Policy
How the Federal Register Turns Rules Into Law
Published every working day since 1936, the Federal Register is the single legal newspaper where every proposed and final federal rule must appear to exist.
Valentina Sokolov · February 4, 2026
Policy: Laws, Rules and Impact
Assessment of what governments spend, tax and regulate, measured against the objectives stated when each measure was introduced. Sources include budget offices, program evaluations and comparable schemes abroad. For officials, evaluators and analysts who need the counterfactual as well as the reported outcome.
Assessment of what governments spend, tax and regulate, measured against the objectives stated when each measure was introduced. Sources include budget offices, program evaluations and comparable schemes abroad. For officials, evaluators and analysts who need the counterfactual as well as the reported outcome.
Policy
How Federal Mandates Hit State and City Budgets
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act was supposed to make Congress count the cost of the rules it imposes — and the counting is exactly what its reports now show.
Henrik Larsen · January 31, 2026
Policy
How Lobbying Disclosure Rules Actually Work
The 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act moved influence out of the shadows with quarterly reports — and its foreign-agent sibling reaches conduct the LDA does not touch.
Valentina Sokolov · January 26, 2026
Policy
What Presidential Impoundment of Funds Really Means
Impoundment is a president's refusal to spend money Congress appropriated — banned in general by a 1974 law whose meaning is back at the center of budget fights.
Valentina Sokolov · January 22, 2026
Policy
How State Preemption Laws Override City Rules
When a city ordinance collides with state statute, the state wins under the supremacy clause of state constitutions — and legislatures have used that lever aggressively.
Valentina Sokolov · January 17, 2026