CrossGov.com

2026 Midterms: Democrats Lead the Generic Ballot by About 8 Points as Cook Moves 18 House Races, and What Control Means for the Budget

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Three weeks before the 3 November midterms, Republicans hold the House with 218 seats to the Democrats’ 214, plus one independent and two vacancies. They hold the Senate 53 to 47. Polling averages show Democrats ahead on the generic congressional ballot by about 8 points: RealClearPolitics had it at 50.4% to 42.2% on 6 October, and Nate Silver’s average at 8.9 points on 9 October. A year ago the gap was under 3.

27 Inspector General Posts Vacant 20 Months After the Watchdog Firings, With Nominees for Only Six

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Oversight.gov, the shared website of the federal inspectors general, lists 27 vacant IG posts as of October 2026. About 20 of them are posts the President fills with Senate confirmation. Only six have a nominee pending.

Several have been empty since the night of 24 January 2025, when at least 17 inspectors general were fired by email. They include Interior, State, Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, Transportation, Energy, Education and the Office of Personnel Management. Treasury’s IG post has been vacant since 2019.

Congress Faces a December 11 Cliff: Government Funding, the NDAA, the Farm Bill and the Cyber Sharing Law All Due After the Midterms

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When Congress comes back after the 3 November midterms, it will have about five weeks before several deadlines land on the same day. The stopgap funding law, H.R. 6500, signed on 2 September, keeps the government open until 11 December. The same law carries the National Flood Insurance Program, the 2015 cyber threat-sharing law, surface transportation authority and the EPA’s chemical fee programme to that date.

The farm bill has already lapsed. The defence policy bill is stuck in the Senate. And a long list of health and tax items runs out on 31 December.

FDA Under an Acting Commissioner: Six CDER Chiefs in Two Years, 46 Novel Approvals in 2026 and PDUFA VIII Out for Comment

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 9 October 2026 the FDA approved Hovilpri, an antiviral, as its 46th novel drug of the year. That already matches all of 2025, when the agency’s drug centre approved 46 new drugs, down from 50 in 2024. By that measure, the FDA’s core work is holding up.

The agency around it has been in constant motion. The FDA has no confirmed commissioner. Marty Makary, confirmed in March 2025, resigned on 12 May 2026. Kyle Diamantas has been acting commissioner since. The President’s nominee, Heidi Overton, had her Senate HELP committee hearing on 24 September and is waiting for a vote.

FDA's Red No. 3 Ban Takes Effect January 15, 2027, but the Wider Food Dye Phase-Out Is Still Voluntary

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On 5 August the FDA rejected the last legal objection to its ban on Red No. 3, a petroleum-based dye used in candy and baked goods. That confirmed the deadline: from 15 January 2027 the dye can’t be used in food sold in the US. Ingested drugs have until January 2028.

The FDA revoked Red No. 3 in January 2025 under the Delaney Clause, which bars additives shown to cause cancer in animals. It’s the only petroleum dye removal so far backed by a binding federal rule.

Federal Hiring After the Cuts: Strategic Hiring Committees, a One-for-Four Rule and 8,000 Jobs Moved to Schedule Policy-Career

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In August 2026 the federal government employed 2.674 million people on Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll figures, down 336,000 from 3.010 million in January 2025. GAO counted about 378,000 departures from 22 large agencies in 2025 against about 127,000 hires.

The government is hiring again, slowly, and under rules that look nothing like the old system. OPM’s own data, as of 10 October, show job announcements up 7.6% in fiscal 2026 on the year before, with 12,511 positions open.

The Pentagon's $1.5 Trillion Request Meets a Stalled NDAA and a Stopgap That Funds Defence at $838 Billion

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The fiscal 2027 budget asked Congress for $1.5 trillion for national defence, a 42% jump. The Pentagon is starting the year on $838.5 billion, under a continuing resolution that runs to 11 December and bars new programmes. The annual defence authorisation bill, which Congress has passed every year for more than six decades, is stuck in the Senate.

The gap between what was asked and what exists is the widest in years.

US Government Takes Equity Stakes in Critical Minerals Companies: How Washington's Approach Compares With China and the EU

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In July 2025 the Pentagon became a major shareholder in the company that runs America’s only operating rare earth mine. The Defense Department bought $400 million of MP Materials preferred stock at $30.03 a share, with warrants, added a $150 million loan, and promised two things a market investor never would: a ten-year price floor of $110 per kilogram for the company’s neodymium-praseodymium oxide, and a ten-year commitment to buy all the output of a new magnet plant.

After Trump v. Slaughter: The Election Commission Is Empty, the SEC and FTC Are All-Republican, and Lisa Cook Faces a For-Cause Hearing