Federal Independent Agencies
Here's a look at documents from federal independent agencies
Featured Stories
SBA Reforms 8(a) Business Development Program to End Racial Discrimination in Federal Contracting
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on June 11, 2026:
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SBA Reforms 8(a) Business Development Program to End Racial Discrimination in Federal Contracting
Agency issues new proposed rule to dismantle race-based admissions
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a proposed rule to end racial discrimination in the 8(a) Business Development Program and dismantle the race-based admissions framework that previously barred Americans of certain races from accessing 8(a) set-aside and sole-source contracting opportunities.
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The Small Business Administration issued the following news release on June 11, 2026:
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SBA Reforms 8(a) Business Development Program to End Racial Discrimination in Federal Contracting
Agency issues new proposed rule to dismantle race-based admissions
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Today, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a proposed rule to end racial discrimination in the 8(a) Business Development Program and dismantle the race-based admissions framework that previously barred Americans of certain races from accessing 8(a) set-aside and sole-source contracting opportunities.Under the new rule, individuals will no longer be considered "socially disadvantaged," and therefore eligible for the 8(a) program, simply because they are a member of a racial minority group. Likewise, no individual may be barred from the 8(a) program simply because they are white. Instead, all applicants will be required to prove their social disadvantage status by submitting verifiable, fact-based evidence.
"The Biden Administration weaponized the 8(a) program as a vehicle for partisan and DEI preferences in federal contracting, using race to steer exclusive opportunities to favored groups while shutting out other deserving Americans," said SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. "This proposed rule will dismantle the race-based admissions framework of the past and replace it with one standard for all applicants, rooted in verifiable, fact-based evidence of social disadvantage. It will restore equal treatment under clear, objective criteria and help ensure the program serves legitimate job creators instead of political friends, shell companies, or bad actors."
The 8(a) program was dramatically expanded during the Biden Administration as a vehicle for partisan and DEI preferences in federal contracting - crowding out legitimate job creators, especially white Americans. Even after a federal court ruled in 2023 that the rebuttable presumption providing de facto race-based 8(a) eligibility for certain minority groups was unconstitutional, the Biden SBA continued using race and ethnicity to steer exclusive contracting opportunities to favored groups. From 2021 through 2024, the Biden Administration approved roughly 2,100 new 8(a) firms, compared with just 65 approved to date under the Trump Administration.
The Trump SBA ended the practice of approving admissions to the 8(a) program based solely on unsubstantiated claims or Biden-era narratives of racial discrimination immediately upon taking office. Today's proposed rule will make the change permanent by replacing race-based eligibility with one standard for all applicants and requiring verifiable, fact-based evidence of social disadvantage. It will end a system of racial favoritism, restore equal treatment under clear and objective criteria, and keep the 8(a) program open to job creators of every race. Importantly, Americans discriminated against by unlawful DEI and race-based practices in the public and private sector can now qualify for 8(a) contracts.
The changes apply only to individually owned firms participating in the 8(a) Business Development Program. Eligibility standards for entity-owned participants, including businesses owned by Indian tribes, Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs), Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs), and Community Development Corporations (CDCs), remain unchanged.
Ending race-based discrimination in 8(a) admissions is only one part of the Trump SBA's broader effort to clean up a program distorted by favoritism, abuse, and weak oversight. The agency is also pursuing an aggressive campaign to root out fraud, abuse, and misconduct in 8(a) contracting, protect taxpayer dollars, and ensure the program serves legitimate small businesses instead of favored groups, shell companies, and corrupt contractors. Since last year, the agency has taken the following actions:
* In February 2025, on the first day of Administrator Loeffler's term, the Trump SBA cut the Small Disadvantaged Business contracting goal back to its statutory 5% and ended the practice of approving firms based solely on unsubstantiated claims of racial discrimination.
* In June 2025, SBA launched the first-ever audit of the 8(a) Program in its nearly 50-year history - initiating an investigation into all high-dollar and limited-competition contracts going back over a period of fifteen years.
* In July 2025, the agency rescinded the independent 8(a) contracting authority of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after a DOJ investigation uncovered a $550 million bribery scheme involving several 8(a) contractors.
* That same month, SBA issued a letter of warning to all federal contracting officers, outlining the penalties for failing to report suspected fraud, waste, and abuse within the 8(a) Program.
* In October 2025, SBA debarred numerous 8(a) contractors following allegations of fraud involving more than $253 million in previously issued contract awards.
* In November 2025, SBA cleared the Biden-era backlog of 2,700 Veteran Small Business Certification (VetCert) applications, which accumulated after the prior Administration diverted all resources away from VetCert to increase certification approvals for the 8(a) Program.
* In December 2025, SBA ordered all 4,300 8(a) contractors to produce three years' worth of financial documents for review by the agency in the effort to root out pass-through abuse and fraud by shell companies.
* In January 2026, SBA suspended over 1,000 contractors from participation in the 8(a) Program after they failed to submit the documents SBA requested in December.
* In February 2026, SBA took action to terminate over 150 Washington, D.C.-based 8(a) firms that failed to meet "economic disadvantage" eligibility requirements.
* In March 2026, SBA initiated termination proceedings to remove another 620 firms that refused to submit the documents SBA requested in December.
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About the 8(a) Business Development Program
The SBA certifies small businesses considered to be socially and economically disadvantaged under its nine-year 8(a) Business Development Program. The 8(a) program helps these firms develop and grow their businesses through one-to-one counseling, training workshops and management and technical guidance. It also provides access to government contracting opportunities, allowing them to become solid competitors in the federal marketplace.
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of entrepreneurship. As the leading voice for small businesses within the federal government, the SBA empowers job creators with the resources and support they need to start, grow, and expand their businesses or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
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Original text here: https://www.sba.gov/article/2026/06/11/sba-reforms-8a-business-development-program-end-racial-discrimination-federal-contracting
North Dakota Derailment and Hazardous Materials Release Prompts Renewed Call to Accelerate Phase Out of DOT-111 Tank Cars and Raises Concerns About Retrofitted DOT-117R Tank Cars
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The National Transportation Safety Board issued the following news release on June 11, 2026:
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North Dakota Derailment and Hazardous Materials Release Prompts Renewed Call to Accelerate Phase Out of DOT-111 Tank Cars and Raises Concerns About Retrofitted DOT-117R Tank Cars
NTSB also calls for safer placement of hazardous materials cars in train consists
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The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday reiterated recommendations to accelerate the phase out of DOT-111 tank cars and raised concerns about the safety of DOT-117R railcars transporting hazardous materials
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The National Transportation Safety Board issued the following news release on June 11, 2026:
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North Dakota Derailment and Hazardous Materials Release Prompts Renewed Call to Accelerate Phase Out of DOT-111 Tank Cars and Raises Concerns About Retrofitted DOT-117R Tank Cars
NTSB also calls for safer placement of hazardous materials cars in train consists
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The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday reiterated recommendations to accelerate the phase out of DOT-111 tank cars and raised concerns about the safety of DOT-117R railcars transporting hazardous materialsfollowing its investigation of a 2024 derailment in North Dakota. Additionally, the agency called for the safer placement of hazardous material cars in train consists.
The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railroad freight train derailed 29 railcars, including 17 hazardous material tank cars, when the train traversed a broken rail caused by a track bed collapse from a degraded culvert in Bordulac, North Dakota, on July 5, 2024. The derailed tank cars included DOT-111s, DOT-112s, and DOT-117s.
Methanol, a flammable hazardous material, was released from some of the derailed tank cars and led to a pool fire. The heat from the pool fire resulted in the release of anhydrous ammonia, a poisonous-by-inhalation gas, from other derailed cars. Three of these tank cars were carrying anhydrous ammonia and showed evidence of thermal tears due to pool fire exposure. In all, nine hazardous material tank cars were breached during or after the derailment and released their contents. No injuries were reported.
This accident was one of the first major derailments involving a hazardous materials release the NTSB has investigated since the 2023 Norfolk Southern Railway derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. As in East Palestine, DOT-111 tank cars released hazardous materials in the Bordulac derailment. The Bordulac investigation found that the continued use of DOT-117R tank cars, which are retrofitted DOT-111 tank cars that have a thinner shell thickness, has not resulted in the same safety improvements as newly built DOT-117J tank cars.
NTSB investigations have long shown that DOT-111 tank cars are dangerously inadequate, particularly because they are highly vulnerable to puncture during derailments. The NTSB has repeatedly warned that these cars do not provide adequate protection and has called for stronger tank car designs to reduce the risk of hazardous materials releases, fires, and explosions.
The NTSB has investigated train derailments where DOT-111 tank cars performed poorly going back to the 1990s. Between 2006 and 2012, alone, there were several derailments with major flammable liquids releases and fires involving DOT-111 tank cars.
On June 19, 2009, 19 DOT-111 tank cars carrying ethanol derailed, in Cherry Valley, Illinois, killing one person and injuring seven others who were stopped in automobiles at a grade crossing. The NTSB recommended that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration require significantly more durable and puncture-resistant tank cars for transporting crude oil and ethanol. Specifically, the NTSB called for enhanced tank head and shell puncture-resistance systems, improved protection for top fittings, and bottom outlet valves designed to remain closed during accidents, even when subjected to impact forces, to prevent hazardous materials releases.
The NTSB also found that industry-recommended practices and federal requirements for the placement of cars within a train consist do not sufficiently protect against harmful interactions that can occur between adjacent tank cars carrying poison inhalation hazardous materials and flammable liquids in a derailment scenario.
The NTSB issued 11 new recommendations to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, and CPKC. The Board reiterated six recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, including phase out of DOT-111s.
Among the new safety recommendations, NTSB recommended the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration:
* Issue guidance for the selection of an optimal pressure relief device based on the characteristics of the poison inhalation hazard material transported in a tank car.
* Develop and implement new thermal performance criteria for tank cars carrying liquefied gases classified as poison inhalation hazard materials that allow for no release of the tank car's lading during a fully engulfing pool fire except through reclosing pressure relief devices.
* In coordination with the Association of American Railroads, identify the appropriate amount of separation between tank cars transporting poison inhalation hazard materials, including anhydrous ammonia, and those transporting flammable hazardous materials to reduce the likelihood of poison inhalation hazard tank cars being exposed to pool fire conditions.
NTSB recommended the Association of American Railroads revise the formula for required pressure relief device flow capacity and the requirements for pressure relief devices and thermal protection systems to ensure the survivability of tank cars carrying poison inhalation hazard materials in engulfing pool fire conditions.
NTSB recommended CPKC revise its culvert inspection procedures to require every culvert to be inspected internally, either on foot when safe or by using technology, such as cameras or remotely operated vehicles.
Railroad Investigation Report 26-07, the safety recommendations and the docket are available online.
To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).
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Original text here: https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20260611.aspx
NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding in California's High Desert
PASADENA, California, June 12 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding in California's High Desert
The discovery of topaz on a volcanic outcrop in the Mojave Desert may hint at a porphyry copper deposit below.
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Equipped with rock picks and hand lenses, a team of geoscientists deployed to the Mojave Desert recently to investigate a tantalizing "fingerprint" detected by a NASA sensor. Their target: a cache of topaz hiding in plain sight.
The geologists weren't searching for gem-grade treasure. Rather, the presence of
... Show Full Article
PASADENA, California, June 12 (TNSres) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding in California's High Desert
The discovery of topaz on a volcanic outcrop in the Mojave Desert may hint at a porphyry copper deposit below.
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Equipped with rock picks and hand lenses, a team of geoscientists deployed to the Mojave Desert recently to investigate a tantalizing "fingerprint" detected by a NASA sensor. Their target: a cache of topaz hiding in plain sight.
The geologists weren't searching for gem-grade treasure. Rather, the presence oftopaz could hint at a more valuable deposit below of something known as porphyry copper.
One of the world's primary sources of copper, these deposits are left behind when magma and hot water from deep underground course through Earth's crust, chemically transforming the surrounding rock. This tends to occur where one tectonic plate dives below another, known as a subduction zone, such as the North American Cordillera, which stretches from the Canadian Rockies to western Mexico.
In addition to copper -- the third most used metal in the world after steel and aluminum -- the deposits can hold other critical minerals like molybdenum and tellurium, which are used in everything from steelmaking to solar panels. Finding the deposits isn't easy. Geologists look for topaz because it forms under the same volcanic conditions.
For the team in the Mojave, the goal was to collect more evidence. That would require boots on the ground and a heavy bag of samples. The scientists who converged on the site included three experts from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Robert Green of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
"What we're doing out here is geologic CSI," said Green, referring to the investigative TV show, as he split open a weathered red rock to expose a sparkling core. "We're looking for clues to reconstruct what happened here."
Next-generation mineral mapping
The sensor that detected the topaz deposit on public land near Barstow, California, was built at JPL. Called AVIRIS, short for Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, it analyzes reflected sunlight and can be used to identify chemicals and minerals by their unique spectral fingerprint. The technology was pioneered in the early 1980s by a team that included Green, and space-hardened versions have explored the Moon, Mars, and other rocky bodies in the solar system in the decades since.
While its cousins study distant worlds aboard spacecraft, the AVIRIS line of sensors is advancing Earth science from aircraft. The latest model, AVIRIS-5, recently took to the skies for the first time as part of the NASA-USGS Geologic Earth Mapping Experiment (GEMx). The goal of GEMx is to identify sources of critical minerals across the American West, including in the waste rock of active and legacy mines. It is led by the USGS as part of its larger, nationwide initiative.
Since 2023, GEMx flights have covered more than 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers) of American soil, including most of California.
Ground-truthing the sensor data can entail hot field work, scrambling over steep crags to uncover samples for lab analysis. While testing has confirmed the topaz discovery, determining if the Mojave site overlies a porphyry copper deposit will require intensive investigation using ground-penetrating equipment. But the AVIRIS finding shows how advanced NASA airborne sensing can help lead geologists to the metaphorical needle in a haystack, even in heavily explored Southern California.
"People have been prospecting this area for generations," said Erik Tharalson, a USGS geologist. "But there's a lot more to discover."
High flyer
From the beginning, the GEMx mineral mapping campaign has been enabled by one of the highest-flying aircraft in NASA's fleet: the ER 2. It deployed on March 31 from NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, to Colorado Springs Airport in Colorado.
"We deployed to Colorado Springs to maximize flight time for data collection needed in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas," said John McGrath, ER 2 project manager at NASA Armstrong.
By the conclusion of this deployment on June 5, the aircraft had completed 26 flights totaling more than 125 hours. Soaring at about 65,000 feet, the ER-2 can fly at high altitudes that allow it to collect broad area, high resolution spectral measurements in a single pass, supporting researchers studying mineral composition and surface processes.
In 2025, the aircraft flew 36 science missions, collecting more than 7 billion measurements over 200 flight hours. The data has contributed to the largest airborne surface mineralogy dataset gathered in a single NASA-USGS campaign.
The GEMx survey is led and funded by the USGS Earth Mapping Resources Initiative. Earth MRI is modernizing mapping the nation's surface and subsurface to find new, critical, and other minerals. It is a partnership effort with 45 state geological surveys, federal agencies, private industry, tribes, universities, and others. The initiative will capitalize on both the technology developed by NASA for spectroscopic imaging, as well as the USGS expertise in analyzing the datasets, conducting field work, and deriving critical mineral information from them.
To learn more about GEMx visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/gemx/
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-usgs-scientists-go-rock-hounding-in-californias-high-desert/
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Learning About Inflation and Exchange Rates: Beliefs and Consumer Behavior in a Small Open Economy'
WASHINGTON, June 12 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in June 2026 entitled "Learning about Inflation and Exchange Rates: Beliefs and Consumer Behavior in a Small Open Economy."
Here are excerpts:
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Introduction
Households routinely make consumption decisions under uncertainty about nominal macroeconomics variables like inflation and exchange rates. In many open, high-inflation economies, these variables are salient in everyday life through frequent price changes and visible exchange rate movements, and they are key drivers of economic behavior
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 12 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper in June 2026 entitled "Learning about Inflation and Exchange Rates: Beliefs and Consumer Behavior in a Small Open Economy."
Here are excerpts:
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Introduction
Households routinely make consumption decisions under uncertainty about nominal macroeconomics variables like inflation and exchange rates. In many open, high-inflation economies, these variables are salient in everyday life through frequent price changes and visible exchange rate movements, and they are key drivers of economic behaviorin macro models (Frenkel, 1976; Lucas, 1982). However, most empirical work on macroeconomic expectations study inflation expectations in isolation (e.g., Armantier et al., 2016; Malmendier and Nagel, 2016; Cavallo et al., 2017; Coibion et al., 2022, 2018; Candia et al., 2024), while how households form and update beliefs across multiple nominal variables has received less attention.
In small open economies, inflation and nominal exchange rates are closely connected through sizable pass-through from exchange rates to consumer prices, particularly in emerging and developing countries (e.g., Dornbusch, 1976; Obstfeld and Rogoff, 1995; Burstein and Gopinath, 2014). For instance, cross-country studies report that a 1 percent depreciation raises consumer prices by about 0.6 to 0.8 percent in emerging and small open economies, compared to 0.1 to 0.2 percent in advanced economies (Burstein and Gopinath, 2014; Ha et al., 2020). The macro-level relationship between these nominal variables raises two related questions: whether household inflation perceptions and nominal exchange rate beliefs themselves exhibit pass-through, and whether these beliefs meaningfully drive intertemporal decisions such as the accumulation of durable assets.
In this paper, we explore two questions. First, we study how households form and update expectations about inflation and nominal exchange rates, and whether these beliefs exhibit pass-through when households receive new information. Second, we examine how these macroeconomic expectations affect household accumulation of durable assets in the medium run. To answer these questions, we conducted a phone survey experiment in Suriname, a small open economy with a long history of inflation and exchange rate volatility (Ooft, 2023). In 2020, we randomly assigned 888 respondents (drawn from the 2017 Suriname Survey of Living Conditions (SSLC)) to receive expert forecasts on inflation only, expert forecasts on both inflation and exchange rates, or no information. In the survey, we elicited respondents' prior and posterior beliefs about these macroeconomic variables. In particular, we elicited inflation expectations using expected changes in the price of flour, a salient staple good, which we use as a proxy for households' broader inflation perceptions. The question explicitly frames flour as representative of changes in the general price level, while using a familiar price to make the elicitation concrete and interpretable in a phone survey.
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View full text here: https://publications.iadb.org/publications/english/document/Learning-about-Inflation-and-Exchange-Rates-Beliefs-and-Consumer-Behavior-in-a-Small-Open-Economy.pdf
[Category: IADB]
FHLBank Chicago Expands Down Payment Assistance Network During National Homeownership Month
CHICAGO, Illinois, June 12 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news:
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FHLBank Chicago Expands Down Payment Assistance Network During National Homeownership Month
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During National Homeownership Month, Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago) is highlighting expanded access to down payment assistance as more member institutions join its Downpayment Plus (DPP) Program, helping households overcome upfront costs and achieve homeownership.
Four additional FHLBank Chicago member institutions began using
... Show Full Article
CHICAGO, Illinois, June 12 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news:
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FHLBank Chicago Expands Down Payment Assistance Network During National Homeownership Month
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During National Homeownership Month, Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago) is highlighting expanded access to down payment assistance as more member institutions join its Downpayment Plus (DPP) Program, helping households overcome upfront costs and achieve homeownership.
Four additional FHLBank Chicago member institutions began usingthe program in 2026, expanding the network of lenders connecting homebuyers with financial support. As of the date of this release, the new participants have already supported 10 households with $100,000 in assistance this year, with additional activity expected as demand continues across Illinois and Wisconsin.
Through the DPP Program, FHLBank Chicago provides forgivable grants of up to $10,000 to income-eligible homebuyers to help cover down payment and closing costs. In 2026, FHLBank Chicago made $31 million available through its DPP programs to support homebuyers across its district.
"National Homeownership Month is a reminder that for many households, the biggest barrier to homeownership isn't qualification-its upfront costs," said Katie Naftzger, SVP and Community Investment Officer at FHLBank Chicago. "We're encouraged to see more member institutions leveraging the DPP programs to help bridge that gap and connect more homebuyers with the resources they need."
Participating member institutions include American National Bank - Fox Cities, Town and Country Bank Midwest, Alliant Credit Union and Midland Federal Savings and Loan Association.
Since joining the program in 2026, Midland Federal Savings and Loan Association has supported six households through the DPP Program, delivering $60,000 in down payment assistance through the date of this release.
"We joined the Downpayment Plus Program because we saw firsthand how down payment and closing costs can delay or prevent otherwise qualified buyers from purchasing a home," said Tracy Marks of Midland Federal Savings and Loan Association. "The program gives us another tool to support customers on their path to homeownership and helps make that goal more attainable for households in our community."
According to Midland Federal Savings and Loan Association, one borrower was able to purchase their first home, providing a safe, stable, and permanent place for their children. The grant proved to be truly life-changing, transforming years of hard work and determination into a successful and rewarding home purchase.
Since launching the DPP programs in 1994 through year-end 2025, FHLBank Chicago has allocated more than $330 million in down payment assistance, helping more than 51,000 households achieve homeownership across Illinois and Wisconsin. A significant share of recipients have been first-time homebuyers.
During National Homeownership Month, FHLBank Chicago is encouraging its member institutions and nonprofit partners to leverage the DPP programs to support eligible homebuyers in their communities.
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Original text here: https://www.fhlbc.com/news/news-detail/2026/06/11/fhlbank-chicago-expands-down-payment-assistance-network-duringnational-homeownership-month
EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation by Transmitting Four California Waiver Rules to Congress
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:
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EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation by Transmitting Four California Waiver Rules to Congress
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WASHINGTON - Today, in accordance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transmitted four California waiver rules to Congress that have given the state the authority to enact its own emission standards for cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and other equipment used daily by Americans. EPA has determined that each of these waivers is a rule under the CRA, and because
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 12 -- The Environmental Protection Agency issued the following news release:
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EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation by Transmitting Four California Waiver Rules to Congress
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WASHINGTON - Today, in accordance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transmitted four California waiver rules to Congress that have given the state the authority to enact its own emission standards for cars, trucks, lawn mowers, and other equipment used daily by Americans. EPA has determined that each of these waivers is a rule under the CRA, and becauseprevious Administrations failed to transmit them to Congress, as mandated under the CRA, Congress has not been provided with its statutorily required opportunity to review these rules.
"EPA is accountable to Congress, but most importantly we must be accountable to the American people," said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. "It is important for EPA to fulfill our statutory obligation to submit these California waivers to Congress for their review pursuant to the law."
EPA is committed to promoting consumer choice and ensuring affordable vehicles for all Americans, while following the best reading of the law. The four rules have prospective, national effects, giving California and the states that adopted the waivers under Clean Air Act section 177 the force of federal law, supplanting EPA authority.
Rules Being Transmitted to Congress
Current National Implication of the Rules
Motor Vehicle Evaporative Emissions and Greenhouse Gas ("Advanced Clean Cars I" (ACC I))
This rule allows California to impose vehicle emissions requirements stricter than federal standards. This has resulted in a push towards electric vehicles across the nation.
Reinstatement of ACC I
Following the Trump Administration revoking ACC I, the Biden EPA reinstated it, allowing California once again to impose costly vehicle emission requirements higher than federal standards.
Small Offroad Engine (SORE) Amendments
This rule imposes costly emission requirements for lawn and garden equipment and has resulted in the push towards electrification of these tools. SORE leaves small businesses, landscapers, and homeowners forced to use expensive and impractical electric tools.
Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards - 2009 and Subsequent Model Years
This rule allows California to enforce strict greenhouse gas standards. Automakers are forced to make a vehicle fit California's standards instead of the federal standards and consumers pay for this through higher vehicle costs.
Background
In early 2025, EPA transmitted to Congress three emission waivers granted to California by the Biden Administration. In June 2025, all three CRA resolutions disapproving the vehicle emission waiver rules were signed into law by President Trump, repealing EV mandates and restoring consumer choice.
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Original text here: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-fulfills-statutory-obligation-transmitting-four-california-waiver-rules-congress
Bridging the Homeownership Gap in Wisconsin's Northwoods
CHICAGO, Illinois, June 12 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news:
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Bridging the Homeownership Gap in Wisconsin's Northwoods
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In Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin's Northwoods region, the path to homeownership presents a unique challenge. While homes may be affordable, the local economy doesn't always provide wages to match, and much of the rental stock has been converted to vacation properties. For Carmen Schipferling, Home Lending Specialist at IncredibleBank, FHLBank Chicago's Downpayment
... Show Full Article
CHICAGO, Illinois, June 12 -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, a district bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, issued the following news:
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Bridging the Homeownership Gap in Wisconsin's Northwoods
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In Michigan's Western Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin's Northwoods region, the path to homeownership presents a unique challenge. While homes may be affordable, the local economy doesn't always provide wages to match, and much of the rental stock has been converted to vacation properties. For Carmen Schipferling, Home Lending Specialist at IncredibleBank, FHLBank Chicago's DownpaymentPlus (r) (DPP (r) ) Program has become an essential tool for bridging that gap.
"After moving to the area, I saw firsthand how hard it was for families to get into homes," Schipferling said. "DPP has helped open doors for people who never thought homeownership was possible."
IncredibleBank, a community bank with eight lenders serving the country from their offices in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Florida, has leveraged DPP as its primary down payment assistance program since Schipferling first used it in 2016. The program's simplicity and substantial grant amount has made a meaningful difference for first-time homebuyers who might otherwise remain locked out of the market.
Since 2024, the partnership has accelerated, with IncredibleBank helping approximately 30 families achieve homeownership through DPP, most receiving the maximum funding. One story stands out: a single mother raising her three-year-old daughter and teenage sister arrived at closing needing only one dollar to complete her purchase.
"She was in tears," Schipferling recalled. "She said, 'I never thought this would happen. And now here I am buying a house with one dollar.'"
Behind every successful closing is the support of FHLBank Chicago's DPP team. Schipferling credits Community Investment Operations Specialist Kait Decker with going above and beyond-once resolving a critical issue just two days before closing. "She makes us feel well cared for," said Schipferling. "There's never anything too small to ask."
Looking ahead, all IncredibleBank lenders have enrolled in DPP training for 2026, with the goal of offering the program to every qualifying customer. "DPP has become an essential part of how we support first-time homebuyers," Schipferling said. "Our goal is to make sure it's available to as many qualifying families as possible."
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Original text here: https://www.fhlbc.com/news/news-detail/2026/06/10/bridging-the-homeownership-gap-in-wisconsin's-northwoods
