After the recent midterm elections, it seems that the incoming Congress will come with a revitalized, ambitious appetite to pass legislation on artificial intelligence (AI). As my colleagues have highlighted, some in Congress have called for aggressive regulation of the industry, even proposing pauses on development. But the political reality is that any proposal from the new Congress will need to survive a presidential veto from an administration that has expressed a desire to maintain a light-touch approach to AI regulation. This equilibrium will, fortunately, fend off proposals for heavy-handed regulation—opening up a unique opportunity to address some of the concerns surrounding the AI industry without hampering the development of one of the most promising technologies in decades. 

Focusing on narrowly targeted, restrained legislation is Congress’s best option to address some voters’ concerns about AI. But Congress’s attention should look beyond regulating the AI industry towards curbing executive power. The executive’s notorious overreach highlights the need to create a more orderly, rules-based system for AI governance. Policymakers should be wary of passing legislation that could grant the executive more power over AI.

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The Trump administration has attempted to limit H1B (high-skilled) visas, with varying degrees of success. 

New research sheds light on the impact of these policy changes, should they survive legal challenges. The study looks at 

hedge fund firms that applied for visas during lottery years [~2004] and compared their investment performance according to the share of requested visas they received. … The differences were economically meaningful. A portfolio of hedge funds with the highest visa lottery success rates outperformed a portfolio of funds with the lowest success rates by 3.28 percentage points per year after adjusting for risk.

Interestingly, 

[h]edge funds that received more H‑1B workers posted fewer jobs for domestic STEM workers but more jobs for domestic workers in complementary fields outside economics, finance, and STEM. This pattern suggests that skilled immigrants can help firms grow in ways that create demand for other US workers.

Altogether,

the study indicates that skilled immigrants add value in finance, especially where quantitative expertise is central to performance. It suggests that restrictions on high-skilled immigration can affect not only technology firms but also investment management and other sectors that depend on specialized analytical talent.

In Libertarian Land, Uber drivers would not need a government-issued license. Ridesharing apps are already incentivized to self-impose employee safety regulations, and new evidence suggests that additional government licensing is unlikely to produce much benefit. 

Using data from New York, New Jersey, and Houston, this study

examines whether licensing adds meaningful consumer benefits in a market where private platforms already monitor performance.

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Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm run by Brian Ballard with close ties to the Trump administration, has had a very good run over the last few years. A new CBS News investigation shows that the firm reported more than $88 million in lobbying revenue in 2025—a record since the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) took effect in 1996—and more than $98 million through three quarters of 2026. The CBS story notes that a former Health and Human Services aide claims Ballard Partners “controlled” White House policy, a claim Ballard and President Trump’s outgoing chief of staff, Susie Wiles (a former managing partner at the lobbying firm), deny. Others can weigh in on the infighting. But the more interesting story is Ballard’s public filings and tariffs. 

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In most areas of life, when something isn’t working, we look for a better option. In K–12 education, though, children are assigned to public schools based on where they live—and if that school isn’t a good fit, the child is generally seen as the problem. School choice is changing that by expanding access to alternative learning environments. But educational freedom changes lives only if parents and teachers know what options exist, which is why Cato’s Friday Feature highlights the schools, policies, and organizations bringing those choices within reach.

When Talon and Travis Holleman moved from the Baltimore area to Delaware, they were looking for a fresh start for their family. They’d both been working in corporate roles—Talon as a registered nurse and Travis as a banker—and were expecting their second child. They began to ponder their family’s future: “What do we want to do with our lives? How can we spend more time with our kids? And what do we really find value in?”

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Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R‑ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D‑OR) released a joint statement in August to support extending the CHIPS and Science Act’s advanced manufacturing investment tax credit. The credit is set to expire for projects that begin construction after December 31, 2026. Industry groups want it extended and expanded, possibly as part of a year-end tax package. 

Since it became law in 2022, the credit’s official cost has almost tripled, and a permanent extension could cost between $125 billion and $325 billion in total. The credit primarily funds projects for a few large firms, and most of the investments would likely have happened anyway. 

Extending the CHIPS Act credit would also provide new subsidies for the AI data center buildout that lawmakers are otherwise trying to curtail. Efforts to limit data center construction through new restrictions or special taxes are economically destructive and should be opposed, but data centers shouldn’t be subsidized either. For lawmakers concerned about AI subsidies, the easiest thing they can do is let the CHIPS Act tax credit expire.

The Trump administration has initiated the federal purchase of stakes in 41 companies across numerous industries, including energy, minerals, drones, computing, and semiconductors. This is an aggressive and troubling foray into socialism, as Cato scholars are documenting in the Restoring Free Enterprise project.

If extended, federal ownership of these firms will likely end in stagnation, inefficiency, and financial failure. Consider Amtrak. Congress created the passenger rail firm in 1970 expecting it to “become self-sufficient and operate as a private entity without subsidies within a few years.” But five decades later, government-owned Amtrak is as inefficient as ever and consumes vast subsidies, as I discuss in a new Cato study.