GOP voters are notorious for changing their views the moment something affects them personally.
It's impossible to feel sorry for selfish pricks. They deserve this.
GOP voters are notorious for changing their views the moment something affects them personally.
Treasury ends ownership reporting rules for U.S. companies
The rules, intended to combat money laundering and other financial crimes, imposed an undue burden on American businesses, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
August 11, 2026 - By Riley Beggin
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Democrats said the repeal makes it easier for criminals to use shell companies to avoid detection. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The U.S. Treasury Department permanently repealed a rule Tuesday that required businesses formed in the United States to report who owns them to federal financial-crimes investigators.
Foreign companies and pooled investment vehicles (such as mutual funds or hedge funds) must still report information about foreign owners. But they will no longer have to identify Americans who help them register to do business in the U.S., according to a Treasury Department advisory. And Treasury will delete any information it has already collected about U.S. business owners, the advisory said.
In a statement, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new rule eliminates “a burdensome reporting requirement for millions of law-abiding business owners without compromising our national security.”
Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee quickly thanked Treasury for “standing up for job creators.” But Democrats and some national security experts criticized the move, which they said would make it easier for drug cartels, human traffickers and money launderers to use anonymous shell companies to avoid detection.
Richard Nephew, who led anti-corruption efforts at the State Department during the Biden administration, called the move “a terrible decision that opens up the U.S. to financial crime, money laundering and corruption.”
The reporting requirements were implemented in January 2024 during the Biden administration as part of an effort to curb illicit finance. It stemmed from the Corporate Transparency Act, which was included in the National Defense Authorization Act and enacted into law in 2021 after Congress overrode President Donald Trump’s veto. It required U.S. and foreign companies doing business in the country to report information about “beneficial owners” — people who have “substantial control” over the company or own at least 25 percent of it — to Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
The CTA was supported by law enforcement officials, the American Bankers Association and human rights advocates, who said it would combat the corrupt use of anonymous companies, known as shell companies. But it immediately drew fire from the National Small Business Association, which pushed Congress to repeal the act and sued the Treasury Department, arguing that the reporting requirements disproportionately affected small-business owners.
In March 2025, the Trump administration announced that it would temporarily suspend reporting requirements for U.S. businesses and American owners of foreign companies. On Tuesday, Treasury made that decision permanent. In an FAQ on the new rule, Treasury said FinCEN and federal law enforcement agencies have multiple alternative sources of information to prevent domestic companies from engaging in money laundering or financing terrorism that it does not have for foreign companies.
Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler praised the decision, writing on social media that it will save American businesses $6.7 billion in compliance costs over the next decade.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called the decision “a gift to cartels, criminals, and U.S. adversaries that exploit shell companies to move millions through our financial system.”
Does this surprise anyone?
I am amazed that no admiral has resigned in response to this.14 Aug 2026
01.06 BST
White House releases Trump's order to install steam catapults on new US aircraft carrier
The White House has released the full text of a memorandum from Donald Trump to Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, ordering a change in the construction of a new US Navy aircraft carrier, to replace the electromagnetic aircraft launch system with steam catapults.
The supposed superiority of steam catapults for launching fighter jets has been an obsession of the president’s since 2017 when, he says, he was convinced by a single conversation with a Navy officer that the electromagnetic system installed in modern aircraft carriers was too complex.
The presidential memorandum, titled, “Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base”, claims to address “a series of shipbuilding setbacks stemming from overly complex designs” for US Navy ships.
Section 2 of the memo includes the order to change the construction of the USS Doris Miller, a Ford-class aircraft carrier known as CVN-81, which is already two years behind schedule:
Sec. 2. Restoring Steam and Hydraulic Systems to Carriers. Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War, in consultation with the Secretary of the Navy, shall provide to the President, through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), a plan on the required measures to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for the construction of CVN-81, including timelines and resourcing requirements.