September 17, 2026 — Here’s what’s making news across the United States today.
The Fed Raises Rates for the First Time Since 2023
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for the first time since 2023, moving to cool inflation that has refused to come down. The quarter-point increase lifts the Fed’s key rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%, and officials signaled a second hike could follow later this year, to about 4.1%.
The vote was unanimous among the 12 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee — and it puts the Fed squarely at odds with President Donald Trump, who has demanded lower rates and said just days ago that the United States should have “the lowest interest rates in the world.”
“Today’s policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee’s 2 percent goal,” policymakers said in their statement. Annual inflation, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, has trended closer to 4% than 2% in recent months.
The hike marks the first big move under Chair Kevin Warsh, who was handpicked by Trump and took over the central bank in May. Warsh said three things changed since the Fed’s July meeting: “The economy strengthened, inflation didn’t slow, and geopolitical tensions intensified.”
“All three of those things helped themselves to a firm, unanimous decision today,” Warsh said, adding repeatedly that inflation is the Fed’s top priority.
The backdrop is the war with Iran, which has pushed average gas prices up more than 7% in a month and kept oil above $100 a barrel — disruptions that threaten to spread through the economy. Affordability has become a leading issue in the midterm elections, now just seven weeks away.
Bipartisan Senators Demand Answers on Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Deal
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked the Trump administration on Wednesday to declassify and release all information about a proposed civil nuclear energy agreement with Saudi Arabia — including two classified “side letters” reached alongside the deal.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Christopher Wright, the senators noted the government has reached dozens of similar nuclear cooperation agreements with other countries without withholding such information.
“Access to the full text is required for the Senate and the public to have a clear understanding of the commitments being made on the nation’s behalf and those being made by Saudi Arabia to the United States,” the letter said.
The letter was led by Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Ed Markey of Massachusetts and signed by 13 other Democratic senators, one independent who caucuses with Democrats, and two Republicans — Rand Paul of Kentucky and John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Trump sent the proposed agreement to Congress in August, opening a 90-day window for lawmakers’ review and a chance to pass a resolution of disapproval. The deal has also raised questions about whether Saudi Arabia would get the pact without normalizing relations with Israel — Trump has said it will only take effect if Riyadh does so, though congressional aides say nothing in the pact addresses that issue.
AP Exclusive: Trafficking Policy Change Could Make Some Migrant Minors Easier to Deport
The Trump administration has ordered caregivers for migrant children to stop reporting human trafficking concerns directly to the office created to help victims, a change critics say could make some vulnerable minors easier to deport.
The directive, in a September 10 memo reviewed by The Associated Press, could mean some victims would be denied services and face tougher odds of obtaining asylum and visas allowing them to stay in the United States.
“This is going to harm children,” said Jean Bruggeman, co-executive director of Freedom Network USA, a coalition that advocates for human trafficking survivors. “This makes it more likely they will be deported before they get the services they need and put back into harm’s way.”
The memo said the change would “streamline the reporting, tracking and referral of trafficking-related concerns.” An administration statement framed it as an effort to reduce the high number of claims that did not rise to the level of criminal human trafficking but nonetheless triggered the award of benefits and relief.
But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said the change requires children and their advocates to report human trafficking to the same agency that is holding them in custody. “This move to sideline human trafficking experts is more evidence that the Trump administration will deport kids to score political points rather than actually protect them,” he said.
A Week of Reversals for the President
The week’s developments come as President Trump faces what one analysis called a string of losses, with his approval rating in the 30s and endangered Republicans beginning to distance themselves. This week, GOP lawmakers defected to vote to end the war with Iran — a sign, analysts say, that ordinary political gravity is reasserting itself.
“Where we agree with the president, we’re going to fight with him. Where we disagree with the president on things like beef, on tariffs, on the current state of how operations are working in Iran, we’re going to call him out and have a conversation on that,” said Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn, who voted to end the war Tuesday.
Trump, for his part, told supporters at the Republican convention in Dallas this week that “every single promise I made to you as a candidate, I’ve delivered on. I’ve delivered on everything” — a claim fact-checkers have pushed back on, noting that pledges like ending the Ukraine-Russia war on his first day back and halving energy prices remain unfulfilled, with diesel at record highs and gas over $4 a gallon.
What’s Next
With the midterms seven weeks out, the Fed signaling another possible hike before year’s end, and a Senate review window open on the Saudi nuclear deal, the weeks ahead figure to be busy ones. We’ll keep watching.