After 12 years in Congress serving at the highest levels of our nation’s federal government, I want to take this opportunity to thank the people of our great state — Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. And thank you to the voters in my district, who cycle after cycle in good years and bad, placed their trust and faith in me to represent them. 

I never felt entitled for your vote and I always worked my very hardest to earn it. 

There will be a lot written and discussed about the national repudiation of Republicans this cycle and I look forward to that conversation. However, New York deserves its own special attention after the historic loss at the ballot box. It is time to learn and rebuild. 

My theory of the case, having a front row seat to the political ups and downs over the past decade, has always been that President Trump is one of one — he is a singular figure larger than partisan politics. He built a unique historic coalition in 2016, mounted the most noteworthy political comeback of all time, survived an assassination attempt, and won the popular vote in 2024. 

He also energizes and unifies Democrats and swing voters in a way no other political figure has ever done. In order to win, the next generation of Republicans will need to come to terms that Trump will not be on the ballot. Candidates are on their own to re-energize and inspire the Trump coalition of working class people and offer real solutions to win independents and swing voters to grow the tent. 

This will not be a return to the pre-Trump stale Republican Party, it will have to expand.

This cycle, America saw a new generation of Democrat Socialist candidates successfully co-opt Trump’s original outsiders’ populist message of fighting for the little guy and working men and women from all walks of life. That movement started right here in New York, where smiling Socialists masking deep anti-Americanism are successfully on the march and in elected office. 

Another important part of my political theory of the case is that we are living through a historic political realignment that is clearly swinging hard towards Socialism today, but will swing back with a vengeance in the next five to 10 years. 

Republicans should not blow this opportunity. 

America loves a comeback story and Republicans are going to need to write one. 

There is no better place to do that than New York. 

Unlike so many in elected office, I don’t come from a political family. I first cut my teeth in New York politics in high school when I was a volunteer at the Republican State Committee headquarters in Albany — stuffing envelopes, making posters and phone calls. That was back in the day when Republicans controlled statewide office with Gov. George Pataki at the helm with a savvy, smart operational partner in GOP State Party Chair Bill Powers. 

I was further inspired to pursue public service after the deadly terrorist attacks on 9/11. 

Back then, I never would have imagined I would make history serving in the United States Congress, let alone in top House leadership. 

Whether fighting for small businesses and Upstate farms, being rated as one of the most effective elected officials in America, setting off the long overdue earthquake in higher education, or shaping our national defense strategy as a senior Member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, I have been grateful to earn support cycle after cycle from my constituents with a broad and sweeping coalition of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats. 

When I first ran for Congress 14 years ago, the old Republican guard loved to say: “she can’t win,” “she’s too conservative for the district,” “she’s just a young girl from Upstate,” “she will lose.” 

Some still say that today. I spent two years, and then the next 12, traversing the largest geographic district in New York and east of the Mississippi River leaving no stone unturned and earning support directly from the voters. Listening to them and hearing them — on national frustrations, but importantly on state, regional, and local issues as well. 

I listened to voters and focused on delivering a record of clear and consistent results with a potent combination of national issues coupled with deep understanding and connection to local, state, and regional issues. 

That coupled with exceptional constituent services and a very consistent and disciplined messaging strategy, cycle after cycle, we broke electoral records for any Republican in the Northeast and fundraising records nationwide. 

And I paid it forward. I worked to flip nearly every county in my district. I also served in top leadership to deliver the House Majority through smart candidate recruitment and national fundraising. 

Importantly, I always ran on an effective, meaningful policy platform attuned to voters’ concerns on real issues nationally and locally with a record of consistent, tangible, and real results — big and small. I always showed up. And voters in turn showed up for me. 

I share this as I am leaving Congressional service because I believe Republicans in New York and across America can and should learn from this. The broad and consistently winning “Elise Coalition” was built of highly energized Republicans, nearly a quarter of registered Democrats, and the vast majority of Independents. 

There was no pre-existing political machine in Upstate, we had to build it from scratch. That gargantuan effort turned a sleepy, low turnout district into the highest voter turnout district in the state. With a 100% win record. Full stop. For 14 years and seven ballots. We took a 50/50 bellwether district and won by such large margins with such strong coattails down-ballot, that we made it look easy where it was written off ad nauseum by the media as a safe Republican district. 

Turn’s out, that was absolutely wrong and was lazy reporting all along. It is now back to a knife’s edge 50/50.

Last year, I made the difficult, but correct, decision not to run for governor of New York. As a working Mom to our young son coupled with professional responsibilities serving in Congress in a slim Majority where every vote is essentially decided by one vote, it was not the right time. 

Additionally, I was concerned there was a lack of urgency for the need to rebuild the Republican apparatus. There was far too much party infighting, coupled with regional state fiefdoms, and not enough focus on the people.

I also had a sense that Republicans were failing to deliver an agenda or communicate a message that was worthy of the mandate voters had generously given us in 2024. 

The focus of top House leadership became surviving another day in power rather than listening to the American people and delivering solutions on affordability, housing, and lowering energy costs. 

Yes, Congress delivered the expansive and important One Big Beautiful Bill where I cast the deciding vote, but other than the message discipline of New York Republicans communicating on the historic tax cut we delivered on SALT, did Republican candidates ever really explain why the bill is so important? The answer is no. It showed up in exactly zero exit polls. 

We know it is possible for Republicans to make inroads electorally and strategically in New York. Over the past decade, I successfully delivered real results to my constituents while rebuilding the Republican Party in my district and nationwide by supporting and helping elect a historic number of Republican candidates both in our state and across the country — including a historic number of women. 

As the highest ranking New York Republican to serve in Congress in over a century, I worked closely with Speakers of the House when we delivered the House Majority through New York. We developed a savvy winning legal strategy to defeat the New York Democrats’ attempted gerrymander in the courts. 

And let’s not forget, Lee Zeldin ran a generationally great statewide race with a strong state party chair in Nick Langworthy coupled with savvy Congressional candidates like Mike Lawler who flipped key districts. These were smart and massive wins on the board that were wiped away in last week’s blue tsunami. 

I think back to a lengthy one-on-one conversation I had late last spring with still one of the smartest tacticians in New York politics, former governor George Pataki — one of my friends and neighbors on beautiful Lake Champlain. A few hours learning from him is worth more than decades of any consultant. He wisely suggested that part of the winning strategy must be a complete rebuild of the New York GOP apparatus and state party that was accomplished before he won in 1994 — a historic wave year for Republicans. 

He was right. There is no question that needs to happen and it needed to happen yesterday. We have seen a hollowing out of the Republican support in the Hudson Valley while previous strongholds like parts of Upstate New York and Long Island have slipped away and are aging out. This suggestion is meant to be honest and productive, putting the voters — not the party insiders — first.

You have regions and races where New York Republicans didn’t even put candidates on the ballot. On Election Day, Elon’s patriotic mom, Maye Musk, earnestly tweeted a telling photo of the fact that there wasn’t a single Republican judicial candidate on her ballot. So prescient and on point, as usual, for the widely admired matriarch of the Musk family. 

Which brings me to the most important lesson in politics and it is about what matters most — the voters. 

The people are, by far, the best part of the job serving in elected office. I have always strongly believed that voters are smart and astute. As a candidate, you can never be entitled to certain voters, you have to earn it in every election. 

You also can’t tell voters what to care about. They tell you and your job is to listen and put forth real solutions and deliver results.

Republicans did not do enough listening, let alone hearing. We didn’t earn or build the apparatus needed to win. There was a sense of entitlement on Republican strongholds whether Upstate or on Long Island, and those slipped away. There was a stark tone-deafness on affordability and a lack of clear agenda of how Republicans would tackle it. 

Voters don’t like being taken for granted. And they shouldn’t be. This, coupled with a record-setting low fundraising crisis for the statewide ticket in New York — the lowest in a century — made for a cauldron of epic losses. 

And the sad reality is that the voters of New York of all political parties desperately deserve an alternative to this sickening Socialist-Marxist-antisemitic experiment that we are undergoing in our city and state under single-party Democrat rule. 

Republicans have an enormous opportunity to rebuild. It will take a new generation capable of thinking outside the box, playing on offense in all parts of the state, rebuilding from scratch at the local level, lots of honest conversations rather than finger pointing and lashing out on X. There needs to be a deep, substantive post-mortem. And we need to have the courage to say what every voter is thinking: there needs to be new Republican leadership in our state. 

Most importantly, as I have done for over a decade, Republicans will have to meet voters where they are, have a big tent approach, and put forth solutions to solve real and dire economic and existential challenges that hardworking families are facing in their day to day lives. 

Voters are genuinely looking for leadership and how to get involved. The dangerous radical Left in New York is very tactically issue-focused with specific 24/7 organizing tasks, bottled with a slick communications behemoth behind it. 

Republicans should take note. It needs to not just be the grand old party but instead an entire rebuild of the apparatus of institutions, media, organizations, and technological tools built to win.

New York City is the most dynamic and resilient city in the world coupled with the beautiful Great Upstate that delivered the first victory of the Revolutionary War at Saratoga 250 years ago. There is no question that New York politics is some of the toughest and bare-knuckled in the nation. Don’t I know it! 

My fellow New York Republican Congressional delegation colleagues often joke to one another that electeds in other parts of the country have no idea how tough it is to win elections as a Republican in New York. We need our own brand, we need to build a broad coalition, and we need to rebuild in a way that is compelling to voters whose trust Republicans lost this cycle across the nation.

As a lifelong New Yorker, Mom, Congresswoman, and a New York voter myself, I am looking forward to this next chapter and having an honest conversation in the months and years to come with people from all walks of life about how we must save our state and country after this Election Day walloping.

At heart, New Yorkers and Americans are builders and fighters. 

It’s time to build. 

And then we need to fight and win.

By Elise Stefanik for NY Post – https://nypost.com/2026/11/08/opinion/elise-stefanik-republicans-in-new-york-stopped-listening-to-voters-heres-how-we-rebuild-the-gop/

A political organization that sells itself as ‘pro-science’ just helped send a record number of Democratic doctors and scientists to Washington, and Soros-linked money that flowed through several Democratic dark-money groups helped fund the effort. The group behind the push has set its sights on one man more than anyone else, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again agenda, as reported by the New York Post.

The group is 3.14 Action, which runs the 314 Action Fund. It says its mission is to “identify STEM leaders who would make strong candidates, recruit them to run for office and provide game-changing support.” On its website, 314 Action describes itself as “the only national organization working to recruit, train, and elect Democratic scientists” to office. It lists candidate services that include training opportunities such as media training, leadership development and staff retreats, along with operational support such as hiring staff, financial planning and polling, plus strategic guidance, day-to-day support to candidates and staff, and financial investments. 

The site states that “from pre-launch to Election Day, we work closely with candidates every step of the way.” The Post reports that the group’s legislative priorities include abortion, climate change and gun violence. It also reports that many of the 19 lawmakers elected this week built careers around race, DEI, climate change and gun control. 

This was not an organic wave of scientists deciding on their own to run. It was a deliberate recruitment. The PAC handled its candidates from start to finish, giving them training, staff, polling, strategy and money. A Washington Post analysis found that 16 of its endorsed candidates in competitive races ran more than 2,300 ads that aired hundreds of thousands of times in October.

Following the money
The spending was the biggest in the group’s history. The New York Post reported that 3.14 Action roughly doubled their investment to about $23 million into races this cycle. The group itself said in an October 14 memo that it had invested more than $22 million in STEM candidates and bundled another $6.6 million directly to campaigns.

The Post traced part of that money back to the Soros network. It reported that the Open Society Action Fund, tied to George and Alex Soros, gave millions that moved through Democratic-aligned groups and ultimately reached 3.14 Action, including a $2.5 million donation from House Majority Forward in 2024. That was the first donation House Majority Forward had made to the group.

Who got elected
The best-known winner is Dr. Annie Andrews of South Carolina, a 46-year-old pediatrician and first-time candidate. She won the Senate seat long held by Lindsey Graham, defeating his sister, Sen. Darline Graham, whom Gov. Henry McMaster appointed after Graham’s death in July. The Post reports that Andrews has supported puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, saying “gender affirming care isn’t child abuse.” Her research shifted politically around 2020, including multiple firearms studies and a 2022 paper calling for “culturally appropriate interventions.” She has called Kennedy her “professional archnemesis” and has backed impeaching him.

In California, pediatrician Richard Pan, 61, won his first federal race. He led the 2015 “Vaccinate California” campaign that ended personal-belief exemptions for school vaccines, and he told reporters that grilling Kennedy under oath was one of his reasons for running, The Washington Post reported. The New York Post notes that his research includes DEI-themed papers on the pediatric workforce.

In North Carolina, Jamie Ager flipped a House seat while being promoted as an “environmental scientist.” The Post reports that his only science credential is an undergraduate degree in environmental studies and history from Warren Wilson College.

Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, 42, calls himself a physician. Politico reported he holds a Columbia medical degree but never finished a residency or held a medical license. The degree was supported by a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Some of his Columbia research on interethnic mating and birth outcomes has been criticized as “eugenics.”

In a 2011 Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health paper, El-Sayed and Sandro Galea wrote that “interethnic mating may be associated with increased risk for adverse birth outcomes among Arab ethnicity mothers.” Using Michigan birth records from 2000–2005, they found higher odds of preterm birth (about 18%) and late preterm birth (about 24%) among Arab-ethnicity mothers with non-Arab fathers after adjustments; the pattern did not appear among non-Arab white mothers. The paper noted that “individuals in interracial/interethnic relationships have increased stress” that can raise risk for adverse birth outcomes, pointed to possible cultural or behavioral factors, and called for further study. Because the analysis focused on Arab-ethnicity mothers and framed interethnic mating as linked to worse outcomes for that group, many have argued that the work reflects a preference for Arab women only having children within their own ethnic group.

New Jersey’s Dr. Adam Hamawy, 57, a plastic surgeon who volunteered in Gaza, also won his House race. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has accused him of giving false testimony as a defense witness at the 1995 trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Hamawy was never charged with perjury. The Post also reports that he volunteered in Bosnia with a Chicago-based charity later raided as an al-Qaeda front, and that he was sued in 2017 over a neck lift.

The real agenda
Theo Wold, a former White House deputy assistant for domestic policy under President Trump, told the Post what many conservatives suspect: “This is just the left trying to capitalize on their complete occupation and control of higher education and academia. They want to use scientific credentials to hoodwink voters into trusting so-called scientific expertise that is just leftist ideology with a veneer of STEM terminology.” Shaughnessy Naughton, president of 314 Action, pushed back, telling the Post, “If anyone is responsible for politicizing science, it’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”

Democrats will hold subpoena power in the House, and several of the newly elected members with scientific and medical backgrounds have stated they intend to use it against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Voters who supported MAHA’s emphasis on getting Americans on the road to healthier living by holding companies responsible for their ingredients, addressing chronic disease, improving food safety, and increasing accountability at federal health agencies should pay close attention to how that power is exercised.

Speaking at SOMOS, the yearly New York political retreat in Puerto Rico that follows Election Day, New York Attorney General Letitia James set the record straight just after Hakeem Jeffries was re-elected and positioned to become the next Speaker of the House. “For those who live in his district and are so drunk on power to think that they’re going to run against this man, you’ve got to get past this neighborhood and Tish James. We are going hard for our speaker.” 

James delivered those lines Saturday at a Brooklyn Democratic leadership event during the conference, drawing a clear line around Jeffries’ Eighth Congressional District, which includes Coney Island, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and nearby parts of Brooklyn, as reported by the New York Post.

James repeated the point to applause: “We are going hard. We are going hard for our speaker.”

Simultaneously, as James was speaking in Puerto Rico, the Democratic Socialists of America and their allies staged a victory lap through Manhattan in New York City. Hundreds marched about a mile from Times Square toward Seventh Avenue and East 14th Street under the banner “March for Our Democracy: The Fight Isn’t Over,” many carrying matching signs and coordinated banners. They claimed credit for the midterm “blue tsunami” that delivered Democratic control of both chambers and declared that traditional leadership was no longer sufficient. They also demanded new leaders in the House and Senate unless establishment Democrats moved further left.

The split was already public. Democrats may have won the gavel, but for the first weekend the party was arguing out in the open over who would hold it.

DSA participants made their demands explicit. Connie Cooper of Connecticut told the New York Post, “We don’t want corporate Dems in there. We’re calling the shots,” while carrying a sign that read “New Majority Leader.” She added, “It’s not enough to just keep the status quo. That’s not what people want.” Others chanted that Jeffries and presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer must keep ICE out of New York and abandon the status quo, barking, “Jeffries, Schumer let’s be clear ICE is not wanted here.” The group, joined by the NYC DSA chapter, Make the Road New York, the United Federation of Teachers, and PSC-CUNY, framed the midterm gains as a mandate for a sharper leftward turn rather than continuity under the current leadership slate. A rally flyer cited by the Post listed those groups among the sponsors.

James did not name the DSA directly, yet her warning was unmistakably aimed at the same forces. That stance sits in open tension with the DSA’s growing roster of elected officials, including incoming New York Rep. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is headed to Congress from the 13th District after unseating longtime Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary. She is part of a larger DSA class that also includes New York’s Claire Valdez. NPR reported that six DSA-backed candidates won House seats this cycle, growing a caucus that had been just two sitting members, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. The group’s public line remains that figures like Jeffries and Schumer are too moderate for the moment.

While the Manhattan march moved through the streets, James used the same weekend to signal that any effort to unseat Jeffries would meet organized resistance. One side of the party spent Saturday claiming it is now calling the shots. The other drew a boundary around Brooklyn’s most powerful Democrat and said challengers would have to get through Tish James first. Winning both chambers did not settle who speaks for New York Democrats. It only made the fight public.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday escalated its economic campaign against Cuba, sanctioning China-based suppliers accused of arming Havana’s military and clearing the way for broader hits on key sectors of the island’s economy.

In a State Department statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced designations of eight entities and two individuals under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14404, plus five associated vessels as blocked property. The targets include Cuban elites, a crude oil shipping network, state-owned import and technical-support entities, and Chinese firms tied to Cuba’s armed forces.

Among the China-based targets are China National Electronic Import and Export Company (CEIEC) and Beijing H&C Technologies Co., Ltd. According to a State Department fact sheet, both worked with Cuban arms procurement company Sociedad Mercantil Duna S.A., already designated in August, to export military-related components and equipment to Cuba in 2026. CEIEC contracted to supply parts intended for equipment used by Cuba’s Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces. Beijing H&C, a subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation International, sells surveillance and security gear and likewise routed military equipment through Duna.

Treasury also published a determination under E.O. 14404 authorizing sanctions on any foreign person operating in Cuba’s electronics, manufacturing, marine, and technology sectors. The personal designations include Guillermo Faustino Rodriguez Lopez Calleja, tied to an offshore network moving Cuban crude oil, and Any Rodriguez Lastres, daughter of previously designated GAESA President Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.

“Cuba’s ruling elite is hoarding the island’s energy, shipping, and technology resources for its own enrichment, leaving the Cuban people to contend with blackouts, shortages, and a stagnant economy,” Rubio said. He added that the regime’s foreign backers supply military equipment that sustains its forces and enables repression, while Cuba serves as a staging ground for hostile actors plotting against the United States.

Property and interests of the designated persons in the United States, or under U.S. persons’ control, are blocked. Thursday’s action is an implementation and expansion under E.O. 14404, which President Trump signed on May 1, 2026, along with E.O. 14380 and National Security Presidential Memorandum 5. Those directives call on the administration to pressure Havana over repression and threats to U.S. national security.

Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay roughly $29.5 million to settle federal claims that the defense giant used DEI-driven pay, hiring, and promotion practices while taking taxpayer money as a federal contractor.

The Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the two-part deal on November 3. Under it, Lockheed will pay $22 million to the United States to resolve False Claims Act allegations covering race and sex and about $7.5 million to more than 1,000 affected workers under a Title VII settlement with the EEOC, framed as race discrimination against white employees. The EEOC called it the largest class of workers to publicly recover in a settlement tied to alleged Title VII violations arising from a DEI program.

Most federal contracts require contractors to certify that employment decisions will be made “without regard to” race or sex. Prosecutors alleged that from 2019 forward, Lockheed falsely certified that compliance while race and sex shaped who got raises, bonuses, and advancement. The centerpiece was Lockheed’s “Compensation Adder,” or Comp Adder, program, which began in 2021. It was supposed to give the top 20% of employees in each business area an extra pay bump based on merit. According to the Justice Department, before those lists were locked in, Lockheed ran statistical checks that “flagged” selections based on race and sex. When a unit was flagged, HR pressed leaders to rework the lists.

In practice, prosecutors said, that meant adding minority employees and cutting non-minority ones. One HR employee told business leaders that “increasing POC [People of Color] for Comp Adder will result in removing equal count of non-minority.” A Director of Global Diversity & Inclusion told colleagues they would “identify at least 11 additional PoC adds” so a “Race flag will clear,” ending the message with “Let’s goooooooooo” and a smiley face.

The government also alleged Lockheed tracked non-public race and sex workforce goals that steered hiring and promotions, scored managers on demographic “Performance Metrics,” and offered mentoring and leadership programs limited by race or sex.

The False Claims Act case grew out of a whistleblower suit by Tim Booher, a former Lockheed vice president in Combat Systems, as reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

Booher will receive $4.4 million from the government share of the settlement.

Lockheed cooperated in the resolution of these matters, denies the allegations, and does not admit liability. There has been no finding of wrongdoing. The claims remain allegations only.

This year the Administration launched the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division to enhance the Administration’s war on fraud, waste and abuse in federal programs. When unscrupulous actors exploit these programs for their own financial gain, they defraud the government, harm the people these programs are designed to aid and protect, and undermine American businesses that play by the rules. 

The Justice Department Civil Division’s FCA enforcement plays a critical role in combatting such fraudulent schemes, recovering billions of dollars for American taxpayers, and holding wrongdoers accountable. FCA matters will continue to be on the forefront of the battle against fraud, and the Civil Division’s FCA work will support and advance the mission of the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and the National Fraud Enforcement Division.

The two-part resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas with investigative assistance from the Department of War, Office of Inspector General.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. put the stakes plainly: companies that do business with the federal government “should not make DEI compensation decisions that prioritize an employee’s race over the merit of their work.” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said Title VII protects every worker from race discrimination, and that protection “does not yield when discriminatory decisions are framed as diversity initiatives.”

Under the EEOC deal, Lockheed must keep a merit-based workplace where race and sex are not factors in hiring, pay, bonuses, or promotions, with EEOC oversight for the life of the agreement.

The U.S. economy is accelerating. Real GDP grew at a 3.4% annual rate in the third quarter of 2026, according to the Treasury Department’s advance estimate, a sharp pickup from the 2.2% pace in the second quarter and the fastest growth in the last four quarters.

Private demand is driving the expansion. Private domestic final purchases, which include consumer spending, business fixed investment, and residential investment combined, rose 4.9% at an annual rate, the strongest pace in more than five years and the second consecutive quarter above 4.5% outside the pandemic recovery. Business fixed investment alone grew 12.7% in the third quarter after gains of 9.0% and 9.9% in the prior two quarters, the fastest rate in 15 years outside pandemic volatility.

Equipment investment surged 20.9% (the third straight double-digit quarter), industrial equipment jumped 24.7%, intellectual property products rose 8.4%, and structures turned positive at 5.4%, the strongest reading since late 2023. Business fixed investment contributed 1.8 percentage points to GDP growth, while personal consumption expenditures rose 3.8% and added another 2.5 points. These trends have reinforced the economy’s capacity for self-sustaining growth.

Labor-market conditions remain solid. Since December 2025 the private sector has added 634,000 net new jobs. Unemployment averaged 4.1% in the third quarter, down from 4.3% in the first half of the year. Federal payrolls have continued to shrink, holding near 2.68 million workers, down from 3.01 million in January 2025.

Nominal average hourly earnings rose 3.0% and average weekly earnings rose 3.6% over the year through September; the Employment Cost Index for private workers increased 3.4%. Initial unemployment claims stayed exceptionally low by historical standards, and new business applications hit a record high of more than 576,000 in July and remained elevated through the third quarter.

Core inflation has cooled even as growth has picked up. Twelve-month core CPI stood at 2.6% as of September, down from 3.0% a year earlier, while food price inflation eased to 2.5%.

The acceleration has been supported by the major fiscal legislation enacted in July 2025 (the Working Families Tax Cuts). The law averted a large scheduled tax increase, lowered the cost of capital, and restored key investment incentives: full expensing of research and development, 100% bonus depreciation for business equipment, and restored interest deductibility for capital-intensive manufacturers.

Real business fixed investment has risen a cumulative 9.4% since the law’s passage, and business equipment investment alone has added 0.8 percentage points to GDP growth over the past four quarters. A net 22% of small businesses plan capital outlays over the next six months, and the Business Roundtable’s index of CEO capital-expenditure expectations stands at its highest level since early 2022.

Announced investments in U.S. manufacturing, production, and innovation total trillions of dollars, reflecting broad global confidence in the United States as an investment destination. Full expensing, tariffs and reshoring incentives, and deregulation have reinforced the capital-expenditure boom. Together, the enacted and planned policies form a foundation for continued private-sector-led growth and broader prosperity.