Congress

WASHINGTON  - Rep. Ben McAdams, a Utah Democrat and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican, both said Wednesday they had tested positive for coronavirus. In a statement, Diaz-Balart, the first to announce his condition, said he first developed symptoms, including... Read More

WASHINGTON — Senators on both sides of the aisle said this week that the chamber is exploring the possibility of voting remotely on a third legislative package responding to the coronavirus pandemic, a move that would upend tradition and require... Read More

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers began negotiating a third economic stimulus bill to prevent the U.S. economy from cracking under the weight of the coronavirus epidemic even as efforts stalled Monday to finish work on a second bill that passed the House... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has told members they can remain in their districts through next Monday, but at least for now, no decision has been made on the balance of House schedule for the week. In a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Members of both the House and Senate are enthusiastically reaching across the aisle in a bid to fend off a proposal by Major League Baseball to drop big league affiliation with 42 minor league teams. Major League Baseball... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canceled the Senate's planned recess next week in order to continue working on legislation to address the economic implications of the coronavirus outbreak. "Notwithstanding the scheduled state work period, the Senate will be... Read More

WASHINGTON - Public tours of the Capitol building are being suspended -- at least through the end of March -- in response to the novel coronavirus. In a joint statement, House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving, and Senate Sergeant... Read More

WASHINGTON — House negotiators reached a bipartisan agreement to extend provisions of a law authorizing surveillance of suspected spies and terrorists, according to Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat. Lawmakers are trying to avoid a temporary lapse or the need... Read More

WASHINGTON — One of President Donald Trump’s key proposals to confront the economic fallout of the novel coronavirus — a payroll tax cut — got mixed reviews from Senate Republicans on Tuesday during a Capitol Hill strategy-planning lunch that ended... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday aimed at making Congress more effective, efficient and transparent. H. Res. 756, is the brainchild of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, and the product of 16 formal hearings and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats are throwing their support behind a potential economic stimulus package aimed at helping Americans deal with the coronavirus outbreak. But in doing so, the coalition of fiscally-responsible Democrats said the crisis... Read More

WASHINGTON —Speaker Nancy Pelosi told attendees at the House Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday morning that they should stay at work as "captains of the ship" this week as Capitol Hill scrambles to respond to the coronavirus. Among the items under... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled that Justice Department officials must release grand jury testimony, compiled by Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his probe into Russian interference in the 2020 election, to the House of Representatives. A divided U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The impact of the coronavirus drew closer to Washington as seven lawmakers announced they have been exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19, and Republicans and Democrats considered separate legislative packages to address the economic fallout. Six Republicans were... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., introduced legislation Monday that would remove a bust of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney from public display in the U.S. Capitol and replace it with a bust of Associate Supreme Court Justice... Read More

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are planning to keep the Capitol Visitor Center and public galleries in the Capitol open despite growing anxiety about the spread of coronavirus in the U.S., but they say that decision is based on the lack... Read More

WASHINGTON - Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to provide $8.3 billion in funding to combat the growing coronavirus outbreak. The full House is scheduled to consider the funding bill, H.R. 6074 – Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act,... Read More

WASHINGTON — What’s milk? For Jason Gallion, the only full-time farmer serving in the Maryland state Senate, the question is a no-brainer. “It’s always been assumed the definition of milk is that it’s from a mammal,” said Gallion, 43, whose... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition has rolled out an ambitious policy agenda it says will reinvigorate the government while also establishing the group's goals for the remainder of the 116th Congress. In announcing their "20 for 2020" plan on... Read More

While most of the attention on this Super Tuesday is focused on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, voters in four of the 14 states and one territory will also be casting ballots in congressional primaries. The four states... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in a case about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that could leave Congress with a big mess to clean up with the agency that was a key response to the... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats on Thursday endorsed H.R. 5209, a bill that would hold social media companies accountable for aiding in the spread of terrorist content on line. The bill, also known as the Raising the Bar... Read More

WASHINGTON — Top members of the House Armed Services Committee assailed Pentagon leaders Wednesday, warning that the administration’s reprogramming of $3.8 billion of Defense Department money for a border wall could damage its relationship with Congress. Echoing a letter they... Read More

The House, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, passed legislation that would classify lynching as a federal hate crime. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., passed on a vote of 410-4. The Act is named for... Read More

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association, in partnership with the Texas Bankers Association, threw its support behind Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, this week, and urged Texans to join in supporting his efforts. In a series of new ads launched Wednesday,... Read More

A University of Illinois graduate student from China applied in May for a visa renewal, a process that typically concludes within weeks. But the application went into “administrative processing,” and was still in limbo when fall classes started, forcing the... Read More

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers voted Thursday to remove the deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, legislation that would enshrine in the Constitution a ban on sex discrimination. The measure, however, is unlikely to receive approval from the... Read More

WASHINGTON -- A trio of experts has told a Select Committee tasked with improving how Congress functions to forget harkening back to an earlier era and instead embrace methods of deliberation better suited to our times. Meeting in the Cannon... Read More

WASHINGTON — After divided presidential results in Iowa and New Hampshire, Democrats in Congress said Wednesday they were bracing for a lengthy primary fight, which some worried could hurt voter enthusiasm in November. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House will attempt to revive the Equal Rights Amendment later this week, with a vote to remove the 1982 deadline for state ratification and reopen the process for amending the Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex.... Read More