Army Corps to Reissue and Modify Waterway Permits by 2026
The River’s Promise by DALL-E 3
Army Corps to Reissue and Modify Waterway Permits by 2026
Bread and Circus: The Complete Record of American Governance
Today’s newsletter covers official U.S. government happenings from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches yesterday, as well as key economic indicators. Below, you’ll find concise summaries of each document, with links to the original sources for further reading.
What Happened Yesterday:
🦅 Executive Branch: 1 documents (1 Proposed Rule)
🏛️ Legislative Branch: 2 documents (1 Congressional Record - Daily Digest, 1 Congressional Record - Senate Section)
📊 Economic Indicators: 3 documents (1 Bureau of Labor Statistics press release, 2 Federal Reserve press releases)
Total words condensed: 198,217 into 1,418
The Big Picture
Recent government actions show a focus on balancing environmental protection with economic activity, managing natural resources, and maintaining steady economic conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is updating rules for work in water environments, reissuing 56 permits with changes and adding a new one for fish passage projects, effective after March 14, 2026. This aims to protect rivers, lakes, and wetlands while simplifying the permit process for smaller projects. Meanwhile, Congress passed bills to conserve water in the Colorado River Basin, support rural schools, and improve access to national parks, reflecting ongoing attention to natural resources and community needs.
On the economic front, the Federal Reserve is holding interest rates steady between 4.25% and 5.25%, signaling cautious optimism about steady growth and job availability, while inflation remains above target but is expected to slow to around 2.5% by year-end. Job openings and hiring show modest regional shifts but overall stability. These economic signals suggest the Fed is prioritizing predictable borrowing costs and manageable inflation to support families and businesses. Together, these developments indicate a government approach focused on measured progress in environmental stewardship, infrastructure, and economic stability, with clear timelines like the 2026 permit changes and ongoing legislative actions.
Pattern to Watch
A clear pattern emerging is the government’s effort to carefully balance environmental protection with economic and infrastructure development, alongside maintaining steady economic conditions. The Corps’ permit updates, congressional conservation bills, and the Fed’s steady interest rates all point to a cautious but proactive approach. Indicators include the Corps’ March 2026 deadline for new waterway permits, Senate passage of resource-focused legislation, and the Fed’s inflation and unemployment forecasts. If this pattern continues, we can expect further regulatory adjustments that aim to protect natural resources without stifling development, alongside monetary policies that avoid sudden shocks to borrowing costs. Future signs of this trend would include additional environmental permits or conservation laws paired with steady or gradually adjusted interest rates and stable job market reports.
🦅 Executive Branch
Federal Register
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is updating its rules about when people and companies can do certain work in rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal waters without getting a full permit. These rules, called Nationwide Permits, cover activities like building pipelines, fixing banks to stop erosion, and helping fish swim past dams. The Corps is reissuing 56 existing permits with some changes and adding one new permit for projects that improve fish passage. Some permits, like the one for finfish farming in ocean waters, will not be renewed because of court cases. People or businesses doing these activities must follow the new rules starting after March 14, 2026, when the current permits expire. They may need to tell the Corps about their plans before starting work, especially if their project affects more than a small area (like more than one-tenth of an acre). These changes aim to protect water environments while making it faster and easier to get permission for small projects, helping both the environment and those who build or repair things near water. Read full document →
🏛️ Legislative Branch
Congressional Record
On June 18, 2025, the Senate passed several important bills, including the Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act, which helps protect water in the Colorado River, and the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act, which supports schools in rural areas. They also passed bills to improve access to national parks in Maine and Texas and made changes to laws affecting Alaska Native communities. The Senate confirmed two key officials: Olivia Trusty to the Federal Communications Commission by a vote of 53 to 45, and Rodney Scott to lead Customs and Border Protection by 51 to 46. The Senate started considering three other nominations and set votes to end debate on them for June 23. Committees held hearings on the military budget, rail network improvements, and the Department of Energy budget. The House did not meet that day. These actions show Congress working on natural resources, education, national security, and government leadership appointments. Read full document →
Random excerpts from the Senate
I have long held that government oversight can’t be done without the patriotic work of whistleblowers. Even Department and Agency heads need whistleblowers to know what is really going on in their respective Departments and Agencies. I tell people that come to my office before their Senate confirmation that whether you are in a very small number of employees Agency or, you know, hundreds of thousands of employees in our Agency, you are at the top; you can’t know what is going on at the bottom. And you need to listen to whistleblowers, and they usually come forward with very important information. When they don’t get that respect from the Department heads, they usually end up coming to the Congress, and many of them come to the office of this Senator.
— Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
The Republican bill will send interest rates higher, particularly 10-year bonds. And do you know what that means? It means Americans will pay more and more for virtually everything. When interest rates go up, which the Republican bill will do because it makes the deficit even bigger, it will be more expensive for a working family to buy a home, a car, to send kids to college, to run a business--everything. The latest CBO report is a warning to Senate Republicans: Doubling down on the House’s reckless spending will doom our kids and grandkids to a life of higher costs. They should scrap the Big Beautiful Bill entirely and start over. Amazingly, Senate Republicans didn’t moderate the House bill at all. No. If anything, they made it worse. It is hard to believe it could get worse than the House bill for working families, but, somehow, it is. Senate Republicans are supposed to not be as extreme as the House Republicans, but in this case, they are more so.
The Federal Reserve announced that it will keep its main interest rate between 4.25% and 4.5% for now, meaning borrowing money will stay a bit more expensive than in the past. They said the economy is still growing steadily, jobs are easy to find, but prices are still higher than they want. The Fed wants to help people keep their jobs and bring prices down to a normal 2% increase each year. They will keep watching the economy closely and may change rates later if needed. This matters because the interest rate affects how much it costs to borrow money for things like homes and cars, and it also influences how prices and jobs change over time. Read full document →
On June 18, 2025, the Federal Reserve shared its latest plans for the U.S. economy after meeting on June 17-18. They decided to keep the main interest rate—the cost banks pay to borrow money—steady at 5.25%, where it has been for a few months. The Fed expects inflation, which means how much prices go up, to slow down to about 2.5% by the end of this year, closer to their goal of 2%. They also see the economy growing slowly and expect more people to find jobs, with unemployment staying low around 3.8%. This matters because steady interest rates help keep borrowing costs predictable for things like home loans and credit cards, while lower inflation means prices won’t rise too fast, making it easier for families to afford everyday things. Read full document →
Bureau of Labor Statistics
In April 2025, the number of job openings went up in a few states like West Virginia by 1.5% and North Carolina by 0.8%, but stayed mostly the same across the country. More people were hired in places like California (+109,000) and North Carolina (+64,000), while some states like Pennsylvania saw fewer hires. The number of people leaving jobs, either by quitting or being laid off, mostly stayed steady, though New York and Michigan had small increases in people leaving work. Overall, these small changes show that the job market is mostly steady, with a few places seeing more jobs and hires. This matters because it means many people can find work or change jobs easily, which helps families earn money and keeps the economy moving. Read full document →
