Sep 25, 2026
Senate Appropriations Committee leaders Susan Collins and Patty Murray spoke out against reported White House plans to create a commission of political appointees to review National Institutes of Health grant approvals, with multiple members of Congress voicing strong opposition.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress won't lead on AI regulation and rejected calls for a development moratorium, arguing AI companies should take responsibility for safety while warning against ceding ground to China.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees the company is open to slowing development of cutting-edge AI systems and has asked members of Congress whether coordinating an industry-wide slowdown would be legal under antitrust law. The discussions follow warnings from researchers about existential AI risks.
Three current and former Anthropic researchers, including departing safety researcher Jacob Coxon, issued stark warnings that AI could 'kill all humans' within the next decade. The warnings prompted immediate congressional alarm and calls for regulation.
Cigna announced it will exit Affordable Care Act individual insurance markets next year, adding to market instability after Congress failed to extend enhanced subsidies that helped people afford coverage. ACA membership is declining significantly.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a congressional hearing on April 29, 2026, that the Iran war had cost an estimated $25 billion over two months; mostly munitions, operations and equipment replacement, without offering an end date. The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group are expected to depart the Middle East in the coming days after nearly a year of deployment.
Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, indicated that a major announcement regarding Trump's strategic bitcoin reserve initiative is coming within weeks, stating that legislation is progressing through Congress.
Senator Bernie Moreno warned at a Washington event that the CLARITY Act must clear Congress by end of May or risk being shelved until 2030. His statement moved Polymarket odds of 2026 passage from 38% to 46%.
NATO members declined to participate in Trump's planned blockade of Iranian ports, proposing to intervene only after fighting ends. The move is likely to anger Trump, who has criticized allies for not supporting the US war effort.
Trump administration's 2027 budget proposal calls for cutting $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and consolidating the number of institutes and centers from 27 to 22, though Congress is unlikely to approve the cuts.
States are implementing plans for a $50 billion congressional fund intended to improve rural health care, but the funding structure may paradoxically incentivize rural hospitals to reduce services or close facilities in some states.
The Trump administration released a comprehensive AI policy framework urging Congress to regulate AI at the federal level and preempt conflicting state laws. The light-touch approach aims to avoid fragmented regulation while limiting liability for AI companies.