“The Trump administration is delaying the release of detailed data showing how Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts affected millions of Americans’ taxes, even as it tries to sell voters on the law ahead of the midterm elections,” Politico reports.
“The numbers document which tax breaks were claimed by people in different income brackets, as well as information like how much they paid in taxes.”
“Federal procurement spending is projected to cross the $1 trillion threshold for the first time, driven by President Donald Trump’s focus on national security and immigration enforcement, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis,” Bloomberg Government reports.
“The record spending via federal contracts in fiscal 2026 reflects the steep cost of the administration’s priorities, and stands out after the now-dormant Department of Government Efficiency sought to slash government programs after Trump returned to office.”
Wall Street Journal: “Whether it would come before the midterms (an ‘October Surprise‘) or after (a ‘November Surprise’) is unclear.”
“But President Trump has hinted strongly that there’s a big announcement coming very soon from his budget director, Russell Vought.”
“With a $7.4 trillion budget, $2 trillion deficit, and $40 trillion in debt, any meaningful announcement—in order to make a dent—is going to have to be gargantuan.”
“Moderate Democrats want Congress to wrest back some control over government spending from the president,” the Washington Sun reports.
“Their proposal: a major overhaul of the budget process that would impose new limitations on the White House.”
“A new bill introduced on Friday by the Blue Dog Coalition would end pocket rescissions, the process through which President Donald Trump rescinded more than $800 million in already appropriated funds.”
“The U.S. budget deficit climbed to nearly $2 trillion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the Congressional Budget Office, deepening the federal government’s persistent red-ink trend,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act has some provisions that have proved popular, like no tax on tips, tax cuts and childhood investment accounts,” the Washington Post reports.
“But it also has several controversial elements: cuts and new rules that haven’t come into effect yet — things like Medicaid work requirements and reduced federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), that are scheduled to begin right when the new Congress starts in 2027.”
Democratic lawmakers have said that’s no coincidence.
Said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “The worst is yet to come. The way Republicans structured the bill made it so the Medicaid cuts won’t kick in until after the November midterm elections.”
“Lawmakers in both parties blasted a plan by President Donald Trump to claw back more than $800 million in congressionally approved spending across the government, saying the president had no right to defy Congress in how he directs federal funding,” the Washington Post reports.
“The White House late Friday said it was taking a legally contested move to cut funding at federal agencies for a range of programs that direct government services toward immigrants, minority groups, climate change programs and other issues. It was the latest bid by the Trump administration to assert sweeping control over the government and to trim congressional powers.”
NBC News: Lawmakers slam Trump’s “unlawful” move to cut $810 million in federal funds.
“Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) accused President Donald Trump’s administration of taking ‘illegal actions’ Friday after it moved to cancel $810 million in congressionally approved funding without lawmakers’ consent,” Mediaite reports.
“The White House announced the sweeping cuts also on Friday as a ‘pocket rescission,’ targeting funding across several federal agencies that it characterized as wasteful or harmful spending.”
Politico: Trump declares $1B canceled in “pocket rescission” in another affront to Congress’ funding power.
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wildly insisted on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 checks to Americans could be sent out without adding to the national debt,” Mediaite reports.
“The war in Iran cost the United States roughly $38 billion through Aug. 1 and significantly depleted U.S. munitions, the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan scorekeeper, said on Tuesday,” the New York Times reports.
“In a 19-page analysis, which the office said had been limited because the Defense Department did not respond to its requests for information, the CBO also projected that the war would continue to cost approximately $2 billion to $3 billion per month, and that rebuilding depleted U.S. stockpiles could take ‘at least five years.'”
CNN: Iran war expected to cause a spike in U.S. inflation, according to budget watchdog.
“President Donald Trump dropped a hot mess of a half-baked midterm promise in lawmakers’ laps last night,” Politico reports.
“Trump at the GOP’s convention pledged to send $5,000 to every adult in the U.S. if Republicans retain control of Congress in the midterms… And while the crowd of thousands of his supporters gathered at Dallas’ American Airlines Center cheered the announcement, GOP fiscal hawks were balking at the effort before Trump even left the stage.”
“The payout, which would need to be approved by Congress, would dwarf the amount distributed during the Covid pandemic and likely explode the deficit.”
“A GOP operative, granted anonymity to discuss the idea, expressed skepticism, calling it ‘a desperate attempt to change the political mood.'”
Bloomberg: What is the $5,000 “dividend” Trump is proposing?
“First, at the start of his second term, President Trump promised a DOGE dividend, a pledge to take the money that Elon Musk’s team would cut from the federal budget and send it to the American people,” the New York Times reports.
“Then Mr. Trump moved on to a ‘tariff refund,’ a plan to use the money the government was collecting in import taxes to fund payments for the public.”
“Those ideas never panned out. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump is again talking up the possibility that the federal government will send Americans thousands of dollars in cash.”
“For decades, Washington has replayed the same fight over taming the soaring national debt: Democrats cite a need for more taxes. Republicans refuse. And anyone who suggests cutting the biggest source of spending — federal retirement benefits — gets attacked,” the Washington Post reports.
“But a coming crisis in Social Security appears to be pushing at least a few Republicans off the GOP’s long-standing pledge never to raise taxes.”
“This summer, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in proposing to raise the payroll tax cap so people with higher incomes pay more into the program. Now the idea is emerging as an acceptable fix among other GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Tom Cole, the influential chair of the House Appropriations Committee.”
“San Francisco Democrats have broken with their statewide party over California’s proposed billionaire wealth tax, rejecting Proposition 40 in a lopsided vote that exposes a growing divide over whether taxing extreme wealth is worth the potential economic consequences,” Fortune reports.
“The San Francisco Democratic Party voted 17-4 to oppose Proposition 40—with five members abstaining, five members absent, and one member with no endorsement.”
“Donald Trump returned to the White House promising to get the United States’ financial house in order by slashing the scope of the federal government, ending costly ‘forever wars’ and spurring economic growth to tame spiraling deficits,” Reuters reports.
“Instead, the national debt has surged past $40 trillion in the first 19 months of his second term. Federal spending has grown, not shrunk. The six-month-old Iran war has become an expensive stalemate. And the cost of servicing the U.S. debt, meanwhile, has grown as yields on some U.S. bonds hit their highest levels in nearly two decades.”
“The House cleared a stopgap funding patch Tuesday to keep cash flowing to federal agencies until mid-December — preventing a government shutdown before Election Day and setting up two major policy battles at year’s end,” Politico reports.
“President Trump on Monday declared his support for federal tax credits to support film and television production in the U.S. which entertainment industry veterans say could boost a struggling industry that has lost huge amounts of business to foreign countries,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Deadline: Trump backs federal film & TV tax incentive: “Hollywood is a complete & total disaster!”
“Social Security’s looming insolvency is the country’s most foreseeable problem, a blaring demographic siren threatening automatic benefit cuts in 2032. Congress is trying to work up the nerve to solve it,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Discussions on the government’s largest program accelerated this summer with actuarial warnings, hearings and scattered bipartisan efforts. Lawmakers on both sides grasp Social Security’s real challenges. And, eventually, analysts expect Republicans and Democrats to hold hands and jump together to prevent benefit cuts for tens of millions of seniors and perhaps address the program’s long-term health.”
“But Congress rarely acts until it is jammed against a deadline.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
More about Taegan Goddard →