Presented By

September 30, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin’s housing, transportation projects face ongoing federal funding uncertainty (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Austin ISD opens up naming, sponsorship opportunities (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 The federal government has shut down. Here’s what it means for Texas (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Government shuts down after Congress fails to reach a funding agreement (NPR)

🟪 Trump directs generals to defend US from 'war from within' (ABC News)

READ ON!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Memo: Austin Government Relations Office – Federal Legislative Update (9.24.2025)

🏛️ City Memo: Short-Term Rental Regulations – Upcoming Action Item (Development Services Department)

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of July 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin’s housing, transportation projects face ongoing federal funding uncertainty (Austin Monitor)

A recent city memo warns that federal programs the city relies on for housing, infrastructure and mobility face new uncertainty, even as some substantial local projects are designed and ready to move forward.

A Sept. 23 memo from Government Relations Officer Carrie Rogers details the city’s recent lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. and emphasizes that federal funding remains unpredictable which puts more responsibility on state and local leaders to find resources for major initiatives.

The memo arrived nearly two months after Austin lost a $105 million grant for the Interstate 35 cap-and-stitch program, which was initially awarded last year. That funding was lost as part of a national rescission of unobligated Neighborhood Access & Equity awards, even though the city had already committed $104 million in local money to ensure structural supports are included in TxDOT’s rebuild of I-35 through downtown… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD opens up naming, sponsorship opportunities (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin Independent School District is creating opportunities for businesses that want to sponsor or put their names on some major district facilities.

AISD and the Austin Ed Fund, a nonprofit that develops and maintains public-private partnerships for the school district, announced the launch of the Facility Naming and Sponsorship Opportunities program to enable businesses or other organizations to place their name on notable school district facilities and spaces. 

The program will offer naming rights for six major AISD facilities that are used districtwide: the AISD Performing Arts Center, House Park Field, Nelson Field, Burger Center, Delco Center and Noack Sports Complex.

"This naming rights program represents a significant opportunity for businesses and organizations to make a lasting impact on Austin's educational landscape while gaining meaningful community recognition," AISD Superintendent Matias Segura said in a statement. "We're seeking partners who share our commitment to high-quality education and want to invest in the future of Austin's students."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Behind those walls along I-35, TxDOT is building one of the largest tunnels Austin's ever seen (KUT)

If you've been driving on I-35 through Central Austin, you may have noticed tall construction walls going up at certain points along the highway and wondered what's going on behind them.

Those barriers are designed to block the sound of machines digging deep holes called drop shafts for one of the largest tunnel projects in Austin history.

The tunnel is so large that building it will cause the ground to vibrate along its 6.5-mile path down I-35 and East Cesar Chavez Street, creating uncertainty about the risks to nearby structures.

The drainage tunnel is required to prevent I-35 from becoming a raging river during rush hour rains. As part of a major expansion of the highway through Travis County, the Texas Department of Transportation is dropping the main lanes up to 60 feet below ground level from Holly Street to Airport Boulevard.

Those sunken main lanes, parts of which could be covered with giant decks by the city of Austin, will allow a clear view across the highway for the first time since it opened in 1962… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ The federal government has shut down. Here’s what it means for Texas (Texas Tribune)

The federal government officially shut down at midnight as lawmakers blew their deadline to preserve funding for federal agencies, a lapse that could disrupt services many Texans rely on and slow the flow of certain benefits if the stoppage drags out.

The shutdown means thousands of federal workers in Texas will head to work Wednesday without the promise of a paycheck until both parties in Congress can cut a deal to restore funding. Other federal civilian employees will be furloughed if their jobs are not deemed essential.

Texas is home to more federal civilian employees than all but three other states, counting over 130,000 workers as of September 2024. Most of the civilian workforce — which excludes uniformed military — is spread across five agencies: the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Army, the Air Force, the Department of Defense and the Department of the Treasury. Including uniformed personnel, the Defense Department employed more than 200,000 Texans last year.

The funding gap means a likely work stoppage for personnel who have been considered nonessential during past shutdowns, including staff at Big Bend National Park, certain employees at the Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices in Houston and Waco, and Department of Agriculture service center officers across the state… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Government shuts down after Congress fails to reach a funding agreement (NPR)

Much of the federal government is now shut down after Republicans and Democrats in the Senate failed to agree on a pair of dueling funding bills to keep the government open.

Republicans voted to block a bill proposed by Democrats that included government funding through the end of October and an extension of federal healthcare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year. The second bill was also defeated nearly along party lines. Democrats refused to join Republicans to approve a short-term measure passed by the House that would keep the government funded at current levels through Nov. 21. Both measures needed 60 votes to pass.

Democrats have insisted that they will not vote for a spending measure unless Republicans agree to extend the subsidies for health insurance plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act. That did not happen.

Shortly after the failed votes, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought instructed affected federal agencies to "execute their plans for an orderly shutdown."

It is unclear exactly how far-reaching the impact of a shutdown will be or how long the suspensions of funding will last. Critical services, including Social Security, VA benefits and Medicare and Medicaid payments, will continue, but people who need those resources could face delays… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Pete Hegseth had a lot to say when he summoned military leaders. Here are some facts and context (Associated Press)

Armed with a 10-point plan and pacing a stage in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth enumerated for hundreds of assembled military leaders just how much of the force’s policy, philosophy and culture will change for more than 2 million Americans in uniform under President Donald Trump’s command.

“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth said. The approach, he said, made the Pentagon “less capable and less lethal.” Hegseth talked up his and Trump’s focus on “the warrior ethos” and “peace through strength.”

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship, no more division, distraction or gender delusions. No more debris,” he declared... 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Trump directs generals to defend US from 'war from within' (ABC News)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday told the military's top generals about his controversial plans to send troops to "dangerous" Democratic cities, arguing, "We're under invasion from within."

Trump made clear that the military's job is not only to protect the United States from threats abroad but also what he repeatedly referred to as a domestic enemy in American cities.

"It's a war from within," the president said to the room of high-ranking military generals who flew from across the globe to Quantico, Virginia. "We're under invasion from within."

Trump talked about his efforts to increase the use of U.S. military in American cities. Trump specifically said that Democratic-run cities, such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, are in “bad shape,” and that he threatened to "straighten them out, one-by-one."

"I told Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard," he said.

Over the weekend, Trump announced that he ordered federal troops to Portland, Oregon, because of what he alleged were threats from domestic terrorists. The city's Democratic Mayor Keith Wilson and the state's Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek both stressed that they did not request the troops and objected to the action… 🟪 (READ MORE)

Have comments or questions? 📩 Contact me