Duckworth Demands VA Rescind Rule Change Designed to Prevent Veterans from Seeking or Accessing the Health Coverage They Earned

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC)—today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shamefully circumvented the normal rulemaking process and implemented without public comment a new interim final rule that puts millions of Veterans’ disability ratings and care at risk, shockingly disincentivizing our nation’s heroes from both seeking earned coverage for service-connected disabilities and following recommended treatments. The new interim final rule changes the way the VA determines disability rating from measuring the disability itself to measuring how the disability presents during a specific appointment—meaning if a Veterans is actively treating their injuries and their symptoms appear improved in that snapshot of time, that Veteran could receive a lower disability rating than they would have without treatment.

“After firing more Veterans than any Administration in our nation’s history and making it harder for Veterans to access the care they’ve earned—despite bipartisan majorities in Congress passing the PACT Act requiring them to make it easier—the most anti-Veteran Administration we’ve ever seen is now giving yet another middle finger to our nation’s heroes by implementing this interim final rule before even giving Veterans it will harm the chance to object.

“It’s self-evident that treating a Veteran’s service-connected disability doesn’t mean they weren’t injured serving their nation. It’s shameful, but not shocking, that the Trump Administration would implement a rule straight out of the Project 2025 textbook that threatens to punish our Wounded Warriors for following their treatment plans while disincentivizing them from seeking the coverage that they have earned because doing so puts their disability rating—and their coverage—at risk. This rule should be rescinded immediately and with public apology for this immense insult to those who have sacrificed for this country.”

The PACT Act was a historic, overwhelmingly bipartisan victory that enabled Veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits and similar hazardous environments during their service—which can lead to cancer and other devastating ailments—to finally get the care they need covered by the VA. But in order to claim this new coverage, a Veteran would need a new disability review, which would take place under the new rule and could counterintuitively result in a Veteran’s disability rating actually being downgraded despite Congress’s clear intent in the PACT Act.

Duckworth has been a fierce leader and advocate for improving our Veterans’ and servicemembers’ access to the care they need. Last week, she led Senate Democrats in demanding VA Secretary Doug Collins to immediately reverse the VA’s new draconian abortion ban. Last September, she reintroduced legislation that would improve Veterans’ access to contraception and increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness for contraceptive products at the VA. A few weeks prior, Duckworth sent a letter to VA Secretary Collins demanding he block ICE from stealing VA resources at Hines VA Hospital in Chicago.

Duckworth also joined U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in reintroducing legislation to help make it easier for our Veterans who struggle with infertility to build their families. Earlier last year, Duckworth railed against the Trump Administration for indiscriminately firing Veterans Crisis Line workers and introduced her Protect Veteran Jobs Act with U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) to reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were fired in Trump’s mass layoffs—an effort Republicans shamefully blocked in March.

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Durbin Visits Parkland College To Celebrate $3.5 Million For Dental Education

CHAMPAIGN - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today held a press conference to discuss federal funding he secured that will allow Parkland College to construct a new dental clinic and training facility.

The $3.5 million in federal funding, secured through the Congressionally Directed Spending process, also known as an earmark, in the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations package that was enacted earlier this month, will enable Parkland College to increase enrollment in its dental hygienist program by 40 percent and expand dental services for patients in the community. This investment in the region’s dental workforce will increase access to care and reduce wait times for families to see oral health professionals.

“Anyone who has ever experienced the pain of a toothache knows that oral health care is not a luxury, it is essential,” said Durbin. “That’s why I was happy to help Parkland College with this funding to grow their dental hygienic training program to enroll more students and provide care to more members of the community.”

In Illinois, 2.8 million people live in communities with a shortage of dental providers. Nine counties in the state have only one dentist. For example, there is one dentist for 15,000 people in Lawrence County.

More than three million Illinoisans have Medicaid, but only 24 percent of dentists accept Medicaid. As a result, only 37 percent of children covered by Medicaid have a dental visit in a given year. One study found that it is nearly six times easier for a child with private insurance to get an oral health care appointment than those who have Medicaid.

In January 2024, Durbin introduced the bipartisan Promoting Dental Health Act with Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS), which would reauthorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Oral Health program to support 20 states in data collection, water fluoridation, educating dental health professionals, and community outreach programs. Currently, Illinois does not receive any of the $20.5 million in direct grants, due to the fact that the Oral Health program is not adequately funded to serve every state.

In November 2023, Durbin sent three oversight letters to DentaQuest, Envolve, and Avesis – three companies that administer dental benefits for Medicaid managed care companies (MCOs) in Illinois – to seek answers on barriers to providing dental care to Medicaid enrollees. The letters raised concerns and investigated certain insurance practices that can limit and discourage provider participation in Medicaid, which exacerbate existing reimbursement rate challenges.

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Gallego, Colleagues Demand CFTC Chair Reverse on Greenlighting Prediction Markets

Lawmakers urge CFTC to follow the law and maintain prohibition on listing prediction contracts involving gaming and sports

WASHINGTON — Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined over 20 Democratic colleagues to urge Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig to abstain from intervening in pending litigation involving prediction markets and to maintain the Commission’s prohibition on CFTC-registered platforms listing prediction contracts involving gaming, including sports, terrorism, assassination.

On November 19, 2025, Chairman Selig testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee that he would not pre-judge whether sports event contracts were “gaming” and repeatedly stated that he would look to the courts. Instead, Selig has unilaterally proceeded with rulemaking and intervening in ongoing litigation. Last week, he posted that he ‘strongly disagrees’ that prediction markets violate the law, a stark reversal of prior statements before Congress.

“The real-world consequences are already evident. Prediction market platforms are offering contracts that mirror sportsbook wagers and, in some cases, contracts tied to war and armed conflict. These products evade state and tribal consumer protections, generate no public revenue, and undermine sovereign regulatory regimes,” wrote the Senators.

“We therefore urge you to realign the Commission’s actions with the statute and with the testimony you provided to Congress under oath. Declining to intervene on behalf of prediction market platforms and clarifying by rule that enumerated activities are contrary to the public interest would restore confidence that the CFTC is enforcing the law Congress enacted—not reshaping it through post-hoc policy shifts,” continued the Senators.


Gillibrand, Colleagues Introduce Legislation To Guarantee Paid Sick Leave To American Workers

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation to guarantee paid sick leave for workers across the country. The bill, cosponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 28 Senate Democratic colleagues, would ensure workers can take time off to care for their health and their families without risking their jobs or pay.

“No one should have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a loved one or themselves. Yet, as the cost of groceries, gas, and housing continues to skyrocket, hardworking Americans are still forced into that impossible position every day,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Paid sick leave is a fundamental right and a commonsense protection that provides stability, ensuring families can handle life’s unavoidable challenges without falling behind on bills. Our Healthy Families Act is a practical solution that would give every working family the economic security and peace of mind they deserve.”

“It is an international embarrassment that the United States of America remains the only major country on Earth not to guarantee paid sick days to workers. Working together, we must end that embarrassment,” said Senator Sanders. “It’s not radical to ensure that every worker in America receives the paid sick days that they need. What’s radical is that we have corporations in America making billions in profits, denying paid leave to working moms and dads when their kids get sick. That’s radical.”

The U.S. today remains the only major country in the world that does not provide paid time off for short-term illnesses. Currently, nearly 27 million workers lack any paid sick time entirely, including 20% of the private sector workforce and 7% of the public sector workforce. Things are worse for low-income workers and households, with just 58% of low-income, private-sector workers able to access paid sick days. Without guaranteed paid sick leave, workers are forced to make untenable choices between getting a paycheck and keeping their jobs on the one hand and caring for their own and their family’s health on the other.

Workers without paid sick leave are three times more likely to delay or forgo necessary health care for themselves and nearly twice as likely to forgo medical care for their families compared to working adults with paid sick days. However, workers with access to paid sick leave are 28% less likely to suffer nonfatal occupational injuries, and employers who provide paid sick leave see 25% less turnover in their workforce. According to a study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a universal paid sick days policy would reduce preventable visits to the emergency room and result in cost savings of $1.1 billion per year, including $500 million in savings for public health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The Healthy Families Act would:

Guarantee every worker in America up to seven paid sick days each year, to be used to recover from their own illnesses, access preventive care, provide care to a sick family member or attend school meetings related to a child’s health condition or disability.

Simplify how employers calculate paid sick leave. Workers would earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to a minimum of 56 hours per year.

Allow employers to use their existing policies if they exceed minimum standards.

Allow victims of domestic violence, stalking or sexual assault to use their paid sick days to recover or seek assistance.

The Healthy Families Act is endorsed by 88 organizations, including AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW), Communications Workers of America (CWA), Transport Workers Union (TWU), Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), International Association of Machinists (IAM), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), National Partnership for Women & Families, A Better Balance.

Gillibrand and Sanders were joined on the legislation in the Senate by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read the full text of the legislation here.

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Senator Gillibrand Statement On Restoration Of Gateway Funding

Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, issued the following statement after the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) released millions of dollars that it owed to the Gateway Development Commission (GDC) for construction of the Gateway Hudson Tunnel project. The Trump administration withheld this critical funding for over four months, leading to a recent pause in construction.

“After their loss in court, I am glad that the president and his administration were forced to release the initial funds for the vital Gateway project. I will continue fighting to ensure Gateway is completed and fully funded because good-paying jobs and modern infrastructure are more important than partisan attacks.”

The newly released funds include $205 million for work the GDC completed from August through December 2025. USDOT also reimbursed the GDC for another $30 million for work completed in January 2026. Combined, GDC received $235 million from the federal government. The release of funding came after work on the Gateway Hudson Tunnel project was initially paused on February 6 and a ruling was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The states of New York and New Jersey, as well as the Gateway Development Commission in a separate case, are suing the Trump administration.

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Heinrich Demands Answers from Trump Administration on Treatment of Unaccompanied Children

Heinrich, colleagues to Trump Administration: “It is unconscionable that this Administration believes that children belong behind bars and should be stripped of protections that ensure access to food, water, and other necessities while in detention.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined 10 Democratic senators to send a letter demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Executive Office of Immigration Review on the Trump Administration’s treatment of unaccompanied children in immigration detention. The letter comes as the Trump Administration continues efforts to target unaccompanied migrant children for removal.

“For months, the Administration has eviscerated important legal protections that safeguard immigrant children, sought to dismantle child welfare standards, and conducted immigration enforcement aimed at children and their sponsors,” the senators wrote to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and DOJ Immigration Review Director Daren Margolin. “These actions have increased the number of children deported without proper vetting to dangerous conditions, separated more families, and worsened detention conditions.”

“Due to the Administration’s actions, immigrant children are being held in custody for substantially longer periods of time, including children never previously detained,” the senators continued. “To make matters worse, the Administration has sought repeatedly to terminate the 1997Flores Settlement Agreement, which sets minimum standards for the humane treatment of children in custody. It is unconscionable that this Administration believes that children belong behind bars and should be stripped of protections that ensure access to food, water, and other necessities while in detention.”

“Instead of targeting violent criminals, the Administration appears to be using children as bait to easily locate and target family members and sponsors for deportation...The Administration’s actions paint a deeply troubling picture for the fate of immigrant children in our country. The DOJ, DHS, and HHS are intent on detaining and removing children from the country without regard for constitutional or statutory protections,” the senators concluded.

Earlier this month, Heinrich filed an amicus brief in Flores v. Bondi calling for the Ninth Circuit court to uphold critical minimum standards for children in immigration detention.

Heinrich remains committed to reforming and reining in DHS to get them focused on human traffickers, not jailing five-year-olds like Liam Ramos or killing Americans like Alex Pretti, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ICU nurse, and Renee Good.

In January, Heinrich opposed funding for DHS because it did not include commonsense reforms and emphasized the need for a restoration for the rule of law within immigration enforcement. Heinrich also called on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to resign or be fired due to DHS’ lawlessness, including the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.

For more information on Heinrich’s actions to protect Americans, Tribal members, and Dreamers from wrongful searches and harassment by ICE, click here.

Read the full letter here and below:

Dear Attorney General Bondi, Secretary Noem, Secretary Kennedy, Acting Director Lyons, and Director Margolin:

Since assuming office, the Trump administration has systematically targeted unaccompanied children for removal. Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went to the extreme length of attempting to remove a group of unaccompanied minors to Guatemala in the dead of night without a shred of due process. The Administration has also detained unaccompanied children in growing numbers, sent enforcement officials to the homes of children released from custody, lured children with payments to self-deport, and fined minors with hefty fees. The Administration’s cruel actions have gravely imperiled immigrant children and exacerbated fear among an already sensitive group. We write to urge you to halt misguided enforcement actions against minors, follow the law, and implement policies aimed at protecting this vulnerable community.

The Trump administration has voiced an interest in locating children previously determined to be unaccompanied and now living with sponsors and in protecting these minors from human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. However, the panoply of actions targeting these very minors contradict the Administration’s avowed intent. For months, the Administration has eviscerated important legal protections that safeguard immigrant children, sought to dismantle child welfare standards, and conducted immigration enforcement aimed at children and their sponsors. These actions have increased the number of children deported without proper vetting to dangerous conditions, separated more families, and worsened detention conditions.

Early last year, the agency statutorily tasked with the care and placement of unaccompanied minors—the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and DHS access to their databases containing sensitive information on unaccompanied children. Armed with this information and other data sources, DHS embarked on a campaign to target unaccompanied children, locating their whereabouts and conducting so-called “wellness checks.”

According to reporting, the Administration has sent armed law enforcement agents wearing tactical gear—instead of officials trained in child welfare—to children’s homes to conduct these supposed “wellness checks.” For instance, in May 2025, a 28-year-old man and his two teenage brothers were awoken by DHS officials at their home in Boston, Massachusetts, in an unplanned welfare check on the younger siblings. The brothers reported feeling anxiety and confusion at this visit, as they had previously checked in with ORR in more than a dozen required calls. The Administration has reportedly returned over 600 children living with sponsors to ORR custody after these checks. And, in November 2025, the Administration announced it would use its standing agreements with state and local law enforcement to expand these home visits.

Due to the Administration’s actions, immigrant children are being held in custody for substantially longer periods of time, including children never previously detained. Children released from ORR custody in January 2025 were held for an average of 37 days. In grave comparison, children released in August 2025 were held almost five times as long, for an average of 182 days. To make matters worse, the Administration has sought repeatedly to terminate the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which sets minimum standards for the humane treatment of children in custody. It is unconscionable that this Administration believes that children belong behind bars and should be stripped of protections that ensure access to food, water, and other necessities while in detention.

Moreover, last summer, agents with DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began interviewing children in ORR’s custody at shelters. The interviews, which lack proper trauma informed procedures, are also causing fear and intimidation among children. They also suggest that ORR, an office historically tasked with the care of children, has been turned into a tool of Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

The Administration has also dismantled child-friendly immigration court practices and affirmatively adopted other practices that harm children. Since January 2025, when the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) rescinded the Director’s Memorandum on Children’s Cases (DM 24-01)—which provided guidance to the courts on the handling of children’s proceedings—the immigration courts have become increasingly inhospitable to children. Immigration judges are granting fewer continuances for children to find counsel, government attorneys are moving to rush cases, and children are being ordered removed even when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted them legal relief.

Unsurprisingly, this Administration is breaking records for the deportation of young children. In April 2025, more than 8,000 children age 11 or under received a removal order—the highest monthly number in over 35 years. And in the first six months of the Administration, nearly 15,000 children under the age of four were ordered deported.15 The vast majority of these children did not have legal representation.

The situation reached a fever pitch on the Saturday night of Labor Day weekend 2025 when the Administration attempted to unlawfully remove Guatemalan unaccompanied children from the country without a shred of due process. In the middle of the night, the Administration woke up dozens of children, drove them to an airport, and put them on airplanes for removal. These actions are an apparent violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (“TVPRA”), a law that sets specific procedural protections for the removal of unaccompanied immigrant children. And although a federal court stopped this particular removal from taking place, the Administration’s assault on unaccompanied minors is ongoing.

The efforts to double down on targeting unaccompanied children have only accelerated in recent months. In October 2025, DHS rolled out a $2,500 payment to incentivize unaccompanied teenagers to self-deport. These payments—billed as a “one-time resettlement support stipend” to children age 14 and older—are a tool to bypass due process protections that apply to children by requiring minors to waive their rights under the TVPRA. At the same time, the Administration is also levying $5,000 fines on unaccompanied minors fleeing unsafe conditions —another tactic to instill fear and encourage children to self-deport. We are concerned about the coercive effect of these payments and fines and ultimately, of shipping children off to dangerous conditions.

Over the last year, the Administration has also launched an unprecedented attack on the sponsors and guardians of unaccompanied children. According to reporting, enforcement operations targeting parents and caretakers of immigrant kids have led to nearly 3,000 arrests. Instead of targeting violent criminals, the Administration appears to be using children as bait to easily locate and target family members and sponsors for deportation.

In addition to actions against unaccompanied children, the Administration’s immigration arrest dragnet is also resulting in family separations and in the increased detention of families. In Maine, a five-year-old girl waited to be picked up after school, only to learn that ICE had arrested her mother. And in Minneapolis, federal agents arrested five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father and quickly sent them to an immigration detention center in Texas. These stories illustrate an Administration intent on disregarding the rights of parents, the well-being of children, and the importance of keeping families unified.

Altogether, the Administration’s actions paint a deeply troubling picture for the fate of immigrant children in our country. The DOJ, DHS, and HHS are intent on detaining and removing children from the country without regard for constitutional or statutory protections. In order to help us and the public better understand the Administration’s policies affecting immigrant children, we write to request answers in writing to the following questions no later than February 26, 2026.

1. Please provide any internal guidance, policy, or memorandum governing any changes in ORR’s mission since January 2025.

2. Under what circumstances does DHS transfer unaccompanied children into ORR custody? How many children has DHS transferred into ORR custody following a “wellness check”? How many children has DHS transferred into ORR custody following an ICE or USCIS check-in? How many children has DHS transferred into ORR custody following interactions with local law enforcement?

3. How many children has CBP transferred into ORR custody since January 2025? How many children has ICE transferred into ORR custody since January 2025?

4. Of the children that DHS has transferred into ORR custody since January 2025, how many were separated from a parent or legal guardian? How many children were removed from their sponsor’s care due to the sponsor’s immigration status?

5. How many individuals age 18 or younger has ORR detained in immigration custody since January 2025? How many individuals age 18 or younger has the Administration arrested in the interior of the country and placed in ORR custody since January 2025?

6. How many unaccompanied children has EOIR ordered removed since January 2025? How many accompanied children have been ordered removed by DHS since January 2025?

7. How many unaccompanied children have been removed from the United States since January 2025? How many unaccompanied children have been removed without a final removal order from an immigration judge since January 2025?

8. What kind of training has DHS or ORR provided to officials or personnel who conduct or oversee “wellness checks” on unaccompanied minors? Please provide copies of those training materials.

9. What services, if any, do ORR and DHS make available for children for whom concerns are identified during “wellness checks”? Please provide copies of those service materials and memorandums of understanding between the agencies and service providers.

10. What staff or officials are tasked with asking minors if they want to return home voluntarily? What kind of training has DHS or ORR provided to these officials? Please provide copies of those training materials.

11. Are DHS or ORR allowing legal counsel to explain to children the consequences of accepting voluntary return, including the waiver of the right to appear before an immigration judge?

12. Please provide any internal guidance, policy, or memorandum outlining DHS’s decision to offer $2,500 to incentivize unaccompanied children to self-deport. Please indicate which Administration officials prepared or wrote the relevant guidance, policy, or memorandum.

13. Please provide any internal guidance, policy, or memorandum outlining DHS’s decision to begin imposing a $5,000 fee on certain unaccompanied minors and proof of how officers are being asked to implement these decisions.

14. How many children has Customs and Border Protection removed from the country since January 2025?

It has become clear that the Administration is engaged in a coordinated, multi-pronged effort to target unaccompanied minors and their families. These ill-advised actions are causing irreparable harm and trauma to vulnerable children. It needs to stop now.

Sincerely,

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Ranking Member Heinrich and Vice Chair Murray Slam DOE for Redirecting Congressionally Appropriated Funds for Clean Energy to Prop Up Coal Plants, Hurting Rural Communities and Driving Up Electricity Costs

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations and Ranking Member of the Energy and Water Development subcommittee, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), blasting the Trump Administration for redirecting congressionally-appropriated funds set aside for carbon capture programs from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to prop up expensive, old coal power plants.

Almost $625 million appropriated by Congress to advance clean energy projects, decarbonization efforts, and improve energy infrastructure in rural communities is now being used to prop up dying coal projects.

The letter comes as electricity prices are skyrocketing across the country, energy demand continues to rise, and the Trump Administration continues to hamstring the clean energy sector.

“The Department of Energy’s (DOE or Department) plan to repurpose funds that Congress clearly appropriated for carbon capture programs to instead subsidize coal power plants flies in the face of the law,” began the lawmakers. The lawmakers continued, “Those funds could now be diverted to recommission coal plants— in clear defiance of congressional intent.”

The lawmakers pointed out the legal intention of these congressional funds, stating, “Those funds were intended to improve rural energy resilience and reliability, while also protecting rural areas from the adverse environmental impacts of electric generation—a requirement enshrined in statute...The president cannot substitute his policy preferences for requirements in law, and that includes refusing to spend funds Congress requires the president to spend and steering those investments to unfunded priorities.”

The senators concluded the letter by demanding answers to questions surrounding the Department of Energy’s legal standing redirecting funds from clean energy programs to coal projects and requesting documents and details on the Department’s decision-making.

Read the full letter here and below:

Secretary Wright:

The Department of Energy’s (DOE or Department) plan to repurpose funds that Congress clearly appropriated for carbon capture programs to instead subsidize coal power plants flies in the face of the law. We believe that redirecting these funds may constitute a Purpose Statute violation by misusing the funding as originally appropriated by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

In September 2025, the Department announced the availability of $625 million in funding to benefit big coal. DOE recently issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) on coal-fired generation assets, titled Coal Recommissioning and Modernization. The announcement stated that up to $525 million would be provided to support “recommissioning, retrofitting, and strategically repurposing” coal-fired generators. The funding detail notes that up to $350 million will be made available to projects that “may be staged so that near-term reliability upgrades are federally cost shared without requiring immediate Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) installation, while later phases incorporate capture integration, monitoring, reporting, and verification . . . or other carbon-management components,” but it does not detail how DOE will ensure these funds support capture technology and that it is installed in later stages. In addition, the Department plans to award up to $175 million to support the commissioning, recommissioning, or modernization of coal plants located in rural or remote communities.

The Department’s Coal Recommissioning and Modernization FOA draws $350 million from unobligated balances provided explicitly to commercialize carbon capture. Those funds, could now be diverted to recommission coal plants— in clear defiance of congressional intent. The Department is also inappropriately using $175 million originally provided for energy improvements in rural and remote areas. Those funds were intended to improve rural energy resilience and reliability, while also protecting rural areas from the adverse environmental impacts of electric generation—a requirement enshrined in statute. Additionally, DOE issued a $100 million FOA titled Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants, which similarly relies on the use of carbon capture funding to subsidize coal power.

The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse and exclusive power to appropriate funds. Once a law is enacted, the Constitution requires the president to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” The president cannot substitute his policy preferences for requirements in law, and that includes refusing to spend funds Congress requires the president to spend and steering those investments to unfunded priorities. In this instance, where Congress has authorized and appropriated funds for programs that support carbon capture and other emissions reduction projects, the Department must faithfully execute the law and expend the funds for the purposes provided. Further, if the Government Accountability Office determines that the Department’s awards are a violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, awardees will be required to return all such funding in the future.

The Department is knowingly and intentionally redirecting funds intended to reduce pollution to instead further the Trump administration’s policy of propping up coal-fired power plants. This policy will not only cause more pollution in communities nationwide while harming public health and the environment, it will also raise energy costs at a time when the American people are already feeling the pinch with record high energy bills. For these reasons, we request DOE provide responses to the following questions by February 25, 2026:

DOE cites the following statutes to justify its authority in the Coal Recommissioning and Modernization FOA: Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program — IIJA § 41004(b), EPAct 2005 § 962(b)(2)(C), 42 U.S.C. § 16292; Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilot Projects — IIJA § 41004(a), EPAct 2005 § 962(b)(2)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 16292; and Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas Program — IIJA § 40103(c), 42 U.S.C. § 18712.

Please explain how moving money to the Coal Recommissioning and Modernization Program from carbon capture programs is consistent with the Purpose Statute and Congressional intent. In responding to this question, please provide the authorities the Department is relying on. For any citation of Other Transaction Authority, please provide a justification, including how its use meets non-duplication requirements, cost-share guidelines and requirements, and how the use of existing contract, grant, or cooperative agreements is not feasible.

Given that the Coal Recommissioning and Modernization Program has no “immediate Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) installation” requirement, please explain how DOE plans to ensure that these facilities will install CCUS in the future.

Please explain how this FOA complies with statutory requirements under the Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program that funding be made available for not only coal projects, but also projects at natural gas generation facilities and industrial facilities.

DOE cites the following statutes to justify its authority in the FOA Part 1 of the Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants program: Energy Policy Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. § 16291, 16292, the DOE Organization Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7101., et seq.

Please explain how moving money to the Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants program from programs focused on carbon capture technologies is consistent with the Purpose Statute and Congressional intent. In responding to this question, please provide the authorities the Department is relying on. For any citation of Other Transaction Authority, please provide a justification, including how its use meets non-duplication requirements, cost-share guidelines and requirements, and how the use of existing contract, grant, or cooperative agreements is not feasible.

42 U.S.C. § 16291(a)(2) outlines an exhaustive list of considerations that programs under paragraph (1) must take into consideration, including promoting diversity of energy supply, decreasing the environmental impact of energy-related activities, decreasing the cost of emissions control technologies, significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and developing carbon removal and utilization technologies, products, and methods, in addition to other goals including improving energy security. Please explain how the FOA Part 1 of the Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants takes into consideration all of the statutory objectives under 42 U.S.C. § 16291(a)(2).

42 U.S.C. § 16291(a)(3) mandates the Department prioritize projects with the potential to significantly reduce emissions. Please explain how the FOA Part 1 of the Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants takes into consideration statutory prioritization requirements under 42 U.S.C. § 16291(a)(3).

According to the attached internal memo, Deputy Secretary James Danly claims that the Department had “clear statutory authority” to repurpose these funds. The memo cites Other Transaction Authority and existing statutes from IIJA. Please provide the following:

Please provide additional detail on how Secretary Danly reached this conclusion, what authorities he is relying on, and copies of the two attachments cited in the memo.

Please provide both the current, and any prior, opinions from the Department’s General Counsel and staff regarding the utilization of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (PL 117-58) for DE-FOA-0003605 and DE-FOA-0003606.

Please provide any additional relevant internal documents, memoranda, e-mails, and other written and electronic forms of communication regarding the decision to amend DE-FOA-0003605, including the amendments on October 30, 2025 and January 12, 2026; and modify DE-FOA-0003606, including the modifications on November 17, 2025, December 2, 2025, January 6, 2026, and January 8, 2026. We specifically request this include any and all decision documents.

Sincerely,


Ranking Members Heinrich, Klobuchar, Merkley, Huffman, Pingree, and Colleagues Call on Secretary Burgum to Halt Creation of Unified Wildfire Agency, Citing Dramatic Cuts at the Interior and Concerns with Fire Mismanagement

Dear Secretary Burgum:

We write to request information regarding the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) consolidation of its wildfire programs into a new U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS).

In response to the President’s direction, on January 12, 2026, you issued Secretary’s Order (SO) 3488, Establishing the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. This SO directs the DOI to consolidate wildfire programs and establish the USWFS within the Office of the Secretary, transferring all DOI wildland fire operations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Wildland Fire, and Office of Aviation Services into this new entity.

We are concerned that the DOI is advancing a rapid and consequential restructuring of wildfire management without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness.

This sweeping consolidation has been announced without providing an implementation plan that outlines how operational continuity will be ensured in the short term, or how restructuring will avoid long-term disruption to wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery. While consolidation could be an effective strategy to improve efficiency and coordination, the Administration’s approach risks diverting critical resources and funding away from land management agencies without any public plan to replace those capabilities.

Equally troubling, the Department has not provided Congress with any information detailing how decoupling wildfire management from land management agencies is expected to improve the health of public lands, enhance communication and coordination, or better protect lives and private property from catastrophic wildfire.

These concerns are particularly acute at the Bureau of Land Management, which has already lost thousands of employees through DOGE’s mismanagement. The removal of an additional 3,000 employees would leave the agency operating with nearly half the workforce it had on January 20, 2025, significantly impairing its ability to carry out its multiple-use mandate. The BLM relies on an integrated workforce of land managers, scientists, fuels specialists, and field staff to plan and implement vegetation management, hazardous fuels reduction, grazing programs, habitat conservation, and post-fire recovery. Further reductions in staffing, combined with improperly severing wildfire management from land stewardship, will undermine the agency’s capacity to manage landscapes proactively.

We are also concerned about how the National Park Service will continue to protect park resources and ecological integrity, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ will continue to uphold trust responsibility to safeguard tribal lands and cultural resources and how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will manage and protect National Wildlife Refuges to sustain fish and wildlife habitat, and biodiversity in fire-prone landscapes.

Mismanagement of fire management has life-or-death consequences and places billions of taxpayer dollars at risk. Suppression alone cannot be the sole strategy for addressing wildfire, and swift structural changes that undermine planning, prevention, preparedness, and recovery will only worsen outcomes.

Under the recently enacted appropriations law and accompanying congressional direction, the Department is required to participate in a study examining the impacts of consolidating U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior wildfire programs.

We want to be clear: the appropriations act does not authorize the transfer of U.S. Forest Service firefighting functions to the Department of the Interior. Any such transfer would require explicit congressional authorization and approval, regardless of the study’s findings.

In light of these questions and concerns, we request you delay any further implementation of the unification effort until Congress receives responses to the following questions.

Please provide a detailed list of the positions, functions, and duty stations proposed to be consolidated or “unified” under the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, including identification of positions currently housed within each DOI land management agency.

For positions proposed for consolidation, where will employees be located, and will they remain at their current duty stations long-term? Please identify any anticipated relocations, reclassifications, or changes in reporting structure.

How does the Department plan to implement new USWFS branding, including uniforms, equipment, vehicles, and insignia? In responding to this question, please provide a cost estimate and identify the funding sources for these expenses.

What pay structure will apply to USWFS personnel? Specifically, will salaries and supplements follow the same structure used in prior DOI consolidation efforts where DOI receives the base salary, plus $10,000 and a 10 percent supplement from the home agency?

Many land management agencies rely on collateral-duty positions partially funded by fire accounts. How will the Department ensure that these positions, and the scientific, public engagement, and land stewardship functions they support, remain fully funded and operational within the land management agencies following consolidation?

How will the Department ensure continued coordination between the USWFS and land management agencies on forest and rangeland management priorities, including hazardous fuels reduction, vegetation management, and long-term landscape resilience?

How will responsibilities for vegetation management, fuels reduction, invasive species and noxious weed treatment, and habitat objectives be coordinated to ensure alignment with agency missions and science-based land management?

How will the Department prevent the loss of in-house fuels specialists, land managers, and scientific staff from land management agencies as a result of this consolidation?

Who will have decision-making authority over wildfire resource allocation, fuels treatment priorities, and prescribed fire planning under the new structure?

Will land management agencies retain authority over fuels management and vegetation treatment decisions on land under their jurisdiction, consistent with their statutory missions, scientific expertise, and trust responsibilities? If so, how will they be funded and how will you ensure they have adequate staff to undertake this management?

How will the Department ensure clear lines of communication and operational coordination between the USWFS and DOI land management agencies during wildfire preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience planning?

Has the Department solicited feedback from state, local, and Tribal governments regarding the proposed consolidation? If so, please summarize the feedback received and explain how it has informed the Department’s approach.

What lines of communication and chain of command directives have you put in place to ensure seamless communications with all local, state and federal partners?

What training or rollout are you offering to local, state and federal partners with this transition as fire season gets underway?

Wildfire seasons are getting longer and more dangerous with each passing year. How will the Department ensure that the readiness of DOI firefighters, who make up roughly 30% of the federal wildland firefighting workforce, will not be further undermined by the consolidation?

We look forward to your timely response on this important matter.

Sincerely,


Hoeven: Terminal Development Project Needed to Support Growth in Bismarck-Mandan Region

Senator Working to Secure $50 Million Federal Funding Share for $132 Million Project Expanding Bismarck Airport Facilities

BISMARCK, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today held a meeting with Bismarck Airport officials and local leaders to discuss the Bismarck Airport’s more than $132 million Terminal Development Project. As a member of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Committee, Hoeven is working to fulfill the project’s $50 million federal funding share, enabling the airport to renovate its 20-year-old terminal to meet increasing air service demand. The Terminal Project will:

Add two additional gates to expand air service capacity.

Increase the size of departure lounges, improving the passenger experience and allowing for greater passenger circulation.

Expand the TSA checkpoint to meet modern security standards and to allow for growth.

Enlarge restrooms, which are currently undersized and lack passenger amenities.

Increase baggage screening facilities for greater efficiency and to support increased air service.

The terminal expansion is needed to meet higher-than-expected growth in air service at the Bismarck Airport. When the terminal was first designed and built, having been completed in 2005, the facility was projected to have 240,000 enplanements per year by 2021. However, this figure was surpassed as early as 2015, with passenger activity exceeding 300,000 in 2019 and 2025. The project is currently in the design phase, with the goal of starting construction in 2027 and completing in 2030.

“The Bismarck-Mandan area has grown by more than 40,000 people in the last 25 years, and it shows with the record-setting number of passengers moving through the Bismarck Airport,” said Hoeven. “This airport was built with the expectation that it would support 240,000 passengers per year, but we hit that number six years earlier than projected. The Terminal Development Project is a needed investment in the future growth of this region, which is why we convened this meeting to identify and work toward securing the best opportunities for fulfilling the project’s $50 million federal funding share.”

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Prediction markets won over Trump — but the rest of Washington will be harder

Eleanor Mueller, White House Economic Policy Reporter, Semafor

Prediction markets have won over the Trump administration. The rest of the Republican Party might prove more of a challenge.

Kalshi, Polymarket, and their cohorts won big this week when Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Mike Selig asserted power over them, wading into multiple legal fights with state and local regulators who say that prediction markets violate gambling laws.

By endorsing prediction markets’ argument that regulators should treat them more like derivatives exchanges than like casinos, however, Selig also laid bare the messy political dynamics behind the ongoing fight.

Republicans split on the CFTC announcement; Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-La., and Dave McCormick, R-Pa., voiced their support while Utah Gov. Spencer Cox panned the move. Other GOP lawmakers, including Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., have previously raised concerns about federal regulation of prediction markets; Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, joined Democrats on a September letter to the CFTC.

Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., whose committee has jurisdiction over the CFTC, told Semafor before the chair’s announcement that his panel “will be visiting with Selig” as Congress tries “to figure out what the path forward is.”

“This is an area that just caught fire; I don’t think anybody expected it to grow at the rate that it has,” Boozman said. “But there is concern; it’s the Wild West. There’s not much regulation.”

“Probably at some point, either from a regulatory standpoint or Congress stepping in and passing some sort of law, it does need to be cleaned up,” Boozman added.

Selig’s announcement of federal supervision for prediction markets, notably, described the “Wild West” label as unfairly attached to the betting companies by “some critics.”

But Boozman made clear that lawmakers aren’t just listening to Kalshi and Polymarket, saying they’ve talked “to everyone involved — the tribes, the rest of the gambling world.”

Those critics of prediction markets have yet to coalesce behind a single legislative response, even as some trade groups push lawmakers to include language in a pending cryptocurrency bill that “reenforces existing law and prohibits gaming through CFTC-registered platforms.”

Lawmakers looking to rein in the rising betting operations won’t necessarily find an easy path either. Between the multiple pending lawsuits and the tricky state-by-state alignment on the issue, Democrats don’t have a unified position beyond the belief that Selig’s actions are already “at odds” with the law, as they reiterated in a letter Friday.

“The CFTC needs to follow its own rules, not make up new ones,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said.

That could take a while. Selig last month struck down a Biden-era rule that would have explicitly banned the markets from offering wagers on sports or politics. He said he’d also directed staff to “move forward with drafting an event contracts rulemaking.”

For now, the industry is thinking short-term — and hiring Democratic advocates.

“Washington is trying to figure out how it feels,” Center for Prediction Markets CEO Sean Patrick Maloney, a former House Democratic campaigns chief, told Semafor.

“Our job is to make sure that people in the Democratic Party understand that these markets are regulated effectively by a good federal regulator. There’s nothing to be afraid of here.”

Know More

Maloney said his group is “very eager” to engage on narrower proposals like New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres’ that target specific issues like insider trading, which its prediction-market members have already banned.

Boozman said lawmakers were also interested in examining underage betting, which he called “a real problem,” as well as sports betting, which accounts for most of the markets’ trading volume.

The latter is the focus of most states’ and tribes’ legal arguments that prediction markets fall under state and local jurisdiction per the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling that allowed states to permit sports gambling.

States and tribes say that prediction markets offer gambling rather than events contracts — which the CFTC may prohibit on illegal activity, assassinations, terrorism, war, or games, according to federal law. (Prediction markets counter that their sports contracts should remain permitted.)

“This is a states’ rights issue, and that’s why it’s been such a polarizing type of thing, because there’s so much money and so much debate and so much consumer protectionism,” Macquarie senior analyst Chad Beynon said.

The Republicans who have withheld their support from prediction markets so far hail from states that have legalized gambling operated by casinos or tribes, as well as from states that have banned gambling.

And as with crypto legislation, the Trump family’s dealmaking is also poised to complicate any potential bipartisan compromise. Its social media company, Truth Social, last year launched its own prediction market with Crypto.com, which Selig defended Tuesday. Donald Trump Jr. has invested in Polymarket and advises Kalshi.

Meanwhile, the CFTC is grappling with staffing cuts at every level. Four out of five seats on the commission itself remain empty: “It’s a lot for one person to handle,” Maloney said.

Like Selig, Maloney’s group wants to keep the focus on prediction markets’ potential benefits. He suggested small businesses could use them to plan around tariffs; young people could treat them as a side hustle; and politicians could use them to replace polls.

The possibilities extend beyond retail: Wall Street is exploring ways it can use prediction markets to make better investments.

Room for Disagreement

Consumer-protection advocates see the fight as far more straightforward than blurry partisan lines.

They’re betting that the courts will eventually shut down Selig’s attempt to claim federal jurisdiction, making legislation not only unlikely but unnecessary.

“Congress is either gridlocked or responding to its campaign paymasters,” Better Markets’ Dennis Kelleher said. “But the industry’s argument here to stretch the language of the law beyond any reasonable interpretation has already run into judicial roadblocks, and probably will continue.”

Eleanor’s view

It’s tempting to draw parallels between prediction markets and crypto, which share some of the same political dynamics and even some of the same private-sector players. But they’re asking for very different things and dealing with very different coalitions.

Take Cortez Masto, who voted for stablecoin legislation earlier this Congress and is now leading the charge against Selig.

A better comparison to prediction markets’ current situation might be AI, which is also seeking federal preemption of state regulation.

Perhaps the biggest difference between prediction markets and crypto is the lack of a long-term game plan. Like prediction markets’ fight for CFTC jurisdiction, crypto exchanges’ fight for market structure legislation is existential.

But the latter goal guarantees crypto regulatory certainty long after Trump leaves office. It’s unclear how prediction markets might achieve that.


Senator Justice Visits Facing Hunger Foodbank, Presents $1.1 Million for Warehouse Renovation

HUNTINGTON, WV – Today, Senator Jim Justice visited Facing Hunger Foodbank and presented a check for $1,103,000 to support the renovation of the organization’s warehouse distribution center:

“West Virginians have always stood together, and Facing Hunger Foodbank represents just that. I know how important it is to make sure our families have access to nutritious food right here at home. I created the Posey Perry Emergency Food Fund as Governor and I’ve carried that legacy to the Senate, which is why I fought so hard to secure this funding from the start. This renovation will allow the Facing Hunger Foodbank to distribute more food efficiently and make certain that absolutely nobody in our state wonders where their next meal will come from,” said Senator Jim Justice.

BACKGROUND:

Senator Justice successfully secured over $1 million in funding for Facing Hunger in the recent appropriations package.

Senator Justice has a long-standing record of supporting food banks and hunger relief programs across the state.

During the visit, Senator Justice toured the facility, met with staff, volunteers, and local partners who are on the front lines with addressing food insecurity in the state of West Virginia.

This investment will help expand the facility and improve the foodbank’s ability to serve communities throughout our state.

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Lee Cosponsors Payment Integrity Act to Prevent Childcare Fraud

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) cosponsored the Payment Integrity Act led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to address massive childcare fraud cases. The bill requires states to base funding for childcare providers on actual attendance rather than on reported enrollment, and allows states to grant payments retroactively rather than in advance. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) also cosponsored the legislation.

“Support for childcare should go to real kids, not empty rooms,” said Senator Mike Lee. “Fake childcare operations are stealing funding from the ones who are actually taking care of America’s children in need. Our bill will address this massive fraud by granting funding based on actual attendance rather than reported enrollment, and allowing states to pay retroactively instead of in advance. This is the due diligence that should have been implemented all along.”

“Programs in Minnesota for welfare and childcare were designed to channel resources into protecting vulnerable children, but were treated like an open ATM by criminals,” said Senator Ted Cruz. “The mass fraud in Minnesota shows that American taxpayers can no longer rely on local and state politicians to prevent abuses, because those politicians often have electoral and partisan incentives to look the other way. My legislation reduces the risk of the waste and fraud we’ve seen, and ensures that resources are provided to children and families who need it.”

“I’m proud to join Senator Ted Cruz in cosponsoring the Payment Integrity Act to restore common sense and accountability to our child care system after we’ve seen astounding reports of fraud and abuse,” said Senator Rick Scott. “Hardworking American taxpayer dollars should only go toward services that are actually provided, not thrown carelessly without checking. This bill ensures the federal government is held accountable as stewards of tax dollars and reduces fraud and waste, so we can safeguard the critical resources for the families who truly depend on this support.”

Background

In Minnesota, 118,831 children ages five and under are eligible for CCDBG assistance, yet only 11,718 of those children — roughly 10% — received this support in 2025. As a result, the individuals exposed in Minnesota who stole upwards of $9 billion from American taxpayers did not merely commit financial fraud — they also diverted limited child care assistance away from families who genuinely need it.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed this rule to rescind a Biden-era rule that reduced oversight and heightened the likelihood of waste, fraud, and abuse in federally funded child care. The Payment Integrity Act would codify the proposed language to restore attendance-based billing and would no longer require that providers be paid in advance.

Read exclusive coverage by Fox News here.

Read the full bill text here.

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In Las Cruces, Luján Holds Outreach Event to Raise Awareness About Expanded Compensation Available Through RECA

Las Cruces, N.M. – This week, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) held a public outreach forum to raise awareness about expanded compensation available through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). During the forum, Senator Luján facilitated multiple presentations by experts and advocates on how to apply for compensation through the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provided information about resources available to aid applicants.

“For decades, New Mexico families carried the burden of our nation’s nuclear legacy with no acknowledgment or support,” said Senator Luján. “After decades of advocacy by survivors and their families, last year, Congress enacted my legislation to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Now, we must work to ensure people receive the compensation they deserve. I’m grateful for the experts and advocates who took time to walk applicants through the RECA application process and help deliver real relief for the people who earned it.”

More information regarding RECA eligibility and the application process can be found here. Video of the information session can be found here.

Since being elected to Congress, Senator Luján has played a leading role in advancing legislation to strengthen the RECA program, introducing RECA legislation in every Congress and twice passing it through the Senate.

In January, Senator Luján announced that DOJ launched a new online portal for RECA claims. In September, Senator Luján and the New Mexico Delegation sent an open letter to New Mexico’s holders of health care records, birth and death records, tax records, school records and any other necessary records to request their full cooperation in delivering long overdue justice for New Mexicans exposed to radiation. Senator Luján announced in August that he secured clear guidance to provide claimants the instructions they need to apply for and receive compensation through RECA.

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McConnell Statement on FEC Nominees

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, issued the following statement on the Trump Administration nominees for the Federal Election Commission, Ashley Stow and Andrew Woodson:

“I applaud the president for putting forward strong, qualified choices to serve as commissioners at the Federal Election Commission. A functioning FEC is essential to maintaining the integrity and transparency of our federal elections, and restoring a quorum is an important step toward that goal. I look forward to the committee’s consideration of these nominees and to a timely hearing and confirmation process.”


Merkley, Colleagues Renew Push to Root Out Private Equity Abuse in Health Care, Strike Back Against Corporate Greed

“Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits.”

Text of Bill (PDF) | One Pager (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley teamed up with his colleagues to introduce the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act to root out corporate greed and private equity abuse in the health care system.

“Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits. But that’s exactly what is happening in Oregon and across the nation as greedy corporate executives turn hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors’ offices into profit centers,” said Merkley. “We must crack down on private equity, whose greed is destroying our health care system for executives’ personal profit, while patients are stuck footing the bill.”

Merkley has long warned about the corporate takeover of health care. Earlier this Congress, he introduced new legislation to tackle corporate greed in health care—the Patients Over Profits Act—to crack down on health insurers and their subsidiaries who are buying up clinics and physician practices—a trend that reduces competition, drives up costs, and limits patient choice.

The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act holds private equity firms and corporate executives accountable and empowers regulators to protect patients from private equity plundering hospitals, nursing homes, provider practices, and other health care entities with impunity.

Over the last decade, private equity fund assets have more than doubled, totaling $8.2 trillion in 2023. While private equity companies have purchased businesses in nearly every sector of the economy, their aggressive deal-making in the health care sector poses grave risks to patient health outcomes and raises fundamental concerns regarding the role of corporate interests in our health care system. Private equity companies routinely saddle companies they acquire with massive debt, sell off valuable assets, and extract exorbitant dividends and fees.

As a result, lax corporate accountability and transparency laws have provided cover for private equity’s parasitic practices.

The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act would:

Create a new criminal penalty of up to 6 years in prison for executives who loot health care entities like nursing homes and hospitals if that looting results in a patient’s death.

Provide state attorneys general and the DOJ with the power to claw back all compensation, including salaries, issued to private equity and portfolio company executives within a 10-year period before or after an acquired health care firm experiences serious, avoidable financial difficulties due to that looting.

Authorize an associated civil penalty of up to 5 times the clawback amount.

Prohibit payments from federal health programs to entities that sell assets or use assets for a loan collateral made to a REIT, with an exemption for current arrangements; repeal a rule in the Tax Code that allows taxable REIT subsidiaries to exert influence on the operations of health care entities; and remove the 20 percent pass-through deduction, passed in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, for all REIT investors.

Require health care providers receiving federal funding to publicly report mergers, acquisitions, changes in ownership and control, and financial data, including debt and debt-to-earnings ratios.

Mandate an HHS OIG report to Congress on the harms of corporatization in health care.

The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act was led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.). In addition to Merkley, this bill was cosponsored by Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

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Merkley, Wyden Announce Over $4.2 Million for Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Centers

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced that $4,250,606 in federal funding is coming to Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center to support critical health services for uninsured and underinsured Oregonians in Washington and Yamhill counties.

“Access to quality health care should never depend on your ZIP code or ability to pay,” said Merkley. “These federal dollars will help Virginia Garcia continue delivering essential care to Oregon families—especially those who would otherwise struggle to access the services they need and deserve to stay healthy.”

“This federal investment in the health care heroes at Virginia Garcia will help them to keep providing quality care for Oregonians who need it,” said Wyden. “I’m glad the teamwork has delivered this important win for people in Washington and Yamhill counties counting on Virginia Garcia for all their health care needs.”

“We’re very excited to receive this award supporting Virginia Garcia’s ongoing work of providing high quality health services to the communities of Washington and Yamhill counties,” said Gil Muñoz, CEO of Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center.

Virginia Garcia is one of the 34 Federally Qualified Health Centers in Oregon and provides primary care, behavioral health, dental, and pharmacy services to thousands of patients annually—with a focus on reaching underserved and rural communities. The federal funds to Virginia Garcia come from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In 2022, Senators Merkley and Wyden, along with Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), secured $2.124 million for Virginia Garcia to expand its clinic in Newberg through the annual appropriations process.

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“Mismanagement of fire management has life-or-death consequences and places billions of taxpayer dollars at risk.”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ranking Member of U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, led their colleagues in sending a letter calling on U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum to halt efforts to create the Department’s new U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS), citing potential life-or-death consequences that could come as a result of decoupling wildfire management from land management agencies, and emphasizing a number of concerns related to recent reductions in staffing, combined with improperly severing wildfire management from land stewardship.

The Trump Administration has restructured firefighting efforts in the DOI without transparency and the necessary congressional approval and funds to create the new program.

“We are concerned that the DOI is advancing a rapid and consequential restructuring of wildfire management without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness,” the lawmakers began.

The lawmakers continued, “While consolidation could be an effective strategy to improve efficiency and coordination, the Administration’s approach risks diverting critical resources and funding away from land management agencies without any public plan to replace those capabilities. Equally troubling, the Department has not provided Congress with any information detailing how decoupling wildfire management from land management agencies is expected to improve the health of public lands, enhance communication and coordination, or better protect lives and private property from catastrophic wildfire.”

“The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) relies on an integrated workforce of land managers, scientists, fuels specialists, and field staff to plan and implement vegetation management, hazardous fuels reduction, grazing programs, habitat conservation, and post-fire recovery,” the lawmakers underscored. “Further reductions in staffing, combined with improperly severing wildfire management from land stewardship, will undermine the agency’s capacity to manage landscapes proactively.

The lawmakers concluded by urging the DOI to halt the creation of the USWFS and demanding answers to the lawmakers’ questions.

Alongside Ranking Members Heinrich, Klobuchar, Merkley, Huffman, and Pingree, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Mark Kelly (D- Ariz.), and U.S. Representative Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.).

Read the full letter here and below.

Dear Secretary Burgum:

We write to request information regarding the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) consolidation of its wildfire programs into a new U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS).

In response to the President’s direction, on January 12, 2026, you issued Secretary’s Order (SO) 3488, Establishing the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. This SO directs the DOI to consolidate wildfire programs and establish the USWFS within the Office of the Secretary, transferring all DOI wildland fire operations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Wildland Fire, and Office of Aviation Services into this new entity.

We are concerned that the DOI is advancing a rapid and consequential restructuring of wildfire management without adequate analysis, transparency, or planning to prevent disruption during what is expected to be a significant fire season or to safeguard long-term wildfire preparedness.

This sweeping consolidation has been announced without providing an implementation plan that outlines how operational continuity will be ensured in the short term, or how restructuring will avoid long-term disruption to wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery. While consolidation could be an effective strategy to improve efficiency and coordination, the Administration’s approach risks diverting critical resources and funding away from land management agencies without any public plan to replace those capabilities.

Equally troubling, the Department has not provided Congress with any information detailing how decoupling wildfire management from land management agencies is expected to improve the health of public lands, enhance communication and coordination, or better protect lives and private property from catastrophic wildfire.

These concerns are particularly acute at the Bureau of Land Management, which has already lost thousands of employees through DOGE’s mismanagement. The removal of an additional 3,000 employees would leave the agency operating with nearly half the workforce it had on January 20, 2025, significantly impairing its ability to carry out its multiple-use mandate. The BLM relies on an integrated workforce of land managers, scientists, fuels specialists, and field staff to plan and implement vegetation management, hazardous fuels reduction, grazing programs, habitat conservation, and post-fire recovery. Further reductions in staffing, combined with improperly severing wildfire management from land stewardship, will undermine the agency’s capacity to manage landscapes proactively.

We are also concerned about how the National Park Service will continue to protect park resources and ecological integrity, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ will continue to uphold trust responsibility to safeguard tribal lands and cultural resources and how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will manage and protect National Wildlife Refuges to sustain fish and wildlife habitat, and biodiversity in fire-prone landscapes.

Mismanagement of fire management has life-or-death consequences and places billions of taxpayer dollars at risk. Suppression alone cannot be the sole strategy for addressing wildfire, and swift structural changes that undermine planning, prevention, preparedness, and recovery will only worsen outcomes.

Under the recently enacted appropriations law and accompanying congressional direction, the Department is required to participate in a study examining the impacts of consolidating U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior wildfire programs.

We want to be clear: the appropriations act does not authorize the transfer of U.S. Forest Service firefighting functions to the Department of the Interior. Any such transfer would require explicit congressional authorization and approval, regardless of the study’s findings.

In light of these questions and concerns, we request you delay any further implementation of the unification effort until Congress receives responses to the following questions.

Please provide a detailed list of the positions, functions, and duty stations proposed to be consolidated or “unified” under the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, including identification of positions currently housed within each DOI land management agency.

For positions proposed for consolidation, where will employees be located, and will they remain at their current duty stations long-term? Please identify any anticipated relocations, reclassifications, or changes in reporting structure.

How does the Department plan to implement new USWFS branding, including uniforms, equipment, vehicles, and insignia? In responding to this question, please provide a cost estimate and identify the funding sources for these expenses.

What pay structure will apply to USWFS personnel? Specifically, will salaries and supplements follow the same structure used in prior DOI consolidation efforts where DOI receives the base salary, plus $10,000 and a 10 percent supplement from the home agency?

Many land management agencies rely on collateral-duty positions partially funded by fire accounts. How will the Department ensure that these positions, and the scientific, public engagement, and land stewardship functions they support, remain fully funded and operational within the land management agencies following consolidation?

How will the Department ensure continued coordination between the USWFS and land management agencies on forest and rangeland management priorities, including hazardous fuels reduction, vegetation management, and long-term landscape resilience?

How will responsibilities for vegetation management, fuels reduction, invasive species and noxious weed treatment, and habitat objectives be coordinated to ensure alignment with agency missions and science-based land management?

How will the Department prevent the loss of in-house fuels specialists, land managers, and scientific staff from land management agencies as a result of this consolidation?

Who will have decision-making authority over wildfire resource allocation, fuels treatment priorities, and prescribed fire planning under the new structure?

Will land management agencies retain authority over fuels management and vegetation treatment decisions on land under their jurisdiction, consistent with their statutory missions, scientific expertise, and trust responsibilities? If so, how will they be funded and how will you ensure they have adequate staff to undertake this management?

How will the Department ensure clear lines of communication and operational coordination between the USWFS and DOI land management agencies during wildfire preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience planning?

Has the Department solicited feedback from state, local, and Tribal governments regarding the proposed consolidation? If so, please summarize the feedback received and explain how it has informed the Department’s approach.

What lines of communication and chain of command directives have you put in place to ensure seamless communications with all local, state and federal partners?

What training or rollout are you offering to local, state and federal partners with this transition as fire season gets underway?

Wildfire seasons are getting longer and more dangerous with each passing year. How will the Department ensure that the readiness of DOI firefighters, who make up roughly 30% of the federal wildland firefighting workforce, will not be further undermined by the consolidation?

We look forward to your timely response on this important matter.

Sincerely,


Sen. Moran Statement on Retirement of Maj. Gen. Michael Venerdi as Adjutant General of the Kansas National Guard

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) released the following statement regarding the retirement of Major General Michael T. Venerdi from his role serving as Adjutant General of the Kansas National Guard:

“Major General Venerdi has served Kansas, the men and women of the Kansas National Guard and our entire country well during his time as Adjutant General of the Kansas National Guard. Our state has benefited from his steady leadership, integrity and commitment to bolstering readiness and supporting the mission of our Guard members. I’m grateful to Major General Venerdi for his service in our work together on behalf of Kansans, and I congratulate him on a well-deserved retirement after more than three decades of distinguished military service. I look forward to working with Brigadier General Paul Schneider as he assumes the role of Adjutant General for Kansas.”

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Moreno to Bring Former Ohio House Finance Chairman Jay Edwards to State of the Union

WASHINGTON – Tonight, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) announced he will bring former Ohio House Finance Chairman Jay Edwards as his guest at President Trump’s State of the Union next week.


In Everett, Murray Highlights How She Protected Homelessness & Housing Funds from Trump, Pushed Back on Attacks on Continuum of Care

Last year Murray was in Everett to hear about how Trump’s attacks had jeopardized access to Continuum of Care funds in the face of drastic policy changes; this year, Murray returned to Everett having boosted funding and passed into law new policy to protect Continuum of Care grants

In the face of drastic cuts to funding and access pushed by President Trump, Murray led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding that underpins Washington state housing and homelessness safety nets

Murray not only protected key national housing and homelessness programs that are essential for Washington state, but also secured millions in Congressionally Directed Spending to build affordable housing and tackle homelessness across the state

ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures Hundreds of Millions for Transportation & Housing Projects Across WA in Final Appropriations Bills; Boosts Funding for Medical Research, Housing, Child Care & More

***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***

Everett, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a roundtable discussion on the Trump administration’s continued threats to Continuum of Care (CoC) grant funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)—which helps communities address homelessness.

Last year in May, Senator Murray held a similar roundtable in Everett, where she heard from local leaders about the Trump administration’s senseless decision to jeopardize CoC grant funding by placing new, potentially unlawful conditions on the grant funding—this in addition to the drastic funding cuts being pushed by President Trump. Now, this year, Senator Murray has returned to Everett and secured a major funding increase for housing and homelessness programs along with new guardrails passed into law to help ensure Continuum of Care grants make their way to out to the communities who need them.

Senator Murray secured a $7.2 billion increase for HUD, protected rental assistance and programs that tackle homelessness from drastic cuts by Trump, and secured millions of dollars for affordable housing projects across Washington state.

Joining Senator Murray for the roundtable were: Mary Jane Brell-Vujovic, Snohomish County Human Services Director; Joe Alonzo, CEO of Cocoon House; Mary Anne Dillon, Vice President of Permanent Housing YWCA Seattle, King, Snohomish; Debra Bordsen, CEO of Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County; Laurie Olson, CEO of Housing Authority of Snohomish County; Sarah Smith, Executive Director of Everett Housing Authority; and Kathryn Opina, CEO of Housing Hope.

HUD’s CoC program is the largest federal program for reducing homelessness, and Washington state receives approximately $120 million annually from the program, largely in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, and Clark counties. Last March, local governments and non-profits across the country that had qualified for the federal CoC grant program were informed that the fiscal year 2024 funding would require recipients to comply with vaguely worded executive orders that Trump signed in the opening weeks of his second term, specifically related to immigration status, abortion and reproductive care, “gender ideology,” and DEI programs. Snohomish County had already been allocated $16.7 million in fiscal year 2024 CoC grant funding last year—only to be told their receipt of that funding was conditional on meeting the requirements of the president’s various executive orders. Snohomish County was one of eight original plaintiffs in a King County-led coalition of local governments across the country who sued the Trump administration over the potential loss of funding. When it came to implementing the fiscal year 2025 CoC funding, the Trump administration issued a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) late last year seeking to upend the program, threaten timely renewal of CoC grants, and was immediately challenged in court by Washington state, alongside other states and nonprofits. In December, a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction blocking HUD from implementing the new NOFO. Last month, HUD complied with the injunction and allowed for renewals of expiring awards in 2026 while litigation continues. Just yesterday, HUD urged the court to dissolve the preliminary injunction from December by March 2nd.

“Trump has painfully sabotaged the important work of so many housing providers and programs that address homeless across Washington state. He froze funding across the government—something that has caused chaos for shelters, food banks, health providers, and more. He turned federal funds meant to help people—into a tool for his own partisan goals with outrageous, illegal restrictions that cut providers off from funds. Trump’s sabotage and unlawful restrictions tangled up $16.7 million in federal funds that were supposed to be supporting the work folks do across Snohomish County. And he put out a budget that would have ripped HUD’s budget in half!” said Senator Murray. “So, as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I ripped Trump’s budget in half instead and protected crucial housing and homelessness investments. And I secured new guardrails to renew Continuum of Care projects this year and keeping some funds flowing even if the Trump Administration tries to slow-walk this work. That’s a big and important step, but it’s not the end of this fight. One of the biggest reasons we were able to make progress in our new bill—is because people like everyone here in Snohomish County spoke out, and made clear what was at stake. I’m going to keep carrying those voices with me in Congress and I’m going to keep fighting to make housing more affordable and to help end homelessness in our communities.”

President Trump’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 would have slashed funding for HUD by almost 50 percent—a staggering cut that would have decimated housing assistance programs, making millions of Americans vulnerable to homelessness. His budget also proposed to consolidate the CoC Program with the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program within the formula-based Emergency Solutions Grant and to time-limit assistance to two years, all while reducing overall funding by $532 million, or 12 percent. In addition, President Trump’s budget proposed to eliminate or reduce numerous HUD programs, including eliminating major formula programs communities rely upon to develop new affordable housing and for community development activities.

In the face of these drastic cuts, Senator Murray led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding for affordable housing and homelessness safety nets. In the government funding bill Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026, Senator Murray secured a $4.1 billion—or 6 percent—increase in rental assistance programs and a $366 million increase in homeless assistance programs, while rejecting President Trump’s proposals to block-grant, and impose harmful work requirements and time limits on these critical programs that support over 10 million Americans. This includes:

$38.4 billion for tenant-based rental assistance—a $2.4 billion boost—to continue to serve more than 2.3 million very low- and extremely low-income households nationwide.

$18.5 billion for project-based rental assistance, an increase of $1.6 billion above last year’s funding level, to continue to house more than 1.3 million very low- and low-income households nationwide.

$4.4 billion for the Homeless Assistance Grants Program, a $366 million increase over fiscal year 2025. The bill includes $107 million in new funding to address youth homelessness and $52 million in new funding to support survivors of domestic violence.

New guardrails to protect Continuum of Care grants from Trump administration sabotage. The legislation requires HUD to renew Continuum of Care grants that are expiring in 2026 if HUD does not make awards for fiscal year 2025 funds by the beginning of each quarter in 2026. Washington state, alongside other states and nonprofits, has sued HUD over their delay in getting fiscal year 2025 grants out the door and the radical and illegal policy changes the Trump administration has tried to make to how these funds are distributed—moves that have jeopardized housing for hundreds of thousands of Americans and jobs at organizations who assist people experiencing homelessness.

Senator Murray has consistently worked to address Washington state’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis and has secured major federal investments to help families keep a roof over their heads. Throughout the pandemic, Senator Murray—then Assistant Majority Leader—played a major role in writing federal COVID-19 relief legislation that secured essential support for people facing housing insecurity, championing sizable investments in rental assistance and other programs that collectively resulted in the largest eviction prevention effort in American history. In the FY26 funding bills Senator Murray negotiated, she secured $25.712 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for local affordable housing projects in communities across Washington state, and $15.9 million in CDS funds for local projects providing critical resources like childcare, affordable food, diapers and hygiene supplies, and housing services.

Last year, Senator Murray joined Democrats in warning how the Trump administration’s major staffing cuts at HUD will decimate the ability to deliver basic services and would further exacerbate the housing crisis and would likely prevent HUD from being able to meet critical functions like supporting disaster recovery efforts. At a hearing in June, Senator Murray grilled HUD Secretary Scott Turner on Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for HUD and its sweeping staff losses and funding freezes that are already hurting communities across the country. In September, Senator Murray called for an investigation into the HUD’s handling of the grant award process for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program, after HUD notified the communities across the country that it was once again scrapping the grant application process it had just run—for the second time—and that it was now forcing organizations to apply for funding for a third time. And in November, Senator Murray led Democrats in a letter to Secretary Turner calling on him to immediately halt reported plans to make drastic changes to the Continuum of Care program, which could result in nearly 200,000 Americans being forced out of their housing and back into homelessness.

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Murray Highlights $3 Million for Community Transit for New Bus Rapid Transit Line, Rejects Drastic House GOP Cuts to Public Transit to Support Future Expansion Efforts

Murray protected Washington transit agencies from the downstream effects of catastrophic House Republican cuts to federal funding for public transit

ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures Hundreds of Millions for Transportation & Housing Projects Across WA in Final Appropriations Bills; Boosts Funding for Medical Research, Housing, Child Care & More

***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE; AUDIO OF ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION HERE***

Everett, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited Community Transit in Snohomish County to celebrate securing $3 million to support development of a new bus rapid transit line, the Swift Gold Line, which will connect Everett and Arlington. The Gold Line will add 17 new stations to the Swift network, with stops in Marysville, at Everett Community College and more—this bus rapid transit line will help workers who are heading to the Cascade Industrial Center, students travelling to Everett Community College and WSU Everett, and it will connect North Snohomish to the rest of the regional network, and ultimately to light rail all the way to Seattle and Tacoma.

Senator Murray also highlighted her efforts to protect the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program in the recent appropriations bills—rejecting House Republicans’ proposal to slash CIG funding by 98 percent. As Community Transit seeks to expand, CIG funds will be a critical federal resource for the agency.

Senator Murray met with Community Transit’s CEO Ric Ilgenfritz, Chief of Staff Deb Osborne, Chief Planning and Development Officer Melissa Cauley, Chief Communications Officer Geoff Patrick, Chief Information Officer Chas Stearns, Chief Operating Officer Roland Behee, Chief Innovation and Customer Experience Officer Molly Marsicek, Zero Emissions Manager Jay Heim, Senior Director of Vehicle Maintenance Mike Swehla, Director Capital Development and Delivery Christopher Silviera, and Bus Rapid Transit Manager Morgan McGrath.

“Here in Washington state, we know robust public transit means more foot traffic for small businesses, more ways to get to work without being crushed by traffic, and more connections between communities. When it comes to public transportation—Community Transit is not just making leaps and strides—it is making connections to light rail, opening bus rapid transit lines, and more! The work that goes on here reaches communities and families for miles and miles, and is a crucial part of so many people’s every day commute,” said Senator Murray. “Unfortunately, House Republicans do not get it. In fact, they tried to gut one of the strongest federal programs we have to support transit projects like the bus rapid transit lines that Community Transit is building—Capital Investment Grants. They wanted to cut this program by 98 percent. That would basically obliterate federal funding for public transit. I made clear that was not going to happen. We prevented steep cuts to CIG in the bill I passed, and we even made certain funding was clearly marked off for Washington state projects. I was also proud to bring back $3 million to Snohomish County to support work on the Swift Gold Line, which will connect Everett and Arlington via Marysville. We’ve seen transit expansions over the years bring these communities even closer, and I’m happy to be helping write the next chapter—and make even more connections. So, while Community Transit keeps delivering people where they need to go here in Washington state, I’m going to keep delivering federal dollars where they need to go from Washington D.C. ”

House Republicans wanted to essentially zero out public transit funding, Senator Murray pushed back and led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding for public transit so transit agencies like Community Transit can keep pushing forward with ambitious public transit expansion projects. In the government funding bill Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026, Senator Murray secured $1.7 billion for the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program—rejecting House Republicans’ proposal to slash CIG funding by 98 percent. The legislation includes new provisions to force the Administration to execute the CIG program, including a table detailing which projects to fund at what amount, and requires DOT to make allocations according to the table no later than 120 days after enactment. In Washington state, the bill funds:

$100 million for the light rail component of the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program;

$82 million for Spokane Transit’s Division Street bus rapid transit project; and

$100 million for the Expedited Project Delivery program to support future Sound Transit projects.

Overall in the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bill, Senator Murray secured $81.229 million for 29 Congressionally Directed Spending projects across Washington state, listed HERE.

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