by Matthew Holloway | Dec 29, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Congressman Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08) has joined Florida Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL07) in introducing federal legislation aimed at prioritizing American firms for defense-related professional services contracts. The legislation, titled the Securing American Firms & Expertise in Services (SAFE Services) Act, introduced as H.R. 6882, would require the Department of Defense to give preference to U.S.-based companies when awarding contracts for professional services connected to national security.
Mills stated, “American tax dollars should strengthen American companies and protect American security,” adding that the SAFE Services Act is designed to close what he described as a procurement gap that allows foreign firms to obtain sensitive defense-adjacent contracts. The legislation would not apply to manufacturing contracts but would focus exclusively on professional and advisory services.
Hamadeh, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, “The people in my district elected me to put America first. That means supporting American workers and revitalizing American industry. It’s why I prioritized Arizona military communities and our local manufacturers in my amendments to the defense bill.”
“This legislation by Rep. Mills helps codify that spirit. It requires the Department of War to prioritize American companies during the procurement of professional services,” Hamadeh added. “The economic and national security implications alone should demand a preference for American companies, but this bill will ensure it is more than a suggestion.”
Under the proposal, affected contracts would include services such as engineering and architecture, design and environmental consulting, financial consulting, program management, and legal support, as well as “other expert services as defined under the Federal Acquisition (Regulation),” all areas that lawmakers say are increasingly being outsourced to foreign-owned firms.
According to information cited by the bill’s sponsors, more than $1 billion in Department of Defense professional services contracts were awarded to 616 foreign-owned companies during fiscal year 2024, “despite the availability of thousands of qualified American firms capable of performing the same work.”
Referencing the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment, which legally require the Department of Defense to prioritize domestically produced goods, the release stated, “No comparable preference currently exists for defense professional services,” adding that the SAFE Services Act: “addresses this oversight by requiring the Department of War to prioritize American companies when procuring professional services essential to military readiness and infrastructure.”
The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 23, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Members of the 11th Air Task Force (ATF) returned home to Arizona on Dec. 17, 2025, concluding the unit’s first deployment in support of operations and integration efforts in the Indo-Pacific region, just in time for Christmas.
Christmas came early for families, friends, and members of the 355th Wing as Airmen arrived at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base after a nearly six-month deployment to the Pacific, including missions in Saipan, the Republic of Korea, and Guam, according to the U.S. Air Force.
The 11th ATF was the first U.S. Air Force (USAF) task force activated and deployed under a broader effort to create more agile, mission-ready Air Task Force units as part of force modernization and operational flexibility. Airmen from multiple bases comprised the task force, though those assigned to Davis-Monthan were among the last to return home.
Upon arrival in Arizona, Davis-Monthan leadership, base support personnel, fellow Airmen, family members, and friends greeted the returning service members. During the welcome home events, Airmen reunited with loved ones and were recognized for successfully completing the extended deployment.
Col. Brett Cassidy, commander of the 11th ATF, said the deployment challenged Airmen to embrace mission-ready concepts and demonstrated the unit’s capability to adapt and succeed amid dynamic mission requirements. The task force’s early return also allowed many Airmen to spend the holiday season with their families.
“The 11th ATF team performed exceptionally throughout this entire deployment,” Cassidy said in the USAF release.
“Our mission changed while we were out here, and that’s actually a good thing, because it allowed us to demonstrate our ability to adjust on the fly. That’s not typically something we get to see on deployment. It was phenomenal watching the Airmen adjust as the mission changed to achieve success. The biggest lesson from this time was that if you set up the team with the proper authorities and capabilities, and you let them train as a team so they come together and understand one another, they’re incredibly capable of getting after dynamic missions. We saw that out here, and it was a huge success for the Air Force.”
Established in July 2024 as one of six task forces across the Air Force, the 11th ATF was activated to provide rapidly deployable, integrated forces capable of contingency response and mission generation. Its inaugural deployment was billed as a milestone in testing the task force model, which emphasizes cohesive unit training and operational employment.
The return of the 11th Air Task Force highlights the evolving structure of U.S. Air Force deployments. It underscores Davis-Monthan AFB’s role as a key hub in Arizona for agile force generation and global operations.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 21, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
U.S. consumer price inflation slowed more than expected in November, with the latest official data showing a notable drop in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and core inflation. This key measure strips out food and energy costs, according to an update released Thursday by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC).
The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), a broad measure of prices consumers pay for everyday goods and services, rose only 2.7% from November 2024 to November 2025, below the roughly 3.0% economists had expected. This marks one of the lowest readings in 2025, signaling a potential easing of inflationary pressures.
Core CPI, a measure that excludes volatile food and energy prices, also fell to 2.63% year-over-year, its lowest reading since March 2021.
Between September and November, the headline CPI increased modestly by 0.20%, while core inflation edged up by 0.16% over the same period, indicating that prices rose only slightly in recent months, even after volatility is adjusted for.
The data showed a mixed picture for specific sectors:
- Food price inflation was 2.65% year-over-year, a decline of roughly 0.46 percentage points from September.
- Energy price inflation rose 4.24% year-over-year, up about 1.39 percentage points from September.
Regionally, the Northeast saw the highest inflation rate between September and November at 3.1%, while the West and Midwest tied at 3.0%. The South recorded the lowest inflation at 2.2%, down from 2.7% in the September report.
In addition to prices, the JEC noted improvements in real wages during the most recent two-month period. Inflation-adjusted earnings for private nonfarm workers showed that weekly earnings rose 0.66% and hourly earnings rose 0.35%, suggesting that wage growth modestly outpaced price gains through November.
In a post to X on Thursday, the White House highlighted the slowed inflation and the pace of wage increases, writing, “President Trump is turning the economy around—pulling it back from the brink & setting the stage for a HISTORIC BOOM.”
Economists have cautioned that some of the recent inflation slowdown reflected in official figures may be affected by data collection challenges earlier this year. Independent reporting highlights that federal data gathering was disrupted by a prolonged government shutdown, which prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from compiling October CPI data and may have altered how price changes were measured, according to Reuters.
Nonetheless, both headline and core measures show inflation moving closer to longer-term targets, a development policymakers and markets will be watching closely as the Federal Reserve, Congress, and Trump Administration consider their next steps in 2026.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Congressman Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) introduced legislation Thursday requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deliver annual terrorism threat assessments on the hostile use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), citing the rapid spread of drone technology among foreign adversaries and terrorist organizations.
The bill, titled the Detecting and Evaluating Foreign Exploitation of Novel Drones (DEFEND) Act, would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to strengthen congressional oversight of emerging UAS threats, according to a release from Crane’s office.
Crane’s bill would require DHS to evaluate drone-related risks to the United States, submit a classified annual report to Congress with an unclassified public annex, and provide a briefing within seven days of each report’s submission. The legislation is co-sponsored by members of the House Homeland Security Committee, including several subcommittee chairs.
In a post to X announcing the legislation, Crane wrote, “America must maintain a decisive tactical advantage over our adversaries.”
According to a release from Crane’s office, the measure is intended to help close an intelligence gap around drone threats and give Congress clearer insight into vulnerabilities in U.S. airspace.
Arizona has growing strategic exposure to unmanned aircraft system threats, given ongoing cartel drone activity along the state’s southern border; the presence of key military installations involved in UAS development and counter-UAS training, including Fort Huachuca, Yuma Proving Ground, Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, and Luke Air Force Base; and the state’s expanding commercial drone testing sector. Federal assessments in recent years have also warned that drones pose increasing risks to critical infrastructure sites, including energy, water, and transportation systems across the United States.
In the release announcing the legislation, Crane said Congress must act to close intelligence blind spots and “maintain tactical advantage over malign actors” seeking to exploit UAS capabilities, citing drone use in recent conflicts overseas.
“The DEFEND Act ensures Congress has the knowledge necessary to effectively allocate resources to defend our homeland. I encourage my colleagues to back this approach to close this intelligence blind spot,” he added.
Per congressional procedure, the bill will be referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security, where co-sponsors sit in leadership positions across the Committee’s oversight and cybersecurity panels.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Dec 20, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
A record number of consumers plan to shop on “Super Saturday” this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics, signaling continued strength in final-stretch holiday spending despite months of inflation pressures.
The NRF’s annual survey projects 158.9 million Americans will shop on December 20 — the last Saturday before Christmas and historically one of the busiest retail days of the year. The organization says the figure surpasses both last year’s estimate and the previous all-time high in 2022, according to a Wednesday press release.
“As the final Saturday before Dec. 25, Super Saturday is a significant shopping event for both consumers and retailers,” said Katherine Cullen, NRF’s vice president of industry and consumer insights.
“This year’s event falls only five days before the Christmas holiday, and consumers will shop across retailers and channels in search of the final gifts on their lists and other holiday items they need to complete a memorable holiday season,” she added.
The NRF survey, conducted December 1–10 among more than 8,300 adult consumers, found that:
- Roughly 45 percent expect to shop both in-store and online,
- 29 percent plan to shop only in stores, and
- 26 percent plan to shop exclusively online.
Online remains the leading destination for last-minute purchases, with 46 percent of respondents planning to buy online, followed by 33 percent indicating department stores and 26 percent citing discount retailers.
The survey also found that U.S. consumers had completed about half of their holiday shopping by early December. Respondents who still had shopping remaining cited common reasons including unresolved gift decisions, competing financial priorities, and waiting on information from friends or family.
A growing share of respondents, 31 percent, said they planned to give “experience-based” gifts such as event tickets, classes, or travel, continuing a trend NRF analysts say has strengthened over the past decade.
Beyond national forecasts, Arizona retailers are leaning into this final shopping weekend with a shift toward experience-based promotions as well rather than pure discounting. According to Dallas McLaughlin Digital Marketing, some Phoenix and Scottsdale-area businesses have rolled out in-store events, exclusive giveaways, and AI-driven loyalty programs designed to keep shoppers engaged longer and convert last-minute browsers into buyers. Local marketing analysts say experiential retail is gaining traction across the Valley as stores compete not only on price but on atmosphere and interaction, a strategy they expect to play out across Super Saturday crowds.
Looking beyond Christmas Day, the NRF noted that nearly seven in ten shoppers expect to continue making purchases after December 25 to take advantage of post-holiday discounts and to redeem gift cards.
The holiday retail season, as defined by the NRF, spans November 1 through December 31. The organization projects total holiday retail sales will exceed $1 trillion for the first time, forecasting growth between 3.7 and 4.2 percent over 2024’s totals.
Super Saturday, sometimes referred to as “Panic Saturday” in the retail industry, regularly delivers some of the heaviest foot and online traffic of the season as consumers rush to finish gift buying before Christmas. Retailers traditionally extend store hours and concentrate promotional campaigns around the date.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
