Tonight in Policy: Courts Block Internet Funding While Oil Giants Pocket Billions—What's Really at Stake
By TheCommonGoodParty · July 18, 2026 · Originally published on Substack
Today saw courts and the executive branch move simultaneously to make life harder for ordinary Americans: a federal judge blocked broadband funding for underserved communities, the Trump administration is weaponizing federal grants to punish dissent, and oil companies are banking billions while working families choose between gas and groceries. This is what happens when policy serves power instead of people.
Federal Court Blocks Internet Funding for Underserved Communities—Millions Lose Connectivity
A federal judge shut down a Biden-era broadband grant program aimed at connecting rural and low-income communities, citing a Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious programs. The decision threatens connectivity for millions of Americans already priced out of broadband access.
This matters because internet access isn't a luxury anymore—it's how kids do homework, how people find jobs, how communities stay connected. When courts block targeted funding for the places that need it most, we're not being neutral. We're choosing to leave people behind.
The Common Good Party believes in A Common Future: infrastructure that works, education systems that don't trap people by zip code. That means broadband reaches everyone, not just the wealthy areas where it's already profitable. Rural America and low-income communities shouldn't have to wait for corporate internet companies to decide they're worth serving.
Oil Companies Post Record Profits While Americans Pay at the Pump—A Fair Tax on Windfall Gains
Oil companies are posting record profits from geopolitical turmoil while their production costs stay flat. Some lawmakers want to recapture those windfalls and return the money to working Americans paying $3, $4, or more per gallon.
Here's the math: when oil prices spike because of conflict or supply shocks, oil companies don't invest more—they just pocket the difference. That's not reward for risk or innovation. That's a windfall. A windfall tax captures that excess and puts it toward relief for families who can't absorb higher gas prices on top of everything else.
The Common Good Party believes in A Common Economy: a tax code that asks the most of those who have the most. When a company makes billions in pure profit from circumstances beyond anyone's control, asking them to share that gain with the working people who are struggling is fairness, not punishment.
Trump Administration Revives "Public Charge" Rule—Immigrants Must Choose Between Healthcare and Citizenship
The Trump administration is bringing back a rule that penalizes green card applicants for using Medicaid, food stamps, or housing assistance. Roughly 950,000 people could be discouraged from accessing benefits they're legally entitled to.
This is cruel math. It tells an immigrant: get sick, lose your chance at citizenship. Need food assistance while you're between jobs? Your green card application gets flagged. Need housing help? Same penalty. The message is clear: survive without help, or don't get to stay.
The Common Good Party believes in Common Health and Common Security. On health: universal access to care means everyone, including immigrants. On security: immigration that is firm, fair, and humane. Punishing people for seeking help they're legally entitled to is neither fair nor humane. It's a policy designed to force vulnerable people to suffer in silence.
White House Injects Political Control Into Federal Grants—Accountability or Retaliation?
The Trump administration is pushing for political review of federal research grants and infrastructure funding. Academics, mayors, and Congress are resisting, warning this will tank research, kill infrastructure projects, and cut aid to vulnerable Americans.
Federal grants aren't supposed to be weapons. They're supposed to fund research that saves lives, infrastructure that works, programs that keep people healthy and housed. When grants become tools for political punishment—when a city gets defunded because it elected a Democrat, or research gets blocked because scientists' findings don't align with the White House—everyone loses.
The Common Good Party believes in Common Ground: fixing the machinery of democracy itself. Government is the tool, not the enemy, when it works for people instead of donors. That means federal funding follows evidence and need, not political loyalty.
Election Claims Without Evidence—Why Repeating False Allegations Undermines Real Security
President Trump released declassified documents on election security, but federal officials acknowledged: none allege votes were actually switched, machines were hacked, or noncitizens actually voted. Repeated claims without evidence risk becoming a tool to restrict voting access for legitimate voters.
Real election security requires real evidence and real transparency. When leaders make claims they can't back up, two bad things happen: people stop trusting the system (even when it's working), and those false claims become cover for restricting voting rights.
The Common Good Party believes in Common Ground: democracy requires real choices at the ballot and transparency with teeth. That means backing every election claim with actual evidence, and protecting voting access for every citizen who's entitled to it.
Attorney General Nomination Test—Will the Next AG Actually Listen to Survivors?
Senator Thom Tillis says he won't support Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination unless the acting AG agrees to meet with Epstein survivors seeking Justice Department action. It's a simple test: will the top law enforcement officer in America listen to people harmed by the system?
Criminal justice that actually works means holding people accountable and giving survivors a voice. That starts at the top, with an attorney general willing to face the people harmed by the system.
More Stories from Today
VP Vance's comments on Iran policy raise questions about military intervention and the true cost to veterans. The Democrats' split on Gaza and military aid reveals real debate over accountability in foreign policy. And the Pentagon's new screening criteria for military personnel raises urgent questions about readiness, equality, and who gets left behind.
VP Iran comments → | Democrats on foreign aid → | Pentagon screening →
Today's pattern is clear: courts and the executive branch are moving to restrict access—to internet, to healthcare, to citizenship, to voting. The common good requires the opposite. It requires government that works for people instead of against them. Fairness isn't radical. It's the foundation everything else is built on.
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The Common Good Party is a community policy party publishing 50 evidence-based policy positions on healthcare, housing, climate, taxation, voting rights, and more. Member-funded — never corporate, never PAC. Visit thecommongoodparty.com to read the full platform, or reply to this email with questions.