February 13

Education Secretary McMahon notifies Congress of OELA dissolution with 90-day timeline

Education Secretary Linda McMahon notified Congress of the Trump administration's plan to dissolve the Office of English Language Acquisition under the Department of Education Organization Act. The 90-day notice began shutdown procedures for the standalone office administering $890 million annually in Title III grants serving 5 million English learners in U.S. public schools, plus professional development grants and Native American/Alaska Native language programs. (Chalkbeat, Apr. 15, 2026)

DHS continuing resolution extension expires, partial shutdown resumes on February 14

The DHS continuing resolution expires at midnight on Feb. 13. Most DHS agencies including TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service, and FEMA lose funding. ICE and CBP continue operations on prior-year reconciliation funds. (Reuters, Feb. 13, 2026)

Truth Social files new crypto ETF registrations tied to Bitcoin, Ether and Cronos

On Feb. 13, 2026, Truth Social Funds filed registration statements for new crypto exchange-traded funds, including a Bitcoin-and-Ether product and a Cronos yield product. Reporting said the proposed funds would use Crypto.com for custody, liquidity and staking services.

Trump orders second aircraft carrier to Middle East amid Iran tensions

President Trump ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to deploy to the Middle East on February 13, 2026, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln already on station. Trump confirmed the deployment publicly, stating the Ford would leave the Caribbean shortly and position in the Mediterranean. The two-carrier posture was the most substantial US naval buildup in the region since the 2003 Iraq War and was explicitly tied to pressure on Iran over nuclear negotiations.

Trump eyes rollback of 50% steel and aluminum tariffs amid affordability push

Reports emerged on February 13, 2026 that the Trump administration was considering rolling back the 50% steel and aluminum tariffs imposed under Section 232 in June 2025, citing affordability concerns. Officials at the Commerce Department and the US Trade Representative's office said the tariffs were raising prices for consumer goods including pie tins and food-and-drink cans. The White House denied the reports as baseless speculation and said no final decision had been made, even as the Financial Times and Bloomberg reported active internal review.

Minneapolis documents $203M in damage from Operation Metro Surge

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey released a city impact report documenting $203.1 million in harm caused by Operation Metro Surge during a single month of up to 3,000 federal agents operating in the city. The report catalogued $47 million in lost wages from residents afraid to leave for work, $81 million in restaurant and small business revenue losses, and $4.7 million in hotel cancellations. The report further found 76,200 residents experienced food insecurity and 8,713 school-aged children required emergency food services during the operation.

White House uses $15M in USAID funds to pay for Vought security detail

Reuters reported on February 13, 2026 that the White House Office of Management and Budget, led by Director Russell Vought, allocated $15 million from USAID operating funds to cover Vought's personal security detail through year-end. Internal documents showed OMB had signed an agreement with USAID in September 2025 to pay $1.6 million for Vought's protection, then added $13.5 million for the remainder of 2026. Vought had been a primary architect of USAID's dismantlement, eliminating the agency's independent leadership structure.

Judge Manish Shah blocks $602M in CDC grant terminations to four states

U.S. District Judge Manish Shah issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on February 13, 2026, blocking the Trump administration from terminating $602 million in CDC public health grants to California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota. The four states sued alleging the terminations were retaliatory, targeting states that opposed federal immigration enforcement. Judge Shah found the states had shown irreparable harm and were likely to succeed on the merits.

38 CDC disease surveillance databases stop updating, darkening early-warning system

A STAT News analysis published February 13, 2026 found that 38 of 82 CDC databases updated at least monthly at the start of 2025 had stopped receiving new data, with no explanation or timeline for resumption. Eighty-seven percent of the paused databases were vaccination-related. DOGE-directed staff cuts to the CDC disease tracking division, including the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System team reduced from approximately 20 staff to a handful, drove most of the outages.

Trump vows voter ID executive order for 2026 midterms despite constitutional authority questions

President Trump announced on February 13, 2026 that he would issue an executive order mandating voter ID requirements for the 2026 midterm elections if the SAVE America Act stalled in the Senate. Constitutional law experts and federal judges who had already blocked a March 2025 voter registration proof-of-citizenship order warned that election administration authority under the Times, Places and Manner Clause belongs to states and Congress. Stanford and UCLA law professors publicly stated a presidential voter ID mandate would be unconstitutional.

Supreme Court adds emergency Feb. 20 decision day for IEEPA tariff power case

The Supreme Court announced around February 13, 2026 that it would issue a ruling in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump on February 20, scheduling an emergency decision day to resolve whether IEEPA authorizes the president to unilaterally set tariffs. Oral arguments had been heard November 5, 2025 on an expedited basis. The 6-3 ruling written by Chief Justice Roberts struck down IEEPA-based tariffs, vacating approximately $175–179 billion in tariff collections. Justices Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Alito dissented.

Supreme Court sets emergency Feb. 20 session to rule on tariff authority

The Supreme Court announced on February 13, 2026, that it would convene an emergency decision day on February 20 — an extraordinary break from its normal schedule — to rule on whether President Trump had authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The expedited timeline reflected lower court injunctions blocking tariff collection that threatened to disrupt federal revenue collection and ongoing trade negotiations. No emergency Supreme Court session had been called on such short notice in recent decades.

House Oversight votes to hold the Clintons in contempt over Epstein documents

The House Oversight Committee voted on January 21, 2026 to hold both Bill and Hillary Clinton in contempt of Congress after they refused to testify about their knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein. By February 13, as the full House prepared to vote on the contempt resolutions, the Clintons reversed course and agreed to appear for closed-door depositions before the committee. Hillary Clinton subsequently testified for six hours on February 26, denying she ever met Epstein; Bill Clinton testified the following day.

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DOJ says four men Khanna named had no apparent Epstein connection

The Justice Department said four men named by Rep. Ro Khanna after his review of unredacted Epstein files had no apparent connection to Epstein and appeared in a photo lineup assembled for an unrelated investigative purpose. The correction showed how unredacted law-enforcement material can create public naming risks without context.