06/09/2026
A lot happened last week that you didn't hear about!
Last week in the U.S. federal government and around the country: President Trump abandons plans for $1.8 billion slush fund, Sec. of Defense Hegseth slashes number of religions recognized by DoD, and a man convicted after the January 6th riot was given a job in the Pentagon.
House
HR 41, Passed House: To provide for the recognition of certain Alaska Native communities and the settlement of certain claims under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes.
HR 5682, Passed House: To take certain land in the State of California into trust for the benefit of the Pechanga Band of Indians, and for other purposes.
Senate
The Senate passed legislation to fund President Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies, after weeks of delays and fierce backlash to an unrelated $1.776 billion settlement fund that threatened to derail the bill.
The Senate blocked an extension of a key surveillance program used by U.S. intelligence agencies as concerns mounted over President Trump’s selection of federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as director of national intelligence.
Courts
A federal judge sided with 20 Democratic states and halted an effort by the Trump administration to force states to comply with a range of conditions to get billions of dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Attorneys for musician Chuck Redd say a D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed a breach of contract lawsuit filed against Redd after he canceled a Christmas Eve performance at the Kennedy Center in protest of President Trump’s influence over the venue.
A federal judge struck down a Trump administration policy enacted after the shooting of two National Guard members that made it harder for immigrants from dozens of countries to stay and enter the U.S.
The Supreme Court upheld a broad reading of the authority of the Securities and Exchange Commission to recoup ill-gotten gains from people who engage in securities fraud.
The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in upholding the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.
President Trump, the Executive Branch and the White House
President Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.
After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut nine Navy officers, including all the women, from a promotion list, several female officers say they see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders.
President Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of “No new wars” that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House.
A new Treasury inspector general report raises concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ability to safeguard taxpayer information, after ICE and the IRS agreed in 2025 to share taxpayer data for the purpose of immigration investigations.
President Trump said that he wants his new acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, to cut the office, which has already been significantly scaled back during his second term.
The Energy Department says a small nuclear reactor under development at a national lab has reached a crucial milestone that could allow it to produce electricity within a few years.
The Department of Defense announced a significant reduction in the number of religious affiliations it officially recognizes.The new list of 31 is down from more than 200 previously recognized traditions that troops could choose from. The list no longer includes atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans and Wiccans.
President Trump issued a memo that calls for the U.S. military and national security agencies to accelerate their use of artificial intelligence, while acknowledging the need to protect civil liberties and maintain oversight over autonomous weapon systems.
Several FBI analysts tied to the creation of a 2023 memo warning of a potential threat from Catholic “violent extremists” were fired, according to their lawyer, the latest wave of terminations under the leadership of its director Kash Patel.
The Treasury's financial crimes arm wants banks to help identify payroll schemes tied to people living in the country illegally, as part of the Trump administration’s latest measure to clamp down on immigration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement will increase the amount of training for new officers next month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, after criticism that the agency was loosening standards as it rushed to deploy more deportation officers.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent refused to say Wednesday whether President Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.
The Trump administration has given a man convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol a job in the Pentagon’s policy office, according to officials and internal records.
President Trump is again seeking to boost the struggling U.S. coal industry, announcing a plan Thursday to spend nearly $700 million to support coal-fired power plants and coal exports.
President Trump said that federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte, his pick for acting director of national intelligence, would not be his “permanent” choice for the critical security post.
The federal government is taking another step toward implementing the state citizenship list demanded by President Trump’s mail-in voting order, the Justice Department revealed in a notice to a federal court
Around the Country
The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said it had opened “multiple election fraud investigations” related to California’s elections and sent a prosecutor to the county’s vote-counting center.
The National Capital Planning Commission has kept alive the triumphal arch that President Trump wants built at an entrance to the nation’s capital, requesting more information on how it could potentially impact air travel navigation in the area, as well as other specifics on construction and traffic in the area.
The Kennedy Center is beginning the process of removing references to President Trump a week after a federal judge ruled that his name had been illegally added to the performing arts center.
Former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department that could allow him to avoid prison time.
A second detainee has died in less than two months at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana where a recent inspection report found insanitary conditions, problems with medical care and the use of excessive force.
Convicted election denier Tina Peters was released on parole from a Colorado prison.
Around the World
Israel and Iran appeared to back away from further strikes, hours after they traded fire for the first time since the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire with Tehran two months ago.
The United States imposed sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, his wife and three other individuals, in the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure the island’s leadership that drew immediate condemnation from Havana.
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