WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J Trump announced one-time $90 Medicare payment for more than 20 million seniors, a $15 billion steel project it says will be the largest plant ever built in the United States, and a party-line Senate defeat of a stock-trading bill the president had asked Congress to pass, are in this week’s Lynnwood Times White House brief.
$90 for Part B, with exceptions
In a Truth Social post late Friday, President Trump wrote that his administration would “immediately, begin sending ‘Checks’ of nearly $100 to over 20 MILLION wonderful Seniors to help pay for their Medicare Part B premiums, which we have already reduced by significant amounts.” He called the Medicare Improvement Fund a “pointless ‘Slush Fund.’” The White House fact sheet set the payment at $90.
A White House fact sheet confirmed that the monies will come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, created in 2008 and given $2 billion by Congress for fee-for-service improvements, and that no administration had used the fund for direct payments before. Most eligible seniors are to receive a $90 direct deposit in early October and those without direct deposit will receive a check in the mail, also in early October, at the address on file with Medicare.
Most Part B enrollees qualify; whereas people whose premiums are already paid by Medicaid, and people who pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, will not.
For eligibility questions go to 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and for payment-status questions go to the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.
Largest US steel plant to be built in Iowa
On Monday, September 28, President Trump said Mesabi Metallics will build the largest U.S. steel complex in Lee County, Iowa.
“We’re thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa,” Trump said.
The White House put the cost at $15 billion, with 1,750 permanent jobs, up to 6,000 construction jobs, and an estimated $95 billion in U.S. economic output over construction and the first decade.
Mesabi Chairman Rewant Ruia said the Iowa complex would “complete the fully integrated American supply chain from mine to mill,” with ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range. Chief executive Joe Broking said the plant would pair that ore with direct-reduced iron and electric-arc-furnace steelmaking.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said the jobs would be “tremendous, high-paying jobs with incredible benefits.”
Stop Insider Trading Act fails to pass the US Senate
On Wednesday, September 30, the Senate blocked the Stop Insider Trading Act, 53–47, short of the 60 votes needed for cloture with every Democrat—including Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell—voted no. The House had passed the bill in July.
The bill would bar members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from buying individual stocks. It would not require them to sell shares they already own, and it does not cover the president or vice president. Republicans had also attached a photo-ID requirement for voting.
Trump had urged passage in his State of the Union address: “As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit using inside information… Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the bill “toothless” and “as ineffective as a screen door on a submarine,” and said Democrats would have opposed it even without the voter-ID language. Sen. Alex Padilla called that language “a poison pill.”
Republican Senator Kevin Cramer, who voted in favor of the bill wrote to X, “Senate Democrats blocked a bill to stop any sort of insider trading by government officials and to require legal ID to vote. North Dakotans overwhelmingly support both these measures, yet when it came time to vote, Democrats said no.”
White House puts Democratic Socialists of America agenda at $49 trillion
The Council of Economic Advisers released “The Real Cost of Socialism in America,” estimating that the Democratic Socialists of America’s top policies would cost about a net $49 trillion over ten years, or more than $350,000 per household, and drive inflation up to 160% with tax hikes that cut paychecks by almost 30%.
The report listed DSA policies such as reopening the border, amnesty for people in the country illegally, abolishing the police including ICE, eliminating prisons, government-run health care for everyone, and canceling all student debt.
The DSA’s Medicare for All policy would account for $47.41 trillion of the $58.24 trillion total cost of their platform. The other estimated costs the Council of Economic Advisers list are:
- Student-debt cancellation and free tuition, $3.60 trillion
- 32-hour workweek, $918 billion
- Open borders and amnesty, $530 billion
- Green New Deal, $370 billion
- Universal rent control, $16.2 billion
A 5% wealth tax on billionaires is estimated at $3.94 trillion in revenue, which is what pulls the gross cost of $52.84 trillion down to the net figure of $49 trillion.
The DSA’s policies of abolishing the police and prisons are listed as a pillar in the Council of Economic Advisers’ report but were not given an estimate.
The CEA also estimates U.S. output could fall about 19.2% a year, roughly $72.5 trillion in lost output over a decade, and that after-tax hourly wages could shrink as much as 28.4%, which is estimated to be about $22,000 a year for the average household.
White House Launches America.gov
On September 29, Trump signed an executive order to route federal services through America.gov. The site is a single sign-in site for federal services, not a new benefit program. President Trump ordered it on September 29.
The White House fact sheet says a person can sign in, ask a question in plain language, get an answer, and, where the agency has connected the service, finish the transaction without moving among agency websites. It says the site uses what the White House calls “Super Intelligence,” with privacy preserved.
The General Services Administration, the National Design Studio, and the Office of Management and Budget are told to run it and tie it to Login.gov. OMB is to tell agencies to connect their covered services.
Right the site only answers questions but later this year the White House says users will be able to renew a passport or enroll in Medicare on the site.
NHTSA rolls back Biden fuel-economy standard from 50.4 mpg to 34.9 mpg
The Administration announced it ended Biden-era fuel-economy rules making, it estimates, the purchase of a new car about $1,300 cheaper.
On September 28, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a rollback of the corporate average fuel economy rules set under Biden in 2024. Those rules would have required a fleetwide average of 50.4 miles per gallon by model year 2031. The new rule sets that average at 34.9 mpg. Automakers now no longer have to add electric vehicles to their fleet in order to hit the Biden-era requirement.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the change “ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn’t want.” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said the rule “restores integrity to the national fuel economy program.”
Reuters’ David Shepardson told PBS that the $1,300 is the agency’s estimate of technology costs taken off the automaker, about $1,289 a vehicle, not a guaranteed discount at the dealer.
Other White House Matters
- President Trump proclaimed National Manufacturing Day and recognized National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- First Lady Melania Trump announced the 2026 Fall Garden Tours.
Author: Mario Lotmore
