congress

A handy guide to all Congress happenings on both sides of the aisle. Thank goodness for this political body that keeps Presidential power in check.

Europe Is Building the Weapon It Once Called Illegal
I In 1987, the United States launched a Section 301 investigation into the European Community. In 1989, based on that investigation, Washington imposed retaliatory tariffs on the EC. In December 1998, the United States again invoked Section 301 to impose unilateral sanctions totaling $520 million on imports from the EU, including handbags and cashmere wool products.
By Jin25 days ago in The Swamp
Trump Just Renamed AI “Super Intelligence.” Here’s What That Actually Does.
On September 29, 2026, Trump signed an executive order called Launching the Super Intelligence Era . It tells federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence” with “Super Intelligence” in official communications. The same day, he signed the White House Super Intelligence Accord: Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibility with the CEOs of Anthropic, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, and xAI. The accord hands regulatory leadership to the companies themselves.
By Jin25 days ago in The Swamp
The Perils of Entanglement
For decades, United States foreign policy in East Asia has been anchored to an increasingly hazardous premise: that Washington must guarantee the security of Taiwan against the People’s Republic of China (PRC). On the surface, the United States claims to support an East-Asian democracy against mainland China. The reality is not so benign. For the past 75 years, the United States has needlessly interfered in the Chinese civil war. As global dynamics shift and the risk of conflict escalates, Washington must reassess its commitment to Taiwan. To avoid a potentially dangerous confrontation, the United States must cease its military and political backing of Taiwan.
By Elliott J. Schuchardt27 days ago in The Swamp
$30 Billion in Tariff Cuts Is the Small Part. The New Trade Machinery Matters More
On September 25, Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his state visit to Washington. China and the United States subsequently released their respective accounts of the meetings, including eight agreed outcomes and understandings.
By Jin27 days ago in The Swamp
What the Xi-Trump White House Meeting Put on the Table
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2026 — Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump met at the White House on Thursday, with discussions ranging from trade and artificial intelligence to Taiwan and major international conflicts.
By Jin28 days ago in The Swamp
Iran’s 7-Day Plan to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz Lasted 24 Hours
On September 25, 2026, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented a plan at the United Nations in New York. If the United States took certain steps, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen within seven days. The next day, Trump told cameras, “I rejected their proposal” and “The United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz.” The plan lasted less than a day.
By Jin28 days ago in The Swamp
The Red Carpet Is Rolled Up. Taiwan Should Read the Room.
When the red carpet was rolled out at Andrews Air Force Base, cameras swept the honor guard. The U.S. and Chinese national anthems played at the White House. At the state dinner, glasses were raised. Those images will sit in news archives. For Taiwan, one line from the meeting matters more: China and the U.S. agreed to build a “constructive strategic stability relationship based on respect, fairness, and reciprocity” and reached an eight-point consensus.
By Jin28 days ago in The Swamp
The Worker of Pathways and the Bubble of Greed
The Worker of Pathways and the Bubble of Greed Copilot The Worker of Pathways walked into a world where the sky looked normal, but the air felt wrong, stretched thin, like something enormous was sucking the breath out of the streets.
By Vicki Lawana Trusselli 29 days ago in The Swamp
Signed While Tariffs Stayed: The 20-Year China-U.S. LNG Deal, Explained Without the Hype
On September 14, 2026, Venture Global issued an announcement. The announcement confirmed that China Gas Holdings had signed a new liquefied natural gas sale and purchase agreement with Venture Global. Under the agreement, China Gas Holdings will purchase 500,000 tonnes of U.S. LNG per year beginning in 2030, for a term of 20 years. The same announcement stated that the new agreement brings the total long-term purchase arrangement between Venture Global and China Gas Holdings to 2.5 million tonnes per year, supplied from Venture Global’s project portfolio.
By Jin29 days ago in The Swamp
The U.S.-China Trade Truce Is Extended to Jan. 10. The Hard Questions Remain
On Sept. 23 in Washington, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. After the meeting, Bessent told Fox News that the two sides had agreed to extend their trade truce by two months, moving the previous Nov. 10 expiry date to Jan. 10, 2027. Reuters reported the extension the same day. Beijing did not issue a parallel announcement.
By Jin30 days ago in The Swamp
The Last Blast Furnace: How Ukraine’s Steel Industry Went Dark in One Month
In the early hours of September 12, 2026, in Kryvyi Rih, the blast-furnace operator on duty at the ArcelorMittal plant saw the hot-blast stove pressure drop to zero in the control room. There was no explosion. The power system went down first. The pipe network lost pressure afterward. The molten iron in the hearth stopped flowing. Its temperature fell, degree by degree. Workers called over the radio. No answer. A few hours later, the plant announced a shutdown. This time, the blast furnaces could not be lit again.
By Jinabout a month ago in The Swamp
Mid-Terms are Coming
We told you so! When Trump returned to the political campaign trails (though he never left), every anti-Trump voters shouted the dangers of his return to the oval office. We tried to educate as many people about the mastermind think tank from the Heritage Foundation and their 900-page manifesto titled Project 2025. Though Trump’s campaign website displayed a one-page of roughly 14 to 15 bullet points with a tiny link to a page sharing the fine print of his alleged policies (the site is no longer active), one-third of the country continued to vote for him. Honestly, how does one vote for a man convicted of sexual assault, touting about people eating cats and dogs? Meanwhile, Kamala Harris’s highlighted many details to improve Americans’ lives, from tax breaks for new homeowners to lowering the cost of everyday needs (groceries, healthcare, and more). Despite the efforts, one-third of our country opted to not vote, thrusting Americans into economic chaos, entangled in a pointless war, and a constant everyday fight for basic human rights. Now what?
By Iris Harrisabout a month ago in The Swamp