Labor Day is the holiday where we honor work by trying very hard not to do any of it. Naturally, a lot of us celebrate by sitting in traffic, then reading hot takes about gas prices from people who have never opened a Federal Register notice.

Fast Fact: The Labor Day national holiday was signed into law by the first president to serve non-consecutive terms, Grover Cleveland, in 1894 as conciliation to the Labor movement after several strikes turned violent.

This year the cookout comes with sticker shock. Gas is above $4 nationally and the Sept. 4 wage numbers do not clearly show pay outrunning prices. Employers in agriculture and seasonal service industries are still leaning on temporary foreign-worker programs to fill jobs.

So while federal offices are closed for the holiday, the useful question is not whether Americans are working. It is who is doing the work, what it costs and what Washington is actually trying to change.

-Teddy Brosevelt
Grill Foreman and Solo cup distributor

On Sept. 4, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a proposed rule creating a streamlined approval process for qualifying oil-and-gas projects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. A complete qualifying application would be approved or conditionally approved within 60 days.

The fast track would not apply everywhere. A qualifying project generally must sit entirely within 25 miles of existing oil-and-gas infrastructure and avoid areas designated for no surface occupancy. BLM would rely on one broader Environmental Impact Statement rather than new project-specific review where effects fall within that analysis.

The proposal followed a May 12, 2026 petition from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, which argued decades of analysis make project-by-project review unnecessarily repetitive. Environmental groups including the Wilderness Society and Earthjustice oppose the change, arguing one broader review could miss effects at a single site; some North Slope residents say individual review is their best chance to raise subsistence concerns. The rule is scheduled for Federal Register publication Sept. 8, opening a 60-day comment period expected to close in early November; it remains only a proposal.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported regular gasoline averaging $4.071 per gallon on Aug. 31. On Sept. 6, Energy Secretary Chris Wright named Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and Venezuela as added-supply sources against elevated global oil prices. A 60-day permit decision is not 60 days until new oil reaches a refinery: the rule must be finalized and any approved project still financed, built and connected to infrastructure.

A faster process is not the same question as a faster effect on what drivers pay. Deep Reason drills down (pun intended).

What's Loud: Sept. 7 is Labor Day, a federal holiday, and Americans are still traveling despite unusually expensive gasoline. AAA said on Sept. 3 that its national average was $4.14 per gallon and that the 2026 Labor Day weekend was on track to set a record at the pump.

What's Missing: The holiday celebrates American workers, but some employers still cannot fill all the jobs they need domestically. Under the H-2A and H-2B programs, employers must show there are not enough U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified and available before hiring temporary foreign workers. Through June 30, 2026, the Labor Department's Office of Foreign Labor Certification reported hundreds of thousands of certified H-2A and H-2B positions in agricultural, landscaping, hospitality and food-service work.

What Matters: BLS reported on Sept. 4 that average hourly earnings were 3.1% higher than a year earlier. The most recent Consumer Price Index, released Aug. 12 for July, showed consumer prices 3.4% higher than a year earlier. Prices are outpacing wage growth.

On Sept. 4, President Trump signed two executive orders on ranchers and the beef market: one directs USDA to increase Packers and Stockyards Act investigations, coordinate enforcement with the Department of Justice and examine barriers to interstate meat sales; the other orders a 90-day review of federal rancher policy, directs USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative to examine whether mandatory country-of-origin beef labeling can return under existing law and directs Interior to reassess gray and Mexican wolf recovery criteria.

The Transportation Security Administration launched Gateside by TSA PreCheck at 13 airports, letting approved people without a boarding pass enter the secure side of participating terminals to meet someone at a gate or see a traveler off. Applicants must already hold PreCheck and request access in advance; a Gateside pass is not a boarding pass and does not authorize air travel.

The United States Postal Service returned to the Supreme Court on Sept. 6 after a federal judge in Massachusetts entered a new preliminary injunction on Sept. 4 against portions of USPS's final ballot-mail rule. USPS filed a new emergency application asking the Court to stay that injunction; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ordered responses by 4 p.m. EDT on Sept. 9. The Court has not decided whether the final rule is lawful; the immediate dispute is only whether the injunction stays in place while litigation continues.

On Sept. 4, the Department of Justice filed a proposed consent decree with Pinnacle Property Management Services in its antitrust case over RealPage and rental-pricing algorithms. If approved by the court, Pinnacle would be barred from using pricing algorithms built on competitors' sensitive data, sharing that data with rivals or joining RealPage-hosted meetings with competing landlords. The settlement is not final: under the Tunney Act, it must be published for a 60-day public-comment period before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina can enter the judgment.

$10,000: the maximum annual deduction for qualifying passenger-vehicle loan interest under final IRS regulations, applying to tax years 2025 through 2028 for U.S.-assembled vehicles, available whether or not a taxpayer itemizes.

Sept. 8: New Hampshire holds its 2026 state primary.

Sept. 9: Rhode Island holds its statewide primary, moved this year because of Labor Day.

Sept. 9: The U.S. Energy Information Administration releases its September Short-Term Energy Outlook.

Sept. 10: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the August Producer Price Index.

Sept. 11: The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the August Consumer Price Index and real-earnings report.

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