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The Big Picture
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Federal agencies are updating how they run programs and how employees travel, while the Supreme Court is weighing a case that could change who controls independent agencies. HUD finalized fixes to Housing Choice Voucher and project‑based voucher rules that clarify definitions (including who’s the “responsible” agency), count owner‑run waiting lists, allow more use of Small Area Fair Market Rents, and add tenant protections when subsidy payments are paused: life‑threatening repairs must be fixed within 24 hours, other repairs within 30 days (with a cure period up to 180 days), landlords can’t evict solely because payments are withheld, and PHAs must promptly issue vouchers if a family ends a lease during abatement. Those HUD changes take effect January 7, 2026 and are intended to reduce confusion for PHAs, landlords and tenants and could change how much rent support families receive in different neighborhoods.
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Separately, the General Services Administration rewrote the Federal Travel Regulation to be shorter and give agencies more discretion; the new travel rules take effect December 8, 2025. Key practical shifts: agencies no longer must file an extra annual report on first‑ and business‑class flights, a separate laundry line is removed, temporary‑quarters limits default to 60 days (extendable to 120), buyer‑broker fees for relocating employees may be paid, and employees can claim full meal allowances in certain unexpected medical or religious situations. GSA says the rule will save about $653,337 in present value over 10 years, though that is a modest amount; agencies must still report total travel and relocation payments to GSA by November 30 each year. At the same time, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Trump v. Slaughter about whether the President can fire leaders of so‑called independent agencies without statutory limits—justices probed both sides about how far a ruling for the President would reach. A decision to weaken or overturn long‑standing precedents protecting independent agencies would change who sets and enforces rules that affect businesses, benefits, health and safety.
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Pattern to Watch
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Administrative simplification combined with pressure on agency independence: two separate signals point to a shift in how the federal government organizes and controls its work. Concrete indicators are the GSA’s December 8, 2025 travel‑rule rewrite that shortens rules and hands more judgment to individual agencies (and keeps a modest estimated saving of ~$653k over 10 years), HUD’s January 7, 2026 voucher clarifications that tighten procedural rules and add enforceable tenant protections, and the Supreme Court’s review of Humphrey’s Electorate precedent in Trump v. Slaughter that could expand presidential control over agency leaders. If regulators continue issuing rulemakings that centralize discretion or reduce cross‑agency reporting, and if the Court rules to allow broader presidential removal power, expect faster policy shifts set by administrations rather than by insulated expert agencies; further signs would include more streamlined federal guidance documents, fewer statutory reporting requirements, or executive orders delegating greater authority to agency heads.
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