The U.S. Constitution requires a decennial (every 10 years) national population census, with the next decennial census scheduled for 2030.
January 01, 2030
high
temporal
Legal requirement and scheduling cadence for the U.S. population count.
The U.S. Census Bureau conducts field tests (for example, a planned 2026 Census Test) to develop and evaluate methods for obtaining complete and accurate population counts and demographic data.
January 01, 2026
high
procedural
Purpose and use of census field tests in preparing for the decennial census.
Over 20 million people use Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to make their health insurance more affordable.
October 08, 2025
high
temporal
Describes the scale of ACA premium subsidy usage.
A continuing resolution is a temporary funding measure that Congress can use to fund the federal government short term when regular appropriations bills have not been enacted.
October 08, 2025
high
temporal
Explains the legislative mechanism used to avoid funding gaps.
A proposed approach to prevent federal government shutdowns is to establish a rolling short-term continuing appropriations mechanism that funds agencies at the previous fiscal year's spending levels when Congress fails to enact new appropriations.
October 08, 2025
high
temporal
Describes a legislative design concept intended to avert shutdowns by defaulting to prior-year funding levels on a rolling basis.
Census operations have explored using U.S. Postal Service mail carriers to conduct or assist with in-person census interviews at field test sites.
October 06, 2025
high
procedural
An operational approach considered for conducting interviews during census tests.
Uncertain congressional funding and federal hiring freezes can impede the Census Bureau's ability to finalize staffing plans and recruit sufficient temporary workers for decennial census tests.
October 06, 2025
high
procedural
Budgetary and personnel constraints that affect preparation for census field operations.
Comcast and NBC are in the process of spinning off MSNBC into a new company named Versant; Versant is planned to include MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and the Golf Channel, while NBCUniversal will retain NBC News, the NBC News Now streaming network, Telemundo, and Bravo.
October 06, 2025
high
organizational
Corporate restructuring and asset allocation between a newly formed company (Versant) and NBCUniversal.
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA) is a federal law enacted in 2019 that addresses pay and benefits for federal employees affected by government shutdowns.
January 01, 2019
high
temporal
GEFTA was enacted in response to a previous government shutdown to clarify treatment of federal employees during funding lapses.
Prior to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, Congress generally had to enact new legislation to provide retroactive pay to federal employees after a lapse in appropriations (a government shutdown).
January 01, 2019
high
temporal
Describes the prior practice for restoring pay after government shutdowns before the 2019 statutory change.
The U.S. federal high school longitudinal studies program began in 1972 and has collected data on six large cohorts of high school students, including student, parent and teacher surveys, academic transcripts, and thousands of variables, with follow-ups typically spanning about a decade.
January 01, 1972
high
temporal
Description of the scope and design of the U.S. federal high school longitudinal studies program.
Forty-six U.S. states had laws mandating cellphone bans in public schools, and four additional U.S. states were considering legislation to mandate cellphone bans in public schools.
high
temporal
Reported counts of U.S. states with enacted or proposed legislation restricting student cellphone use in public K–12 schools.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) accepts consumer complaints about food products, and such complaints can prompt FSIS investigations or regulatory actions.
high
procedural
FSIS is the USDA agency responsible for inspecting and regulating meat and poultry products; consumer complaints are a pathway for identifying potential food safety issues.
USDA-inspected meat and poultry products bear an establishment number that is printed inside the USDA mark of inspection or elsewhere on the product packaging to identify the processing establishment.
high
labeling
Establishment numbers on packaging are used to identify the specific processing facility responsible for a product.
Meta's internal AI chatbot guidelines require chatbots to refuse any requests for sexual roleplay involving minors and explicitly prohibit sexualized or romantic roleplay with minors.
high
policy
Behavioral rules intended to prevent AI-facilitated sexualization or romanticization of minors.
Meta's internal AI chatbot guidelines permit chatbots to discuss child sexual exploitation in educational or preventive contexts, to explain grooming behaviors in general terms, and to provide non-sexual advice to minors about social challenges.
high
policy
Distinction between allowed educational content and disallowed sexual content in chatbot interactions.
Meta's internal AI chatbot guidelines prohibit chatbots from describing or endorsing sexual relationships between children and adults, from providing instructions for accessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), from engaging in roleplay that portrays a character under 18, and from sexualizing children under 13.
high
policy
Specific prohibited behaviors listed to prevent facilitation or normalization of child sexual exploitation.
Regulators and policymakers are debating safety standards and oversight approaches for AI systems as those systems become integrated into everyday communication tools.
high
trend
Ongoing policy and regulatory discussions focus on how to ensure safety and protect vulnerable populations as AI is embedded in communication platforms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines "individual-based decision-making" for vaccination as vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making between patients or caregivers and health care providers, including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists.
high
policy_definition
Definition of an approach to vaccination decision-making used in immunization guidelines.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the federal agency responsible for funding and supporting efforts to address serious mental illness and substance use, including providing support to states and localities for overdose prevention.
high
structural
Describes the federal role and mission of SAMHSA in mental health and substance-use prevention.
The MMR vaccine is a combination vaccine that immunizes against measles, mumps, and rubella.
high
definition
Describes the composition and target diseases of the MMR vaccine.
The U.S. Senate can adopt a majority-vote rule change (commonly called the "nuclear option") to permit confirmation of nominees by a simple majority rather than a supermajority.
high
procedural
Describes a Senate procedural mechanism for changing confirmation vote thresholds.
Subcabinet-level nominees that have bipartisan support in committee are commonly expedited in the U.S. Senate through unanimous consent or by a voice vote.
high
procedural
Describes typical fast-track Senate practices for noncontroversial nominees.
A Senate rule change can be structured to allow an unlimited number of nominees to be considered and confirmed in a single batch, while still requiring specified procedural steps before final confirmation votes.
high
procedural
Describes how aggregate confirmation batches can be enabled by procedural rule changes.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years.
high
temporal
Describes the statutory update cycle for the federal dietary guidance.
A scientific advisory committee typically spends about two years reviewing evidence and compiling the scientific report that informs the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
high
temporal
Describes the usual duration and role of the advisory committee process that produces the evidence report underlying the guidelines.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans function primarily as a policy document containing specific terminology and calorie- and nutrient-targets that guide federal nutrition programs such as food aid for mothers and infants, the National School Lunch Program, and food served in military bases and federal prisons.
high
policy
Explains the practical role of the guidelines in shaping federal nutrition standards and programs.