A $100,000 fee to hire an H-1B worker? President Trump’s plan would effectively kill the H-1B visa, drive tech companies overseas, reduce demand for US workers, stifle innovation, and shrink supply in industries from IT to medicine.

The future of education belongs to families, not bureaucracies. When dollars follow students, not zip codes, innovation flourishes and liberty expands. Cato stands for educational freedom for everyone on any side of the so-called culture wars, explains Neal McCluskey👇

When the FCC pressured Disney to pull Jimmy Kimmel off the air, it crossed the line from free choice to government coercion, explains Cato’s constitutional expert Thomas Berry. Free speech thrives on open debate – not on threats from those in power.

Politically motivated killings are rare in the United States. Cato’s social policy expert Alex Nowrasteh breaks down the data and explains what it really shows.

“It is difficult to imagine a more ominous and more horrendous violation of the basic principle of free speech.” Cato’s legal expert comments on ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show after FCC pressure.

There is no “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment. Even speech that is ugly, offensive, or cruel is protected. In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s horrific assassination, now more than ever, we must defend the principle Kirk himself championed: more speech, not less.

Free societies tolerate ugly speech. The government cannot weaponize tragedies as pretexts to surveil or silence groups it disfavors. Matthew Cavedon writes that both the First and Fourth Amendments must be strengthened to guard liberty.

Another TikTok ban deadline day… AGAIN! What does it actually mean that we keep seeing these extensions for TikTok? Cato Institute’s technology policy expert Jennifer Huddleston explains.

🇺🇸 Constitution Day reminds us why the U.S. Constitution endures. Celebrate the day by carrying these ideas with you.

Happy Constitution Day 🇺🇸 from the Cato Institute! We celebrated by handing out free pocket Constitutions in Washington, DC. Check out the video!

📜 It’s Constitution Day in the United States 🇺🇸! What do you think is the most important amendment to the US Constitution – and why? 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Congress faces key budget debates after the $4T OBBBA. The choice is clear: rein in discretionary spending, let pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies expire, and reject earmarks—or keep fueling record debt.

Some claim that the increasing age of first-time homebuyers is the latest evidence of a housing affordability crisis. But do the data really support that view? Norbert Michel & Jerome Famularo take a look:

A federal court recently ruled the Trump administration’s assault on Harvard illegal. The case reaffirms a crucial principle: the government cannot use federal funding to coerce institutions into adopting government-approved speech or ideas.

Americans wait an average of 25 years longer than Canadians for medicines, including cancer therapies & rare-disease treatments. And it’s FDA rules, not safety concerns, keeping them out. Dr. Singer & Bautista Vivanco explain the cost of this drug lag and how international drug reciprocity can help:

My latest at @theatlantic.com is on how Trump's 2nd-term economic policies (import substitution, "emergency" declarations, personal dealmaking, fiscal/monetary recklessness, & govt control of private enterprise) increasingly resemble post-war Argentina. Not good. www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Mises called it “interventionism.” Hayek called it the “road to serfdom.” Today, Trump’s partial nationalizations & coercive deals echo those warnings. If America abandons liberty & property rights, it won’t be great again—it will be unrecognizable. 👉

ICE raid at Hyundai in Georgia will sow more economic uncertainty at a time of rising unemployment and likely recession, says Cato Institute Vice President for Economic and Social Policy Studies Alex Nowrasteh.

Strong trade keeps peace strong. "Commercial wars always present the possibility of turning into shooting wars. That is one of the main reasons we created first the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and its institutional successor, the WTO, in the first place". Read more from James Bacchus ⬇️

“Golden shares” at home, grand bargains abroad. In this episode of the Cato Podcast, Cato scholars unpack Trump’s push for equity stakes in US firms under the CHIPS Act and his Putin deal-making on Ukraine. What do state capitalism & deal-making diplomacy mean for US liberty? Listen now:

A $7.5B question: Is US national security being auctioned off? Certain Nvidia & AMD chip exports to China, once blocked, are now allowed… if the government gets a cut. Here are the legal, economic, & security implications 👇

The Trump administration's steel tariffs came with a massive surge in steel industry lobbying expenditures. Coincidence? Clark Packard follows the money trail showing how K Street and steelmakers coordinated to boost prices at everyone else's expense 📈

The very presence of troops on the streets of American cities when there are no riots, natural disaster, etc. is pure political repression—especially when the troops are coming from Red states and being deployed to Blue cities. This isn’t about public safety, explains @pgeddington.com:

My @cato.org colleague Matt Cavedon takes a more negative view, pointing out that while Trump can't change the law, his EO encourages feds to push for maximal sentencing in prosecutions over dissenting behavior that breaks the law for other reasons. /3, efn

My new @cato.org post on Trump’s executive order on flag burning, in which presidential hot air cooks up a nothingburger: /1

The Intel deal isn’t “smart” industrial policy. It’s government ownership of private enterprise—at a discount, with strings attached, and with politics in the driver’s seat. If the deal is repeated in other industries, expect less innovation, more waste, and slower growth.

🚨 From fentanyl to nitazenes, the pattern is clear: tougher bans don’t end overdoses, they breed deadlier drugs. Jeffrey A. Singer explains why repeating the same drug war tactics ensures more tragedy. www.cato.org/blog/fentany...

🚨 Authoritarians have a new favorite weapon: the central bank digital currency. The CBDC Tracker shows 139+ governments’ plans, and the human rights risks behind them. Nick Anthony explains why it’s time to pay attention:

Border arrests are down nearly 90% since December, yet Trump’s immigration approval has come down to 40-55% in July polls. The reason? His policy of mass deportations of workers, and not criminals. 👇

It’s time to put patients, not the FDA, in charge of their health. From birth control to insulin, Americans face needless barriers to safe, proven drugs that people abroad use every day:

Fact check: there’s nothing “reciprocal” about these “reciprocal tariffs.” New US tariffs in most cases far exceed the average tariffs that foreign governments apply to American goods. 👇

Paying taxes on money you never made? It happens. Inflation can raise capital gains taxes to levels exceeding real returns. Adam Michel explains this flaw in the tax code and makes the case for repealing the capital gains tax:

Saving the planet starts with empowering minds, not scaring them. From electric cars to remote work, Chelsea Follett makes the case for freedom, not fear, as the path to sustainability and sanity. 🌎 Read in Free Society:

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is now law, but the fight to restore fiscal discipline and support economic growth is still on. Now it’s up to the regulators to decide how the law is implemented and enforced.

What’s harder, fixing health care or fixing education? Neal McCluskey and Michael Cannon debate which system government has done more to break—and how market-based reforms could fix it. Listen now on the Cato Podcast:

You’ve probably heard Mexican Coca-Cola tastes better. Now, at Trump’s urging, Coca-Cola plans to launch a US version sweetened with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. But why did US Coke switch to corn syrup in the first place? Hint: government price controls.

The newly created Trump Accounts in the One Big Beautiful Bill are being pitched as a way to boost savings, build generational wealth, and possibly replace Social Security. They are unlikely to do any of those things. Americans need simple, flexible savings options like Universal Savings Accounts.

The real scandal isn’t tax breaks for protein powder. It’s that the federal income tax made employer insurance king, distorting health care for a century. @mfcannon.bsky.social lays out the hidden costs of a broken tax code👇

A new report shows that ICE is using a vast insurance claims database as a back door into confidential medical records to hunt for people to deport. Not only does this threaten undocumented immigrants, but it also erodes trust in the health system and endangers the health of all Americans.

Free trade isn’t just smart policy; it’s a moral imperative. It affirms natural rights, fosters peace, and enables human flourishing. Protectionism, by contrast, is coercion in economic disguise.

The FBI has no legal basis to hunt down Texas state lawmakers who left the state over a political dispute. This isn't law enforcement—it's the weaponization of federal agencies against elected officials. Constitutional boundaries should protect all Americans, @pgeddington.com 👇

The future of US trade policy remains uncertain. But here’s what we do know: US tariff rates are at levels not seen in a century, and that means Americans are paying billions in new taxes. The uncertainty alone will weigh on US investment and hiring, and it’s all been done without Congress.

While lawmakers feud on cable news, a cross-partisan network of staffers is finding common ground in Cato’s Fellowship Program. Josh Hardman reveals the quiet revolution in Free Society magazine. Read all about it in the latest summer edition:

We’ve seen “White House suggests stripping political adversary of citizenship” in the headlines far too often now. What's stopping President Trump from revoking the citizenship of his critics? @walterolson.bsky.social explores:

Coming next week! I'm hosting a @cato.org online panel discussion with @davedaley.bsky.social, @mcmegan.bsky.social and John Ketcham (Manhattan Institute) on lessons of the NYC mayoral primary for ranked choice voting and other election reforms. It's Wed. Aug. 6 at 3 p.m. Eastern. Register here: /1

Congress acts as if Social Security were untouchable, but its promises come at a steep cost. Without reform, younger workers could lose $110K+ over their careers to keep the system solvent. Here's what’s at stake and how meaningful reform is possible:

Sippin’ craft beer this summer? Thank homebrewers and free markets. But rising aluminum and steel costs driven by President Trump’s tariffs are squeezing small brewers. Higher overhead is forcing recipe changes, smaller cans, and fewer local options on the shelf.

Spoiler: We’ve seen this movie before. President Trump’s steel tariffs failed to boost production—now a 50% tariff on copper is set to hike prices, and to what end?

Today's America First movement has drifted far from its original ideals. "The core of America First rooted its message in a liberal tradition—a desire to protect America’s unique experiment in individual liberty and limited government from the corruption of total war." 👇

📉 Tariffs silence the most powerful voice in capitalism: yours. When the government gets to pick the winners, you get higher prices, fewer choices, and more control from above. True prosperity starts with free consumers, not central planners.