March 2026: Iran strikes, the work-requirements rollout, and a record shutdown

March compounded the pressures that built up in January and February. Three large events stood out — the SNAP work requirements taking effect for millions, the Iran strikes and the unresolved War Powers fight they triggered, and the DHS shutdown becoming the longest in US history. Around them, a steady stream of executive orders, federal-court rulings, and state-level developments.

SNAP work requirements take effect

On March 1, sweeping changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act activated nationwide. Able-bodied adults 18-64 without dependents under 14 must now work, volunteer, or train at least 80 hours per month or lose food stamps after three months. The law raised the prior age cap from 55 to 64, sweeping older Americans into work rules for the first time. New York’s statewide ABAWD waiver expired February 28, exposing roughly 3 million SNAP recipients to the new requirements; Nevada also began enforcement March 1. Critics warned of substantial coverage losses among older workers, caregivers, and people with undiagnosed disabilities. (NPR)

Iran strikes without congressional authorization

On March 2, the Trump administration launched “Operation Epic Fury” against Iranian targets. US and Israeli forces reportedly destroyed Iran’s Supreme National Security Council headquarters and an underground nuclear facility. Top congressional leaders were notified shortly before the strikes; no advance authorization was sought. Trump transmitted War Powers Resolution letters March 2, starting the 60-day clock. Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a bipartisan resolution requiring explicit authorization for further hostilities; a parallel House measure from Reps. Massie and Khanna sought to compel a halt. The House rejected the constraining measure on March 4. (NPR)

Federal workforce reductions accelerate

On March 2, Treasury formally notified staff that the Office of Financial Research — created after 2008 to monitor systemic financial risks — was being substantially abolished. The move was part of an ongoing federal workforce reduction that has cut roughly 9% of civil servants over the past year. On March 5, OPM published a proposed rule rewriting reduction-in-force procedures to weight recent performance appraisals heavily and strip protections from probationary employees. AFGE warned the rule sets the stage for further mass firings. (Government Executive)

State Medicaid budgets crater

A new analysis published March 4 found that state Medicaid budgets will decline by an aggregate $665 billion under the 2025 reconciliation law’s 15% (≈$1 trillion over 10 years) cut to federal Medicaid funding. CBO estimates 11.8 million people will lose Medicaid coverage and another 3.1 million will lose marketplace coverage. By month’s end, rural-health analysts were documenting early budget pressures on states from the combined Medicaid and SNAP changes. (Stateline)

Reproductive rights

Governor Mark Gordon (R) of Wyoming signed a six-week abortion ban on March 9. Senator Josh Hawley introduced a federal bill to revoke FDA approval of mifepristone and criminalize its distribution. A Virginia lawsuit filed March 3 sought to block the state’s reproductive-rights amendment from the November ballot. (State Court Report)

Tariff pivot continues

USTR opened new Section 301 investigations on March 11 into “structural excess capacity” across China, the EU, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and a dozen other economies. The same day, Trump announced doubling steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% in retaliation against Canada — then walked the doubling back hours later. Earlier in the month (March 5-6), the administration carved out USMCA-covered imports and auto imports until April 2. (Tax Foundation)

TVA and election-integrity orders

On March 11, Trump signed an executive order titled “Promoting Fiscal Responsibility in Compensation Practices at the Tennessee Valley Authority.” The same week saw related directives on TSA pay (March 27) culminating in a March 31 executive order on “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” which prompted immediate civil-rights and voting-rights pushback over its expected effects on voter eligibility verification. (Federal Register)

Education Department transfers loan portfolio

On March 19, the Departments of Education and Treasury announced the “Federal Student Assistance Partnership,” beginning a phased transfer of federal student loan administration out of the Education Department. Treasury immediately took over the $180 billion defaulted-loan portfolio (about 11% of the $1.7 trillion federal loan book). Nearly 25% of borrowers are currently in default; fewer than 40% are in repayment. It was the tenth interagency agreement dispersing Education Department functions. (PBS NewsHour)

Supreme Court issues Zorn v. Linton and Cox Communications v. Sony Music

On March 23, the Court decided Zorn v. Linton, a First Amendment case arising from a sit-in at the Vermont state capitol. On March 25, the Court unanimously held in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment that an internet service provider could not be held liable for copyright infringement by its subscribers — an outcome with significant implications for online speech, ISP liability, and the music industry. (Justia)

Eighth Circuit on mandatory detention

In Herrera Avila v. Bondi, decided March 25, the Eighth Circuit held that INA § 235(b)(2)(A) requires detention without bond for noncitizens who entered without inspection — including those apprehended in the interior, not only at the border. The ruling significantly expanded the universe of people ineligible for bond hearings. A March 31 Ninth Circuit emergency stay and a March 30 Nevada district court ruling produced contrary outcomes, setting up a circuit split likely headed to the Supreme Court. (CLINIC)

DHS shutdown becomes longest in US history

On March 27, the Senate passed a bipartisan deal to fund DHS while routing ICE and Border Patrol funding through reconciliation. Speaker Mike Johnson refused to bring it to the House floor. The shutdown surpassed the prior 2025 record on March 29 to become the longest in US history. TSA officers worked unpaid; airport delays mounted. (CNBC)

HUD eliminates 30-day eviction notice

HUD’s interim rule revoking the Biden-era requirement that landlords give 30 days’ notice before initiating judicial eviction proceedings against federally subsidized tenants took effect March 30. The same month, HUD advanced a proposed rule allowing public housing agencies to impose work requirements and term limits on non-elderly, non-disabled families, and continued advancing a February proposal to end prorated housing assistance for mixed-immigration-status families. (Ballard Spahr)

Idaho enacts strictest trans bathroom ban

Governor Brad Little (R) signed HB 752 on March 31 — Transgender Day of Visibility — making Idaho the fourth state (with Utah, Florida, Kansas) to criminalize trans people’s use of bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, and the first to extend criminal penalties into private businesses serving the public. A first offense is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year; a second offense within five years is a felony carrying up to five years. (Idaho Capital Sun)

Supreme Court strikes down conversion-therapy ban

The Court ruled 6-3 in Chiles v. Salazar on March 31, treating Colorado’s prohibition on licensed mental-health professionals performing “conversion therapy” on minors as unconstitutional speech regulation. The ruling — issued the same day as the Idaho bathroom-ban signing — calls into question similar laws in roughly 20 other states and DC. (Justia)

What March produced

Three structural shifts emerged during the month:

The OBBBA implementation moved from rule-making into actual benefit reductions, with SNAP and Medicaid effects beginning to be measurable on the ground. Coverage and enrollment data from March and April would be the first quantitative tests of the law’s design.

The War Powers fight entered its 60-day clock on March 2 with the Iran strikes. The expiration on May 1 would force a constitutional question that Congress has been deferring for decades.

The shutdown record was set on March 29. Whether the political pressure of a record shutdown would produce structural reform — or simply outlast itself — was the open question heading into April.

April would bring the SCOTUS Voting Rights Act ruling, the end of the shutdown, the May 1 War Powers deadline, and the May Day labor mobilization that had been building since January. The compounding pressures did not slow.