The Week on the Hill: affordability and immigration lead the first dispatches after the election

The first full week after the midterms, and the congressional offices that fill our inbox did not slow down. If anything, the releases came faster. Most of what landed traced back to the two themes that ran through the election: the cost of living, and immigration. Here is what Washington's press shops put in front of us this week.

Affordability, starting on the farm

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, joined by Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representatives Nikki Budzinski and Eric Sorensen, opened the week with a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture arguing that Illinois and Midwestern farmers have been overcharged on federal crop insurance for years. By law the program is supposed to set premiums that roughly match what farmers get back in payouts over time. According to the lawmakers, corn and soybean growers across the region have been paying in far more than they collect, with long term loss ratios well below the target.

The numbers they cite are not small. Pointing to an analysis from North Dakota State University, the group says bringing those ratios back in line would cut what Midwestern farmers are overcharged by about 762 million dollars a year, and lower premiums by 11 percent overall, including 22 percent for corn and 19 percent for soybeans. They want the USDA Risk Management Agency to run the review now and refund farmers for this crop year. The backdrop, the lawmakers note, is brutal: on-farm diesel is up 80 percent over the past year, and the USDA's own September forecast puts the total cost of production up 21.2 billion dollars, to nearly 493 billion.

Heinrich takes on the data centers

Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, spent the week on data centers from two directions. The first was the household bill. Heinrich's office pushed a fact sheet on his Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which his office says would hold data centers accountable for the cost of the grid upgrades their power demand requires, rather than letting those costs land on everyday electricity customers. It is the same affordability argument as the farm letter, aimed at a different line on the budget.

The second was the land itself. In a letter to the Bureau of Land Management, Heinrich demanded answers on the administration's push to build data centers on public land, writing that he is "extremely concerned" and posting the same day, "No data centers on public lands. Period." His office points to the 88-acre Townsite Data Center near Boulder City, Nevada, the first approved on public land, which the Interior Department's Board of Land Appeals paused in September after finding that BLM skipped a required environmental review. By Heinrich's count the agency is now weighing at least 15 more proposals across roughly 17,000 acres in six western states. He has asked BLM to hand over its full list of proposals and the legal authority behind them by November 20.

A harder look at ICE detention

Durbin, who is also the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a new Government Accountability Office report that raises alarms about oversight inside immigration detention. The report found that as the detained population grew by more than 50 percent between April 2025 and April 2026, and active facilities expanded from 128 to 172, the inspection system shrank. One independent watchdog office was shut down entirely. Another cut its total inspections from 194 to 102 in a single year, and many smaller facilities are now allowed to inspect themselves, usually with advance notice.

According to the report, a long standing rule that blocked funding for facilities with two consecutive failing ratings was left out of the most recent appropriations law, which means a failed inspection no longer carries that consequence for contractors like GEO and CoreCivic. The GAO urged ICE to use real data to decide whether the reduced inspections are enough to keep facilities safe. Durbin tied it to Tuesday's results, arguing that voters had just rejected the administration's approach.

Twenty-six new Americans in Springfield

Not every release was a fight. On Friday, Durbin's office sent photos and remarks from a naturalization ceremony at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, where 26 people from 11 countries took the oath of citizenship. Judges Colleen Lawless and Douglas Quivey presided in the building where Lincoln warned that a house divided cannot stand, and where Barack Obama later announced his run for president. Durbin used the moment to note that ceremonies like it have been scaled back and delayed lately, then welcomed the group anyway. "You came here as citizens of 11 nations," he said. "You will leave here as citizens of one nation."

That is the week as the offices themselves told it: farm costs, power bills, detention oversight, and a room full of new citizens. We will keep rounding these up here every week, straight from the people whose job it is to shape the story.