OUR PERSPECTIVES

This week, the U.S. and Venezuela announced an oil deal, President Trump moved to rename Lake Ontario, and Congress returned focused on advancing a continuing resolution before the funding deadline. Check it out in today's BG3! Click the image below to download a full PDF version of the document.

Trade policy has been elevated under the Trump Administration as the President has used tariffs as a key part of his economic policy. The big questions here are (1) how much elasticity trading partners have to handle current tariffs and (2) whether the White House will bring together a solution that will help bring the current U.S. - Mexico trade war to an end (bringing a close to a breakdown in negotiations around cross-border tariffs. Canada is the second largest trading

When Congress returns in September, they will have a full plate of issues that must be worked on before the end of the fiscal year on September 30. As is tradition during an election year, Congress will likely vote on what needs to get done immediately (the CR and a few other bills) and head home for all of October to campaign. That means that, besides the CR, there is unlikely to be much movement on must-pass bills until the lame duck. Last year, the omnibus package extended

Earlier this year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a proposed rule that would change how the federal government distributes and administers every federal grant, cooperative agreement, and pass-through award. The “Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance” proposed rule is the largest overhaul since the guidance was first published in 2013. With over 496,000 comments – nearly 99% opposed to the proposed rule – stakeholders are watching to see how Congress

We are officially at the point where candidates have finalized their carefully scripted campaign-trail speeches and are actively talking to voters about key issues. While those issues change every year, here is a short list of issues that seem to be elevated this year on the campaign trail: Affordability: No surprise here, but affordability is a topic many candidates will be hearing about. From groceries to gas prices, polling shows voters are concerned and want to see more

Check out this week's #AppropriationsUpdate for details on the House's reception of the Senate's continuing resolution and the outlook for reconciliation 3.0. Click here or the image below to download a PDF of the full document.

During the last week of August, Brumidi Group will kick off our weekly 2026 election coverage, providing the latest polling and analysis through the election in early November. In the meantime, here are three types of polls to monitor that can help give some early indications of where the election stands (though it’s important to remember, it’s still early). Generic Congressional Poll: This poll provides a good understanding of where the general mood is on congressional e

The Farm Bill and the surface transportation bill will hit the same wall on September 30, 2026, when current authorizations for entire departments expire. Neither is likely to be replaced by a comprehensive reauthorization before that date. And no one is surprised. We’re entering the fourth year of the Farm Bill extension, a massive bill that authorizes the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the surface transportation reauthorization, a bill to authorize the U.S. Department

After years of delays and one-year authorization extensions, Congress may finally be preparing to advance a long-overdue farm bill. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) has indicated that the committee will mark up its farm bill next week - with or without the participation of committee member Mitch McConnell (R-KY). While the announcement signals growing momentum, significant hurdles remain before a final package can reach the president's desk. Boozman's

The last 100 days before an election are often more symbolic than informative, but they are useful for considering where things stand as policymakers head home for a month of campaigning and late primaries begin to wrap up. Here is what to watch: A Busy Campaign Trail: Incumbent candidates will use the entire months of August and October to get out on the campaign trail and make their case to voters, which means they will only be in DC for one more month (September) before

If you work on forestry issues, there are a lot of moving policy pieces right now. Between appropriations, the Farm Bill, and ongoing USDA regulations, it’s easy to miss some of the forestry policies that could have legs this Congress or next. Below are the five forestry policies you should keep an eye on this year. (1) Fix Our Forests Act is still in play. The Senate sponsors (Senators Padilla (D-CA), Sheehy (R-MT), Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Curtis (R-UT)) pushed to include F

August recess is a time to regroup, get out of town, and reset going into a busy fall. This year, with the August recess stretching to roughly six weeks long, it’s a good time to think about how you make an impact when Members of Congress and staff get out of town. Here are a few things to be thinking about going into a long August recess: Develop a lame duck plan. Whether it’s reconciliation 3.0/4.0 or must-pass legislation, August recess is a good time to put together an o

There is no question that many bills currently sidelined could find hope after the 2026 midterm elections during the “lame duck” session of Congress. Hopes to pass legislation before November could happen episodically, but the closer the election is on the horizon, the less likely Republicans and Democrats will be willing to work together to pass legislation (which h we are already seeing). Here are five ways to prepare for a busy “lame duck” session of Congress: (1) Prepa

We are almost 100 days away from the 2026 election. Between next week and the election, stand two monthlong congressional recesses (August and October), a robust legislative agenda, the risk of a government shutdown, and two parties that are not only widening the divide between them, but also finding emerging divisions within their own parties. The chaos and uncertainty are not entirely abnormal for an election year, but they will impact both legislative and political goals

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to mark up its version of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2026 this morning, kicking off one of Congress's most consistently bipartisan infrastructure efforts. The timing is particularly noteworthy: just one day before the House markup, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released the Senate's bipartisan WRDA

In today's political environment, few organizations can successfully advance federal policy priorities on their own. A closely divided Congress, limited legislative bandwidth, and increasing demands on policymakers have fundamentally changed how advocacy works in Washington. As a result, coalition advocacy has become one of the most effective tools for influencing federal policy. Coalitions bring together organizations with shared interests to advocate around common goals.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) will have three comment periods close over the next couple of weeks -- one on protections against forced labor, one on intellectual property and Vietnam, and one on the U.S. - China Board of Trade. One more, focusing on excess capacity -- foreign countries producing too much product unnecessarily—has yet to be formally announced. Each is consequential as they may be the last platform this year to advocate for/against tariffs and e

The House and Senate are working their way through big-ticket bills. The National Defense Authorization Act and appropriations bills are must-pass legislation that are often over 1,000 pages each. For those closely tracking these bills, it’s tempting to quickly check if their core priority is included and move on. Both for single-issue advocates and for those not closely tracking these bills, it’s important not to sleep on this legislation and its attached amendments. For eac

The advocacy business is more of an art than a science, and, unfortunately, not everyone enters the policymaking space the right way. Here are 5 common mistakes for new entrants: Counting Meetings: There is often a feeling that the number of meetings is important; the more meetings, the better the chances of victory. In some cases, this could be true, but in most cases it is not. Focusing on the right meetings, not the meeting count, is important in getting the issue ac

At the end of May, the Office of Management and Budget released a sweeping proposed rule with remarkably little fanfare. If finalized, it would codify directives from recent executive orders and fundamentally change how federal research grants are selected, distributed, and administered. Here are some of the directives under the proposed rule: Political Pre-Issuance Review of All Discretionary Awards: Under the proposed rule, agency heads must designate one or more senior pol