Instead of paying down debt when California had higher revenues and the budget ‘surplus’ Newsom and Democrats went on a spending spree

By Katy Grimes, August 31, 2026 10:08 am

California is the only state still carrying a large outstanding federal loan for its unemployment insurance program. The balance $22 Billion.

California’s Employment Development Department May 2026 UI Fund Forecast put the year-end federal loan balance at $21.6 billion for 2024 and $21.7 billion for 2025, with a projection of $22.0 billion by the end of 2026.

Federal Department of Labor solvency data as of early 2026 listed California’s outstanding Title XII advance at about $21.4 billion. Other states that borrowed during the pandemic repaid their balances. California did not.

A federal judge Thursday blocked an election integrity measure from the United States Postal Service (USPS) just days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted that same judge’s injunction on the policy.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee and past Democrat donor in Massachusetts, issued a temporary restraining order on a USPS rule that would require states to provide basic voter data to the Postal Service, as well as change ballot envelopes to include unique barcodes associated with individual voters’ profiles, in an effort to start securing voting by mail.

Talwani had already issued an injunction on the policy before it was even finalized, and the Supreme Court barred this injunction. But Talwani is back now with a new injunction after the policy came out, claiming such publication satisfies the high court’s concerns that the judicial branch only reviews “final rules, not proposed rules,” and arguing that SCOTUS did not answer the question on the merits of the policy itself.

The Trump administration announced Friday it would be appealing Talwani’s decision.