Week in Review

IN THE NEWS:

• The U.S. Supreme Court issued an 8–1 decision allowing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to continue border wall construction in Big Bend, Texas. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Actallows the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive certain environmental regulations to expedite the construction of border barriers and only permits courts to hear constitutional challenges to those waivers. A federal district court had blocked the waivers, stating that they raised constitutional issues because DHS had exceeded its authority in issuing them. The Supreme Court rejected that reasoning, stating that the district court did not have jurisdiction to hear the claim because the issue was a statutory one. The Court also found that the government’s interest in border security and integrity outweighed any other interests in environmental protection.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed a rule implementing changes to work requirements under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enacted by the mega tax and spending law. Currently, certain adults can receive SNAP benefits for only three months within a three-year period unless they work or participate in a qualifying work program for at least 20 hours each week. The rule would expand this requirement to adults ages 55 through 64 and parents whose youngest child is 14 or older. The rule would also eliminate exceptions for veterans, homeless individuals, and certain former foster youth while adding exceptions for certain Native American populations. For areas with high unemployment, USDA proposed stricter standards for states seeking exemptions from the three-month limit, including new requirements for unemployment data and geographic boundaries.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed a rule that would limit which households automatically qualify for SNAP based on their receipt of other benefits. Under current rules, states can extend SNAP eligibility to households that receive non-cash or in-kind services, such as informational pamphlets, funded by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program even when those households exceed income and asset limits. The proposal would limitthis automatic eligibility to households that receive direct assistance from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which mostly comprises cash payments. The Department estimated that the change would end SNAP benefits for 3.2 million households containing 6.3 million people and cut federal SNAP spending by about $44.6 billion over five years.
• The U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a rule creating a new identification system for importers that tightened requirements for individuals and corporations seeking classification as U.S. importers. The agency mandated that, to obtain U.S. importer status, importers must either demonstrate that U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents own a majority of the company, or show that they directly own a “significant amount” of property in the United States. The rule will require foreign importers to seek special validation or use licensed customs brokers, a change the agency acknowledged will add costs for foreign importers and Customs and Border Protection programs.
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, which the Inflation Reduction Act created to let Medicare negotiate prices for high-cost drugs. The agency adopteda new policy that limits drug manufacturers’ ability to charge higher prices for modified versions of preexisting medications. Some commenters argued the policy ignores the cost of developing new drug delivery mechanisms, but CMS replied that the policy applies only to a narrow category of products. CMS also established a temporary price floor for small biotechnology drugs, setting it at no less than 66 percent of the average price wholesalers paid for the drug in 2021, adjusted for inflation.
• The Council of the European Union agreed to postpone certain methane monitoring and reporting requirements for energy importers from January 2027 to January 2028, citing disruptions to energy markets caused by the conflict in the Middle East. The requirements were established by a regulation adopted in 2024 that requires energy companies to measure, report, and verify methane emissions associated with natural gas, crude oil, and coal. Under the Council’s agreement, the reporting requirements for methane emissions will be delayed for both importers and EU producers until 2029, and compliance with maximum emission limits will be required by 2031.
• The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a final rule requiring all applicants and recipients of public housing and Section 8 rental assistance programs to verify their U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status, regardless of age. HUD also eliminated the option in the application for household members to decline to claim eligible citizenship or immigration status. Families with members whose eligibility has not been verified and members who are citizens may receive reduced housing assistance only temporarily while verification is pending. Opponents warned that the rule could displace families with mixed immigration statuses and increaseadministrative burdens on housing authorities.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation, along with DHS, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Justice, announced an agreement to coordinate the use of technology to detect and disarm unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems, commonly called drones. The agreement established an interagency process to evaluate and deploy counter-drone systems while ensuring that they do not interfere with other aircraft or navigation equipment. Under the agreement, the Federal Aviation Administration will review the proposed systems for safety risks and may restrict airspace if it finds that additional protections are needed. The agreement builds on earlier collaboration on counter-drone systems, including a flight restriction along the southern U.S. border and a safety assessment of a high-energy laser counter-drone system.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

• In a RAND Corporation report, Tom LaTourrette, a senior physical scientist at RAND, and several coauthors argued that, to reinvigorate domestic mineral production, the federal government must expedite permitting processes, set parameters for environmental litigation, and tailor tariff regimes to support industry growth. LaTourrette and his coauthors found that the risk of permitting delays, uncertainty around development timelines, and procedural litigation stifle development for mineral extraction sites and refining facilities, making domestic supply chains less reliable for downstream manufacturers. They noted that broad tariffs can harm refineries, which often need minimum mineral supplies to maintain operating capacity. LaTourrette and his coauthors contended that policy instability also harms mineral producers seeking capital to expand domestic operations.
• In a recent Urban Institute report, Laura Jimenez Parra and Erin Doyle, research associates in the Family and Financial Wellbeing Division at the Urban Institute, examined Colorado’s Childcare Affordability Pilot (CAP), a privately funded pilot program designed to improve access to affordable childcare. The program provided financial assistance directly to families to pay a child care provider of the families’ choice, including relatives, friends, and neighbors. Jimenez Parra and Doyle found that families valued the program’s flexibility and reported reduced financial stress. Some child care providers, however, reported that the program’s training requirements were burdensome and that changes in families’ care schedules made payments unpredictable. Jimenez Parra and Doyle recommended that policymakers considering similar programs simplify administrative requirements, tailor training based on providers’ experiences, and provide clearer guidance on scheduling and payments.
• In a recent New America report, Bridget Schulte and Haley Swenson, a director and a researcher in the Better Life Lab at New America, analyzed barriers that kept men from taking on caregiver roles within their families. Swenson and Schulte reported that although 74 percent of U.S. adults believe care should be shared equally, only 40 percent of parents and caregivers say they actually share care equally. They found that the share of men who missed work to care for adults or children with extra needs rose from 64 percent in 2019 to 76 percent in 2026. Swenson and Schulte explained that men who wanted to take caregiving leave but did not most often cited affordability, fear of career penalties, and unsupportive workplaces, rather than concerns that taking leave would seem unmanly. They recommended that policymakers guarantee affordable paid family and medical leave and give workers a meaningful right to flexible and predictable schedules.

EDITOR’S CHOICE:

• In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Melissa Bredbenner, a judicial law clerk and former content editor of The Review, and Herbert Hovenkamp, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, argued that the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice should continue using merger enforcement to protect workers and labor rights. Bredbenner and Hovenkamp contended that, because mergers often lead to layoffs and reduce labor market competition between employers, the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department should challenge mergers that threaten jobs. They explained that recent antitrust cases blocking proposed mergers of large publishing companies and supermarket chains support this legal theory because the courts referenced threats to authors and supermarket employees, respectively.