Budget

POWER-GRID RESILIENCETrump Is Blocking Billions of Dollars of Grants That Would Fix the Grid
By Jeff St. John, Canary Media
The Department of Energy has canceled or stalled funding for thousands of projects that would improve the country’s stressed grid — and not just in blue states.
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ASSAULT ON SCIENCEHow Trump’s “America First” Administration Could Shut U.S. Scientists Out of the Next Nobel-Worthy Discovery
By Lisa Song
A proposed White House rule would give political appointees unprecedented control over scientific funding. One physicist, who helped discover the Higgs boson, explains how the rule would’ve stifled that breakthrough.
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POLITICIZATIONIs Withholding Federal Counterterrorism Funds from States – as FEMA Has Threatened – Legal?
By Austin Sarat
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued new grant guidelines that threaten to withhold counterterrorism funds from states that do not comply with President Donald Trump’s election security directives.
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THREATS TO U.S. SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIPMaintaining America’s Leadership in Biomedical Innovation
By Thomas J. Bollyky
Thomas J. Bollyky’s testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce addresses how U.S. dependence on China has expanded from generic drug manufacturing into the innovation pipeline itself.
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PUBLIC HEALTHHow Cuts to CDC Are Dismantling Its Capacity to Protect Americans’ Health
By Candice Johnson
CDC’s mission is to protect and improve the health of Americans, which it fulfills by preventing, detecting and controlling disease. CDC also staffs a pool of public health experts who are rapidly deployed to respond to public health emergencies – including disease outbreaks – worldwide. The cuts to CDC put these functions in jeopardy.
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NATIONAL DEBTU.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP, “Deeply Troubling” for Economy, National Security
By Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square
The U.S. national debt is now larger than the entire American economy and is only set to keep growing, further exacerbating the affordability crisis and risking national security.
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DHS SHUTDOWNThe Homeland Security Shutdown and the Power of the Purse
By Scott Levy
The current Department of Homeland Security shutdown shows that the effects of a shutdown in appropriations are not fixed by Congress alone. They depend on executive choices about which functions to sustain, which funds to deploy, and where disruption will be felt. Without clearer constraints on that discretion, Congress’s power of the purse becomes increasingly illusory in the very moments it is meant to matter most.
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COUNTETRING DRONESWhy the U.S. Military Is Stuck Using $1 Million Missiles Against Iran’s $20,000 Drones
By Aaron Brynildson
It may sound hard to believe, but the almost trillion-dollar U.S. military is struggling to fight cheap drones in its war with Iran. The drones Iran uses cost between US$20,000 and $50,000 to build. In response, the U.S. military sometimes fires missiles worth more than $1 million to shoot one down.
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CHINA WATCHChina Surpasses U.S. in Research Spending – the Consequences Extend Far Beyond Scientific Ranking and Clout
By Caroline Wagner
The Trump administration has presided over a dramatic disinvestment in U.S. scientific research. A hollowed-out research base may cause the U.S. not only to fall behind, but also to progressively lose its ability to benefit from science. China’s rapid rise in science thus arrives at a moment when the U.S., under this administration, appears no longer interested in maintaining U.S. scientific leadership.
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ASSAULT ON SCIENCEPanicking Scientists, Canceled Experiments – Federal Funding Cuts Turned My Work as a Research Dean into Crisis Management
By Nara Parameswaran
None of us in research leadership positions around the country had ever faced anything like the Trump administration’s attacks on universities and science. Countless breakthroughs that have altered the course of human and animal health have been made possible by sustained federal research investment through agencies such as NIH. Declines in support for these researchers, coupled with reduced graduate enrollment and ongoing visa challenges, risk erasing an entire generation of scientists, with consequences that will reverberate for many years.
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DHSSenate Funds DHS without ICE or Border Patrol, Heads to House
By Andrew Rice, The Center Square
The U.S. Senate agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security early Friday, without including funds for ICE and Border Patrol.
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THE PROBLEM WITH ICEThe One Big Beautiful Bill Made ICE Shutdown-Proof and Eroded Fiscal Norms
By Dominik Lett
DHS is temporarily funded until February 13 – but whether the DHS is shut down or not, ICE and CBP will still be able to pursue their immigration crackdown largely undisrupted due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). By shifting immigration enforcement and defense spending outside the normal appropriations process, Republicans have short-circuited the system of checks and balances that restrain the growth and abuse of government power. The long-term result will be less oversight, weaker constraints on fiscal irresponsibility, and greater partisanship.
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TARGETING SCIENCETrump’s Second Term Is Reshaping U.S. Science with Unprecedented Cuts and Destabilizing Policy Changes
By Kenneth M. Evans
President Donald Trump is far from the first president to be deeply skeptical of the academic research community. But his relentless attempts to overhaul the federal support system for research and development have set a new precedent for the level of mutual distrust and its consequences for scientists.
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INFRASTRUCTUREBridge, Building Maintenance Backlogs Will Hit State Budgets as Federal Aid Declines
By Kevin Hardy
The growing backlog of bridges and public buildings in need of repair or replacement poses an increasing threat to state finances, but tracking of maintenance liabilities varies wildly across the states. A new analysis estimates $1T in deferred projects.
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TERRORISMFederal Judge Extends Order on NYC Anti-Terrorism Funds
By Chris Wade, The Center Square
The Trump administration has been given another week to make its case to withhold more than $33 million in counter-terrorism funds for New York City’s transit system. U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan has extended a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from clawing back the grant funding approved by Congress for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority until at least Oct. 22.
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POWER-GRID RESILIENCETrump Is Blocking Billions of Dollars of Grants That Would Fix the Grid

ASSAULT ON SCIENCEHow Trump’s “America First” Administration Could Shut U.S. Scientists Out of the Next Nobel-Worthy Discovery

POLITICIZATIONIs Withholding Federal Counterterrorism Funds from States – as FEMA Has Threatened – Legal?

THREATS TO U.S. SCIENTIFIC LEADERSHIPMaintaining America’s Leadership in Biomedical Innovation

PUBLIC HEALTHHow Cuts to CDC Are Dismantling Its Capacity to Protect Americans’ Health

NATIONAL DEBTU.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP, “Deeply Troubling” for Economy, National Security

DHS SHUTDOWNThe Homeland Security Shutdown and the Power of the Purse

COUNTETRING DRONESWhy the U.S. Military Is Stuck Using $1 Million Missiles Against Iran’s $20,000 Drones

CHINA WATCHChina Surpasses U.S. in Research Spending – the Consequences Extend Far Beyond Scientific Ranking and Clout

ASSAULT ON SCIENCEPanicking Scientists, Canceled Experiments – Federal Funding Cuts Turned My Work as a Research Dean into Crisis Management

DHSSenate Funds DHS without ICE or Border Patrol, Heads to House

THE PROBLEM WITH ICEThe One Big Beautiful Bill Made ICE Shutdown-Proof and Eroded Fiscal Norms

TARGETING SCIENCETrump’s Second Term Is Reshaping U.S. Science with Unprecedented Cuts and Destabilizing Policy Changes

INFRASTRUCTUREBridge, Building Maintenance Backlogs Will Hit State Budgets as Federal Aid Declines

TERRORISMFederal Judge Extends Order on NYC Anti-Terrorism Funds

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