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The Boring Parts
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The federal government put out 139 actions this week, and while most were routine — airspace tweaks, Coast Guard safety zones for fireworks shows, paperwork updates — several could affect your wallet, your health care, and your safety. Agencies proposed changes to Medicare payment rates, moved to regulate kratom compounds, tightened rules on robocalls, and issued a batch of helicopter and airplane safety directives. Congress, meanwhile, introduced dozens of bills that are mostly at the starting line: they do nothing unless they pass both chambers and become law.

Health care & medicine

  • Medicare payment updates for 2027. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed changes to how it pays for home health services and medical equipment, mostly routine adjustments to the formulas that determine payments. A separate CMS proposal would adjust hospital outpatient payments and ambulatory surgical center rates for 2027 and change some quality-reporting rules.
  • New drug regulation proposals. The DEA moved to temporarily classify three kratom-related compounds — 7-hydroxymitragynine, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15, and MGM-16 — as Schedule I controlled substances, which would require strict federal oversight to handle. It also proposed the same for tianeptine, a substance currently not regulated at the federal level.
  • 340B drug discount program. A House bill would strengthen the 340B program, which requires drugmakers to sell at a discount to providers serving low-income patients. It is in the early legislative stages.
  • ALS therapy program. A House bill would reauthorize the program that helps people with ALS access certain treatments.
  • Pediatric cancer research. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers introduced a bill to create a program helping researchers use artificial intelligence to study childhood cancer. It authorizes no money on its own.
  • Animal drug records. The FDA updated its official animal drug regulations to reflect approvals and actions taken earlier in 2026.

Consumer protections & daily life

  • Robocall crackdown. The FCC proposed “Know-Your-Upstream-Provider” rules that would force phone companies to track the companies they buy call traffic from, making it harder for scammers to hide.
  • Next Generation 911. The FCC adopted final rules requiring new internet-based 911 systems to be reliable and able to work across different networks, and separately proposed rules to add testing and support for features like video.
  • PFAS in food packaging and cosmetics. Two House bills would ban intentionally added PFAS — the “forever chemicals” — from food packaging and from cosmetics.
  • Mortgage paperwork. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked for public input on reducing regulatory requirements that affect the cost and difficulty of getting a mortgage.
  • Credit reports for fraud victims. A House bill would change the Fair Credit Reporting Act to make it easier for identity theft victims to fix their credit scores.
  • Flight refunds clarification. DOT extended its policy that a flight number change alone does not count as a cancellation requiring an automatic refund, as long as the schedule itself is unchanged.

Aviation & travel safety

  • Helicopter safety directives. The FAA issued or proposed mandatory inspections for several helicopter types: Airbus H160-B window hardware, Bell 430 components, Airbus helicopters with a potential electrical issue, Boeing CH-47D Chinooks, and Safran Arrius 2B2 engines.
  • Airplane safety directives. New FAA rules cover Airbus A319/A320/A321 cockpit radio components, Airbus Canada BD-500 air pressure systems, Bombardier BD-700 loose fasteners, Boeing 747-400 and -8 fuel tank parts, and CFM LEAP engines. A proposed rule would add safety standards for Gulfstream G300 side-facing seats.
  • Pilot and flight attendant breaks. The FAA proposed a rule clarifying that federal rules override state meal and rest break laws for airline crews.
  • Airspace changes. The FAA established or adjusted instrument-flight airspace around hospital heliports in Conneaut and Geneva, Ohio, and an airport in Monee, Illinois. It also proposed changes near Morgantown, West Virginia, and Alma, Michigan, and proposed removing airspace at Mason County Airport in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Environment & energy

  • Wood products emissions. The EPA finalized new limits on hazardous air pollution — including formaldehyde, methanol, and mercury — from plywood and composite wood manufacturing.
  • Air quality status changes. The EPA reclassified St. Clair, Michigan, as meeting federal sulfur dioxide standards, and proposed approving updated pollution-modeling methods for California’s San Joaquin Valley.
  • State control over minor air permits. The EPA proposed letting state and local agencies set their own public notice and comment requirements for minor air quality permits.
  • Energy efficiency rules. The Department of Energy proposed changing its internal procedures for setting appliance and equipment efficiency standards, and separately asked for public input on the math and models behind those standards. It also withdrew its planned “Zero-Based Regulating” rule after pushback.
  • Nuclear permitting. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a rule to speed up licensing by reducing environmental paperwork under NEPA.
  • Endangered salamanders. The Fish and Wildlife Service reopened the comment period on whether two California salamander species — the Kern Canyon and relictual slender salamanders — get federal protection.
  • Floodplain rules. HUD proposed undoing most of the floodplain and wetland regulation changes it made earlier this year.
  • Environment studies. House bills would require studies of data center environmental and public health impacts, and of what exactly goes into residential and small business electricity bills.

Fishing, wildlife & the coasts

  • Tuna fishing. NOAA closed the 2026 “trophy” bluefin tuna fishery — fish 73 inches or longer — in Southern New England, and proposed updated rules for bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna in the eastern Pacific that add sea turtle protections.
  • Other fishery rules. NOAA set catch limits for mackerel, squid, and butterfish in the Northeast; proposed changes to red grouper catch limits and seasons in the Gulf of Mexico; proposed an “omnibus flexibility” amendment for New England fisheries; and proposed reclassifying rainbow runner in Puerto Rico.
  • Rodent-detection dogs. NOAA changed Pribilof Islands rules to allow specially authorized dogs that detect rodents, to protect the islands from invasive species.
  • Coast Guard safety zones. The Coast Guard set up temporary safety zones for fireworks, drone shows, boat races, and an airshow in Chicago, Savannah, Albany (New York), Ocean City (New Jersey), Oxford (Maryland), Fairview Beach (Virginia), San Francisco, Michigan City (Indiana), Port Huron (Michigan), Virginia Beach, the Columbia River, and the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
  • Wildlife bills. House bills introduced this week would address bear poaching, prevent predators from eating endangered Pacific Northwest salmon, and allow certain California tribes to kill sea lions in a specific part of the Columbia River.

Guns & controlled substances

  • ATF paperwork. The ATF proposed allowing electronic fingerprint and photo submissions for firearms license applications, and proposed fixing a registration gap for firearms meant for government contracts that end up needing individual registration. It also withdrew a proposed rule on licensee “eZ Check” transfer verification after pushback, leaving current rules in place.
  • Fentanyl precursor chemicals. The DEA proposed classifying phenethyl halides — chemicals used to make fentanyl — as List I controlled chemicals, which would add registration and reporting requirements for anyone selling or moving them.

Immigration & citizenship

  • Naturalization fees. The Department of Homeland Security proposed changing fees for naturalization and citizenship-related applications.
  • Birthright citizenship. A House bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to redefine which people born in the U.S. are considered citizens at birth.

Taxes, banking & government money

  • IRS rules. The IRS finalized rules labeling certain Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust transactions as “listed transactions” that trigger extra reporting, updated reporting for life insurance exchanges and sales, and updated rules for trusts used when a spouse is not a U.S. citizen.
  • Anti-money laundering. The Federal Reserve proposed requiring banks it supervises to update their anti-money laundering programs to match other regulators’ standards.
  • Marriage penalty. A House bill would change the tax code to remove the marriage penalty in the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.
  • Government contracting. The Office of Management and Budget finalized a rule removing several Cost Accounting Standards to align government contracting with private sector practices.

How the government runs

  • Federal employee performance reviews. The Office of Personnel Management finalized changes to how General Schedule employees are evaluated, giving agencies more flexibility and removing certain appeal rights for workers.
  • Civil rights rule updates. The EEOC removed its 1979 affirmative action guidelines from federal regulations, and NASA and the State Department updated their Title VI nondiscrimination rules to match current law.
  • Veterans. The VA changed how veterans and their providers notify it about emergency treatment, to speed up coverage determinations.
  • Pensions. The PBGC proposed changes to how it recovers overpaid pension benefits from single-employer plans it manages.
  • Census records. The Census Bureau raised fees for “Age Search” requests — official transcripts of age data from censuses between 1910 and 2020.
  • Student grants. The Education Department waived a rule to let certain Title I, Part C grant recipients keep spending their funds past their original deadlines.
  • Federal hiring. A House bill would make it easier for people without college degrees to qualify for federal jobs based on experience and skills.
  • Government accountability. House bills introduced this week would change how DHS handles internal oversight, create a commission to study security and social openness, and require NIH to track how it handles congressional information requests.

Congress: medals, memorials & the symbolic

  • Congressional recognition. Bills were introduced to award the Medal of Honor posthumously to Sergeant First Class Jorge Otero Barret, award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Hmong community, honor Alpha Kappa Alpha’s international president Danette Anthony Reed, and mark the 200th anniversary of Jefferson Barracks in Missouri.
  • Memorials and monuments. Bills would approve a location for a Thomas Paine memorial and expand the Civil War Defenses of Washington National Historical Park.
  • Lafayette Square. A House bill would prohibit using federal, state, foreign, or private money to install permanent fencing around Lafayette Square.
  • Supreme Court. A House bill proposes a constitutional amendment fixing the Supreme Court at nine justices.
  • Intelligence funding. The House introduced the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, the annual bill authorizing intelligence agency spending and policy.

This weekly digest is generated from federal records (the Federal Register and Congress.gov) and summarized in plain English. It may simplify or omit detail — follow the linked official sources before relying on any item. Part of The Boring Parts.

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