Policy News tracks changes to public rules as they are filed: proposed and final regulations, enacted bills, agency guidance, comment deadlines and injunctions halting implementation. Items are short, dated and linked to the underlying document. Read by compliance staff, administrators and advocates who cannot afford a missed deadline.
Filings that change public administration: proposed rules, enacted legislation, guidance letters, comment deadlines and injunctions halting operations.
The 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment announced in October 2025 raises the average retired-worker benefit by about $49 a month starting with January payments.
Asha VenkataswamySocial Security's annual raise is a formula, not a vote in Congress. Here is how the calculation works and what it means for the benefit increase that took effect in January 2026.
Asha VenkataswamyThe Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed Feb. 3, 2026, extended the pandemic-era Medicare telehealth flexibilities through Dec. 31, 2027, ending more than a year of short-term cliff extensions that began with the November 2025 shutdown deal.
Asha VenkataswamyTransportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford named Peraton as prime integrator for the new air traffic control system on Dec. 4, 2025, putting a single contractor in charge of a rebuild funded by $12.5 billion from the 2025 reconciliation law.
Asha VenkataswamyTSA has enforced REAL ID rules since May 7, 2025, reporting checkpoint compliance above 90 percent, and since Feb. 1, 2026 travelers without a compliant ID can pay a $45 fee for enhanced identity verification rather than being turned away.
Asha VenkataswamyThe 2025 reconciliation law requires most states to condition Medicaid eligibility for adults on work or community engagement by Jan. 1, 2027, and CMS spent late 2025 issuing the exemption and implementation rules states are now racing to meet.
Asha VenkataswamyThe rule requiring hotels and ticket sellers to show a total price with mandatory fees took effect May 12, 2025, and while courts did not block it, enforcement actions through 2025 and into 2026 are testing how far it reaches.
Asha VenkataswamyThe Government Accountability Office said in a December 2025 decision that NTIA's June 2025 restructuring of the $42.45 billion broadband program was a rule under the Congressional Review Act that was never submitted to Congress, complicating the program's biggest overhaul since launch.
Asha VenkataswamyChanges from the 2025 reconciliation law took effect Nov. 1, 2025, raising the top age for SNAP's work requirement from 54 to 64 and narrowing exemptions, and states are still working through the backlog effects in 2026.
Asha Venkataswamy