President Trump’s pet legislation—the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act—would require Americans to provide documented proof of citizenship upon registering to vote, usually a passport or birth certificate. This, the act’s proponents argue, would prevent noncitizen actors from illegally registering and participating in American elections. The recently revealed registration mishap in New Jersey has led to renewed advocacy for the act. Vice President JD Vance weighed in; so, too, did Sen. Dave McCormick (R‑PA) and Trump’s “Rapid Response” social media account. (“Yet another reason to PASS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!”)

But it’s unclear if the SAVE America Act would have prevented what happened in New Jersey.

Recently, the House of Representatives passed the KIDS Act, an omnibus package of bills that could fundamentally change how all users experience the internet. This approach puts policymakers, not parents, in control of what their children see online. And it threatens speech and privacy rights for adult users, too.

Perhaps most importantly, it has been tried elsewhere. And in those places, it has failed. The result is always the same: the internet becomes much less interesting—and much less useful.

Read the rest of this post →

On Wednesday, July 22, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on multiple consumer protection bills, including the App Store Freedom Act (ASFA). Supporters of ASFA claim that this bill will promote competition in the app store market by forcing developers of an electronic device’s operating system to allow the installation of third-party app stores, to allow the use of third-party payment processors, and a myriad of other restrictions. Ironically, the bill’s provisions would make the app store market less competitive by reducing covered companies’ ability to engage in competitive practices that make their products more appealing to potential customers. It would also have negative spillover effects in the hardware market by restricting hardware developers from offering closed-system products to customers and prescribing a business model as a whole.

Read the rest of this post →

Yesterday’s report by the Treasury Department shows that better pre-payment screening through the Do Not Pay (DNP) system can save taxpayers billions of dollars every year.

DNP is a data-sharing tool agencies use to cross-check applications against federal databases and flag improper payments before the money goes out the door. This saves taxpayers from footing the bill for agencies’ defaulting to the expensive and inefficient “pay and chase” approach of issuing erroneous payments and trying to recover them after the fact.

Read the rest of this post →

A new study argues that recent drug decriminalizations in Oregon and Washington caused substantial increases in drug overdoses.

Is this plausible? And does it imply that prohibition is better than legalization?

Yes, and no.

Decriminalization means the elimination of criminal penalties for drug possession. Legalization means the elimination of criminal penalties for production and sale.

Read the rest of this post →

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is suffering a crisis of institutional trust. Its woes have included the adoption of questionable legal theories, shifts in policy without public comment, and sending out poorly justified subpoenas. Reformers wonder how to address this trust crisis, and one option that might help is more intensive scrutiny by an Inspector General (IG). 

Currently, the bureau shares an IG with the Fed. The draft CFPB Reform Act of 2026 would (among other reforms) give the bureau its own IG (as does H.R.2513). If lawmakers support rigorous IG evaluations of the bureau’s compliance with constitutional case law, with statute law, and with accepted standards for cost-benefit analysis, this type of measure could bolster the bureau’s accountability. 

IGs are government watchdogs, conducting independent audits, inspections, and evaluations to combat waste, fraud, and abuse. Many audits are focused on financial or information technology issues. IG reports on the bureau usually cover topics such as purchase card management, payments to contractors, data security, or the management of the civil penalty fund. While valuable, such assessments do not get at the heart of the CFPB’s overreach. 

Read the rest of this post →

In July 2026, a group of 12 state attorneys general brought an antitrust challenge to Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Now, a judge has granted an order restraining the transaction for at least 14 days and preventing it from closing on July 22 as planned. It is possible that, regardless of the outcome of the case, the litigation could further delay the transaction.

The state case focuses on the potential impact of the transaction on movie theaters and basic cable distributors. But does this correctly understand the current entertainment market consumers experience?

Read the rest of this post →