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ExplainerMedicaid work requirements explained: who must report 80 hours, who is exempt and when it startsThe 2025 budget law requires many adults on Medicaid to show 80 hours a month of work, school or volunteering starting by January 1, 2027. Who is covered, what counts, who is exempt, how states check, and the October 2026 court ruling on “medically frail.”ExplainerWhat is the 14th Amendment? Citizenship, due process and equal protection explainedThe 14th Amendment made everyone born in the U.S. a citizen and required states to give every person due process and equal protection of the laws. What each of its five sections says, the cases that shaped it, and the 2026 birthright citizenship ruling.ExplainerWhat is due process? Your right to fair treatment by the government, explainedDue process means the government must follow fair procedures before it takes away your life, liberty or property, and courts have read it to protect some basic freedoms too. Where it comes from, what it requires, who it protects and how it applies to immigration and benefits.ExplainerWhat is SNAP? How food stamps work, who qualifies and what you getSNAP, still called food stamps, is the federal program that helps low-income households buy groceries. Who qualifies, the income limits for 2026–27, how benefits are calculated, what you can buy and the most common myths.ExplainerCan the government take away your U.S. citizenship?What the Constitution and the Supreme Court say about losing citizenship, how denaturalization works, what birthright citizenship is after the 2026 Supreme Court ruling, and what the proposed Enemy Expatriation Act would have changed.

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Articles

AI, tech & economy

Analysis of artificial intelligence, online platforms, prices, jobs and trade. We focus on what the evidence shows, and say plainly where it is still unsettled.

Economy / Analysis

What the Federal Reserve actually does

The Fed’s dual mandate, how it sets interest rates, what its balance sheet is for, and how its decisions reach your mortgage and paycheck.

2 min read

Economy / Analysis

How tariffs work, and who actually pays them

What a tariff is, who writes the check, what research on recent U.S. tariffs found about who bears the cost, and the laws presidents use to impose them.

2 min read

Economy / Analysis

What changed in SNAP this fall, and what’s coming next

Benefits rose on October 1, states now pay most of the cost of running SNAP, and a new penalty tied to state error rates is on the way. What the 2025 law and this year’s update mean for households and states.

5 min read