MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (8th District of New York)

UPDATE: Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians

On Tuesday, June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could move forward with its plans to rip legal status away from nearly 350,000 current Haitian and Syrian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders. Following this decision, the Department of Homeland Security announced the termination of TPS for Haitians and Syrians, effective July 27, 2026.

Individuals who have lost TPS may be impacted in different ways, including loss of protection from deportation and loss of work authorization. However, there may be alternative legal pathways to remain and work in the United States. To learn more about what the end of TPS means for you and your family:

• All TPS holders regardless of designation should visit the USCIS website for the latest updates on their TPS status. 
• Visit the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs website to learn more about what the expiration of TPS status means for impacted New Yorkers. Resource documents are available in English, Arabic, French and Haitian Creole.
• Contact the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), whose Legal Support Centers offer free, confidential immigration legal help. Free, safe and confidential immigration legal services are available regardless of your immigration status and in your language by calling the MOIA legal support hotline at 800-354-0365 or visiting nyc.gov/knowyourrights.

Donald Trump’s cruel immigration agenda will force hundreds of thousands of TPS holders to return to a dangerous and deeply unstable environment, putting people at great risk. House Democrats will continue pushing back to protect our communities, including the vibrant Haitian diaspora that calls New York City home.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) today wrote to Governor Bill Lee urging him again to seek assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in response to the damage done by storms on Saturday, August 22. The Congressman wrote to Lee on August 24 making the same request.

In his letter today, Congressman wrote in part:

 “I am writing to follow up on my earlier letter urging you to request assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for Shelby County in response to the severe storms that struck Memphis and Shelby County on Saturday, August 22. Since my previous correspondence, conditions on the ground have continued to demonstrate the urgent need for additional support. 

 “The storm caused extensive damage to homes, public infrastructure, and utility systems, leading to prolonged power outages and significant disruptions to essential services. Memphis Light Gas & Water (MLGW) reported power outages to 148,000 customers. As many as 11,000 customers were without power through Wednesday, August 26. Restoration crews, including both local personnel and external support teams, are working tirelessly, but the scale of tree damage, downed lines, and infrastructural impact has made recovery efforts especially challenging. 

 “As of August 31, the Shelby County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency has reported over $19 million in recorded damages. Given the severity of the damage and the continued burden on critical services, prompt action is necessary to ensure access to all available federal resources that can support recovery and stabilization. 

 “I respectfully reiterate my request that you seek the appropriate federal disaster assistance as soon as possible. I stand ready to support this effort in any way needed.”

 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08), Congressman Greg Landsman (D-OH-01), Congressman Buddy Carter (R-GA-01), and Congressman Tom Barrett (R-MI-07) introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent artificial intelligence from making health care decisions that should be made by qualified health care professionals.

Health care systems are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to evaluate claims and determine if certain health care for patients is “medical necessity. This has led to denials of claims – impacting mental health coverage, cancer treatment, hospital stays, and more.

In response, Representatives Landsman, Carter, Schrier, and Barrett introduced the bipartisan Doctors Not AI Act – legislation to ensure medical decisions are made by a health professional, not AI.

The Doctor’s Not AI Act would:

1. Ensure AI is only used in a Supporting Role

• Prevents AI from making or issuing harmful determinations involving medical judgment.
• Allows insurers to use AI technology to assist with processing claims.
• Requires that denials based on medical necessity be made by a licensed health care professional with appropriate expertise.

2. Protect Independent Clinical Judgment

• Requires health professionals to independently review each patient’s individual medical circumstances.

3. Increase Transparency

• Requires disclosure when AI is used in the review process and must be included in the administrative record.
• Gives patients the right to know if AI has played a role in their insurance denial.

4. Protects Access to Mental Health Care

• Helps prevent AI from unfairly denying or limiting mental health and substance use disorder care.

Congressman Schrier, M.D.:

“It is critical that doctors, not automated systems or AI-powered models, are in charge of critical healthcare decisions for their patients. We are now seeing insurers implement automated systems that can make dangerous decisions about a patient’s health, coverage, and treatment plans. Medical decisions should be made by health professionals, and we need oversight and transparency now to keep Americans safe and healthy.”

Congressman Landsman:

“When a computer system is making decisions about health care, people will get hurt. We have to make sure health care professionals remain the decision makers. If not, folks will be left with massive bills, their health getting worse, or even life-threatening consequences.”

Congressman Carter:

“Every patient’s medical needs are unique and decisions about their care require the judgment of a qualified health care professional, not an algorithm. While AI can help make the claims process more efficient, it should never have the final say in denying someone access to medically necessary care. I am proud to co-lead the Doctors Not AI Act to put patients first, preserve independent clinical judgment, and bring greater transparency and accountability to insurers’ use of AI.”

Congressman Barrett:

“Artificial intelligence should never replace the judgment of a doctor. When it comes to someone’s health and well-being, the outcome is too important to leave it up to an algorithm. This bill makes sure doctors — not AI — remain responsible for determining what care patients need while bringing greater transparency to the use of these technologies in health insurance.”

Craig Obey, Senior Vice President of Federal Affairs at Inseparable

“Insurance coverage decisions that affect someone’s mental healthcare, cancer treatment, or hospital stay should never be dictated by an algorithm. AI should be used responsibly and only as a supplementary tool, not substitute for the informed judgment of trained clinicians about the care patients need. The DNAI Act will ensure that patients are protected through a more transparent, fair, and honest system.”

Read the bill text HERE.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Olivia Porcaro 202-225-6165

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after voting in favor of the Senate Amendments to H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations Act of 2027:

“Today’s vote is the culmination of House Republicans moving proactively, decisively, and strategically earlier this summer. The action we took paved the way for the Senate to promptly engage in the process, and I am proud to say we are now sending this funding extension to President Trump without waiting for the clock to run out,” said Congressman Cole.

“Responsible governance means putting the well-being and stability of the nation first, and this legislation does just that. It protects our national security, preserves critical services, and denies partisan shutdown agitators the leverage they have repeatedly sought. The bill is simple by design – no poison polls, no divisive wish lists, and no political gimmicks. Just a clean, straightforward measure that keeps the government working, provides more time to address full-year bills, and trades the familiar cycle of Senate Democrat brinkmanship for something far more useful: certainty,” said Congressman Cole.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (8th District of Illinois)

WASHINGTON — Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today renewed his demand for answers from Attorney General Todd Blanche as Republican officials in Wyoming raised alarms over the conduct of Department of Justice election monitors during the state’s August primary. The concerns come as Trump DOJ expands election monitoring ahead of the November midterms, including plans to deploy as many as 1,000 federal personnel nationwide.

In the letter, Krishnamoorthi writes:

“According to public reporting, the Civil Rights Division dispatched two attorneys to observe polling sites in Laramie County during Wyoming’s primary. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon — a Republican — told the state’s canvassing board on August 26 that the monitors’ conduct was ‘aggressive’ and ‘irregular,’ and that it ‘seemed to exceed’ the authority Congress gave them.”

The monitors reportedly sought to interview voters and examine election equipment and poll-worker training activities, while several state and local officials said they had not been notified in advance of the deployment. Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, also a Republican, called the operation “a poorly managed exercise” that showed “complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections.”

Krishnamoorthi continues:

“These are not the objections of partisan critics. They come from a Republican governor and a Republican County clerk in one of the most reliably Republican states in the country, both of whom raised concerns about the way the Department’s monitors conducted themselves. Regardless of one’s views on the Department’s monitoring initiative, these allegations warrant a clear explanation from the Department about what occurred, what authority the monitors were exercising, and what steps will be taken to prevent similar problems in November.”

DOJ has also deployed Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor elections in Florida, Minnesota, and other jurisdictions this cycle. Krishnamoorthi is seeking information on whether officials elsewhere have raised similar concerns and what changes DOJ will make before deploying monitors during the November general election.

Krishnamoorthi is demanding answers to the following questions:

1. Why were the Wyoming Attorney General, the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, and the Laramie County Clerk’s Office not notified in advance of the monitors’ deployment? Was any state or local official notified before the monitors arrived, and, if so, when and by whom? Is advance coordination with state and local election officials the Department’s standard practice?
2. What written guidance governed the monitors’ interactions with voters, poll workers, and election administrators in Laramie County, and does that guidance differ from the guidance provided to monitors in other jurisdictions this primary season?
3. Has the Department received complaints, concerns, or objections regarding monitor conduct from officials in any other jurisdiction monitored during the 2026 primaries, including Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, or Florida? If so, please identify the jurisdictions, the nature of the complaints, and how the Department responded.
4. How many Civil Rights Division personnel have been deployed to monitor elections during the 2026 primary season to date, and to how many jurisdictions have they been deployed?
5. What changes, if any, will the Department make to monitor training, advance coordination, written guidance, or supervisory oversight before deploying monitors for the November general election?
6. Will the Department commit to notifying appropriate state and local election officials sufficiently in advance of any November deployment, absent an extraordinary circumstance in which advance notice would materially compromise a legitimate federal enforcement objective?

Krishnamoorthi requested responses to these questions, together with those in his August 19 letter, by September 7, 2026.

Congressman Krishnamoorthi’s letter is available here.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (7th District of Washington)

Private companies and other entities often receive subpoenas from federal law enforcement containing vague, boilerplate nondisclosure provisions that can carry threats of legal consequences for noncompliance 

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., called for an investigation into decades-long abuses of authority by federal law enforcement agencies to coerce silence from subpoenaed private companies and on federal courts to protect the public from misleading demands for secrecy related to government surveillance.

In a letter to Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), John Roberts, and Acting Comptroller of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Orice W. Brown, Wyden and Jayapal requested action to address federal agencies’ abuse of subpoena powers to surveil Americans. It has been the routine practice of federal law enforcement agencies to demand secrecy from companies that have received government subpoenas for customer records. But under federal law, only courts have that power. The agencies may not gag recipients of subpoenas, except in a few limited circumstances in which a court order is granted. 

“While these secrecy demands carry no force of law, their coercive effect is extremely successful,” Wyden and Jayapal said. “This leaves customers entirely in the dark about government incursions into their personal data.”

Unfortunately, this practice has become institutionalized across multiple agencies including: Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), Drug Enforcement Association (DEA), and Department of Justice (DOJ). 

ICE frequently makes boilerplate requests for indefinite silence through its administrative subpoenas, including its customs summons and immigration subpoenas. For example, on July 8, 2025, Harvard University received three immigration subpoenas from ICE regarding international students with boilerplate requests for silence. The next day, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release celebrating the same enforcement action it had just directed Harvard to keep secret. 

DOJ has also treated extra-legal gag requests as standard operating procedure, regularly instructing the recipients of grand jury subpoenas not to disclose the government’s demands. DOJ’s letters often include boilerplate language demanding recipients to “not disclose the existence of this subpoena or the fact of your compliance for a period of 90 days… Any such disclosure could seriously impede the investigation being conducted and, thereby, interfere with the enforcement of the federal criminal law.” 

As a result of these brazen abuses of authority, Wyden requests that the GAO initiate a comprehensive audit of the DOJ, DHS, and their relevant component agencies –including DEA, ICE, and HSI–regarding the use of non-disclosure language in subpoenas. 

The text of the letter is here.

A web version of this release is here. 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH)

Bipartisan measure will continue annual appropriations through December 11 and extends funding for surface transportation, agriculture, and VA health care and benefits

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (1st District of Washington)

DelBene: Voluntary Commitments to Reduce Health Insurance Paperwork Not Good Enough, Congress Must Pass Bipartisan Legislation

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Dan Newhouse (4th District of Washington)

Headline: Newhouse Urges CMS to Create Pathway for Critical Access Hospital Status for Astria Toppenish

Press Release 
For Immediate Release: September 1, 2026
Contact: Noah Yantis, (202) 713-7750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) sent a letter to Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz urging the creation of a pathway for Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status for hospitals located on Tribal lands through an administrative change to CMS administrative guidelines. This would allow Astria Toppenish to be designated as a CAH.   

Click here or see below for full text of letter. 

The Honorable Mehmet Oz, MD
Administrator Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 

Dear Administrator Oz:
Thank you for your efforts to enhance and secure our Medicare and Medicaid programs and improve fiscal stewardship. As we implement the federal requirements to reduce fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program, your leadership on this critical issue will ensure that healthcare access, particularly in rural communities, remains strong. 

I am writing to follow up on a conversation we had last fall about Astria Toppenish Hospital (ATH)—a hospital in my district located on an Indian reservation—and urge you to consider utilizing your authority to create a pathway for Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status for hospitals located on tribal land through an administrative change to the CMS Administrative (Interpretive) Guidelines. 

As you know, the Medicare Rural Hospitality Flexibility Program, established under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, created the CAH designation to help preserve access to inpatient care in certain rural communities. Since 2006, CAH status has been reserved for hospitals that meet strict rural and geographic tests, including being located more than 35 miles from the nearest hospital or 15 miles over mountainous terrain or secondary roads. 

Astria Toppenish Hospital is a nonprofit PPS hospital located on the tribal lands of Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, serving a uniquely diverse population across its region that includes tribal members and farm workers who work and live in the area. More than 15% of its community is American Indian, 66% is Hispanic, and 54% of residents live below 200% of poverty. 

The hospital provides critical services across rural Washington and operates with one of the highest percentages of reliance on Medicaid of any hospital in the state, ATH is in dire financial straits and is facing significant reductions in service to its community and potential closure. While Washington State has already passed legislation that would provide cost-based payments to Medicaid patients at Astria Toppenish Hospital following enactment of federal CAH designation, ATH is ineligible for CAH status consideration under current standards due to being within 35 miles of the next closest hospital. 

The current CMS Interpretive Guidelines related to CAHs provides that: 

• In determining whether a currently certified CAH or a CAH applicant meets the location requirements at §485.610(c), the proximity of IHS/Tribal hospitals or CAHs and non-IHS/Tribal hospitals or CAHs to each other is not considered.¹

However, it is my understanding that CMS guidance remains silent on tribal or non-tribal hospitals located on tribal land. Given this, I respectfully request that you expand current guidance and adopt an administrative change that provides an exception for Indian Health Service (IHS), Tribal CAHs and other hospitals located on a reservation (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act) that are located less than the 35 or 15 miles from another hospital or CAH. Additionally, I strongly urge you to consider clarifying in the new guidance that any new CAH that operates dedicated psychiatric beds over and above its 25 acute care beds. 

Implementing these new administrative changes to the Interpretive Guidelines for the program will support rural hospitals in fighting against the drug and mental health crises that have been persistent across my state and is a significant opportunity to safeguard existing, essential healthcare services for our rural and tribal communities. 

Thank you for your consideration of this request and please reach out to me or my staff with any questions. 

Sincerely,
Dan Newhouse
Member of Congress 

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Dan Newhouse (4th District of Washington)

Headline: Newhouse Votes For Continuing Resolution to Fund Federal Government

Press Release 
For Immediate Release: September 1, 2026
Contact: Noah Yantis, (202) 225-4466  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse released the following statement after the vote on the Senate Amendment H.R. 6500, Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027. The resolution passed by a vote of 370-48. 

“Congress has a responsibility to fund the government each fiscal year and prevent a lapse in essential services for taxpayers. This short-term continuing resolution avoids a shutdown while maintaining current spending levels and allows additional time to negotiate full-year funding measures. Senate Democrat Appropriators have unnecessarily delayed this process, and they should come to the table for good faith negotiations to avoid another continuing resolution this winter.”