearly 30 percent during former President Donald Trump’s final year in office. However, rather than build on the success of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act by passing stronger gun laws and increasing investments in the root causes of violence, far-right extremists are attempting to defund federal law enforcement and invalidate state gun laws that save lives. Their radical policy agenda would make the country less safe by making it easier for people who want to commit violence to carry guns and harder for law enforcement to solve violent crimes.

Why is Congress filled with old people?

  It’s not just presidential candidates who are old.

  Based on my own data, nearly 20% of House and Senate members are 70 or older, compared with about 6% who are under 40.

  Voters in North Dakota recently approved a ballot initiative that would place an upper age limit on candidates for Congress from that state. If it survives likely court challenges, the law would bar anyone 81 or older from serving in Congress from North Dakota. The motivation behind such a measure: to correct that major generational imbalance in Congress.

Is this the least productive congress ever? Yes, but it’s not just because they’re lazy

  Congress has once again been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, with multiple news outlets in recent months touting the current 118th Congress as possibly the least productive in the institution’s history. In 2023, Congress only passed 34 bills into law, the lowest number in decades.

  Congress was only recently able to pass a budget bill that will keep the government open until the fall of 2024 after months of delay and stopgap measures.

  As a result, House Speaker Mike Johnson’s gavel seems to be hanging in the balance yet again, as conservative Republicans revolt over his support for the bill.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson leads a GOP majority weakened by decades of declining party authority

  After the House of Representatives took the unprecedented step on Oct. 3, 2023 of removing its own speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, with eight Republicans joining all 208 voting Democrats to “vacate the chair,” what followed was weeks of uncertainty. Until conservative Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson was elected speaker of the House on Oct. 25, no candidate had been able to secure the necessary number of Republicans to win a vote on the House floor. And without an elected speaker, the chamber was effectively stuck.

House Ways and Means proposal would hurt honest tax filers and reward tax avoidance

  H.R. 3937, which recently passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee on a party-line vote with Republican support, would undermine efforts to narrow the tax gap—the amount of tax that is legally owed but not paid—and would make it harder for honest tax filers to track the income that they need to report on their tax returns. It would do so by reversing changes to third-party settlement organization (TPSO) reporting requirements made by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). 

Should the US ban TikTok? Can it? A cybersecurity expert explains the risks the app poses and the challenges to blocking it

  TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, 2023 amid a chorus of calls from members of Congress for the federal government to ban the Chinese-owned video social media app and reports that the Biden administration is pushing for the company’s sale.

  The federal government, along with many state and foreign governments and some companies, has banned TikTok on work-provided phones. This type of ban can be effective for protecting data related to government work.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Our Congressional delegation has garnered good committee assignments

  For the past several decades, Alabama’s power has been centered around the U.S. Senate – primarily because of Richard Shelby’s immense power and influence. During Senator Shelby’s 36-year tenure, he chaired the Intelligence, Banking, and Rules Committees. However, he became immensely powerful his last six years as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. 

  Shelby practically moved Washington to Alabama when it came to bringing home earmarked funds to the Heart of Dixie. We received more federal funding than any state in America. National publications labeled Shelby the Greatest Pork King in federal history, surpassing the late Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Less we forget, Shelby also had a very respected and tenured wingman in Sen. Jeff Sessions, who served with distinction for 20 years in the U.S. Senate. They were a great team.

Workhorses, not show horses: Five ways to promote effective lawmaking in Congress

  Americans dislike Congress, especially when it fails to act on pressing problems. They are then surprised by legislative accomplishments on climate change, gun control, and maintaining competitiveness with China.

  But Congress does much more on a daily basis than deal – or fail to deal – with high-profile issues.

3 reasons US coal power is disappearing – and a Supreme Court ruling won’t save it

  The U.S. coal industry chalked up a couple of rare wins this summer. First the Supreme Court issued a ruling limiting the government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Then President Joe Biden’s climate plan stalled in Congress again.

  But while some specific threats to the industry have subsided, that doesn’t mean coal-fired power plants will make a comeback.

What’s insider trading and why it’s a big problem

  There’s a growing bipartisan push to prohibit members of Congress from buying or selling stocks. The shift follows news reports that several senators sold stocks shortly after receiving coronavirus briefings in early 2020 and that at least 57 lawmakers have failed to disclose financial transactions since 2012 as required by law.

  Congress passed that law – the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, also known as the STOCK Act – in 2012 to fight insider trading among lawmakers with increased transparency. But a chorus of legislators and governance watchdogs argue that it didn’t go far enough and isn’t working.

Congress passes $1T infrastructure bill – but how does the government go about spending that much money?

  The U.S. Congress passed an infrastructure bill that funds more than a trillion dollars in nationwide federal spending on Nov. 5.

  The bill puts about US$240 billion toward building or rebuilding roads, bridges, public transit, airports, and railways. More than $150 billion is slated for projects that address climate change, like building electric vehicle charging stations, upgrading energy grids, and production to work better with renewables, and making public transit more environmentally sustainable.

  There’s funding for cybersecurity, clean water, and waste treatment systems, broadband internet connections, and more.

Why America has a debt ceiling: 5 questions answered

  Republicans and Democrats are again waging a battle of wills over the U.S. debt ceiling, which is a statutory limit on how much the government can borrow to pay its bills. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says no member of his party will support a bill lifting or suspending the debt limit – even though he says he wants to see it raised – and Democrats are reluctant to do it on their own. At the moment, Democrats hope to do it as part of a must-pass spending bill.

  Congress suspended the debt ceiling in 2019 for two years, ending July 31, 2021. Since then, the U.S. Treasury Department has taken emergency measures that allow it to keep borrowing without an increase in the limit. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that those options will run out in October and that if the U.S. doesn’t allow more borrowing, it faces “catastrophe” – either drastic across-the-board spending cuts or the prospect of an unprecedented default.

  Economist Steve Pressman explains why we have a ceiling – and why he thinks it’s time to abolish it.

Getting more out of defense dollars

  Imagine you have credit card points expiring at the end of the month but not enough to get the item at the top of your wish list. You’d probably be willing to use them to get something less desirable.

  Why watch, empty-handed, as those points vanish? If you don’t have enough for the cast-iron skillet you wanted, better to settle for a waffle iron than wind up with nothing.

New electoral districts are coming – an old approach can show if they’re fair

  When the results of the 2020 U.S. Census are released, states will use the figures to draw new electoral district maps for the U.S. House of Representatives and for state legislatures. This process has been controversial since the very early days of the nation – and continues to be so today.

  Electoral district maps designate which people vote for which seat, based on where they live. Throughout history, these maps have often been drawn to give one party or another a political advantage, diluting the power of some people’s votes.