The Trump administration is loosening a federal rule that requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment. Officials say the change reflects a push to lower grocery costs. President Donald Trump is scheduled to announce the changes at a White House event Thursday. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says the Biden-era refrigerant rule imposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants that businesses and families can use. The Republican administration is trying to address affordability issues, but it's not clear how much or how quickly the loosening of the refrigerant rule might ease grocery prices.

Republican senators are considering dropping a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support on Capitol Hill. The White House has pressured Republicans to try to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill intended to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But some Republicans are questioning the security price tag and asking for more detail from the White House and U.S. Secret Service about how the money would be used.

The U.S. military says it boarded an Iranian-flagged commercial oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was suspected of trying to violate the American blockade. U.S. Central Command said Wednesday on social media that the M/T Celestial Sea was searched and redirected after being suspected of trying to head to an Iranian port. It’s at least the fifth vessel to be boarded since the Trump administration began the blockade of Iranian shipping. Iran has a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane for global oil supplies, and the U.S. military has enforced its own blockade on Iranian ports and coastline as well as seizing ships linked to Tehran further afield.