When Congress returns next week, lawmakers will have less than a month to pass the remaining nine appropriations bills funding federal agencies for fiscal year 2026.
British taxpayers are footing over £10 billion in annual welfare subsidies to migrants, with new government figures revealing that one in every six pounds spent on the country’s Universal Credit program went to foreign nationals in 2024.
Bloomington has become the latest Illinois city to reinstate a one-percent grocery tax, joining hundreds of municipalities preparing for the state’s elimination of the levy in 2026. Meanwhile, Chicago could face an $80 million budget shortfall after failing to act before the October 1 deadline.
The Trump administration, under the leadership of Acting CFPB Director Russ Vought and Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta, has taken aggressive steps to rein in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), originally created under the Obama administration with the support of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Describing the agency as “woke and weaponized,” Trump officials have targeted what they view as regulatory overreach and politically motivated enforcement against American businesses.
Caddo Parish is budgeting over $22 million for salaries in 2025, according to the latest August financial report. This marks a significant increase from the approximately $16 million paid out in 2023, reflecting broader spending across multiple departments and funding sources.
North Carolina lawmakers failed to pass a budget before the July 1 fiscal year deadline, joining Pennsylvania and Oregon as the only states without new spending plans for 2026, according to the Center for State Budget Officers . Michigan also remains without a budget, though its fiscal year begins Oct. 1 .
Governor Katie Hobbs signed a $17.6 billion bipartisan budget Friday, narrowly avoiding a government shutdown and marking another year of steady spending increases under her administration. The new fiscal package includes funding increases for K-12 education, Medicaid, border security, and public safety—features that align closely with Hobbs’ original proposal but reflect bipartisan compromises with a Republican-led legislature.
