Legislation being considered in Massachusetts would unfairly privilege Muslims over other religious followers, warned Catholic League President Bill Donohue.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, would create an 11-member commission to advise state leaders on numerous issues impacting the Muslim community.
“Nothing wrong with that, but there is something offensive about singling out one religious community — in this case Muslims — to receive special treatment,” Mr. Donohue wrote on the league’s website. “There is no Catholic or Jewish commission appointed by the state to advise lawmakers about issues of interest to them. Nor should there be one.”
The legislation died in the Senate, but the bill is expected to be brought back next session.
Unlike other entities, the commission would be permanent, and its mission would be to fight Islamophobia, recommend Muslims for government jobs and provide plans on education, healthcare and employment.
“To say this is ripe for nepotism would be an understatement,” Mr. Donohue said. “No one, including Eldridge, has released a study detailing the necessity for such a commission. Indeed, it would appear that Muslims are one demographic group that does not need assistance in making strides in either the private or public sectors.”
He added that Muslims are just 2% of the state’s population.
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Eldridge’s office for comment.
Congress pressed to pass Trump’s big defense budget
A new white paper from the American Enterprise Institute made the case for President Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, which is stalled in Congress.
AEI’s Todd Harrison said the big spending has the potential to modernize the U.S military.
Mr. Trump’s budget request marks a major shift, emphasizing modernization with a 52% allocation, the highest since the Korean War. It also front-loads funding over multiple years toward sustained weapons production and a vital change in budget management.
“The FY2027 defense budget is more than a one-year funding surge. It is a front-loaded plan for a multiyear transformation that doesn’t just grow the pie—it changes how the pie is sliced and managed,” Mr. Harrison said.
The analysis noted that missile and munitions funding in outyears is nearly three times the historical average, with procurement quantities for systems like PAC-3 MSE and THAAD vastly increased.
Despite the large increase, the paper said, defense spending remains below Cold War peaks relative to GDP and tops out at 3.7% in FY2028.
The budget projects a strategic pivot toward fast modernization, highlighting production capacity and centralized control over traditional service-managed programs.
Currently, numerous weapons have lead times extending beyond the present administration, postponing replenishment until 2029 or beyond, and even with planned funding, changing capacity into actual output remains unknown.
Tax hawks want to stop new Medicare drug price control program
Americans for Tax Reform filed comments opposing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ proposed rule to negotiate drug prices.
The low-tax advocates said the rule would convert three years of program guidance into “permanent, binding regulation, locking in a price control regime – created under the Biden administration – that will be far harder to revise once its devastating effects on drug development become clear.”
ATR asked CMS to withdraw the rule or largely minimize the authority it claims for itself in the proposed rule.
“The Inflation Reduction Act, passed without a single Republican vote and signed by President Biden, authorized the HHS Secretary to ’negotiate’ Medicare drug prices,” ATR’s Isabelle Marchese said.
“In practice, the Secretary can simply set a price and tax any company that charges more up to 95 percent of their sales. The program covers 10 drugs in 2026, rising to 60 by 2029 and expanding by 20 drugs every year thereafter.”
The group warned that codifying the initiative into permanent regulation lends legitimacy to a price control scheme that is a ’negotiation’ in name only, and will shift costs rather than reduce them.
Trump administration sued over frozen small business loans
A coalition of economic development groups filed a complaint against the Trump administration to stop it from withholding congressionally appropriated funds for Community Development Financial Institutions.
Represented by the Democracy Forward Foundation, CAMEO Network and Inclusive Action for the City, the plaintiffs filed the complaint against the U.S. Department of the Treasury and others.
They say that hundreds of millions of dollars in CDFI Fund awards are at risk of expiring Sept. 30, and that money appropriated for future awards is frozen in Office of Management and Budget accounts.
“Supporting small businesses shouldn’t be controversial – that’s why generations of bipartisan leaders have invested in CDFI programs that support entrepreneurs and create jobs,” said Doug Smith, Vice President of Policy and Legal Strategy at Inclusive Action for the City.
“Funding for CDFIs came under threat in May 2025, when the president’s budget asked Congress to eliminate the CDFI Fund’s discretionary award programs outright.”
Congress rejected the cuts and appropriated $324 million for FY2026 and included language prohibiting funding changes not enacted by Congress itself. The lawsuit alleges the administration withheld the appropriated funds in violation of Congress’s directive, and asks the court to compel OMB to release the funds.
The CDFI Fund was established by Congress in the mid-1990s to support lenders serving businesses and communities often overlooked by traditional banks.
For more than 30 years, Congress routinely appropriated money for the fund, Democracy Forward said, noting that it financed “more than $270 billion in small business loans, housing, community clinics, and other community investments between 2005 and 2023.”
• The Advocates column is a weekly look at the political action players who drive the debate and shape policy outcomes in Washington. Send tips to theadvocates@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive The Advocates in your inbox each week.
