This Week in Washington — week of July 20, 2026

This week in Washington, the administration opened a new trade investigation into Brazil, imposed new tariffs on Canadian goods, and finalized major changes to how civil rights rules are enforced — while Congress moved a long list of bills on health care costs, immigration, and government transparency through committees.

Trade and tariffs

• The U.S. launched a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s trade practices covering digital services and agriculture — a formal step that could lead to tariffs or other restrictions if unfair treatment is found.
• The President imposed new duties on Canadian motor vehicles, dairy products, and alcoholic beverages, citing what the administration calls discriminatory Canadian trade practices. The tariffs raise the cost of importing those goods.
• The administration also adjusted import levels for certain aluminum products, modifying existing trade measures.

Immigration

• The Department of Homeland Security rescinded its 2022 “public charge” rule, changing how immigration officers weigh whether an applicant might rely on government assistance. The move returns to a more flexible standard.
• Lawmakers introduced several immigration-related bills, including extending Temporary Protected Status for Afghans, allowing court challenges to TPS terminations, changing H-1B visa oversight, and altering citizenship rules for children born in the U.S. to foreign nationals. None have passed yet.
• A Senate bill would change how the government processes unaccompanied migrant children; a House version was also introduced.

Civil rights enforcement

• The Education Department, Health and Human Services Department, and Defense Department each finalized rule changes removing “disparate impact” liability from their Title VI regulations. That means agencies will focus on intentional discrimination rather than unequal outcomes when enforcing civil rights in federally funded programs.
• AmeriCorps proposed a similar change to its own civil rights rules.

Health care

• The FDA classified several new categories of medical products as Class II devices, including over-the-counter COVID-19 tests, diabetes digital behavioral therapy tools, surgical angle measurement instruments, and a test that predicts chronic kidney disease progression. The classifications set formal safety and marketing requirements.
• The FDA also finalized a rule removing an unused orange dye from sausage and frankfurter regulations, and proposed removing Citrus Red No. 2 from orange skin regulations.
• Several health care bills advanced in Congress: the INSULIN Act moved through a Senate committee with a revised text; a House committee approved the Heat Workforce Standards Act; and lawmakers introduced bills requiring Medicare Advantage plans to disclose more about supplemental benefits, adding dental coverage to Medicare and Medicaid, and speeding up FDA review of biosimilar drugs.
• A House bill would allow Medicaid to pay for mental health and primary care on the same day, and another would require insurance coverage for Alzheimer’s biomarker testing.

Workplace safety

• OSHA reopened public comment periods for proposed updates to exposure limits for more than a dozen chemicals, including lead, asbestos, cadmium, formaldehyde, and ethylene oxide. These procedural steps extend the timeline for public input before final rules are set.

Wildlife and fisheries

• The Fish and Wildlife Service downgraded the Hawaiian stilt from endangered to threatened, reflecting improved population numbers, and added two Florida snake species and the Florida Keys mole skink to the endangered list.
• NOAA closed Atlantic bluefin tuna harpoon fishing for the rest of 2026, added short fishing windows for Pacific halibut, and prohibited directed fishing for Pacific cod, Pacific ocean perch, and dusky rockfish in specific Alaska management areas.
• NOAA proposed updated catch limits for Spanish mackerel in the Gulf of Mexico and for deepwater shrimp and precious coral in Hawaii.

Consumer finance and business

• The SEC proposed a new rule that would let companies send financial disclosures electronically without asking permission first.
• The CFTC ended daily reporting requirements for physical commodity swaps and allowed the CME to list cash-settled futures on individual stocks.
• Senators introduced bills requiring credit bureaus to disclose more about how credit scores are calculated and about credit inquiries.

Government operations and transparency

• The House and Senate each introduced versions of the Judicial FOIA Expansion Act, which would make certain court records available through standard FOIA requests.
• Several procedural resolutions passed: the Senate assigned committee memberships and set ceremonial dates including National Day of the American Cowboy and Lunar Landing Day.
• The House approved renaming post offices in Escondito, California; Virginia Beach; Grand Haven, Michigan; and others — purely ceremonial changes that do not affect services.

Veterans and military

• A House bill would create the Senator Robert J. Dole Greatest Generation Education Program within the Defense Department.
• Other proposals include a VA framework for using artificial intelligence, faster electronic health record transfers for transitioning service members, and equalized funding across military service academies.

Energy and infrastructure

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced several bills, including the Advanced Transmission Technology to Reduce Rates Act, the Ratepayer Protection Act, and a grid innovation funding bill.
• Lawmakers introduced bills to require data centers to report electricity and water use, to speed up approval of certain oil and gas pipelines, and to prohibit AI data centers on federal land.

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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.