East steps of the US Capitol from the ground

Congress votes to end shutdown

The over 40-day government shutdown came to an end without a guarantee that the ACA tax credits will be extended.

11/12/25 8:30PM

The House of Representatives passed a spending bill on Wednesday, which has already cleared the Senate, and once signed into law by President Trump, will end the longest government shutdown in US history.

The bill passed with a 222-209 vote, with six Democrats voting with Republicans. The bill is expected to be signed into law by Trump late Wednesday evening.

The bill funds most federal agencies through January and promises Democrats a separate vote on extending the ACA tax credits in December.

The bill does not include an extension of the Biden-era enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, a central sticking point for Democrats after weeks of stalemate that left thousands federal workers without pay, disrupted air travel, and threatened to cut off families from food benefits.

The ACA tax credits, which subsidize health insurance plans provided by private insurers, were part of a 2021 COVID-19 relief package passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress. The subsidies, which are set to expire on December 31, led to a boom in ACA enrollment. Keeping the subsidies would increase the deficit by $350 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

An analysis by Wakely, a healthcare market research firm, projected that Marketplace enrollment would decline by more than half in 2026 if the subsidies aren’t extended. The biggest providers of ACA Marketplace plans like UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health, Oscar Health, Molina Healthcare, and Centene fell on the news.

Without the ACA tax credits, significantly fewer people will be eligible for help paying for their plan, just as premiums are expected to rise amid soaring healthcare costs. Executives from Molina and Oscar have said that the end of the ACA subsidies will likely result in fewer healthy people purchasing plans, leaving a smaller group of sicker members, making coverage more expensive to provide.

Molina said it plans to increase rates on Marketplace plans by an average of 30%. Overall, ACA Marketplace premium payments are expected to double next year, according to an estimate from KFF.

Centene CEO Sarah London told analysts in an October 29 earnings call that the company is expecting a year-end utilization push as its members stare down “potentially the wholesale loss of affordable healthcare coverage next year.”

Jon Keegan11/28/25

European regulators will examine if Apple’s maps and ads businesses require stricter oversight

Apple has notified European regulators that its Apple Maps and Apple Ads platforms meet the threshold to be called “gatekeepers” under the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, the European Commission said.

European antitrust regulators will now examine if the tech giant’s Maps and Ads units should be subject to stricter regulation. According to the DMA, when a platform reaches 45 million monthly active users and a market cap of €75 billion ($79 billion), it triggers the “gatekeeper” designation and additional rules apply.

While Apple notified regulators that the threshold has been met, it is pushing back on the designation, saying in a rebuttal to rule makers that the platforms are actually relatively small compared to the competition in Europe and should be excluded. The EC has 45 working days to make a final determination about the designation, and Apple would have six months to comply, Reuters reported.

EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no

Jon Keegan11/26/25

Delhi High Court says Apple could face $38 billion penalty in Indian antitrust case

India’s Delhi High Court says that Apple could face a penalty as high as $38 billion for what its investigators describe as “abusive conduct” related to the tech giant’s app store, Reuters reports.

Apple is challenging the constitutionality of the country’s new antitrust law, taking specific issue with the fact that penalties are calculated based on companies’ total annual global revenue, rather than just revenue derived from India.

That global figure could mean fines as high as $38 billion, according to a court filing seen by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India has not issued a final ruling in the case.

Apple contests India's antitrust penalty law with risk of $38 billion fine, filing shows

That global figure could mean fines as high as $38 billion, according to a court filing seen by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India has not issued a final ruling in the case.

Jon Keegan11/26/25

Anthropic CEO Amodei asked to testify before Congress about Claude-powered Chinese cyberattack, Axios reports

Earlier this month, Anthropic revealed that Chinese state actors had used its Claude chatbot to orchestrate and execute a cyber espionage campaign for the first time. The company said that after it detected its product was being used in that manner, it was able to respond and disrupt malicious behavior.

Now, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been called to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security, along with Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kuria and Quantum Xchange CEO Eddy Zervigon, Axios reports.

The House committee is seeking information about how nation-state actors are using AI agents to devise and execute novel cyberattacks, like the one that Anthropic disrupted.

Exclusive: Anthropic CEO called to testify before Congress about Chinese AI cyberattack

The House committee is seeking information about how nation-state actors are using AI agents to devise and execute novel cyberattacks, like the one that Anthropic disrupted.

Max Knoblauch11/21/25

Joby sues Archer, accusing its air taxi rival of stealing trade secrets

The rivalry between two much-hyped air taxi companies is heating up, as Joby Aviation has sued Archer Aviation, alleging the latter stole its trade secrets and used them to undercut a partnership deal in an act of “corporate espionage, planned and premeditated.”

Archer called the lawsuit “baseless litigation” without merit in a statement to CNBC.

The lawsuit alleges that this summer, Joby’s US state and local policy lead, George Kivork, was recruited by Archer. The company alleges that two days before announcing his resignation from Joby, Kivork downloaded “dozens” of files and sent additional material to his personal email account.

The following month, the lawsuit states that a strategic partner that had worked with Kivork while at Joby told the company it had been approached by Archer with a more lucrative deal.

Boeing’s air taxi subsidiary, Wisk, sued Archer in 2021, accusing the latter of “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property.

Archer and Joby are both racing to develop electric air taxis for use in commercial flight. Each has also struck deals with major defense contractors.

Joby lawsuit accuses air taxi rival Archer of using stolen information to 'one-up' deal