Pins matching place:D.C.

After decades of stalled funding and a visible change in stone partway up its shaft, the Washington Monument finally opened its doors to visitors in 1888.

Two years after the Arab oil embargo, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act set up a federal emergency oil stockpile and gave the President the power to order it sold when supply is severely interrupted. Ford called the bill imperfect but signed it anyway, to end "the long debate over national energy policy".

Hours after announcing allied air attacks on Iraq, President Bush ordered the first emergency sale in the reserve's history. The Energy Department released its sales notice on 17 January 1991 and eventually sold 17.3 million barrels to 13 companies, half of what it offered: bids for sour crude came in too low to accept.

With Libyan production off the market, the International Energy Agency put 60 million barrels into it on 23 June 2011, and the US share came out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The auction was heavily oversubscribed: more than 90 offers came in for 30.2 million barrels of light sweet crude, and 15 companies took delivery.

Four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden ordered crude out of the SPR as the US share of an IEA release of 60 million barrels. It did not stop there: by that summer 180 million barrels had gone, the biggest emergency sale the reserve had ever made, and it left the stockpile at levels not seen since the 1980s.

Federal funding lapsed just after midnight on 1 October 2025 and stayed lapsed for 43 days, the longest shutdown ever, over a fight about expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.

The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority moved the Long Bridge Project into full construction, opening daytime work windows through the Washington, D.C. construction zone because the District's noise and vibration rules bar the work at night. A new two-track bridge beside the century-old Long Bridge will give a continuous four-track corridor between Arlington and L'Enfant Plaza, relieving the worst passenger-rail bottleneck on the East Coast.

A stopgap covering six of the twelve appropriations bills expired on 31 January 2026, closing roughly half of federal agencies until the House passed a funding package 217-214 on 3 February.

A two-week stopgap for DHS alone ran out on 14 February 2026, and the department stayed unfunded for 76 days - the longest shutdown of a single agency in US history - until the President signed a bipartisan bill on 30 April.

Thirty-two IEA member nations agreed on 11 March 2026 to release 400 million barrels between them after Iranian attacks slowed tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The American share was 172 million barrels, the largest US release ever ordered, and Secretary Wright said it would take about 120 days to deliver.

The first tranche of the 172-million-barrel release went out as a request for proposals on 13 March 2026, covering 86 million barrels from Bryan Mound, West Hackberry and Bayou Choctaw. Bids were due the following Tuesday, and the borrowers must hand the oil back with extra barrels on top.

Work started on the foundational infrastructure for a 65,000-seat domed stadium on the old RFK Stadium site in southeast Washington, with the full groundbreaking held back to early 2027 and opening expected in 2030. The Commanders are putting up $2.7 billion towards a project projected at $3.8 billion; the District is spending $500 million on infrastructure and will own the building.

DC Water lowered the tunnel boring machine Mary into a 100-foot-deep shaft in West Potomac Park and started her north towards Georgetown University, the first 2.4 miles of a 5.5-mile combined sewer overflow tunnel. The $819 million tunnel is part of the Clean Rivers Project and will cut Potomac overflow events from 74 a year to four; a second Herrenknecht machine, Emily, bores south towards Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.

After soliciting up to 92.5 million barrels from all four storage sites - the largest single exchange in the reserve's history - DOE awarded contracts for 53.3 million on 11 May 2026, at a return premium of about 28 per cent. That is 15.1 million extra barrels owed back to the stockpile.

Weekly Energy Department data published on 10 August 2026 put the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at 298.7 million barrels, down 6.1 million in a week and the lowest reading in the EIA series since January 1983. The stockpile had held about 415 million barrels before the Iran war began.

H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, was signed on 2 September 2026, four weeks before the fiscal year ran out. Its appropriations run from 1 October to 11 December 2026, pushing the next shutdown fight past the midterm elections.

The Senate HELP Committee questions Dr. Heidi Overton, President Trump's pick for FDA commissioner, at 10:30 a.m. ET in 430 Dirksen. If confirmed, the White House domestic policy aide would take over an agency that has lost more than 3,000 staff in the past year.

Fiscal year 2027 starts on 1 October 2026 with none of the twelve appropriations bills through both chambers, so the government runs on the continuing resolution signed in September rather than on a budget.

On the first Monday in October the Supreme Court hears Suncor and ExxonMobil's bid to end Boulder's state-law suit seeking climate-change damages. The ruling will decide whether federal law blocks more than two dozen similar suits by cities, counties and states.

The stopgap signed in September expires on 11 December 2026, the deadline for Congress to enact the twelve fiscal 2027 appropriations bills or pass another continuing resolution before agencies shut down.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its January 26-27 2027 meeting. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 61%, Hike 25bps 25%, Cut 25bps 8%.

The statutory deadline for the President to send the fiscal 2028 budget to Congress is the first Monday in February 2027 - a deadline no president has met in over a decade.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its March 16-17 2027 meeting. The meeting is one of the four in 2027 that comes with a Summary of Economic Projections - the "dot plot" - and a press conference. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 67%, Hike 25bps 27%, Cut 25bps 10%.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its April 27-28 2027 meeting. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 63%, Cut 25bps 11%, Hike 25bps 8%.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its June 8-9 2027 meeting. The meeting is one of the four in 2027 that comes with a Summary of Economic Projections - the "dot plot" - and a press conference. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 59%, Cut >25bps 28%, Hike 25bps 20%.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its July 27-28 2027 meeting. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 76%, Hike 25bps 17%, Hike >25bps 10%.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its September 14-15 2027 meeting. The meeting is one of the four in 2027 that comes with a Summary of Economic Projections - the "dot plot" - and a press conference. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 59%, Hike 25bps 20%, Cut 25bps 6%.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment's rebuild of the Capitals' and Wizards' downtown arena reaches the end of six construction phases that began in December 2024 and were staged around live events, including a new 'Visibowl' seating bowl, new premium clubs and a new cardholder entrance opening in autumn 2027.

The United States federal fiscal year 2028 starts on 1 October 2027 - the date by which Congress must have funded the government or shut it down.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its October 26-27 2027 meeting. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 54%, Hike 25bps 46%, Cut 25bps 7%.

The FOMC announces its rate decision on the second day of its December 7-8 2027 meeting. The meeting is one of the four in 2027 that comes with a Summary of Economic Projections - the "dot plot" - and a press conference. On 21 September 2026 Kalshi last traded Fed maintains rate 73%, Cut 25bps 13%, Hike 25bps 6%.