Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this morning published an opinion in Fox News entitled: “I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control.”
Read Senator Welch’s op-ed and view an excerpt below:
SENATOR PETER WELCH: I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control By U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
Published July 14, 2025, by Fox News
“When disaster strikes, it is an all-hands-on-deck moment. The federal government has the unique ability to surge resources and personnel, and it’s critical they show up.
“As long as there is destructive weather, there must be a fully functioning FEMA. Communities from Vermont, to Texas, to North Carolina, to New Mexico know this reality.
“But, the agency is far from perfect. FEMA must be reformed.
“FEMA is too slow, too bureaucratic and too bloated. Administrative costs outweigh direct disaster assistance. Recovery is hindered by red tape.
“That’s why I introduced new legislation July 10 to fix FEMA’s broken long-term recovery process.
“The “Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act” has a simple premise: local leaders know their local community best. They should be empowered to make decisions.”
Read Senator Welch’s full opinion piece in Fox News.
Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) this morning published an opinion in Fox News entitled: “I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control.”
Read Senator Welch’s op-ed and view an excerpt below:
SENATOR PETER WELCH: I’m a Democrat and we need to fix FEMA with local control By U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
Published July 14, 2025, by Fox News
“When disaster strikes, it is an all-hands-on-deck moment. The federal government has the unique ability to surge resources and personnel, and it’s critical they show up.
“As long as there is destructive weather, there must be a fully functioning FEMA. Communities from Vermont, to Texas, to North Carolina, to New Mexico know this reality.
“But, the agency is far from perfect. FEMA must be reformed.
“FEMA is too slow, too bureaucratic and too bloated. Administrative costs outweigh direct disaster assistance. Recovery is hindered by red tape.
“That’s why I introduced new legislation July 10 to fix FEMA’s broken long-term recovery process.
“The “Disaster Assistance Improvement and Decentralization (AID) Act” has a simple premise: local leaders know their local community best. They should be empowered to make decisions.”
Read Senator Welch’s full opinion piece in Fox News.
As Canada’s new government negotiates a new economic and security partnership with the United States, it is also taking action to protect Canadian workers and businesses from unfair trade practices.
Today, the Honourable Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement announced that the government has implemented a new Interim Policy on Reciprocal Procurement. Under this new policy, suppliers from countries that limit Canadian access to their own government contracts can be restricted from bidding on Canadian federal contracts. This measure will prioritize suppliers from Canada and from our reliable trading partners that provide reciprocal access to suppliers from Canada through trade agreements.
The policy applies to all federal departments and agencies and will be implemented in two phases:
Phase 1, the interim policy, will focus on applying the policy based on the location of suppliers, started with the roll-out of training and tools on June 30, 2025, to support implementation. The interim policy is effective as of July 14, 2025.
Phase 2, the complete policy, will determine supplier eligibility based on the origin of goods and services being offered, and will be introduced at a later date.
As shared earlier this year, the government is also exploring additional ways to maximize the use of Canadian steel and aluminum in government-funded projects, including in coordination with Canadian provinces and territories.
By enforcing fair and reciprocal procurement access, the government will protect Canadian innovation, jobs, and economic growth, and ensure that Canadian suppliers remain competitive in the global marketplace. We will defend the interests of Canadians, safeguard Canada’s workers and businesses, and build one Canadian economy – the strongest economy in the G7.
As Canada’s new government negotiates a new economic and security partnership with the United States, it is also taking action to protect Canadian workers and businesses from unfair trade practices.
Today, the Honourable Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement announced that the government has implemented a new Interim Policy on Reciprocal Procurement. Under this new policy, suppliers from countries that limit Canadian access to their own government contracts can be restricted from bidding on Canadian federal contracts. This measure will prioritize suppliers from Canada and from our reliable trading partners that provide reciprocal access to suppliers from Canada through trade agreements.
The policy applies to all federal departments and agencies and will be implemented in two phases:
Phase 1, the interim policy, will focus on applying the policy based on the location of suppliers, started with the roll-out of training and tools on June 30, 2025, to support implementation. The interim policy is effective as of July 14, 2025.
Phase 2, the complete policy, will determine supplier eligibility based on the origin of goods and services being offered, and will be introduced at a later date.
As shared earlier this year, the government is also exploring additional ways to maximize the use of Canadian steel and aluminum in government-funded projects, including in coordination with Canadian provinces and territories.
By enforcing fair and reciprocal procurement access, the government will protect Canadian innovation, jobs, and economic growth, and ensure that Canadian suppliers remain competitive in the global marketplace. We will defend the interests of Canadians, safeguard Canada’s workers and businesses, and build one Canadian economy – the strongest economy in the G7.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — This morning, Speaker Johnson appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the historic One Big Beautiful Bill and how House Republicans are keeping their foot on the gas after President Trump signed it into law.
Watch the full interview here
On the One Big Beautiful Bill adding jet fuel to the US economy:
The big beautiful bill, people call it a spending bill. It wasn’t. The only increases in spending were for those two priorities, border and national defense. Everything else was carving back and saving money from the budget, which is why you call it a reconciliation bill. So we would have actually achieved, and we will, in excess of $1.6 trillion in savings. That is an historic number. No congress, no legislative body in the history of planet Earth has ever saved so much in a bill. Now, it’s just the first step though, Maria, as we point out, we have a $37 trillion federal debt. You and I talk about this all the time. We all do. And we have to have a combination of reduced spending and greater economic growth.
We put jet fuel into the economy with the one big beautiful bill. It will be that. Extraordinary growth, we’re projecting 3% going forward and $4 trillion in new revenue, just out of the legislation. But more is ahead. And the tariff policy and the other policies of the Trump administration have been wildly successful. In fact, we had a budget surplus, as you know, in the month of June, the first time since 2017 when President Trump was last in the White House. So more of that is ahead. Every American will feel it. And the big beautiful bill was geared and written for lower- and middle-class earners in the country. They’re going to be feeling really good as we go into that midterm election in 2026.
On House Republicans legislative agenda going forward:
We’re implementing a playbook that we designed well over a year ago, about 15 months ago. We began this process understanding and believing that we would win unified government, that we’d have the White House, the Senate, and the House in Republican hands, and that we would not want to waste this historic opportunity with President Trump coming back to the White House and us having the responsibility of fixing every metric of public policy that Biden and Harris and the Democrats destroyed over the previous four years. So, the big beautiful bill was the first big step in that. But we have multiple steps ahead of us. We have long planned for at least two, possibly three reconciliation bills, one in the fall and one next spring that would continue to allow us to do this on a partisan basis, where we only need Republican votes and we don’t have to drag Democrats along. They are in no appetite to fix any of the mess. We have to do it ourselves. So yes, that’s next.
In addition to that, we will continue to get the country back on a path to fiscal responsibility by rescissions packages that will come from the White House that we’ll enact, and claw back spending and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in the multiple reconciliation packages, and in appropriating at lower levels of funding. All these things will be done while we’re codifying more of President Trump’s executive orders. He’s been very busy. We will be as well. We have a lot more work ahead of us.
On codifying President Trump’s executive orders:
Almost 30 of them were included in the big beautiful Bill. So that was a lawmaking exercise; the president has now signed them into law and they’re codified. So it’s not a temporary thing, they’ll be permanent in the law. And we’ve done a number, about 15 or 20 additional executive orders that we’ve already codified in the House. We’ll continue that process. We wanted to get as many of them as we could into the reconciliation package because we knew that we were certain that that would actually be signed into law and it wouldn’t just be a feelgood exercise. So more of that will continue going forward. The president’s been one of the most prolific, I think arguably the most successful president in the first six months of this term than any previous president. Look how many things have been accomplished? A lot of it has been done through executive order, so Congress has its role to play now as well.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — This morning, Speaker Johnson appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the historic One Big Beautiful Bill and how House Republicans are keeping their foot on the gas after President Trump signed it into law.
Watch the full interview here
On the One Big Beautiful Bill adding jet fuel to the US economy:
The big beautiful bill, people call it a spending bill. It wasn’t. The only increases in spending were for those two priorities, border and national defense. Everything else was carving back and saving money from the budget, which is why you call it a reconciliation bill. So we would have actually achieved, and we will, in excess of $1.6 trillion in savings. That is an historic number. No congress, no legislative body in the history of planet Earth has ever saved so much in a bill. Now, it’s just the first step though, Maria, as we point out, we have a $37 trillion federal debt. You and I talk about this all the time. We all do. And we have to have a combination of reduced spending and greater economic growth.
We put jet fuel into the economy with the one big beautiful bill. It will be that. Extraordinary growth, we’re projecting 3% going forward and $4 trillion in new revenue, just out of the legislation. But more is ahead. And the tariff policy and the other policies of the Trump administration have been wildly successful. In fact, we had a budget surplus, as you know, in the month of June, the first time since 2017 when President Trump was last in the White House. So more of that is ahead. Every American will feel it. And the big beautiful bill was geared and written for lower- and middle-class earners in the country. They’re going to be feeling really good as we go into that midterm election in 2026.
On House Republicans legislative agenda going forward:
We’re implementing a playbook that we designed well over a year ago, about 15 months ago. We began this process understanding and believing that we would win unified government, that we’d have the White House, the Senate, and the House in Republican hands, and that we would not want to waste this historic opportunity with President Trump coming back to the White House and us having the responsibility of fixing every metric of public policy that Biden and Harris and the Democrats destroyed over the previous four years. So, the big beautiful bill was the first big step in that. But we have multiple steps ahead of us. We have long planned for at least two, possibly three reconciliation bills, one in the fall and one next spring that would continue to allow us to do this on a partisan basis, where we only need Republican votes and we don’t have to drag Democrats along. They are in no appetite to fix any of the mess. We have to do it ourselves. So yes, that’s next.
In addition to that, we will continue to get the country back on a path to fiscal responsibility by rescissions packages that will come from the White House that we’ll enact, and claw back spending and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in the multiple reconciliation packages, and in appropriating at lower levels of funding. All these things will be done while we’re codifying more of President Trump’s executive orders. He’s been very busy. We will be as well. We have a lot more work ahead of us.
On codifying President Trump’s executive orders:
Almost 30 of them were included in the big beautiful Bill. So that was a lawmaking exercise; the president has now signed them into law and they’re codified. So it’s not a temporary thing, they’ll be permanent in the law. And we’ve done a number, about 15 or 20 additional executive orders that we’ve already codified in the House. We’ll continue that process. We wanted to get as many of them as we could into the reconciliation package because we knew that we were certain that that would actually be signed into law and it wouldn’t just be a feelgood exercise. So more of that will continue going forward. The president’s been one of the most prolific, I think arguably the most successful president in the first six months of this term than any previous president. Look how many things have been accomplished? A lot of it has been done through executive order, so Congress has its role to play now as well.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — This morning, Speaker Johnson appeared on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the historic One Big Beautiful Bill and how House Republicans are keeping their foot on the gas after President Trump signed it into law.
Watch the full interview here
On the One Big Beautiful Bill adding jet fuel to the US economy:
The big beautiful bill, people call it a spending bill. It wasn’t. The only increases in spending were for those two priorities, border and national defense. Everything else was carving back and saving money from the budget, which is why you call it a reconciliation bill. So we would have actually achieved, and we will, in excess of $1.6 trillion in savings. That is an historic number. No congress, no legislative body in the history of planet Earth has ever saved so much in a bill. Now, it’s just the first step though, Maria, as we point out, we have a $37 trillion federal debt. You and I talk about this all the time. We all do. And we have to have a combination of reduced spending and greater economic growth.
We put jet fuel into the economy with the one big beautiful bill. It will be that. Extraordinary growth, we’re projecting 3% going forward and $4 trillion in new revenue, just out of the legislation. But more is ahead. And the tariff policy and the other policies of the Trump administration have been wildly successful. In fact, we had a budget surplus, as you know, in the month of June, the first time since 2017 when President Trump was last in the White House. So more of that is ahead. Every American will feel it. And the big beautiful bill was geared and written for lower- and middle-class earners in the country. They’re going to be feeling really good as we go into that midterm election in 2026.
On House Republicans legislative agenda going forward:
We’re implementing a playbook that we designed well over a year ago, about 15 months ago. We began this process understanding and believing that we would win unified government, that we’d have the White House, the Senate, and the House in Republican hands, and that we would not want to waste this historic opportunity with President Trump coming back to the White House and us having the responsibility of fixing every metric of public policy that Biden and Harris and the Democrats destroyed over the previous four years. So, the big beautiful bill was the first big step in that. But we have multiple steps ahead of us. We have long planned for at least two, possibly three reconciliation bills, one in the fall and one next spring that would continue to allow us to do this on a partisan basis, where we only need Republican votes and we don’t have to drag Democrats along. They are in no appetite to fix any of the mess. We have to do it ourselves. So yes, that’s next.
In addition to that, we will continue to get the country back on a path to fiscal responsibility by rescissions packages that will come from the White House that we’ll enact, and claw back spending and eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in the multiple reconciliation packages, and in appropriating at lower levels of funding. All these things will be done while we’re codifying more of President Trump’s executive orders. He’s been very busy. We will be as well. We have a lot more work ahead of us.
On codifying President Trump’s executive orders:
Almost 30 of them were included in the big beautiful Bill. So that was a lawmaking exercise; the president has now signed them into law and they’re codified. So it’s not a temporary thing, they’ll be permanent in the law. And we’ve done a number, about 15 or 20 additional executive orders that we’ve already codified in the House. We’ll continue that process. We wanted to get as many of them as we could into the reconciliation package because we knew that we were certain that that would actually be signed into law and it wouldn’t just be a feelgood exercise. So more of that will continue going forward. The president’s been one of the most prolific, I think arguably the most successful president in the first six months of this term than any previous president. Look how many things have been accomplished? A lot of it has been done through executive order, so Congress has its role to play now as well.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson published an op-ed on X titled, “The True Meaning of ‘The Separation of Church and State.’”
“As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for,” Speaker Johnson wrote.
Read Speaker Johnson’s full op-ed on X here or below:
Amid all the other big news this week, a landmark development in a federal court in Texas drew less attention than expected. On Monday, the IRS agreed to a consent judgment that will restore the First Amendment rights of churches and religious non-profit organizations to speak freely without losing their tax-exempt status. The court should quickly approve that proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed by the National Religious Broadcasters and Texas churches, which was brought to overturn a 1950s-era provision in the tax code known as “the Johnson Amendment.”
As a former constitutional law litigator, I – along with many of my former colleagues – have long argued that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional. President Trump understands this well, and in his speech to the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, he resolved to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.” Resolving the Texas case will be key to ensuring that people of faith are no longer censored and silenced because of the tax code – and hopefully it will serve as a teachable moment about one of the most misunderstood subjects in our culture.
Most people today who insist upon a rigid “separation between church and state” are unaware the phrase derives not from the Constitution, but from a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.
He explained that because “religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God,” the language of the First Amendment is a vital safeguard for our “rights of conscience.” Jefferson said he revered “that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Jefferson clearly did not mean that metaphorical “wall” was to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. To the contrary, it was meant to keep the federal government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.
The majority of the Founders, having personally witnessed the abuses of the Church of England, were determined to prevent the official establishment of any single national denomination or religion. However, they very deliberately listed religious liberty (the free exercise of religion) as the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights **because they wanted everyone to freely live out their faith – as that would ensure a robust presence of moral virtue in the public square and the free marketplace of ideas.**
Volumes written on this topic can be summarized by reference to the sentiments of our first two presidents. In his historic Farewell Address, “the Father of our Country,” George Washington, declared: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” John Adams warned directly: “Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
What these two Founders and their fellow patriots all understood from history was that there are many important rules and practices that can help build and sustain a healthy republic. But the key – and the essential foundation – of a system of government like ours must be a common commitment among the citizenry to the principles of religion and morality.
The Founders acknowledged in the Declaration the self-evident truths that all men are created equal, and that God gives all men the same inalienable rights. However, they knew that in order to maintain a government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as Lincoln articulated, in “this nation, under God,” those inalienable rights must be exercised in a responsible manner. They thus believed in liberty that is legitimately constrained by a common sense of morality – and a healthy fear of the Creator, who granted all men our rights.
The Founders understood that all men are fallen and that power corrupts. They also knew that no amount of institutional checks and balances or decentralization of power in civil authorities would be sufficient to maintain a just government if the men in charge had no fear of eternal judgment by a power HIGHER than their temporal institutions.
A free society and a healthy republic depend upon religious and moral virtue- not only because they help prevent political corruption and the abuse of power – but also because those convictions in the minds and hearts of the people make it possible to preserve their essential freedoms by emphasizing and inspiring individual responsibility, self-sacrifice, the dignity of hard work, the rule of law, civility, patriotism, the value of family and community, and the sanctity of every human life. Without those virtues, “indispensably supported” by religion and morality, every nation will ultimately fall.
Inscribed on the third panel of the Jefferson Memorial here in Washington, D.C., is his sobering reminder to every American: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
The experience of history teaches that these principles are universal and timeless, and they certainly apply to our nation today. Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with the keen observation that “America is great because she is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” That has been the key to our exceptionalism. Our republic depends upon it now more than ever, and it is our job to instill and preserve it.
As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for. Anyone who has been misled to believe that religious principles and viewpoints must be separated from public affairs should be reminded to review their history. Let us hope the federal court in Texas accepts the IRS consent judgment as yet another acknowledgment of these essential truths.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson published an op-ed on X titled, “The True Meaning of ‘The Separation of Church and State.’”
“As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for,” Speaker Johnson wrote.
Read Speaker Johnson’s full op-ed on X here or below:
Amid all the other big news this week, a landmark development in a federal court in Texas drew less attention than expected. On Monday, the IRS agreed to a consent judgment that will restore the First Amendment rights of churches and religious non-profit organizations to speak freely without losing their tax-exempt status. The court should quickly approve that proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed by the National Religious Broadcasters and Texas churches, which was brought to overturn a 1950s-era provision in the tax code known as “the Johnson Amendment.”
As a former constitutional law litigator, I – along with many of my former colleagues – have long argued that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional. President Trump understands this well, and in his speech to the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, he resolved to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.” Resolving the Texas case will be key to ensuring that people of faith are no longer censored and silenced because of the tax code – and hopefully it will serve as a teachable moment about one of the most misunderstood subjects in our culture.
Most people today who insist upon a rigid “separation between church and state” are unaware the phrase derives not from the Constitution, but from a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.
He explained that because “religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God,” the language of the First Amendment is a vital safeguard for our “rights of conscience.” Jefferson said he revered “that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Jefferson clearly did not mean that metaphorical “wall” was to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. To the contrary, it was meant to keep the federal government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.
The majority of the Founders, having personally witnessed the abuses of the Church of England, were determined to prevent the official establishment of any single national denomination or religion. However, they very deliberately listed religious liberty (the free exercise of religion) as the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights **because they wanted everyone to freely live out their faith – as that would ensure a robust presence of moral virtue in the public square and the free marketplace of ideas.**
Volumes written on this topic can be summarized by reference to the sentiments of our first two presidents. In his historic Farewell Address, “the Father of our Country,” George Washington, declared: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” John Adams warned directly: “Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
What these two Founders and their fellow patriots all understood from history was that there are many important rules and practices that can help build and sustain a healthy republic. But the key – and the essential foundation – of a system of government like ours must be a common commitment among the citizenry to the principles of religion and morality.
The Founders acknowledged in the Declaration the self-evident truths that all men are created equal, and that God gives all men the same inalienable rights. However, they knew that in order to maintain a government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as Lincoln articulated, in “this nation, under God,” those inalienable rights must be exercised in a responsible manner. They thus believed in liberty that is legitimately constrained by a common sense of morality – and a healthy fear of the Creator, who granted all men our rights.
The Founders understood that all men are fallen and that power corrupts. They also knew that no amount of institutional checks and balances or decentralization of power in civil authorities would be sufficient to maintain a just government if the men in charge had no fear of eternal judgment by a power HIGHER than their temporal institutions.
A free society and a healthy republic depend upon religious and moral virtue- not only because they help prevent political corruption and the abuse of power – but also because those convictions in the minds and hearts of the people make it possible to preserve their essential freedoms by emphasizing and inspiring individual responsibility, self-sacrifice, the dignity of hard work, the rule of law, civility, patriotism, the value of family and community, and the sanctity of every human life. Without those virtues, “indispensably supported” by religion and morality, every nation will ultimately fall.
Inscribed on the third panel of the Jefferson Memorial here in Washington, D.C., is his sobering reminder to every American: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
The experience of history teaches that these principles are universal and timeless, and they certainly apply to our nation today. Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with the keen observation that “America is great because she is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” That has been the key to our exceptionalism. Our republic depends upon it now more than ever, and it is our job to instill and preserve it.
As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for. Anyone who has been misled to believe that religious principles and viewpoints must be separated from public affairs should be reminded to review their history. Let us hope the federal court in Texas accepts the IRS consent judgment as yet another acknowledgment of these essential truths.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04)
WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson published an op-ed on X titled, “The True Meaning of ‘The Separation of Church and State.’”
“As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for,” Speaker Johnson wrote.
Read Speaker Johnson’s full op-ed on X here or below:
Amid all the other big news this week, a landmark development in a federal court in Texas drew less attention than expected. On Monday, the IRS agreed to a consent judgment that will restore the First Amendment rights of churches and religious non-profit organizations to speak freely without losing their tax-exempt status. The court should quickly approve that proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed by the National Religious Broadcasters and Texas churches, which was brought to overturn a 1950s-era provision in the tax code known as “the Johnson Amendment.”
As a former constitutional law litigator, I – along with many of my former colleagues – have long argued that the Johnson Amendment is unconstitutional. President Trump understands this well, and in his speech to the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast, he resolved to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.” Resolving the Texas case will be key to ensuring that people of faith are no longer censored and silenced because of the tax code – and hopefully it will serve as a teachable moment about one of the most misunderstood subjects in our culture.
Most people today who insist upon a rigid “separation between church and state” are unaware the phrase derives not from the Constitution, but from a personal letter that President Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.
He explained that because “religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God,” the language of the First Amendment is a vital safeguard for our “rights of conscience.” Jefferson said he revered “that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”
Jefferson clearly did not mean that metaphorical “wall” was to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. To the contrary, it was meant to keep the federal government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.
The majority of the Founders, having personally witnessed the abuses of the Church of England, were determined to prevent the official establishment of any single national denomination or religion. However, they very deliberately listed religious liberty (the free exercise of religion) as the first freedom protected in the Bill of Rights **because they wanted everyone to freely live out their faith – as that would ensure a robust presence of moral virtue in the public square and the free marketplace of ideas.**
Volumes written on this topic can be summarized by reference to the sentiments of our first two presidents. In his historic Farewell Address, “the Father of our Country,” George Washington, declared: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” John Adams warned directly: “Our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
What these two Founders and their fellow patriots all understood from history was that there are many important rules and practices that can help build and sustain a healthy republic. But the key – and the essential foundation – of a system of government like ours must be a common commitment among the citizenry to the principles of religion and morality.
The Founders acknowledged in the Declaration the self-evident truths that all men are created equal, and that God gives all men the same inalienable rights. However, they knew that in order to maintain a government “of the people, by the people and for the people,” as Lincoln articulated, in “this nation, under God,” those inalienable rights must be exercised in a responsible manner. They thus believed in liberty that is legitimately constrained by a common sense of morality – and a healthy fear of the Creator, who granted all men our rights.
The Founders understood that all men are fallen and that power corrupts. They also knew that no amount of institutional checks and balances or decentralization of power in civil authorities would be sufficient to maintain a just government if the men in charge had no fear of eternal judgment by a power HIGHER than their temporal institutions.
A free society and a healthy republic depend upon religious and moral virtue- not only because they help prevent political corruption and the abuse of power – but also because those convictions in the minds and hearts of the people make it possible to preserve their essential freedoms by emphasizing and inspiring individual responsibility, self-sacrifice, the dignity of hard work, the rule of law, civility, patriotism, the value of family and community, and the sanctity of every human life. Without those virtues, “indispensably supported” by religion and morality, every nation will ultimately fall.
Inscribed on the third panel of the Jefferson Memorial here in Washington, D.C., is his sobering reminder to every American: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
The experience of history teaches that these principles are universal and timeless, and they certainly apply to our nation today. Alexis de Tocqueville is credited with the keen observation that “America is great because she is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” That has been the key to our exceptionalism. Our republic depends upon it now more than ever, and it is our job to instill and preserve it.
As we approach the 250th birthday of our great nation, it has never been more important to defend truth on every front, repair our foundations, and hold fast to who we are and what we stand for. Anyone who has been misled to believe that religious principles and viewpoints must be separated from public affairs should be reminded to review their history. Let us hope the federal court in Texas accepts the IRS consent judgment as yet another acknowledgment of these essential truths.
A federal jury convicted a Washington man on Friday for tax evasion and filing false tax returns related to a scheme to conceal income received from his commercial property business.
The following is according to court documents and evidence presented at trial: Steven Loo, of Seattle, controlled and operated eight companies that owned commercial real estate. Each was managed by independent property management companies, which were responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the real estate. Loo diverted the income he earned from his real estate by instructing the property management companies to issue checks, categorized as asset management fees, to two other entities that Loo controlled. Loo knew that the funds deposited into these bank accounts, totaling more than $4.8 million, were income to him and that he was required to report and pay tax on the funds. Nevertheless, Loo filed tax returns for 2015 through 2020 that did not report or pay tax on these funds.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Loo owes $1.6 million in taxes on his unreported income.
Loo is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the false tax return charges and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the tax evasion charges for which he was convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller for the Western District of Washington made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Regina Jeon of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Dion and Sean Waite for the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
A federal jury convicted a Washington man on Friday for tax evasion and filing false tax returns related to a scheme to conceal income received from his commercial property business.
The following is according to court documents and evidence presented at trial: Steven Loo, of Seattle, controlled and operated eight companies that owned commercial real estate. Each was managed by independent property management companies, which were responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the real estate. Loo diverted the income he earned from his real estate by instructing the property management companies to issue checks, categorized as asset management fees, to two other entities that Loo controlled. Loo knew that the funds deposited into these bank accounts, totaling more than $4.8 million, were income to him and that he was required to report and pay tax on the funds. Nevertheless, Loo filed tax returns for 2015 through 2020 that did not report or pay tax on these funds.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Loo owes $1.6 million in taxes on his unreported income.
Loo is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the false tax return charges and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the tax evasion charges for which he was convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller for the Western District of Washington made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Regina Jeon of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Dion and Sean Waite for the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
A federal jury convicted a Washington man on Friday for tax evasion and filing false tax returns related to a scheme to conceal income received from his commercial property business.
The following is according to court documents and evidence presented at trial: Steven Loo, of Seattle, controlled and operated eight companies that owned commercial real estate. Each was managed by independent property management companies, which were responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the real estate. Loo diverted the income he earned from his real estate by instructing the property management companies to issue checks, categorized as asset management fees, to two other entities that Loo controlled. Loo knew that the funds deposited into these bank accounts, totaling more than $4.8 million, were income to him and that he was required to report and pay tax on the funds. Nevertheless, Loo filed tax returns for 2015 through 2020 that did not report or pay tax on these funds.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Loo owes $1.6 million in taxes on his unreported income.
Loo is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the false tax return charges and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the tax evasion charges for which he was convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller for the Western District of Washington made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Regina Jeon of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Dion and Sean Waite for the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
Hallowell, Maine– The Maine Public Utilities Commission (Commission) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sale of energy or renewable energy credits (RECs) to promote the economic reuse of contaminated land through clean energy development, in accordance with 35-A M.R.S. 3210-J (statute).
The RFP seeks proposals for energy or RECs from eligible Class IA renewable resources. Proposals must be submitted by 11:59 PM on July 25, 2025. The Commission seeks to procure up to 1,573,026 MWh in this solicitation.
“This RFP demonstrates Maine’s strong commitment to both advancing clean energy and supporting the reuse of contaminated land for economic benefit,” said Commission Chair Philip L. Bartlett II. By prioritizing projects on PFAS-contaminated agricultural land, were helping communities turn environmental challenges into opportunities for sustainable development and cost savings for ratepayers.
To be eligible, a Class IA resource must:
-Qualify as a Maine RPS Class IA resource;
-Begin commercial operations on or after September 19, 2023; and
-Have either an executed interconnection agreement or a system impact study underway, if required by the applicable regional transmission organization, independent system operator, or administrator.
Proposals will be evaluated based on the requirements of the statute, and the criteria detailed in the RFP. To be selected, a project must demonstrate that it is likely to produce net benefits to ratepayers that exceed its costs.
In accordance with the statute, the Commission will give primary preference to projects located on contaminated land-specifically agricultural land contaminated by PFAS. Projects sited on contaminated land will be awarded contracts before other qualifying projects that are not sited on contaminated land. To qualify for this preference, at least 90% of the project footprint must be located on such land.
For more information, please visit the Commissions website at:
CONTACT: Susan Faloon, Media Liaison CELL: 207-557-3704 EMAIL: susan.faloon@maine.gov
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A federal jury convicted a Washington man on Friday for tax evasion and filing false tax returns related to a scheme to conceal income received from his commercial property business.
The following is according to court documents and evidence presented at trial: Steven Loo, of Seattle, controlled and operated eight companies that owned commercial real estate. Each was managed by independent property management companies, which were responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the real estate. Loo diverted the income he earned from his real estate by instructing the property management companies to issue checks, categorized as asset management fees, to two other entities that Loo controlled. Loo knew that the funds deposited into these bank accounts, totaling more than $4.8 million, were income to him and that he was required to report and pay tax on the funds. Nevertheless, Loo filed tax returns for 2015 through 2020 that did not report or pay tax on these funds.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Loo owes $1.6 million in taxes on his unreported income.
Loo is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 9. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the false tax return charges and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the tax evasion charges for which he was convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller for the Western District of Washington made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Regina Jeon of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Dion and Sean Waite for the Western District of Washington prosecuted the case.
NEW YORK, July 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global Policy Advisors® LLC (GPA), a strategic advisory firm focused on sovereign wealth funds, has released a new SWF 2050™ briefing authored by Salar Ghahramani, titled Federated “Midas” U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund Launched, with a focus on how recent developments are transforming the United States’ approach to sovereign wealth investing, with significant implications for markets and strategic sectors like rare earths.
The briefing builds upon Ghahramani’s April 2025 SWF 2050™ report, Strategic Expansion in Critical Resources: New Directions for U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund Investments, which anticipated the growing role of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund in securing critical minerals, reshaping market dynamics, and mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities. In the latest analysis, Ghahramani details how these forecasts are beginning to materialize through concrete transactions and policy frameworks.
Ghahramani, who describes this emerging model as “Midas” to signify the use of sovereign capital to create transformative value across financial markets, supply chains, and strategic industries, writes that transactions like the Department of Defense’s equity stake in MP Materials exemplify this shift. “This is sovereign capital being deployed not merely for financial return, but to actively influence market structure, manage supply chain risks, and catalyze private investment—particularly in strategic industries such as rare earths,” Ghahramani said. “It’s an outside-the-box and highly creative approach, representing a significant departure from traditional sovereign wealth fund models and introducing new considerations for market participants.”
Unlike conventional sovereign wealth funds that operate as single, centralized entities, Ghahramani explains that the U.S. appears to be developing a federated architecture in which multiple Executive Branch agencies act as conduits and pillars of sovereign wealth investing. The Department of Defense, leveraging authorities under the Defense Production Act (DPA), can engage in direct equity stakes and strategic market interventions. The Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is positioned to deploy capital into critical sectors tied to economic and national security objectives. The Department of the Treasury may emerge as a coordinating force, managing financial instruments and structuring sovereign investment strategies. Other agencies, including the Departments of Energy and Commerce, contribute through grants, loan guarantees, and sector-specific initiatives.
In the report, Ghahramani analyzes how this decentralized approach operates within existing statutory frameworks, offering regulatory pathways for sovereign-style investments through instruments such as equity stakes, loans, price floors, and revenue-sharing agreements.
Global Policy Advisors® LLC is a boutique sovereign wealth fund advisory to corporations, boards of directors, and institutional investors—including hedge funds, private equity firms, pension funds, and SWFs. GPA’s expertise is delivering actionable insights, strategy sessions, and executive briefings on the governance, operations, and investment strategies of sovereign wealth funds. The company is recognized for devising the first governance and policy roadmap for a U.S. sovereign wealth fund.
Preliminary economic losses are estimated at US$18–22 billion, reflecting both residential and infrastructure damages.
Understanding the anatomy of this flash flood, and unravelling the complex interplay of meteorological, geomorphological and hydrological forces, forms the foundation for a comprehensive assessment of what happened. This information is vital to help prevent future similar tragedies from occurring.
The July 2025 flood event in central Texas was triggered by a rare and potent meteorological configuration.
Atmospheric anomalies are weather conditions that differ from what’s expected. Analysis of the July 2025 atmospheric anomalies reveals exceptional thermodynamic conditions that directly contributed to the flood’s severity.
The total precipitation over the core impact zone in the Hill Country during July 3 to 6 is estimated to have delivered more than 15 billion cubic metres of water — an extraordinary volume.
This deluge was supported by persistent temperature anomalies ranging from 5.4 to 6.9 degrees Celsius above the mean. Such elevated temperatures increased the atmosphere’s capacity to retain moisture.
At these anomaly levels, the air mass could store 35 to 50 per cent more water vapour than normal.
Simultaneously, specific humidity anomalies reflected a 60 to 70 per cent increase over July baselines for central Texas. Specific humidity, which quantifies the actual mass of water vapour per kilogram of air, provides a more direct metric of latent moisture available for precipitation.
The convergence of these extreme thermodynamic variables created an ideal environment for deep, moisture-laden convection, supporting prolonged intense rainfall.
This map of Texas highlights the core impact zone in Hill Country, where rainfall totals exceeded 430 millimetres, more than four times the regional July average. (H. Bonakdari/GSMaP), CC BY
Terrain impacts
While meteorological extremes initiated the July 2025 flood event, the morphology of the Guadalupe River — its shape, behaviour and flows — was pivotal in transforming heavy rainfall into a catastrophic flash flood.
The upper basin’s physical geography, drainage configuration and valley structure contributed to the rapid concentration and propagation of floodwaters.
Known as “Flash Flood Alley,” the terrain of the upper Guadalupe River basin amplified the July 2025 flood through a combination of steep slopes, shallow soils and karstic geology.
These steep slopes limited infiltration and led to rapid soil saturation under intense rainfall. The predominance of karstic limestone — limestone that has been shaped by water creating plains and sinkholes — further reduced storage below the surface, resulting in minimal delay between rainfall and discharge.
Additionally, narrow valley sections created hydraulic bottlenecks, accelerating flow and increasing flood depth, particularly affecting residential areas and campsites.
A map showing the relationships between steep headwaters, tributary confluences and vulnerable downstream communities. (H. Bonakdari/NASA), CC BY
In contrast, broader valleys allowed for the water to spread laterally; there was still destructive momentum due to upstream forcing. These geomorphic traits, compounded by the extreme atmospheric moisture, created an environment where floodwaters accumulated rapidly and struck with devastating force, especially along confluence zones and densely occupied riverfronts.
Excessive runoff
Prior to the July 2025 event, central Texas had already experienced elevated soil moisture conditions due to above-average rainfall during June and early July. Antecedent moisture indices that measure how wet the ground is before rainfall approached 90 to 100 per cent saturation, meaning that the ground was effectively primed for rapid runoff generation.
The region’s karst terrain — characterized by shallow, rocky soils — offered less than five per cent effective porosity, severely limiting absorption into the ground. Simultaneously, regional groundwater tables had risen underground, further reducing the ground’s capacity to absorb water.
This set the stage for an outsized response to the incoming deluge. When intense rainfall arrived, the ground was quickly and completely saturated, resulting in immediate and rapid surface runoff.
Water flows fast down the slopes and through underground limestone channels, leaving little time for it to soak into the ground. As a result, rivers such as the Guadalupe can swell rapidly, rising several feet in a short time, which causes fast-moving flood impacts in narrow valleys and low-lying communities.
Multiple forces
The July floods in Texas were devastatingly deadly. A confluence of various meteorological and topographical factors were to blame.
An overheated atmosphere, saturated with water vapour, unleashed record-breaking rainfall. The unique terrain of Texas Hill Country funnelled that rain swiftly into the river system, while the region’s hydrology, already primed by previous storms, converted nearly all of it into runoff.
By understanding how these atmospheric, geographic and hydrological elements combined, we can better anticipate future risks in “Flash Flood Alley” and improve early warning systems to save lives.
Hossein Bonakdari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
In the wake of recent strikes by Israel and the United States on Iranian cities, military sites and nuclear facilities, a troubling paradox has emerged: actions intended to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons may actually be accelerating its pursuit of them and encouraging other countries to follow suit.
On June 13, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a military campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear program. The operation began with a series of co-ordinated strikes targeting Iran’s top nuclear scientists, senior military officials and key members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Despite establishing air dominance, Israel did not possess the capability to destroy Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facilities — especially the Fordow enrichment site, which is buried deep within a mountain.
On June 21, the U.S. carried out major airstrikes targeting Iran’s critical nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Using B-2 stealth bombers equipped with bunker-busting bombs, the operation aimed to cripple Iran’s deeply fortified nuclear infrastructure.
Three days later, Iran and Israel agreed to a ceasefire, bringing the 12-day conflict to an end. While both sides declared aspects of the campaign successful, the war marked a dangerous escalation in regional tensions and raised renewed concerns over the future of nuclear nonproliferation and security in the Middle East.
History of nuclear negotiations
The U.S. has consistently asserted that Iran must never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2006, Iran was subjected to international sanctions after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported the government was not in compliance with its nuclear energy obligations.
Under former president Barack Obama, the U.S. government pursued a diplomatic path, culminating in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment to 3.67 per cent and allow intrusive IAEA inspections. In exchange, it received relief from some international sanctions.
The Biden administration sought to revive the JCPOA, but Iran demanded binding guarantees that future U.S. governments would not again withdraw — an assurance Biden could not provide.
In the aftermath, Iran significantly escalated its nuclear activities. According to IAEA reports, Iran has more than 400 kilograms of enriched uranium to 60 per cent — an amount that, if further refined to 90 per cent, could be sufficient to produce 10 to 12 nuclear weapons.
The second Trump administration resumed negotiations for a new nuclear deal aimed at imposing stronger constraints on Iran’s nuclear program.
Although five rounds of negotiations were held, a sixth round scheduled for June 15 was disrupted when Israel conducted a military strike on Iran two days earlier. The attack escalated tensions and derailed the diplomatic process, further complicating the possibility of reaching a renewed agreement.
Although it maintains ambiguity about its nuclear program, Israel is seen to be the only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear weapons. It has taken military action to prevent other countries in the region from developing nuclear programs.
The Israeli government may have calculated that airstrikes could also effectively work against Iran. However, the difference is that Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced than Syria or Iraq’s were. While the recent strikes may have set the program back by two years, Iran retains the knowledge and capacity to rebuild.
Ironically, the Israeli and U.S. strikes, which aimed to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, may instead encourage Iranian officials to accelerate their efforts. Following the war, Iran ended all co-operation with the IAEA, expelling inspectors and cutting off access to its nuclear sites. Without IAEA personnel on the ground, it has become extremely difficult to monitor or verify the scope of Iran’s nuclear activities.
Bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities each time it advances its nuclear program is not a sustainable strategy. Israel had hoped that a decisive military strike would trigger widespread unrest and potentially lead to the Iranian government’s collapse.
Instead, the opposite occurred: the Iranian public rallied around the flag, perceiving the attack as a blatant violation of national sovereignty. As a result, the government strengthened its domestic legitimacy and further suppressed political opposition.
For now, Iranian officials have maintained that they do not intend to develop a nuclear weapon. However, the Iranian parliament is preparing legislation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is currently a signatory.
Exiting the treaty would remove a major legal and diplomatic constraint on Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Should Iran decide to go down that path, it would likely trigger a nuclear arms race in the region.
Saudi Arabia has indicated that if Iran builds a nuclear weapon, it will seek to do the same.
The most effective way to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is through sustained diplomacy and a renewed nuclear agreement. A credible deal that includes robust verification mechanisms and IAEA inspections and sanctions relief remains the most viable solution.
Military strikes, by contrast, tend to backfire, and will likely reinforce the belief in Iran — and elsewhere — that only a nuclear deterrent can shield them from external threats.
Saira Bano does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
NIST Hurricane Maria Program | Technical Update (July 2025)
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a video update and press release on its study of Hurricane Maria’s impacts on Puerto Rico.
Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, was one of the most devastating and costly hurricanes in U.S. history. The storm caused nearly 3,000 deaths and more than $90 billion in damages. While nature cannot be controlled, communities can reduce the impacts of natural hazards by making their buildings and infrastructure more resilient, upgrading emergency preparedness plans for critical facilities, and strengthening evacuation and communication protocols.
In 2018, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched an investigation into Hurricane Maria’s impacts to learn what went wrong and to take steps to make Americans safer from future hurricanes.
“Our goal is to learn from that event to recommend improvements to building codes, standards and practices that will make communities more resilient to hurricanes and other hazards, not just in Puerto Rico but across the United States,” said NIST’s lead Hurricane Maria investigator Joseph Main.
The investigation has been an enormous undertaking. NIST experts have conducted hundreds of surveys and interviews, analyzed dozens of buildings, conducted laboratory experiments, and more. As NIST’s National Construction Safety Team nears the end of its investigation, it has released a video update that highlights significant milestones and preliminary findings.
What Made Hurricane Maria So Dangerous?
Hurricane Maria set off a cascade of building and infrastructure failures across Puerto Rico that had lasting impacts on society, including health care, business and education. The storm itself was a Category 4 hurricane, with peak gusts as high as 140 mph over flat terrain, strong enough to topple trees and lift roofs off houses. The wind was even stronger along the ridges of hills and mountains, where power lines and cellphone towers were located. Those lines and towers were damaged or destroyed, knocking out electric, phone and internet service for almost the entire island.
The steep mountains of Puerto Rico also intensified the rainfall, resulting in extensive flooding and more than 40,000 landslides. This destroyed roads and bridges, blocking routes to hospitals and shelters for those who badly needed them. The hospitals and shelters themselves were heavily damaged by the storm, lifesaving medical equipment was destroyed, and parts of the buildings became uninhabitable. Each of these impacts intensified others. For example, the loss of electricity made it more difficult to move patients and supplies within some hospitals because elevators stopped working.
Why NIST?
NIST has a long history of studying disasters and building failures. Under the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act, NIST is authorized to establish teams “to assess building performance and emergency response and evacuation procedures in the wake of any building failure that has resulted in substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential of substantial loss of life.”
Additionally, the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act gives NIST responsibility for “carrying out research and development to improve model building codes, voluntary standards, and best practices for the design, construction, and retrofit of buildings, structures, and lifelines” with the purpose of achieving “measurable reductions in the losses of life and property from windstorms.”
Previous NIST investigations have led to building code improvements for tornadoes and fires that can save lives in communities across the country.
Responding to Hurricane Maria, NIST created a team of experts in structural and civil engineering, public health, epidemiology, medicine, anthropology, communications, sociology and economics. These experts came from NIST, other federal agencies and universities, including outside experts based in Puerto Rico.
“Having a local presence has been critical in carrying out this work, especially during the pandemic,” said Maria Dillard, investigation associate lead.
The Investigation So Far
The investigation is wide-ranging and has included reconnaissance of the island, creation of a detailed map of wind speeds during the hurricane, long-term measurements of wind speeds at cell towers, and wind tunnel tests. The NIST team conducted hundreds of interviews with emergency communicators; family members of the deceased; hospital, school and shelter staff members; shipping and transportation sector representatives; infrastructure officials; and others impacted by the storm. They also surveyed more than 1,500 households, 450 businesses, 300 schools and 16 hospitals for the project.
Understanding the impact on hospitals and emergency shelters was a high priority for the investigators, who conducted detailed evaluations of five hospitals and five shelter facilities.
This information went into computer models to understand how the hurricane and the long recovery process unfolded.
During the course of the investigation, Puerto Rico was buffeted by more disasters, including a series of earthquakes that started in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Hurricane Fiona in 2022, and Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2024. These events made the recovery from Hurricane Maria more difficult and presented additional challenges for the investigation.
Importance of NIST’s Hurricane María Investigation
Preliminary Findings
The complete report will not be released until 2026, so these findings may change before the report is finalized. However, in the video Main and Dillard share the following major preliminary findings, which they anticipate will be included in the final version.
While peak wind speeds over flat terrain reached as high as 140 mph (225 kmh), those winds were accelerated to over 200 mph (322 kmh) in some areas by the shape of steep hills and mountains. The mountains also intensified the rainfall. The most extreme rainfall reached 30 inches (76 centimeters) in some areas.
A major challenge for the investigation was that many weather-measuring devices were damaged during the storm. Only three out of 22 weather stations were fully functional throughout the hurricane. A Doppler weather radar site was destroyed by high winds, and the majority of rain gauges failed during the storm.
Surveys with family members of those who died in the two weeks following the hurricane showed that only about one-tenth of the deaths occurred on the day of landfall and that only a small fraction of the deaths were caused by storm-related injuries. Reduced access to health care was found to be a significant factor in the deaths that occurred. The most common causes of death were noncommunicable medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney disease, as those who suffered from these conditions had difficulty obtaining the medical care they needed.
Landslides, collapsed bridges and fallen trees blocking roads kept people from getting help. Such road disruptions were estimated to have cut off hospital access for just over half of the population immediately following the hurricane. Many patients sought medical care at multiple places before receiving treatment. After arriving at hospitals, patients encountered additional disruptions in care from hospital buildings that were damaged, flooded and without electrical power.
The investigation also found that 95.3% of schools lost power, for an average of over 100 days. Lack of potable water was also an issue for school recovery. One school emphasized that students needed to bring their own water because the school’s water was not safe to drink.
Success Stories
One important preliminary finding from the study is that emergency preparations work. Businesses, schools and hospitals that prepared before Hurricane Maria were able to resume operations more quickly afterward. Preparations included preestablished emergency plans, designated risk mitigation funds, and backup power sources.
Preliminary findings also showed that financial assistance was effective. Statistically, businesses, schools and hospitals that received financial assistance were able to recover more quickly than those that did not.
Anticipated Recommendations
Through the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act, NIST has a responsibility to use investigation findings to create recommendations and help implement them.
Recommendations from the Hurricane Maria Program are anticipated to result in:
New building standards to account for faster winds caused by mountains and hills.
New standards for storm shelters and refuge areas.
Measures that will help hospitals and other critical facilities maintain services during and after hurricanes, such as requiring standby generators for elevators and air-conditioning.
Guidance on recording damage to communications systems in a way that will prioritize recovery.
More robust tools for measuring wind, rainfall and flooding.
New standards for creating death certificates during an emergency.
These changes will be important for hurricane-prone regions throughout the U.S., not just Puerto Rico. Hurricane Helene, which carved a destructive path from Florida through North Carolina in 2024, shared many similarities with Hurricane Maria, such as significant rainfall in mountainous areas that led to flooding and landslides; neighborhoods and communities being cut off from road access; massive infrastructure failure; and at least one hospital requiring evacuation.
By applying the lessons of Hurricane Maria, this investigation can help the increasing number of communities that are experiencing intense hurricanes prepare for, respond to, and recover from them.
Clearly angered by the intensification of Russia’s air campaign against Ukraine, Donald Trump has pivoted from the suspension of US military assistance to Ukraine to promising its resumption. Russia’s strikes on major cities killed more civilians in June than have died in any single previous month, according to UN figures.
Over the past two weeks, the US president has made several disparaging comments about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, including on July 13 that the Russian president “talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening”.
Not only will the US resume delivery of long-promised Patriot air defence missiles, Trump is now also reported to be considering a whole new plan to arm Ukraine, including with offensive capabilities. And he has talked about imposing new sanctions on Putin’s regime.
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This is the background against which the eighth Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Rome on July 10 and 11. The event, attended by many western leaders and senior business executives, was an important reminder that while the war against Ukraine will be decided on the battlefield, peace will only be won as the result of rebuilding Ukraine’s economy and society.
Ending the war anytime soon and on terms favourable to Kyiv will require an enormous effort by Ukrainians and their European allies. But the country’s recovery afterwards will be no less challenging.
According to the World Bank’s latest assessment, at the end of 2024 Ukraine’s recovery needs over the next decade stood at US$524 billion (£388 billion). And with every month the war continues, these needs are increasing. Ukraine’s three hardest-hit sectors are housing, transport and energy infrastructure, which between them account for around 60% of all damage.
At the same time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided a relatively positive assessment of Ukraine’s overall economic situation at the end of June, forecasting growth of between 2% and 3% for 2025 – likely to grow to over 4% in 2026 and 2027. But the IMF also cautioned that this trajectory – and the country’s macroeconomic stability more generally – will remain heavily dependent on external support.
Taking into account a new €2.3 billion package from the EU, consisting of €1.8 billion of loan guarantees and €580 million of grants, the cumulative pledge of over €10 billion (£8.7 billion) made by countries attending the Ukraine recovery conference is both encouraging and sobering.
It is encouraging in the sense that Ukraine’s international partners remain committed to the country’s social and economic needs, not merely its ability to resist Russia on the battlefield.
But it is also sobering that even these eye-watering sums of public money are still only a fraction of Ukraine’s needs. Even if the EU manages to mobilise its overall target of €40 billion for Ukraine’s recovery, by attracting additional contributions from other donors and the private sector, this would be less than 8% of Ukraine’s projected recovery needs as of the end of 2024.
As the war continues and more of the (diminishing) public funding is directed towards defence expenditure by Kyiv’s western partners, this gap is likely to grow.
Overcoming the trauma of war
Money is not the only challenge for Ukraine recovery efforts. Rebuilding the country is not simply about undoing the physical damage.
The social impact of Russia’s aggression is hard to overstate. Ukraine has been deeply traumatised as a society since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Generally reliable Ukrainian casualty counts – some 12,000 civilians and 43,000 troops killed since February 2022 – are still likely to underestimate the true number of people who have died as a direct consequence of the Russian aggression. And each of these will have left behind family members struggling to cope with their loss. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of war veterans.
Even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there were nearly half a million veterans from the “frozen” conflict that followed Russia’s annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine. By the end of 2024, this number had more than doubled to around 1 million. Most of them have complex social, economic, medical and psychological needs that will have to be considered as part of a society-wide recovery effort.
Returning refugees
According to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), there are also some 7 million refugees from Ukraine and 3.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs). This is equivalent to one quarter of the country’s population. The financial needs of UNHCR’s operations in Ukraine are estimated at $800 million in 2025, of which only 27% was funded as of the end of April.
Once the fighting in Ukraine ends, refugees are likely to return in greater numbers. Their return will provide a boost to the country’s economic growth by strengthening its labour force and bringing with them skills and, potentially, investment. But like many IDPs and veterans, they may not be able to return to their places of origin, either because these are not inhabitable or remain under Russian occupation.
Some returnees are likely to be viewed with suspicion or resentment by those Ukrainians who stayed behind and fought. Tensions with Ukrainians who survived the Russian occupation in areas that Kyiv may recover in a peace deal are also likely, given Ukraine’s harsh anti-collaboration laws.
As a consequence, reintegration – in the sense of rebuilding and sustaining the country’s social cohesion – will be a massive challenge, requiring as much, if not more, of Ukraine’s partners’ attention and financial support as physical reconstruction and the transition from a war to a peace-time economy.
Given the mismatch between what is needed and what has been provided for Ukraine’s recovery, one may well be sceptical about the value of the annual Ukraine recovery conferences. But, to the credit of their organisers and attendees, they recognise that the foundations for post-war recovery need to be built before the war ends. The non-military challenges of war and peace must not fall by the wayside amid an exclusive focus on battlefield dynamics.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Clearly angered by the intensification of Russia’s air campaign against Ukraine, Donald Trump has pivoted from the suspension of US military assistance to Ukraine to promising its resumption. Russia’s strikes on major cities killed more civilians in June than have died in any single previous month, according to UN figures.
Over the past two weeks, the US president has made several disparaging comments about his relationship with Vladimir Putin, including on July 13 that the Russian president “talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening”.
Not only will the US resume delivery of long-promised Patriot air defence missiles, Trump is now also reported to be considering a whole new plan to arm Ukraine, including with offensive capabilities. And he has talked about imposing new sanctions on Putin’s regime.
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This is the background against which the eighth Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Rome on July 10 and 11. The event, attended by many western leaders and senior business executives, was an important reminder that while the war against Ukraine will be decided on the battlefield, peace will only be won as the result of rebuilding Ukraine’s economy and society.
Ending the war anytime soon and on terms favourable to Kyiv will require an enormous effort by Ukrainians and their European allies. But the country’s recovery afterwards will be no less challenging.
According to the World Bank’s latest assessment, at the end of 2024 Ukraine’s recovery needs over the next decade stood at US$524 billion (£388 billion). And with every month the war continues, these needs are increasing. Ukraine’s three hardest-hit sectors are housing, transport and energy infrastructure, which between them account for around 60% of all damage.
At the same time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) provided a relatively positive assessment of Ukraine’s overall economic situation at the end of June, forecasting growth of between 2% and 3% for 2025 – likely to grow to over 4% in 2026 and 2027. But the IMF also cautioned that this trajectory – and the country’s macroeconomic stability more generally – will remain heavily dependent on external support.
Taking into account a new €2.3 billion package from the EU, consisting of €1.8 billion of loan guarantees and €580 million of grants, the cumulative pledge of over €10 billion (£8.7 billion) made by countries attending the Ukraine recovery conference is both encouraging and sobering.
It is encouraging in the sense that Ukraine’s international partners remain committed to the country’s social and economic needs, not merely its ability to resist Russia on the battlefield.
But it is also sobering that even these eye-watering sums of public money are still only a fraction of Ukraine’s needs. Even if the EU manages to mobilise its overall target of €40 billion for Ukraine’s recovery, by attracting additional contributions from other donors and the private sector, this would be less than 8% of Ukraine’s projected recovery needs as of the end of 2024.
As the war continues and more of the (diminishing) public funding is directed towards defence expenditure by Kyiv’s western partners, this gap is likely to grow.
Overcoming the trauma of war
Money is not the only challenge for Ukraine recovery efforts. Rebuilding the country is not simply about undoing the physical damage.
The social impact of Russia’s aggression is hard to overstate. Ukraine has been deeply traumatised as a society since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Generally reliable Ukrainian casualty counts – some 12,000 civilians and 43,000 troops killed since February 2022 – are still likely to underestimate the true number of people who have died as a direct consequence of the Russian aggression. And each of these will have left behind family members struggling to cope with their loss. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of war veterans.
Even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there were nearly half a million veterans from the “frozen” conflict that followed Russia’s annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine. By the end of 2024, this number had more than doubled to around 1 million. Most of them have complex social, economic, medical and psychological needs that will have to be considered as part of a society-wide recovery effort.
Returning refugees
According to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), there are also some 7 million refugees from Ukraine and 3.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs). This is equivalent to one quarter of the country’s population. The financial needs of UNHCR’s operations in Ukraine are estimated at $800 million in 2025, of which only 27% was funded as of the end of April.
Once the fighting in Ukraine ends, refugees are likely to return in greater numbers. Their return will provide a boost to the country’s economic growth by strengthening its labour force and bringing with them skills and, potentially, investment. But like many IDPs and veterans, they may not be able to return to their places of origin, either because these are not inhabitable or remain under Russian occupation.
Some returnees are likely to be viewed with suspicion or resentment by those Ukrainians who stayed behind and fought. Tensions with Ukrainians who survived the Russian occupation in areas that Kyiv may recover in a peace deal are also likely, given Ukraine’s harsh anti-collaboration laws.
As a consequence, reintegration – in the sense of rebuilding and sustaining the country’s social cohesion – will be a massive challenge, requiring as much, if not more, of Ukraine’s partners’ attention and financial support as physical reconstruction and the transition from a war to a peace-time economy.
Given the mismatch between what is needed and what has been provided for Ukraine’s recovery, one may well be sceptical about the value of the annual Ukraine recovery conferences. But, to the credit of their organisers and attendees, they recognise that the foundations for post-war recovery need to be built before the war ends. The non-military challenges of war and peace must not fall by the wayside amid an exclusive focus on battlefield dynamics.
Stefan Wolff is a past recipient of grant funding from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK, the United States Institute of Peace, the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK, the British Academy, the NATO Science for Peace Programme, the EU Framework Programmes 6 and 7 and Horizon 2020, as well as the EU’s Jean Monnet Programme. He is a Trustee and Honorary Treasurer of the Political Studies Association of the UK and a Senior Research Fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre in London.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
July 10, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement today after the Trump Administration announced plans to indiscriminately fire hundreds of civil service and Foreign Service Officers:
“Once again, Trump’s illegal, chaotic actions are putting our servicemembers at greater risk, undermining our national security and making all Americans less safe. It was Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, who said ‘If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition…’
“Our diplomats are the first line of defense around the world, anticipating crises and providing invaluable expertise to help prevent conflicts from exploding into catastrophes. By deciding to indiscriminately fire hundreds of these devoted patriots without regard for their merit, expertise, Veteran status or years of experience, Trump is guaranteeing our nation’s response to foreign threats will be less informed, less intelligent and far less effective than before—all at a time when Trump himself is emboldening our enemies and inflaming already red-hot tensions abroad.
“This is a gift to our adversaries and a betrayal of our values. If Republicans care about our national security at all, they must speak out and rein in this President before it’s too late.”
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
July 10, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement today after the Trump Administration announced plans to indiscriminately fire hundreds of civil service and Foreign Service Officers:
“Once again, Trump’s illegal, chaotic actions are putting our servicemembers at greater risk, undermining our national security and making all Americans less safe. It was Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, who said ‘If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition…’
“Our diplomats are the first line of defense around the world, anticipating crises and providing invaluable expertise to help prevent conflicts from exploding into catastrophes. By deciding to indiscriminately fire hundreds of these devoted patriots without regard for their merit, expertise, Veteran status or years of experience, Trump is guaranteeing our nation’s response to foreign threats will be less informed, less intelligent and far less effective than before—all at a time when Trump himself is emboldening our enemies and inflaming already red-hot tensions abroad.
“This is a gift to our adversaries and a betrayal of our values. If Republicans care about our national security at all, they must speak out and rein in this President before it’s too late.”
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
July 11, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a funding bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). Durbin and Duckworth worked to secure various priorities for Illinois in this appropriations bill, both through Congressionally Directed Spending requests and through the programmatic appropriations process.
“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” Duckworth said. “Appropriating federal funding is the primary role of Congress, and it’s critical this responsibility remains in the legislative branch. I’m proud I was able to help secure critical support for projects throughout Illinois that support our rural communities.”
“Congress is tasked with the critical responsibility to fund our government programs and agencies. While Congress has fulfilled this responsibility by routinely passing continuing resolutions, I hope that we can have a true bipartisan effort to pass appropriations bills in a timely, thoughtful process,” said Durbin. “And as the Trump Administration aims to gut our government, I will continue to push for the funding and resources for Illinoisans to thrive.”
The Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA funding bill includes the following Illinois priorities secured by Congressionally Directed Spending requests:
Health Clinic, LaHarpe: $1.38 million to Memorial Hospital Association to help construct an additional health clinic to expand access to health care in the Western Illinois community.
Hospital Infrastructure Improvements, Watseka, Illinois: $645,000 to the Iroquois Memorial Hospital and Resident Home to update aged and outdated facilities, including HVAC systems and flooring.
Intergenerational Center, Fairbury, Illinois: $1 million to the Boys and Girls Club of Livingston County to construct an intergenerational community center to provide programming and services to youth and seniors at the same site.
Laboratory Renovation, Pittsfield, Illinois: $1 million to the Blessing Care Corporation to update the laboratory department at Illini Community Hospital in order to modernize facilities that are more than 80 years old.
Medical Technology Upgrades, Lawrenceville, Illinois: $450,000 to provide essential technological upgrades at Lawrence County Memorial Hospital, including improvements in diagnostic imaging, patient monitoring systems, and life-saving equipment.
Pre-K Expansion, Herrin: $263,000 to Herrin Community Unit School District No. 4 to help expand capacity at the district’s pre-K center.
Rural Health Clinic Expansion, West Frankfort, Illinois: $1 million to Southern Illinois Hospital Services to expand the Miners Memorial Rural Health Clinic to provide improvements in both patient rooms and provider workspace.
Teledentistry Initiative, Mattoon, Illinois: $110,000 to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center to expand rural telehealth efforts to include teledentistry with an emphasis on underserved children.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA funding bill includes additional Illinois priorities secured through the programmatic appropriations process:
USDA
Bee Genome: $3 million, an increase of $750,000 from FY25, to continue sequencing the genome of more than 4,000 domestic bee species, including activities underway at the Peoria USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and the University of Illinois.
Midwest Soybean Germplasm Lab: The President’s Budget Request proposes closing research labs in three states, including two operations at the University of Illinois—the National Soybean Germplasm Collection and the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center. The bill includes language to prohibit USDA laboratory and facility closures without USDA providing Congressional notification and approval.
Agricultural Research: $3.2 billion for basic food and agricultural research nationwide, including activities underway at the Peoria USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and the University of Illinois.
Tracking Farm Exports by State: Includes report language requiring USDA to track and publish the top five farm commodities exported, or imported, by State, and the country of destination, or origin.
Plant Health, Tree and Wood Pests: $59 million to help identify and contain wood-boring pests threatening tree health across the country, 19 of which have been detected in the past decade, including the Emerald Ash Borer. This funding will allow for the identification and containment of Emerald Ash Borer infestations and increase public awareness of the threat posed by EAB in the 15 states that are battling this invasive species.
Animal Welfare: $27 million to implement and enforce provisions of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including those governing facilities that previously have fallen out of compliance with the AWA.
Rural e-Connectivity Pilot Program (ReConnect Program): $35 million to support loans and grants that facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas without sufficient broadband access.
Agricultural Extension – Food Safety Outreach Program: $10 million to provide food safety training and tech assistance to owners and operators of small farms, small food processors, and small fruit and vegetable vendors affected by the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.
Food for Peace: $1.5 billion to meet emergency food needs around the world, including due to the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, and conflict, displacement, poverty, and climate change exacerbating needs around the world, despite Trump’s efforts to eliminate the program.
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program: $240 million to support school feeding and maternal and child nutrition projects around the world, particularly for girls, despite Trump’s efforts to eliminate the program.
Local and Regional Procurement: Continues support for the promotion of locally sourced agricultural products, which remain less costly and more accessible when compared to commodities sourced from the United States and shipped overseas.
FDA
Tobacco: Includes substantial bill language pertaining to FDA’s Tobacco Center to eliminate harmful provisions and ensure alignment with public health needs. The statutory language specifies $200 million for e-cigarette enforcement activities, out of the $712 million total for the FDA’s Tobacco Center—which will increase resources to investigate and stop illegally sold products. The language also enhances reporting to Congress, dedicates $2 million to the interagency task force between FDA, DOJ, and DHS, and provides statutory authority requested by FDA Commissioner Makary to enable FDA to detain and destroy seized illegal e-cigarettes at ports of entry. There also is report language ensuring that the FDA’s regulatory focus is on kid-friendly and flavored products, and balanced between unauthorized Chinese vapes and also-illegal, unauthorized domestic vapes (made by Altria, RJ Reynolds, JUUL).
ALS: Provides no less than $2.5 million for FDA to continue implementation of the ACT for ALS law to enable FDA to fund early stage clinical trials for new ALS therapies.
Food Safety: $1.17 billion for FDA’s Human Foods Program to oversee food and nutrition in the United States. Includes report language encouraging coordination between FDA, USDA, and CDC in better ensuring the safety of our nation’s foods.
Dietary Supplements: Includes report language calling on FDA to strengthen its enforcement actions against adulterated and misbranded dietary supplements.
Source: United States Senator for Illinois Tammy Duckworth
July 11, 2025
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a funding bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). Durbin and Duckworth worked to secure various priorities for Illinois in this appropriations bill, both through Congressionally Directed Spending requests and through the programmatic appropriations process.
“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” Duckworth said. “Appropriating federal funding is the primary role of Congress, and it’s critical this responsibility remains in the legislative branch. I’m proud I was able to help secure critical support for projects throughout Illinois that support our rural communities.”
“Congress is tasked with the critical responsibility to fund our government programs and agencies. While Congress has fulfilled this responsibility by routinely passing continuing resolutions, I hope that we can have a true bipartisan effort to pass appropriations bills in a timely, thoughtful process,” said Durbin. “And as the Trump Administration aims to gut our government, I will continue to push for the funding and resources for Illinoisans to thrive.”
The Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA funding bill includes the following Illinois priorities secured by Congressionally Directed Spending requests:
Health Clinic, LaHarpe: $1.38 million to Memorial Hospital Association to help construct an additional health clinic to expand access to health care in the Western Illinois community.
Hospital Infrastructure Improvements, Watseka, Illinois: $645,000 to the Iroquois Memorial Hospital and Resident Home to update aged and outdated facilities, including HVAC systems and flooring.
Intergenerational Center, Fairbury, Illinois: $1 million to the Boys and Girls Club of Livingston County to construct an intergenerational community center to provide programming and services to youth and seniors at the same site.
Laboratory Renovation, Pittsfield, Illinois: $1 million to the Blessing Care Corporation to update the laboratory department at Illini Community Hospital in order to modernize facilities that are more than 80 years old.
Medical Technology Upgrades, Lawrenceville, Illinois: $450,000 to provide essential technological upgrades at Lawrence County Memorial Hospital, including improvements in diagnostic imaging, patient monitoring systems, and life-saving equipment.
Pre-K Expansion, Herrin: $263,000 to Herrin Community Unit School District No. 4 to help expand capacity at the district’s pre-K center.
Rural Health Clinic Expansion, West Frankfort, Illinois: $1 million to Southern Illinois Hospital Services to expand the Miners Memorial Rural Health Clinic to provide improvements in both patient rooms and provider workspace.
Teledentistry Initiative, Mattoon, Illinois: $110,000 to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center to expand rural telehealth efforts to include teledentistry with an emphasis on underserved children.
The Agriculture, Rural Development, and FDA funding bill includes additional Illinois priorities secured through the programmatic appropriations process:
USDA
Bee Genome: $3 million, an increase of $750,000 from FY25, to continue sequencing the genome of more than 4,000 domestic bee species, including activities underway at the Peoria USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and the University of Illinois.
Midwest Soybean Germplasm Lab: The President’s Budget Request proposes closing research labs in three states, including two operations at the University of Illinois—the National Soybean Germplasm Collection and the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center. The bill includes language to prohibit USDA laboratory and facility closures without USDA providing Congressional notification and approval.
Agricultural Research: $3.2 billion for basic food and agricultural research nationwide, including activities underway at the Peoria USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research and the University of Illinois.
Tracking Farm Exports by State: Includes report language requiring USDA to track and publish the top five farm commodities exported, or imported, by State, and the country of destination, or origin.
Plant Health, Tree and Wood Pests: $59 million to help identify and contain wood-boring pests threatening tree health across the country, 19 of which have been detected in the past decade, including the Emerald Ash Borer. This funding will allow for the identification and containment of Emerald Ash Borer infestations and increase public awareness of the threat posed by EAB in the 15 states that are battling this invasive species.
Animal Welfare: $27 million to implement and enforce provisions of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), including those governing facilities that previously have fallen out of compliance with the AWA.
Rural e-Connectivity Pilot Program (ReConnect Program): $35 million to support loans and grants that facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas without sufficient broadband access.
Agricultural Extension – Food Safety Outreach Program: $10 million to provide food safety training and tech assistance to owners and operators of small farms, small food processors, and small fruit and vegetable vendors affected by the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.
Food for Peace: $1.5 billion to meet emergency food needs around the world, including due to the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, and conflict, displacement, poverty, and climate change exacerbating needs around the world, despite Trump’s efforts to eliminate the program.
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program: $240 million to support school feeding and maternal and child nutrition projects around the world, particularly for girls, despite Trump’s efforts to eliminate the program.
Local and Regional Procurement: Continues support for the promotion of locally sourced agricultural products, which remain less costly and more accessible when compared to commodities sourced from the United States and shipped overseas.
FDA
Tobacco: Includes substantial bill language pertaining to FDA’s Tobacco Center to eliminate harmful provisions and ensure alignment with public health needs. The statutory language specifies $200 million for e-cigarette enforcement activities, out of the $712 million total for the FDA’s Tobacco Center—which will increase resources to investigate and stop illegally sold products. The language also enhances reporting to Congress, dedicates $2 million to the interagency task force between FDA, DOJ, and DHS, and provides statutory authority requested by FDA Commissioner Makary to enable FDA to detain and destroy seized illegal e-cigarettes at ports of entry. There also is report language ensuring that the FDA’s regulatory focus is on kid-friendly and flavored products, and balanced between unauthorized Chinese vapes and also-illegal, unauthorized domestic vapes (made by Altria, RJ Reynolds, JUUL).
ALS: Provides no less than $2.5 million for FDA to continue implementation of the ACT for ALS law to enable FDA to fund early stage clinical trials for new ALS therapies.
Food Safety: $1.17 billion for FDA’s Human Foods Program to oversee food and nutrition in the United States. Includes report language encouraging coordination between FDA, USDA, and CDC in better ensuring the safety of our nation’s foods.
Dietary Supplements: Includes report language calling on FDA to strengthen its enforcement actions against adulterated and misbranded dietary supplements.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Moscow, July 14 /Xinhua/ — Cooperation between China and Russia refutes the Western-imposed claims that “China’s industrial policy distorts the global market” and “China’s excess production capacity creates unfair competition.” Such claims are absurd and unfounded. This was stated by Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui in an article titled “The Era of True Friendship between China and Russia: Cooperation Refutes Misconceptions, Mutual Benefit Determines the Future,” published recently in the Russian newspaper Trud.
“Politicians and media in the United States and Western countries have long been actively spreading groundless claims such as ‘China’s industrial policy is distorting the world market’ and ‘China’s excess production capacity is creating unfair competition’. They are trying their best to denigrate the industrial policy of developing countries and suppress their right to development based on the desire to maintain their economic hegemony,” the publication says.
The essence of these false claims, according to the Chinese diplomat, is “politicizing the economy and using economic and trade levers to achieve political goals.” “This line of behavior only creates obstacles to international trade, disrupts the stability of global supply chains, and ultimately leads to losses for all involved,” he warned.
Zhang Hanhui stressed that all countries have the right to stimulate economic development through the implementation of reasonable industrial policies. “In the context of the acceleration of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, industrial subsidies have become an important tool for enhancing innovation potential and stimulating economic growth. Industrial subsidies are practiced in both developed countries and countries with developing economies,” the ambassador stated.
The article points out that China’s industrial subsidy policy is based on the principles of openness, fairness and compliance with established standards. “It is not selective and applies equally to all market participants. China’s state-owned enterprises, as independent market participants, do not enjoy any advantages under the subsidy policy due to their status and do not provide subsidies to other enterprises,” the author noted, adding that the flexible subsidy model not only meets China’s needs for industrial modernization, but is also fully consistent with the commitments China made when joining the World Trade Organization.
Zhang Hanhui called the US and Western countries’ accusations against China regarding “overcapacity” “a cover for their protectionist policies.” “Under the pretext of “overcapacity,” some countries impose restrictions on Chinese exports and investment cooperation. All this is pure protectionism, artificial interference and division of the world market,” he said.
The Chinese diplomat is convinced that only free trade and fair competition can form an optimal structure of global production capacities. He cited China and Russia as an example of such interaction. “Both countries have complementary economic advantages, great potential for cooperation and huge opportunities for development,” Zhang Hanhui believes. He drew attention to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly publicly refuted statements by the United States and Western countries about “China’s excess production capacity.”
“China and Russia, as stabilizing, positive and progressive forces in the international community, must continue to maintain unity, expand cooperation, strengthen trade, economic and energy ties, improve mechanisms that ensure a high level of trade and economic interaction, and effectively counter unilateral actions and protectionism,” concluded the Chinese Ambassador to the Russian Federation. –0–
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) — China does not seek to gain an international competitive advantage through currency devaluation, Zou Lan, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC, central bank), said at a press conference on Monday.
As he noted, the US dollar index and US Treasury yields have recently experienced increased volatility, which has led to side effects on global financial markets.
On the contrary, China’s financial market has shown strong resilience and is functioning stably overall, Zou Lan noted. Since the publication of a joint statement on the results of the Sino-American trade and economic talks held in Geneva in May, the yuan to dollar exchange rate has shown two-way fluctuations, steadily remaining below 7.2 yuan per dollar.
“The dynamics of the US dollar currently remain uncertain, while China’s domestic fundamentals continue to improve. The yuan exchange rate continues to fluctuate in both directions, with a solid foundation for maintaining basic stability,” Zou Lan said.
Major developed economies have entered a cycle of interest rate cuts and market expectations for renewed monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve are growing, with the interest rate differential between China and the United States expected to show a narrowing trend, the vice governor added.
According to him, China’s balance of payments is generally balanced, the financial market is functioning stably, and significant progress has been made in building the foreign exchange market.
Zou Lan assured that the PBOC will remain committed to the decisive role of the market in determining the exchange rate, maintain exchange rate flexibility, strengthen expectations management, prevent the risk of excessive fluctuations, and maintain the overall stability of the yuan at a reasonable and balanced level. –0–
Please note: This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of the information. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.
(From left to right) Mason Marshall, David Hume, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Daniel Rodriguez Castillo stand in front of the aluminum ion clock at NIST. With its recent improvements, the clock can pave the way for the campaign to redefine the second as well as explore new ideas in physics.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
There’s a new record holder for the most accurate clock in the world. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved their atomic clock based on a trapped aluminum ion. Part of the latest wave of optical atomic clocks, it can perform timekeeping with 19 decimal places of accuracy.
Optical clocks are typically evaluated on two levels — accuracy (how close a clock comes to measuring the ideal “true” time, also known as systematic uncertainty) and stability (how efficiently a clock can measure time, related to statistical uncertainty). This new record in accuracy comes out of 20 years of continuous improvement of the aluminum ion clock. Beyond its world-best accuracy, 41% greater than the previous record, this new clock is also 2.6 times more stable than any other ion clock. Reaching these levels has meant carefully improving every aspect of the clock, from the laser to the trap and the vacuum chamber.
The team published its results in Physical Review Letters.
“It’s exciting to work on the most accurate clock ever,” said Mason Marshall, NIST researcher and first author on the paper. “At NIST we get to carry out these long-term plans in precision measurement that can push the field of physics and our understanding of the world around us.”
NIST physicist David Hume holds the newly modified ion trap for the aluminum ion clock. By modifying the trap, the aluminum ion and its magnesium ion partner were able to “tick” unperturbed.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
The aluminum ion makes an exceptionally good clock, with an extremely steady, high-frequency “ticking” rate. Its ticks are more stable than those of cesium, which provides the current scientific definition of the second, said David Hume, the NIST physicist leading the aluminum ion clock project. And the aluminum ion isn’t as sensitive to some environmental conditions, like temperature and magnetic fields.
But the aluminum ion is kind of shy, Marshall explained. Aluminum is difficult to probe and cool with lasers, both necessary techniques for atomic clocks. The research group therefore paired the aluminum ion with magnesium. Magnesium doesn’t have the beautiful ticking properties of aluminum, but it can be easily controlled with lasers. “This ‘buddy system’ for ions is called quantum logic spectroscopy,” said Willa Arthur-Dworschack, a graduate student on the project. The magnesium ion cools the aluminum ion, slowing it down. It also moves in tandem with its aluminum partner, and the state of the clock can be read out via the magnesium ion’s motion, making this a “quantum logic” clock. Even with this coordination, there was still an array of physical effects to characterize, said Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, also a graduate student on the project.
“It’s a big, complex challenge, because every part of the clock’s design affects the clock,” Rodriguez Castillo said.
One challenge was the design of the trap where the ions are held, which was causing tiny movements of the ions, called excess micromotion, that were lowering the clock’s accuracy. That excess micromotion throws off the ions’ tick rate. Electrical imbalances at opposite sides of the trap were creating extra fields that disturbed the ions. The team redesigned the trap, putting it on a thicker diamond wafer and modifying the gold coatings on the electrodes to fix the imbalance of the electric field. They also made the gold coatings thicker to reduce resistance. Refining the trap this way slowed the ions’ motion and let them “tick” unperturbed.
The newly modified ion trap for NIST’s aluminum ion clock, with an inset showing a CCD image of the aluminum-magnesium ion pair. The circle shows the position of the aluminum ion, which is dark to the camera as it can only be read out using quantum logic spectroscopy via the magnesium ion.
Credit: NIST
The vacuum system in which the trap must operate was also causing problems. Hydrogen diffuses out of the steel body of a typical vacuum chamber, Marshall said. Traces of hydrogen gas collided with the ions, interrupting the clock’s operation. That limited how long the experiment could run before the ions needed to be reloaded. The team redesigned the vacuum chamber and had it rebuilt out of titanium, which lowered the background hydrogen gas by 150 times. That meant they could go days without reloading the trap, rather than reloading every 30 minutes.
There was still one more ingredient they needed: a more stable laser to probe the ions and count their ticks. The 2019 version of the clock had to be run for weeks to average out quantum fluctuations — temporary random changes in the ions’ energy state — caused by its laser. To reduce that time, the team turned to NIST’s own Jun Ye, whose lab at JILA (a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder) hosts one of the most stable lasers in the world. Ye’s strontium lattice clock, Strontium 1, held the previous record for accuracy.
This was a team effort. Using fiber links under the street, Ye’s group at JILA sent the ultrastable laser beam 3.6 kilometers (a little more than 2 miles) to the frequency comb in the lab of Tara Fortier at NIST. The frequency comb, which acts as a “ruler for light,” allowed the aluminum ion clock group to compare its laser with Ye’s ultrastable one. This process enabled the Ye lab’s laser to transfer its stability to the aluminum clock laser. With this improvement, the researchers could probe the ions for a full second compared to their previous record of 150 milliseconds. This improves the clock’s stability, reducing the time required to measure down to the 19th decimal place from three weeks to a day and a half.
(From left to right) Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Mason Marshall work together on the aluminum ion clock at NIST in Boulder. This atomic clock sets a new record for accuracy.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
With this new record, the aluminum ion clock contributes to the international effort to redefine the second to much greater levels of accuracy than before, facilitating new scientific and technological advances. The upgrades also drastically improve its use as a quantum logic testbed, exploring new concepts in quantum physics and building the tools needed for quantum technology, an exciting prospect for those involved. More importantly, by cutting down the averaging time from weeks to days, this clock can be a tool to make new measurements of Earth’s geodesy and explore physics beyond the Standard Model, such as the possibility that the fundamental constants of nature are not fixed values but actually changing.
“With this platform, we’re poised to explore new clock architectures — like scaling up the number of clock ions and even entangling them — further improving our measurement capabilities,” Arthur-Dworschack said.
Paper: Mason C. Marshall, Daniel A. Rodriguez Castillo, Willa J. Arthur-Dworschack, Alexander Aeppli, Kyungtae Kim, Dahyeon Lee, William Warfield, Joost Hinrichs, Nicholas V. Nardelli, Tara M. Fortier, Jun Ye, David R. Leibrandt and David B. Hume. High-stability single-ion clock with 5.5×10−19 systematic uncertainty. Physical Review Letters. Published online July 14, 2025. DOI: 10.1103/hb3c-dk28
(From left to right) Mason Marshall, David Hume, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Daniel Rodriguez Castillo stand in front of the aluminum ion clock at NIST. With its recent improvements, the clock can pave the way for the campaign to redefine the second as well as explore new ideas in physics.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
There’s a new record holder for the most accurate clock in the world. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved their atomic clock based on a trapped aluminum ion. Part of the latest wave of optical atomic clocks, it can perform timekeeping with 19 decimal places of accuracy.
Optical clocks are typically evaluated on two levels — accuracy (how close a clock comes to measuring the ideal “true” time, also known as systematic uncertainty) and stability (how efficiently a clock can measure time, related to statistical uncertainty). This new record in accuracy comes out of 20 years of continuous improvement of the aluminum ion clock. Beyond its world-best accuracy, 41% greater than the previous record, this new clock is also 2.6 times more stable than any other ion clock. Reaching these levels has meant carefully improving every aspect of the clock, from the laser to the trap and the vacuum chamber.
The team published its results in Physical Review Letters.
“It’s exciting to work on the most accurate clock ever,” said Mason Marshall, NIST researcher and first author on the paper. “At NIST we get to carry out these long-term plans in precision measurement that can push the field of physics and our understanding of the world around us.”
NIST physicist David Hume holds the newly modified ion trap for the aluminum ion clock. By modifying the trap, the aluminum ion and its magnesium ion partner were able to “tick” unperturbed.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
The aluminum ion makes an exceptionally good clock, with an extremely steady, high-frequency “ticking” rate. Its ticks are more stable than those of cesium, which provides the current scientific definition of the second, said David Hume, the NIST physicist leading the aluminum ion clock project. And the aluminum ion isn’t as sensitive to some environmental conditions, like temperature and magnetic fields.
But the aluminum ion is kind of shy, Marshall explained. Aluminum is difficult to probe and cool with lasers, both necessary techniques for atomic clocks. The research group therefore paired the aluminum ion with magnesium. Magnesium doesn’t have the beautiful ticking properties of aluminum, but it can be easily controlled with lasers. “This ‘buddy system’ for ions is called quantum logic spectroscopy,” said Willa Arthur-Dworschack, a graduate student on the project. The magnesium ion cools the aluminum ion, slowing it down. It also moves in tandem with its aluminum partner, and the state of the clock can be read out via the magnesium ion’s motion, making this a “quantum logic” clock. Even with this coordination, there was still an array of physical effects to characterize, said Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, also a graduate student on the project.
“It’s a big, complex challenge, because every part of the clock’s design affects the clock,” Rodriguez Castillo said.
One challenge was the design of the trap where the ions are held, which was causing tiny movements of the ions, called excess micromotion, that were lowering the clock’s accuracy. That excess micromotion throws off the ions’ tick rate. Electrical imbalances at opposite sides of the trap were creating extra fields that disturbed the ions. The team redesigned the trap, putting it on a thicker diamond wafer and modifying the gold coatings on the electrodes to fix the imbalance of the electric field. They also made the gold coatings thicker to reduce resistance. Refining the trap this way slowed the ions’ motion and let them “tick” unperturbed.
The newly modified ion trap for NIST’s aluminum ion clock, with an inset showing a CCD image of the aluminum-magnesium ion pair. The circle shows the position of the aluminum ion, which is dark to the camera as it can only be read out using quantum logic spectroscopy via the magnesium ion.
Credit: NIST
The vacuum system in which the trap must operate was also causing problems. Hydrogen diffuses out of the steel body of a typical vacuum chamber, Marshall said. Traces of hydrogen gas collided with the ions, interrupting the clock’s operation. That limited how long the experiment could run before the ions needed to be reloaded. The team redesigned the vacuum chamber and had it rebuilt out of titanium, which lowered the background hydrogen gas by 150 times. That meant they could go days without reloading the trap, rather than reloading every 30 minutes.
There was still one more ingredient they needed: a more stable laser to probe the ions and count their ticks. The 2019 version of the clock had to be run for weeks to average out quantum fluctuations — temporary random changes in the ions’ energy state — caused by its laser. To reduce that time, the team turned to NIST’s own Jun Ye, whose lab at JILA (a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder) hosts one of the most stable lasers in the world. Ye’s strontium lattice clock, Strontium 1, held the previous record for accuracy.
This was a team effort. Using fiber links under the street, Ye’s group at JILA sent the ultrastable laser beam 3.6 kilometers (a little more than 2 miles) to the frequency comb in the lab of Tara Fortier at NIST. The frequency comb, which acts as a “ruler for light,” allowed the aluminum ion clock group to compare its laser with Ye’s ultrastable one. This process enabled the Ye lab’s laser to transfer its stability to the aluminum clock laser. With this improvement, the researchers could probe the ions for a full second compared to their previous record of 150 milliseconds. This improves the clock’s stability, reducing the time required to measure down to the 19th decimal place from three weeks to a day and a half.
(From left to right) Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Mason Marshall work together on the aluminum ion clock at NIST in Boulder. This atomic clock sets a new record for accuracy.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
With this new record, the aluminum ion clock contributes to the international effort to redefine the second to much greater levels of accuracy than before, facilitating new scientific and technological advances. The upgrades also drastically improve its use as a quantum logic testbed, exploring new concepts in quantum physics and building the tools needed for quantum technology, an exciting prospect for those involved. More importantly, by cutting down the averaging time from weeks to days, this clock can be a tool to make new measurements of Earth’s geodesy and explore physics beyond the Standard Model, such as the possibility that the fundamental constants of nature are not fixed values but actually changing.
“With this platform, we’re poised to explore new clock architectures — like scaling up the number of clock ions and even entangling them — further improving our measurement capabilities,” Arthur-Dworschack said.
Paper: Mason C. Marshall, Daniel A. Rodriguez Castillo, Willa J. Arthur-Dworschack, Alexander Aeppli, Kyungtae Kim, Dahyeon Lee, William Warfield, Joost Hinrichs, Nicholas V. Nardelli, Tara M. Fortier, Jun Ye, David R. Leibrandt and David B. Hume. High-stability single-ion clock with 5.5×10−19 systematic uncertainty. Physical Review Letters. Published online July 14, 2025. DOI: 10.1103/hb3c-dk28
(From left to right) Mason Marshall, David Hume, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Daniel Rodriguez Castillo stand in front of the aluminum ion clock at NIST. With its recent improvements, the clock can pave the way for the campaign to redefine the second as well as explore new ideas in physics.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
There’s a new record holder for the most accurate clock in the world. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have improved their atomic clock based on a trapped aluminum ion. Part of the latest wave of optical atomic clocks, it can perform timekeeping with 19 decimal places of accuracy.
Optical clocks are typically evaluated on two levels — accuracy (how close a clock comes to measuring the ideal “true” time, also known as systematic uncertainty) and stability (how efficiently a clock can measure time, related to statistical uncertainty). This new record in accuracy comes out of 20 years of continuous improvement of the aluminum ion clock. Beyond its world-best accuracy, 41% greater than the previous record, this new clock is also 2.6 times more stable than any other ion clock. Reaching these levels has meant carefully improving every aspect of the clock, from the laser to the trap and the vacuum chamber.
The team published its results in Physical Review Letters.
“It’s exciting to work on the most accurate clock ever,” said Mason Marshall, NIST researcher and first author on the paper. “At NIST we get to carry out these long-term plans in precision measurement that can push the field of physics and our understanding of the world around us.”
NIST physicist David Hume holds the newly modified ion trap for the aluminum ion clock. By modifying the trap, the aluminum ion and its magnesium ion partner were able to “tick” unperturbed.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
The aluminum ion makes an exceptionally good clock, with an extremely steady, high-frequency “ticking” rate. Its ticks are more stable than those of cesium, which provides the current scientific definition of the second, said David Hume, the NIST physicist leading the aluminum ion clock project. And the aluminum ion isn’t as sensitive to some environmental conditions, like temperature and magnetic fields.
But the aluminum ion is kind of shy, Marshall explained. Aluminum is difficult to probe and cool with lasers, both necessary techniques for atomic clocks. The research group therefore paired the aluminum ion with magnesium. Magnesium doesn’t have the beautiful ticking properties of aluminum, but it can be easily controlled with lasers. “This ‘buddy system’ for ions is called quantum logic spectroscopy,” said Willa Arthur-Dworschack, a graduate student on the project. The magnesium ion cools the aluminum ion, slowing it down. It also moves in tandem with its aluminum partner, and the state of the clock can be read out via the magnesium ion’s motion, making this a “quantum logic” clock. Even with this coordination, there was still an array of physical effects to characterize, said Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, also a graduate student on the project.
“It’s a big, complex challenge, because every part of the clock’s design affects the clock,” Rodriguez Castillo said.
One challenge was the design of the trap where the ions are held, which was causing tiny movements of the ions, called excess micromotion, that were lowering the clock’s accuracy. That excess micromotion throws off the ions’ tick rate. Electrical imbalances at opposite sides of the trap were creating extra fields that disturbed the ions. The team redesigned the trap, putting it on a thicker diamond wafer and modifying the gold coatings on the electrodes to fix the imbalance of the electric field. They also made the gold coatings thicker to reduce resistance. Refining the trap this way slowed the ions’ motion and let them “tick” unperturbed.
The newly modified ion trap for NIST’s aluminum ion clock, with an inset showing a CCD image of the aluminum-magnesium ion pair. The circle shows the position of the aluminum ion, which is dark to the camera as it can only be read out using quantum logic spectroscopy via the magnesium ion.
Credit: NIST
The vacuum system in which the trap must operate was also causing problems. Hydrogen diffuses out of the steel body of a typical vacuum chamber, Marshall said. Traces of hydrogen gas collided with the ions, interrupting the clock’s operation. That limited how long the experiment could run before the ions needed to be reloaded. The team redesigned the vacuum chamber and had it rebuilt out of titanium, which lowered the background hydrogen gas by 150 times. That meant they could go days without reloading the trap, rather than reloading every 30 minutes.
There was still one more ingredient they needed: a more stable laser to probe the ions and count their ticks. The 2019 version of the clock had to be run for weeks to average out quantum fluctuations — temporary random changes in the ions’ energy state — caused by its laser. To reduce that time, the team turned to NIST’s own Jun Ye, whose lab at JILA (a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder) hosts one of the most stable lasers in the world. Ye’s strontium lattice clock, Strontium 1, held the previous record for accuracy.
This was a team effort. Using fiber links under the street, Ye’s group at JILA sent the ultrastable laser beam 3.6 kilometers (a little more than 2 miles) to the frequency comb in the lab of Tara Fortier at NIST. The frequency comb, which acts as a “ruler for light,” allowed the aluminum ion clock group to compare its laser with Ye’s ultrastable one. This process enabled the Ye lab’s laser to transfer its stability to the aluminum clock laser. With this improvement, the researchers could probe the ions for a full second compared to their previous record of 150 milliseconds. This improves the clock’s stability, reducing the time required to measure down to the 19th decimal place from three weeks to a day and a half.
(From left to right) Daniel Rodriguez Castillo, Willa Arthur-Dworschack and Mason Marshall work together on the aluminum ion clock at NIST in Boulder. This atomic clock sets a new record for accuracy.
Credit: R. Jacobson/NIST
With this new record, the aluminum ion clock contributes to the international effort to redefine the second to much greater levels of accuracy than before, facilitating new scientific and technological advances. The upgrades also drastically improve its use as a quantum logic testbed, exploring new concepts in quantum physics and building the tools needed for quantum technology, an exciting prospect for those involved. More importantly, by cutting down the averaging time from weeks to days, this clock can be a tool to make new measurements of Earth’s geodesy and explore physics beyond the Standard Model, such as the possibility that the fundamental constants of nature are not fixed values but actually changing.
“With this platform, we’re poised to explore new clock architectures — like scaling up the number of clock ions and even entangling them — further improving our measurement capabilities,” Arthur-Dworschack said.
Paper: Mason C. Marshall, Daniel A. Rodriguez Castillo, Willa J. Arthur-Dworschack, Alexander Aeppli, Kyungtae Kim, Dahyeon Lee, William Warfield, Joost Hinrichs, Nicholas V. Nardelli, Tara M. Fortier, Jun Ye, David R. Leibrandt and David B. Hume. High-stability single-ion clock with 5.5×10−19 systematic uncertainty. Physical Review Letters. Published online July 14, 2025. DOI: 10.1103/hb3c-dk28
