Dan McCue

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Tuesday threw out legal challenges to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, ending a long-running legal battle involving multiple states and scores of other parties. In a brief order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representative Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. told attendees at an election security forum Tuesday that tech platforms have become "battlefields" in a "bloodless conflict" and that winning requires arming voters with in-depth knowledge of the threat they face. "We need to recognize that when it comes... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, is co-sponsoring a bipartisan effort to reform the Federal Election Commission so that it can enforce the nation's campaign finance and election laws in a non-partisan manner. The push to pass the Restoring Integrity to America’s Elections Act comes in... Read More

WASHINGTON - The number of U.S. military installations contaminated with potentially cancer-causing chemical compounds found in firefighting foam is expected to rise as a Defense Department task force continues to assess the problem, the Pentagon said last week. During a roundtable with reporters, Assistant Secretary of... Read More

WASHINGTON — Cokie Roberts, who grew up immersed in politics and spent several decades in Washington covering it, died Tuesday of complications from breast cancer. She was 75. “Cokie’s career as a journalist at National Public Radio and ABC News took her to the heights of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch may have been President Donald Trump’s first appointee to the high court, but onstage at the National Archive Monday night he seemed almost a throwback to a more gentlemanly and light hearted era. "I'm an optimist," the 52-year-old said more... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New York Times and CNN will co-host the next Democrat debate on Oct. 15, with the possibility of a second night being added depending on the number of candidates who meet the qualifying criteria. The Democratic National Committee announced Friday that the debate... Read More

WASHINGTON -  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld an Obama-era update of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule designed to protect downwind states from coal plant air pollution that blows across their borders. Congress enacted the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule with... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Thursday that it is repealing an  Obama-era clean water rule that had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands and other bodies of water. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the repeal of the 2015... Read More

WASHINGTON - A group of centrist House Democrats best known for espousing bipartisanship to get things done on Capitol Hill, sharply criticized Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday for his continued refusal to allow election security bills to get a vote on the Senate floor. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - A far-reaching broadband connectivity should not be dictated by the location of a home or business, but rather should foster economic growth and sustainable communities by being equally accessible by all. That was the overarching message delivered to the House Small Business Subcommittee on... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., couldn't be happier that the House Wednesday passed a pair of bills blocking offshore oil drilling in almost all waters around the United States. But in an interview with The Well News, he acknowledged that the real work lies ahead... Read More

North Carolina's Republican-controlled House voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the state budget in a surprise vote held while scores of the chamber's members were attending a ceremony honoring the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Democrats who happened to be in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Across the nation and here in the nation's Capitol, Americans gathered for solemn ceremonies and remembrances Wednesday to honor those lost in the deadliest terror attacks on American soil. In New York, a crowd of victims' relatives assembled at ground zero, where an observance... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition on Tuesday endorsed a pair of bills intended to stabilize the Affordable Care Act while expanding health care coverage and driving down insurance costs for more Americans. Both bills were put forward by the coalition's Health Care Task Force. The... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump fired John Bolton Tuesday, a little more than an hour before his hawkish national security adviser was set to participate in a White House briefing for reporters alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Trump announced Bolton's... Read More

WASHINGTON - The cost of renovating of the Cannon House Office Building could rise to $100 million more than originally planned due to the discovery of hazardous materials in the historic building and plan changes over time, the inspector general for the Architect of the Capitol... Read More

WASHINGTON - In the latest of a series of public appearances since her recent bout with cancer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lamented the increasingly partisan nature of judicial confirmations. "Things have changed, and it shows up on both sides of the aisle," Ginsburg... Read More

WASHINGTON - Voters in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District head to the polls Tuesday to finally decide who will represent them: a moderate former Marine who came within a hair of claiming the seat for the Democrats last year, or a conservative Republican who hopes to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Fifty attorneys general launched an antitrust investigation into Google Monday, announcing their effort on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leading the bipartisan coalition, said Monday the probe will look at whether Google has "engaged... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford formally launched his long-shot bid for the Republican presidential nomination Sunday, a day after the South Carolina Republican Party voted not to hold a GOP primary election in the state next year. "I’m here to tell you now... Read More

WASHINGTON - As Congress adjourned for its August recess, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, known as the USMCA, seemed to be the last thing on anyone's mind. At the time, an impending fiscal crisis had just been averted, and lawmakers, media and the American public, quite frankly,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House will vote next week on a trio of bills that would effectively block all new offshore oil and gas drilling in the waters around the United States. In a letter to House members, Democratic House Leader Steny Hoyer said "while much of... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday that a continuing resolution will be necessary to keep the government funded past Oct. 1 and prevent the second shutdown in less than a year. In a letter to House members published on the Dome Watch... Read More

WASHINGTON - The co-chairs of New Democrat Coalition task forces on work and national security sent letters to the House Appropriations Committee this week urging them to retain key House-passed amendments when conference deliberations get underway on the FY2020 appropriations package. In July, the House passed... Read More

WASHINGTON - The co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition of security-focused House Democrats and the caucus's National Security Task Force on Wednesday called on the leadership of both parties and both chambers to bring bipartisan election security legislation up for a vote. In a letter addressed... Read More

WASHINGTON -- NewDEAL on Thursday unveiled the esteemed panel of judge for this year's New Ideas Challenge. This year's judges come to the challenge with a wealth of policy experience and expertise, bringing perspectives from leading research and policy organizations, leadership roles in the Obama White... Read More

WASHINGTON - On the one hand, it's easy to see why some in the party would embrace so-called "free" or "debt-free" college and the forgiveness of student loans. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,  electrified younger voters with his ambitious proposals in 2016, and politics loves nothing more... Read More

WASHINGTON - When it comes to opposition talking points, the myth that Democrats advocate for "open borders" is both the most preposterous -- and persistent -- assertion of the still-young 2020 campaign season. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described democratic socialist and therefore the most... Read More

WASHINGTON - What it comes down to is this: Despite many in the media trumpeting the "fact" that all the momentum in the Democratic Party in 2018 was on the far-left, mid-term voters overwhelmingly endorsed moderates, rewarding their common-sense approach to politics and governing with victory... Read More

North Carolina's state legislative district maps were so severely manipulated to benefit Republican candidates that they violate the state constitution, a three-judge state superior court panel ruled Tuesday. The 357-page ruling handed down in Wake County, North Carolina, by Superior Court Judges Paul C. Ridgeway, Joseph... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrat Dan McCready holds a narrow lead over Republican Dan Bishop in the special election contest to represent North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, a new poll says. With precious little time left before the Sept. 10 election, a survey conducted by Harper Polling and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee will reconvene next week taking on one of the nation's most contentious issues -- finding a way forward in the wake of a series of mass shootings. The markup on a trio of bills addressing some aspect of gun purchases... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced Tuesday that he intends to remain in the U.S. Senate and won't run for governor of West Virginia. Manchin, who served as the state's governor from 2005 to 2010, had invited speculation for months about a possible run against... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday told a record crowd that had turned out to see her at the National Book Festival that "something needs to be done about partisan gerrymandering." Ginsburg was responding to a question posed by NPR legal... Read More

WASHINGTON - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday sought to dispel concerns over her health after a recent bout with cancer, telling a crowd of 4,000 at the National Book Festival that she's looking forward to the upcoming Supreme Court term, which opens in October. "I... Read More

WASHINGTON - In 2018, centrist Democrats flipped 38 seats previously held by Republicans in part because they vowed to protect the Affordable Care Act against the GOP's repeated attempts to dismantle it. Many expected a repeat heading into the 2020 election cycle. After all, health care... Read More

WASHINGTON — The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit over the flawed background check that allowed an avowed white supremacist to buy the gun he used to kill nine people in a racist attack on a South Carolina church. Last year, U.S. District... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan and bicameral coalition of lawmakers is pressing the Department of Homeland Security for answers after a Los Angeles Times report claims the White House has quietly scaled back programs intended to prevent terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. In an article... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Thursday that it intends to revoke regulations on methane leaks from oil facilities, a decision even some oil industry giants oppose. In announcing the plan, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the proposal delivers on President Donald Trump's directive... Read More

WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump announced Thursday the Pentagon has established the U.S. Space Command, declaring space as being crucial to the nation's defense. "It's a big deal," the president said during a Rose Garden ceremony. "As the newest combatant command, SPACECOM will defend America’s vital interests... Read More

Voter registration is up in California, with 8-in-10 eligible adults registered. However, likely voters in the state still tend to be older, well-educated and disproportionately white, according to a study by the Public Policy Institute of California. The Institute, a non-partisan public policy think tank, found... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Interior Department, in collaboration with the U.S. Education Department and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will host the first-ever National Tribal Broadband Summit, Sept. 23 and 24 in Washington, D.C. According to the Federal Communications Commission, only 46.6% of tribal... Read More

WASHINGTON - Last week's sales of Gulf of Mexico leases for oil and gas exploration generated over $159 million in high bids for 151 tracts covering 835,000 acres in federal waters, the Interior Department reports. A total of 27 companies participated in the sale, officially known... Read More

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Wednesday that he and a representative of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will begin doing regular briefings "to maintain an open dialogue about the department's activities." Esper's announcement, made in the Pentagon briefing room as he stood alongside Joint... Read More

NEW YORK — The Trump administration said children adopted overseas by U.S. military personnel and government employees serving abroad will no longer be guaranteed citizenship. A “policy manual update” issued Wednesday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also would affect the children born to noncitizen... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., dropped out of the 2020 presidential race Wednesday, after having failed to make the stage for the third Democratic candidate debate. Gillibrand, who positioned herself as a progressive and strong advocate for women’s issues, has suffered from a lack of... Read More

WASHINGTON —Ten Democratic presidential candidates have qualified to appear in the next debate, guaranteeing for the first time this election cycle that the front-runners in the contest will finally come face-to-face in a one-night event. The next debate, sponsored by ABC News and the Spanish-language network... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Johnny Isakson, D-Ga., announced Wednesday that he will step down from the Senate at the end of the year, adding a competitive seat to the highly anticipated 2020 battle for control of the chamber. "After much prayer and consultation with my family and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representative Stephanie Murphy announced the University of Central Florida will receive $494,412 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat the opioid epidemic in central Florida. The funds will be used by the university to train a new generation of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Matt Petersen, a Republican appointment to the Federal Election Commission and most recently, its vice chairman, has resigned his seat, leaving the panel overseeing campaign laws without a quorum. Petersen's departure leaves the FEC with only three of the six commission seats filled heading... Read More

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a Missouri law banning abortions after eight weeks, one of the most restrictive proposals nationwide. The law, which included no exceptions for rape and incest, was signed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson in May and was set to take... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, is expected to mount a full-court, bipartisan press to see that legislation lowering prescription drug prices is passed before the end of the year. Chairman Grassley recently met with Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member... Read More

WASHINGTON - With trade tensions between U.S. and China still on a high boil, Australia stands poised to become the Defense Department's primary supplier of Rare Earth metals, a department official said Monday. Rare Earth metals are a collection of 17 minerals used in everything from... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is seeking to recruit private investors to invest in a new generation of American-made small drone technology as an alternative to Chinese models. Ellen M. Lord, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, told reporters at a midday press briefing Monday... Read More

An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in fueling the state's opioid abuse crisis. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman's ruling concluded the first state opioid case to make it to trial. In handing it down, he... Read More

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has completed three weeks of radiation treatment for a cancerous tumor discovered on her pancreas in July, the Supreme Court announced Friday. According to the statement, the tumor was discovered after a routine blood test at the Memorial... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., dropped out of the 2020 presidential contest Friday, saying he will instead seek reelection in Massachusetts' 6th congressional district. Moulton made his announcement at the Democratic National Committee's summer meeting in San Francisco. "Today, I want to use this opportunity,... Read More

WASHINGTON — China on Friday announced tariff hikes on $75 billion of U.S. products in retaliation for President Donald Trump's latest planned increase, deepening the trade conflict between the two nations at a time when the president insists "China wants to make a deal with us."... Read More

WASHINGTON — Billionaire industrialist David H. Koch, who with his older brother, Charles, transformed American politics by pouring their riches into conservative causes, has died at age 79. Charles Koch announced the death in a statement, which gave no cause but noted that David Koch had... Read More

A new commission tasked with reforming how New York State runs and finances it elections got off to a rancorous start this week, with members struggling to deal with even the most mundane organizational matters and a fight erupting over how the nine-member body will ultimately... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Elections Commission is seeking public comment on a proposal to include "valuable information" to the definition of a "contribution" used in its regulations. Currently commission regulations define a "contribution" as "any gift, subscription, loan ... advance, or deposit of money or anything... Read More

WASHINGTON — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee ended his climate change-focused 2020 presidential bid Wednesday night, announcing Thursday that he'll seek a third term as governor instead. Inslee revealed he was ending his run for the White House on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show." "It's become clear... Read More

A presidential campaign behind him, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday he's running for the U.S. Senate, vying for the right to challenge Republican incumbent Cory Gardner. With his announcement, which came via a video message posted on his website Thursday morning, Hickenlooper immediately became... Read More

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that three presidential electors from Colorado were unconstitutionally forced to cast their Electoral College votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016. The ruling by a divided 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for so-called “faithless electors” who... Read More

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have required the state's sheriffs to honor detention requests from federal immigration standards. The veto came a day after the Republican-controlled North Carolina House voted along party lines to approve the measure mandating cooperation with... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled new regulations that would allow it to indefinitely detain migrant families who cross the southwestern border illegally. The regulations, which will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, voids a long-standing agreement with a federal court, known... Read More

WASHINGTON - The federal budget deficit is growing faster than expected and will reach $1 trillion next year, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. Worse, over the next decade, the federal government will rack up $12.2 trillion in deficits --  $809 billion more than the... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is considering a temporary payroll tax cut as a way to bolster the U.S. economy though he continues to insist the nation is not inching toward a recession. "I’ve been thinking about payroll taxes for a... Read More

South Carolina will implement a $52 million upgrade of its voting system this fall, deploying a paper-based voting system in time for a special legislative election on Oct. 1 and municipal elections scheduled four weeks later. Until now, South Carolina was one of a handful of... Read More

WASHINGTON — New York State, Connecticut, Vermont and the City of New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its new Public Charge Rule, which aims to deny green cards and visas to immigrants that use or have used government assistance programs. “Generations of citizens landed... Read More

WASHINGTON — Seventy-four percent of U.S. business economists participating in a new survey believe the United States will slip into a recession by the end of 2021, despite the White House's insistence that the "fundamentals" of the economy remain strong. The survey, released Monday, was conducted... Read More

WASHINGTON - Dr. George Luber, one of the federal government's top experts on the health impacts of climate change is seeking whistleblower protection due to retaliation he claims he's faced since speaking out against the Trump administration's efforts to end climate research. Trump, a climate change... Read More

WASHINGTON - A majority of large employers believe the Medicare for all proposals being touted by some White House aspirants would lower the number of uninsured in the United States, but at a cost of higher taxes and a decline in the quality of health care,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Back home in South Carolina after a mid-week trip to New Hampshire, former Rep. Mark Sanford said Friday he was pleased with how things went in the Granite State and his decision on whether to mount a primary challenge against President Trump will be... Read More

WASHINGTON - With polls suggesting his disapproval rating is near an all-time high, President Donald Trump told attendees at a boisterous New Hampshire campaign rally Thursday night they had to vote for him "whether you love me or hate me." A Fox News survey on Wednesday... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives John Katko and Anthony Brindisi have launched a bipartisan effort to hold the international commission that manages outflows from Lake Ontario accountable for recent historic flooding. Katko, a Republican, and Brindisi, a Democrat, have gotten the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan group that... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, fueling speculation that he will now set his sights on a U.S. Senate bid. Hickenlooper, 67, ran as a moderate, but never made any headway in a crowded... Read More

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Georgia to stop using its "unsecure ... and grossly outdated" voting machines after this year and to have hand-marked paper ballots at the ready if new, more secure machines aren't in place by the state's presidential primary. U.S. District Judge... Read More

New Hampshire's Republican governor, Chris Sununu vetoed a bipartisan bill Friday that would have created an independent redistricting commission to draw the state's legislative and congressional district maps following the 2020 elections. In a letter explaining his veto, Sununu said he believes issues related to partisan... Read More

WASHINGTON - A coalition of 22 states and seven major cities sued the Trump administration Tuesday in a bid to prevent it from dismantling an Obama-era regulation that established national limits on the carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. In a petition filed in the U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- After days of growing indications the U.S. may lapse into a recession before the 2020 election, the Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is delaying some of the additional tariffs it planned to impose on Chinese goods on Sept. 1. The announcement, which was... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrats led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump on Tuesday to endorse House-passed legislation expanding background checks on gun buyers and to take other steps to prevent mass shootings like those in... Read More

U.S. Representatives Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., and Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., hosted a forum in Yorkville, Ill. This week to discuss challenges young Americans face with mental health.  Underwood and Kennedy are members of Future Forum, an influential group of young members of Congress who advocate for... Read More

Freshman Representative Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., certainly didn't expect to be taking on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., let alone talking about gun control, when he returned to his South Carolina district for the August recess, but after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton,... Read More

The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday accusing the presidential campaign of New York Mayor Bill De Blasio and two PACs of violating federal law by arranging for a small number of wealthy donors to skirt contribution limits. In its... Read More

North Charleston Police Chief Reggie Burgess knew he had to do something. In 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced South Carolina led the nation in drunk driving fatalities, with 44% of all auto accident deaths involving at least one driver with a blood alcohol... Read More

The Trump administration's decision to put a temporary hold on the majority of congressionally approved foreign aid funds, drew a sharp rebuke from the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday. “This Administration's contempt for Congress is astounding,” said Representative Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. “When... Read More

Jim Hood, Mississippi's four-term attorney general, beat seven rivals Tuesday night to become the Democratic nominee for Mississippi governor, while on the Republican side, second-term Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves faces a runoff in three weeks against former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. Reeves... Read More

The New Democrat Coalition on Wednesday released a statement of principles aimed at reasserting the United States’ role as a global leader in addressing climate change. A statement outlining the principles says they are intended to combat climate change “with the seriousness and urgency this crisis... Read More

The Trump campaign and the Republican Party sued California on Tuesday over a new law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns to run in the state’s primary. "Today we have taken decisive action in federal court challenging California’s attempt to circumvent the U.S. Constitution,"... Read More

WASHINGTON - In the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats announced its endorsement Tuesday of H.R. 1931, Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2019, a bill aimed at addressing the growing threat of white... Read More

U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, turned in his letter of resignation Monday, telling President Donald Trump that after two years in Moscow, its “time to reconnect with our growing family and responsibilities at home.” “American citizenship is a privilege and I believe the most basic... Read More

Representative Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., visited a Walgreens pharmacy in Waldwick, New Jersey with Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton to discuss how local communities are addressing the opioid crisis and substance abuse in general. Deaths from drug overdoses in New Jersey have steadily risen over the past... Read More

Former President Barack Obama didn’t mention anyone by name Monday, but in a lengthy statement posted in response to two mass shootings over the weekend that left 32 people dead, he urged Americans to soundly reject “language coming out of the mouths of any of our... Read More

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Monday, two days after weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio left 32 dead, calling on Americans to condemn “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” in “one voice,” and vowing to seek a bipartisan response to what has become an epidemic of... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Friday tossed a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the country through legal ports of entry to apply for asylum. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee presiding in Washington, D.C., held... Read More

WASHINGTON - With a week to go before the filing deadline, more than 10,300 Californians have applied to serve on the state's 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission. "This is great news for direct democracy," said Elaine M. Howle, California's state auditor, as she made the number public.... Read More

WASHINGTON - Before leaving Washington to work in their home districts, members of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress unanimously endorsed a second round of bipartisan proposals to improve life on Capitol Hill. “This committee is committed to delivering solutions that make Congress... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump announced Thursday the U.S. is placing an additional 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, effective September 1. “Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional tariff of... Read More

WASHINGTON - More than 155,367 Oklahomans had their voting status changes to "inactive" this week after they failed to respond to an address confirmation notice sent to them by the state election board. "Oklahoma has very few incidents of voter fraud," said Misha Mohr, public information... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite pushback from conservative Republicans, the budget and debt ceiling deal struck by the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., easily passed the Senate Thursday afternoon. Even with fears that the vote in the Senate would be tight, the legislation passed 67-28,... Read More

WASHINGTON - California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday that would require President Trump -- or any other candidate -- to disclose their tax returns in order to appear on California's primary ballot. The law, which was introduced by Democratic State Senators Mike McGuire and... Read More

WASHINGTON - A House working group formed to negotiate changes to President Donald Trump's proposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week that while it's made substantial progress, it's still waiting for a counter proposal for requested changes from the White House. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - Seven months from Super Tuesday, the race to win the California primary and presumably, a lock to be the Democratic presidential nominee, is a toss-up, according to new poll released by the Public Policy Institute of California. California is one of 14 states that... Read More

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed widespread speculation that he's considering a run for the U.S. Senate, telling an audience of business men and women Monday that such a bid "is off the table, as a practical matter." "I am going to serve as... Read More

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that President Donald Trump has ordered him to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the 2020 election and begin the closing chapter of the nearly two-decade-old conflict. "That's my directive from the President ...... Read More

Clearly concerned about what will happen if a federal appeals court upholds a lower court ruling overturning the Affordable Care Act, Democrats at the National Governors Association summer meeting said Thursday that rolling back the health care law would be devastating to families that depend on... Read More

WASHINGTON - If anyone doubted there's serious interest in getting a handle on the nation's debt and the federal budget, the standing room-only crowd that jammed a hearing room in the Longworth House Office Building Thursday afternoon would have quickly persuaded them otherwise. The event was... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Problem Solvers Caucus on Thursday endorsed H.R. 1980, the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum Act, which will establish a new women’s history museum on the Mall in Washington, as a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Twenty-four Democrats and 24 Republican members of the Caucus,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House on Thursday approved a deal to lift the nation's debt ceiling and raise caps set on federal spending for the next two years. But even as the votes were being cast on the measure, members of the Blue Dog Coalition were actively... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced Thursday that it will resume capital punishment for the first time in nearly two decades. In a written statement, the Department said Attorney General William Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to adopt an amended protocol clearing the way... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives Rodney Davis, R-Ill., and Angie Craig, D-Minn., proposed Wednesday to create a low-interest loan program administered by FEMA for states to fund projects that reduce the risks and costs of natural disasters. “Helping communities prepare for disasters on the front end should be... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday co-sponsored by Representative Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., opposing an international effort to boycott Israel. The vote on H. Res. 236, opposing the Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement that targets Israel, was 398-17. In April, the Murphy-led House... Read More

A federal judge approved a legal settlement Tuesday affirming transgender people's right to use restrooms matching their gender identity in many North Carolina public buildings. The consent decree between the state's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, and transgender plaintiffs covers a wide range of state-owned buildings. In... Read More

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday outlawing the “dissemination or publication of an intimate image” intended to cause emotional or other harm to the person captured in the photo or video. The law not only makes it a Class A misdemeanor to disseminate revenge porn,... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday a bipartisan agreement on budget caps and the federal debt limits hashed out Monday night is an example of what can happen when elected officials "work together in good faith" for the nation's benefit. The White House... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump sued the House Ways and Means Committee and New York State's attorney general and tax commission in a bid to block them from sharing his state tax returns. In a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., Trump attorney William Consovoy, of... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Retired Justice John Paul Stevens returned to the U.S. Supreme Court one last time on Monday, his casket carried into the court's Great Hall passed as scores of his former clerks and family looked on. Stevens, who retired from the court in 2010, died... Read More

WASHINGTON - The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced Monday it is committing $50 million for research to better understand how social media and technology are impacting democracy. The nonprofit foundation, which focuses on journalism and fostering "informed and engaged communities," said in a... Read More

WASHINGTON - It was an early summer afternoon and already the headlines were screaming. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had suffered a "striking" defeat, "capitulating" to Senate Republicans on a plan to send emergency funding to the U.S./Mexico border, "infuriating" a loud and vocal faction in her... Read More

WASHINGTON—The Blue Dog Coalition on Thursday released a comprehensive plan it believes will help restore fiscal discipline in Congress.  The Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform was developed under the leadership of Representatives Ed Case, D-Hawaii, and Ben McAdams, D-Utah, co-chairs of the Blue Dog Task... Read More

WASHINGTON - Elected to Congress in 2016 after a career spent mostly in the private sector, Representative Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., was bound to see things from a decidedly nonpartisan perspective when she got to the nation's Capitol a few weeks later. "I had never run for... Read More

WASHINGTON - A smile spread across Representative Derek Kilmer's face. Chairman of the New Democrat Coalition, the largest caucus of centrist Democrats in the House, he'd just been asked how one can break through all the hyper-partisan noise in the public sphere and shine a spotlight... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representative John Katko, R-N.Y., makes no bones about how he feels about things. Still as straight and direct as he was during his years as a prosecutor of organized crime in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Syracuse, Katko, who has represented New York's 24th... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rodney Davis thought he knew what he was in for; after 16 years on the staff of Representative John Shimkus, the Des Moines, Iowa native "had some preconceived notions" about how to get things done. But after prevailing in the 2012 election to represent... Read More

WASHINGTON - Members of the New Democrat Coalition's Healthcare Task Force asked the House leadership on Wednesday to hold a floor vote on drug pricing bills with bipartisan support as early as next week. The request was made in a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy... Read More

WASHINGTON - Newsroom employment continues to decline across the United States, driven primarily by job losses at newspapers, a new study says. For a report released Wednesday, the Pew Research Center analyzed 10 years of occupational employment data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of Senators led by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is calling on the White House Office of Management and Budget to publish a full list of all federal programs publicly available on the web to make it easier to... Read More

WASHINGTON - International investment in residential real estate in the United States plunged 36% in the past year as Chinese buyers fled the market, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The sobering analysis comes via the Realtors' annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers.... Read More

WASHINGTON - This Thursday morning, July18, The Well News will host Representatives Rodney Davis, R-Ill., John Katko, R-N.Y., Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., for a conversation about what it means to seek common ground and pragmatic solutions for the American people in an age... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The number of threats made against members of Congress continues to grow, though most fall below the legal threshold of being considered an actual threat to cause bodily harm, a House panel was told Tuesday. In his first appearance before lawmakers since he was... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Friday ensuring that a victims compensation fund for first responders to the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money. Following the 402-12 vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the permanent extension of the 9/11 Victims’... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220--197 Friday to approve the National Defense Authorization Act, a move moderate House Democrats called "a step towards reaffirming American leadership in the world." The National Defense Authorization Act is the name of a collection of United States... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday that federal candidates and political committees can accept low-cost cybersecurity services from a Silicon Valley security company so long as the firm continues to offer the same rates to its non-political clients. The firm, Area 1 Security, Inc.,... Read More

WASHINGTON - An Independent congressional candidate in Florida has been given the green light to distribute a digital "coin" to volunteers and supporters as an incentive to engage in activities that support his campaign. In an advisory opinion issued on Thursday, the Federal Election Commission said... Read More

WASHINGTON - A quartet of Democratic presidential candidates on Thursday vowed to make significant changes to the nation's immigration laws if elected, contrasting their approaches with the hard line policies pursued by President Donald Trump the past two-and-a-half years. The candidates, all of them skewing to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. budget deficit increased by $140 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, rising to $747.1 billion, the Treasury Department said Thursday. The department said the deficit for the current fiscal year through June is up 23.1% over the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to subpoena a dozen current and former Trump administration officials in its ongoing probe of possible obstruction of justice documented by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In a separate vote, the committee authorized subpoenas for documents... Read More

When California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the state budget into law this week, he also extended health care coverage to low-income, undocumented young adults through the state's Medicaid program. Since 2016, California has allowed children under 18 to receive taxpayer-backed healthcare despite immigration status, but with... Read More

WASHINGTON - The nonprofit community tried to warn Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the 2017 tax bill would hurt charitable giving. Now, nearly 20 months after President Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017, all signs point... Read More

WASHINGTON - The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed a legal victory to President Trump Wednesday, dismissing a lawsuit claiming he's been illegally profiting from foreign and state government officials who stay at his luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. "Word just out that I won... Read More

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated the World Cup champion U.S. women's national soccer team Wednesday by signing legislation guaranteeing women equal pay for equal work in New York State moments before the star athletes were honored with a ticker-tape parade in New York City's Canyon... Read More

WASHINGTON - Tom Steyer, the billionaire investor and activist who has been advocating for President Donald Trump's impeachment since shortly after the 2016 election, announced Tuesday he's joining the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Steyer, 62, announced earlier this year that he had no intention... Read More

WASHINGTON -  President Donald Trump has been violating the Constitution by blocking his critics' posts from his Twitter account, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Earlier this year during oral arguments, Justice Department attorney Jennifer Utrecht argued Trump's Twitter account was created long before he became... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Disputes over illegal immigration are heating up as some long-time foreign residents of the United States who ignored court deportation orders received notice they are liable for hefty fines this week. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began issuing fines on July 2. Some of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democrats in Iowa and Nevada, long accustomed to turning out at neighborhood caucus meetings to cast their vote in these early presidential contests will be able to cast their 2020 votes by phone, under plans announced Monday. The so-called "tele-caucus" systems are intended to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Six members of the New Democrat Coalition wrote the U.S. Trade Representative on Monday urging him to respond to congressional concerns regarding the new North American Free Trade agreement, known as USMCA, to ensure its successful bipartisan passage. “While we appreciate your willingness to... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. employers dramatically ramped up their hiring in June, adding 224,000 jobs and far surpassing economists' expectations that were closer to 165,000 jobs would be added, the Labor Department reported Friday. The new numbers are particularly good news after a lackluster 72,000 jobs were... Read More

In 2018, 65 percent of Floridians who went to the polls supported a measure aimed at restoring the voting rights of non-violent ex-felons “who have completed all terms of their sentence, including parole or probation.” On Friday night, Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed Senate Bill... Read More

WASHINGTON - A lawyer for the Justice Department said Wednesday that President Donald Trump has ordered it to find a way to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census, despite an announcement yesterday that the documents were already being printed. In a teleconference with a... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration announced Tuesday evening that it will print the 2020 census without a question about citizenship. The announcement comes five days after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively blocked the addition of the question on the last day of its turn, but in... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has jumped into a virtual tie with former Vice President Joe Biden in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination following her widely praised debate performance last week, a national poll released Tuesday showed. The latest Quinnipiac University poll of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Companies that engaged in voter engagement initiatives prior to the 2018 midterms not only help get voters to the polls, but also created additional value for the businesses themselves, a new Harvard Kennedy School study said. During the study, co-authors Sofia Gross, a fellow... Read More

WASHINGTON -  House Democrats sued the Trump administration in federal court Tuesday for access to President Donald Trump's tax returns, setting up a legal showdown over the records. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the House Ways and... Read More

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed a pair of bills extending a property tax abatement that helped make the state a wind and solar energy powerhouse while also providing greater transparency for the program. The extension of the tax abatement, known as Chapter 312, came after... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy broke a record for its longest expansion ever on Monday, but a poll released the same day suggests the solid economy is doing little to bolster support for President Donald Trump. On Monday, the United States began its 121st consecutive month... Read More

WASHINGTON -The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee rebuked the Border Patrol Monday after a published report revealed the existence of a secret Facebook group in which border agents have posted lewd and derogatory content involving migrants and Democratic elected officials: "This Facebook group is... Read More

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham swore in the state's first-ever Ethics Commission, a move that was a long time coming and which citizens hope will bring a welcome end to a series of high profile corruption scandals. “I am honored to have been a part... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department, responding to an explosion in the sale of wine in cans and single-serve bottles, is seeking public comment of eliminating all but the minimum "stand of fill" for wine containers. In a Federal Register notice published Monday, the department's Bureau of... Read More

WASHINGTON - A day after ending their current term with a pair of controversial opinions, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday it will decide next year whether the Trump administration can shut down Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that shields 800,000 young, undocumented immigrants... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court will not revive Alabama's ban on second-trimester abortions, the justices announcing Friday they are content to have lower court orders blocking the law to remain in place. Though Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall regularly calls the procedure a "dismemberment abortion,"... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that federal judges have no role in settling disputes over partisan gerrymandering appears likely only to intensify efforts in the states to end the practice that allows both political parties to put a stranglehold on electoral majorities. "My... Read More

WASHINGTON - As they head back to their districts for the week-long July 4 district work period, House Democrats have reason to feel proud and maybe, just a little bit tired. For the first time in 13 years, the House has passed 10 appropriations bills before... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a blow to the Trump administration, the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday blocked the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, holding that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross failed to adequately explain his reason for wanting it. In a 92-page ruling that includes... Read More

WASHINGTON - Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, means that federal courts now will have no role in reviewing partisan gerrymandering claims. Writing for... Read More

WASHINGTON - A new EPA rule published Wednesday in the Federal Register would allow political appointees to review and withhold documents requested by the public under the Freedom of Information Act. The rule was signed by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on June 14 and takes effect... Read More

WASHINGTON - A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a series of legal precedents instructing courts to defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations. The ruling, written by Justice Elena Kagan, is a significant development in administrative law, and came to pass... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Tennessee law Wednesday that requires an individual to live in the state for at least two years to be eligible for a license to sell liquor. At issue in the case was the authority granted to states... Read More

WASHINGTON - A lawsuit alleging that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census violates the rights of minorities has been sent back to a federal court in Maryland just hours ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether the question should be... Read More

WASHINGTON - As Americans across the country prepare to settle in and get their politics on watching the first Democratic presidential debate in Miami, a new, nonpartisan political app is promising to shake up fundraising and how voters engage in electoral politics. Prytany, a one-stop donation... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats passed a $4.5 billion emergency funding bill Tuesday night to address the humanitarian crisis involving the thousands of families detained after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Democratic leaders worked tirelessly Monday night into Tuesday to secure support for the measure. Among the last... Read More

WASHINGTON - The federal debt is on track to reach unprecedented levels in the next 30 years and will rise to 144 percent of the nation's gross domestic product by 2049 if current laws are maintained, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. Each year, the nonpartisan... Read More

WASHINGTON - It just might be the liveliest few minutes of the day in the Supreme Court press room. Quietly getting up from their desks, the 20 or so reporters who call the high court beat home on a daily basis gather in the adjacent public... Read More

Eleven Senate Republicans in Oregon high-tailed it out of the state capitol of Salem this past week, and the Democratic governor has ordered state police to go and round them up. At issue is a vote on House Bill 2020, a sweeping climate bill that would... Read More

WASHINGTON - A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday that property owners can go directly to federal court with claims that state and local officials are depriving them of the use of their property. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the majority in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the media and general public are not entitled to every bit of information a government body collects about private businesses. The underlying case came to the high court from South Dakota where the Argus Leader, a newspaper... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a section of the federal trademark law that prohibited businesses from registering marks that some might see as scandalous or immoral. The ruling is a victory for the fashion brand FUCT, and spells the end of a rule... Read More

WASHINGTON - After playing a critical role in passing a sweeping election and ethics reform bill, the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats on Friday unveiled a package of legislative proposals aimed at securing U.S. elections and deterring future interference by Russia or any other bad... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court held Thursday that Congress did not unlawfully delegate its authority to another branch of government when it left it to the attorney general to decide how to apply a sex offender law's requirements before it was enacted. The case came... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The murder conviction and death sentence of a black inmate in Mississippi cannot stand because the trial court failed to recognize a prosecutors efforts to keep blacks off the jury was due at least in part to discriminatory intent, the Supreme Court ruled Friday.... Read More

Wisconsin's Supreme Court upheld lame-duck laws limiting the powers of Democratic Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul, on Friday, a win for state Republicans, but one that might be only temporary. The victory was on procedural grounds only, and was handed down by a... Read More

WASHINGTON - A large, cross-shaped memorial to the dead of World War I that has stood in the grassy median of a local roadway for nearly a century, can stay right where it is, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Writing for the majority in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House Thursday, to talk trade and their respective issues with China on a day otherwise dominated by concerns over an escalation in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. Even as he stepped... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday replaced Obama-era rules intended to tamp down on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants with new regulations that allow states to decide whether such steps are needed. The new rule will go into effect after its publication in... Read More

Lawmakers in New York State reached a deal Tuesday on a sweeping climate bill that would require 70% of electricity used in the state to come from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro by 2030. The bill is a mash-up of Governor Andrew Cuomo's... Read More

WASHINGTON - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in the nation's capital Wednesday evening to begin a busy 24 hours lobbying for U.S. passage of the USMCA trade deal. The prime minister will attend a reception hosted by David MacNaughton, Canada's ambassador to the United States,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan withdrew his nomination to lead the Pentagon Tuesday, his abrupt about face being announced via President Trump's Twitter account. "Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who has done a wonderful job, has decided not to go forward with his... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives of America's seaports are telling the U.S. Trade Representative this week that the Trump administration's current tariffs on Chinese goods, and threat to impose more, are weakening the nation's competitiveness and stymieing much needed infrastructure projects. The office of the U.S. Trade Representative... Read More

WASHINGTON - Third Way, the centrist Democratic think-tank based in Washington, D.C., took its message to Charleston, South Carolina Monday and Tuesday, rallying its supporters and bolstering its efforts to keep the party from veering too far left ahead of the 2020 election. Though the organizers... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition has welcomed two new members to its ranks in the 116th Congress: Representatives Donna Shalala, D-Fla., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif. Shalala, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton, has been representing Florida's 27th... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an amendment championed by the New Democrat Coalition aimed at modernizing how the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures labor trends and surveys people in non-traditional work arrangements. The amendment, sponsored by Representatives Bill Foster, D-Ill., Lisa Blunt... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives Jim Himes, D-Conn., and John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, have introduced legislation to make election interference a federal crime. The Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act would make it a federal crime to hack any voting systems used in a federal election. According to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld Virginia's decades-old ban on mining radioactive uranium, holding "Congress conspicuously chose to leave untouched the States' historic authority over the regulation of mining activities on private lands within their borders." The huge deposit of uranium ore at... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court tossed an Oregon appeals court ruling against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The justices' one-sentence order directs appellate judges in Oregon to reconsider the case in light of the Supreme Court's ruling last... Read More

WASHINGTON -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a longstanding rule allowing both state and federal prosecutors to pursue charges against the same individual for the same crime. The 7-2 decision handed down by the justices preserves an exception to the U.S. Constitution's ban on trying... Read More

WASHINGTON - Voters in Virginia will elect members of the state's House of Delegates in districts drawn on a map considered to be favorable to Democrats, a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 5-4 ruling comes in a case brought by black voters in Virginia... Read More

WASHINGTON - The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the Trump administration's policy of blocking abortions sought by undocumented pregnant teenagers in federal custody cannot "be squared with Supreme Court precedent." In 2017, the Trump administration adopted a policy that required Scott Lloyd, then-director... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee Thursday evening announced the 20 presidential candidates who will take part in the party's first debate later this month. The debate will take place over two days -- June 26 and June 27 -- in Miami, Fla., and will air... Read More

WASHINGTON - A House panel began its inquiry into the largely unchecked power of the nation's largest technology and social media firms Tuesday by focusing on the role the companies have played in reducing the news media to a mere shadow of its former self. "This... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas related to the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Democratic-controlled committee voted... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representative Kevin Brady, R-Texas, one of the principal architects of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, conceded Tuesday that assurances the cuts would pay for themselves may not pan out in exactly the way the GOP promises. "It's so hard to know," Brady said when... Read More

WASHINGTON - Negotiations between House Democrats, the GOP-controlled Senate and the White House over a 2020 budget plan "are not going very well" and could very well extend to the September 30 deadline to avoid automatic spending caps, the chairman of the House Budget Committee said... Read More

In its long history, the Supreme Court likely hasn't had a term quite like this one. It began with the emotionally wrenching confirmation hearings for Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and will end with a series of rulings that could have dramatic repercussions on the politics and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representative Ben McAdams wants to block a salary increase for members of Congress that is automatically set to take effect in January. Toward that end he's introduced an amendment to the roughly $1 trillion package of spending bills on the floor of the House... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tried to make a joke of the string of questions she was being asked about impeachment and President Trump's recent disparaging of her during an appearance at a fiscal policy summit Tuesday morning. Appearing onstage with CNN's Manu Raju... Read More

WASHINGTON – Whether they describe themselves as Republicans, Democrats, or supporters of a third party, America’s voters believe the nation’s ability to address important issues is inextricably tied to the national debt, a new poll finds. The poll, released Tuesday as part of 2019 Fiscal Summit... Read More

WASHINGTON - Representatives Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rick Larsen, D-Wash., chairman of that body's Aviation Subcommittee, want to know when Boeing and others first learned of a serious defect in the 737 MAX passenger jet, and why... Read More

WASHINGTON - Employers added just 75,000 new jobs in May, the Labor Department said Friday, a stunning development that took many economists by surprise. In a recent survey by Dow Jones, the consensus among economists was that the job gain for the month would be closer... Read More

New York is poised to become the first state in the U.S. to ban the declawing of cats under legislation that sailed through the state legislature with bipartisan support. The bill, which would subject veterinarians to a $1,000 fine for performing the procedure, has been sought... Read More

WASHINGTON - NASA announced Friday it plans to open the International Space Station to businesses and even tourists in a bid to "accelerate a thriving commercial economy in low-Earth orbit." The space agency is not selling trips to the space station directly, but instead will allow... Read More

The United States' trade deficit with China widened in April, despite Trump administration tariffs on thousands of Chinese goods, and even as the gap between the U.S. and other countries narrowed. Since taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump has sought to subdue America's persistent trade... Read More

North Carolina's Republican-led House on Thursday failed to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of a bill that would require doctors to try to preserve the life of an infant born alive during an attempted abortion. To override Cooper's veto of the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection... Read More

A judge in Helena, Montana ruled this week that Montana's secretary of state does not have the authority to unilaterally override Governor Steve Bullock's veto of a controversial bill changing the definition of what constitutes a wild bison. In vetoing HB 132, Governor Bullock, a moderate... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite uncertainties on several fronts, including a nasty trade dispute with China, escalating tariff threats, and The federal government’s penchant for taking on enormous debt and all the risks that come with it, the U.S. economy should remain strong for the foreseeable future, the... Read More

The global economy has slowed to its lowest pace in three years, the World Bank said Tuesday, attributing the sluggishness to trade disputes, a slowdown in international investment and unexpectedly soft growth in Europe and other large economies. As a result, the bank, whose main mission... Read More

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it will sharply reduce the amount of federal money supporting medical research that relies on tissue from aborted fetuses, handing a significant victory to anti-abortion groups who had lobbied for such a decision for years. In a statement posted to... Read More

The Democrat-led House passed legislation Tuesday that would create a path to citizenship for about 2.5 million immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. The bill, which passed by a vote of 237-187, with seven Republicans voting in favor, grants legal status to this... Read More

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam called lawmakers back to the state Capitol Tuesday to address the issue of gun violence in the wake of last week's mass shooting in Virginia Beach. “No one should go to work, to school, or to church wondering if they will come... Read More

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted on Tuesday that the central bank is prepared to cut interest rates later this year if it decides President Donald Trump's many trade conflicts are harming the U.S. economy. "We are closely monitoring the implications of these developments for the... Read More

The Trump administration put an end to the most popular way to travel from the United States to Cuba, Tuesday banning cruise ships from calling on ports in the communist nation. The ban goes into effect Wednesday, when the change in regulation is published in the... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal involving both the 18th century pirate Blackbeard and the question of whether a state can be sued for using another's copyrighted work without permission. At the center of the case are images of the remains of a... Read More

Legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward says there's a sense at the Pentagon that the military is the last institution in America that is working, and a real concern among members of the Joint Chiefs about what President Donald Trump might do next. Woodward offered that... Read More

A circuit court judge in St. Louis on Friday stepped in to block Missouri officials from taking away the license of the state's only abortion clinic. The decision by St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer to issue a temporary restraining order came just hours before... Read More

Americans are more likely to name healthcare costs than any other issue when asked to say what is the most important financial problem facing their family, a recent Gallup poll found. In a survey conducted April 17-30, 17 percent of respondents named health care costs as... Read More

Former Maryland Representative John Delaney has sent a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, asking him to explain the party's decision to change the qualifications candidates must meet to appear in the Democrats third presidential primary debate. On Wednesday, the DNC imposed more stringent... Read More

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Thursday that he will sign a strict new abortion law barring the procedure once a heartbeat is detectable -- a point that comes before many women realize they are pregnant. In a written statement, Edwards said "I ran for governor... Read More

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill Wednesday that will restore the voting rights of ex-felons, a measure he said will re-enfranchise 77,000 people when it goes into effect on July 1. Sisolak, a Democrat and outspoken proponent of election reforms ranging... Read More

A federal lawsuit filed in Jackson, Mississippi claims the state unlawfully continues to employ a racist provision inserted in its constitution in the 1890s to prevent African Americans from being elected governor or to any other statewide office. In a complaint filed Thursday, the four plaintiffs... Read More

The U.S. economy grew at a strong 3.1% rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said Thursday, though much of the gain was due to temporary factors that have likely faded over time. The nation's gross domestic product is a measure... Read More

Former Senator Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who served in Congress for more than 45 years and was renowned for his Southern refinement and willingness to reach across the aisle to get things done, died Thursday morning at the age of 81. Cochran, who twice served as chairman... Read More

Baby boomers were outnumbered by younger voters at the polls during the 2018 midterms, continuing a trend first documented in 2016, the Pew Research Center said on Wednesday. The study, based on newly available Census Bureau data, found that voters ages 18 to 53 in 2018... Read More

The Democratic National Committee is imposing more stringent requirements for candidates to appear in the party's third presidential primary debate after close to 20 of the Democrat's 24 candidates qualified to appear in the first two debates. The new guidelines announced on Wednesday, are likely to... Read More

Special counsel Robert Mueller made his first public statement on the Trump-Russia investigation Wednesday, reiterating that if his investigators "had confidence the president had not committed a crime, we would have said so," but beyond that saying very little. Mueller spoke for about 10 minutes at... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the portion of an Indiana law signed by Vice President Mike Pence during his tenure as governor that requires fetal remains from abortions be buried or cremated. The ruling partially reversed an earlier decision by the Seventh Circuit that... Read More

Nearly 50 Democratic House members have signed a letter seeking the formation of a bipartisan working group to draft compromise legislation that would restore at least some form of net neutrality. The 47 signers of the letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Majority Leader Steny... Read More

For the second time in five days, a conservative Republican member of the House has blocked a long overdue $19 billion disaster bill. Representative Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said that if Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders had thought the measure so important, they should have... Read More

Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge on Friday to block an Alabama law that bans nearly all abortions and makes performing the procedure a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. The law, which is considered the most... Read More

The remains of the schooner Clotilda, the last known vessel to carry enslaved African captives to the United States has been found near the mouth of a river that empties into Mobile Bay in Alabama. Search Inc., a Florida-based archaeology and cultural resources management company, announced... Read More

Theresa May announced Friday morning that she will step down as the United Kingdom's Conservative Party leader June 7, conceding defeat in her years-long attempt to take Britain out of the European Union. May's voice cracked as she made a televised statement outside 10 Downing Street,... Read More

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has imposed new restrictions on the information the Pentagon can share with Congress about the United States' military operations. The order, first reported by the Washington Post, came in the form of a May 8 internal memo which laid out new... Read More

NASA launched the final stage of its four-year program to create a national traffic management system for drones this week, a move that brings home delivery of packages, medical supplies and even pizza by small unmanned aircraft one step closer to reality. Earlier this year, the... Read More

A bipartisan coalition of House members on Thursday released their outline of the Protecting People from Surprise Medical Bills Act, legislation intended to protect patients from unfair and expensive surprise medical bills. “For too many middle-class families, receiving an unexpected and very expensive bill from an... Read More

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an executive order Thursday permitting full-time state government employees to take up to eight weeks off after adopting or having a child. Executive Order 95 also provides 4 weeks of paid parental leave to the non-child bearing parent to care... Read More

Beer produced in America contributes $328 billion to the national economy annually, while helping to employ 2.1 million in industries ranging from farming to construction, according to a new study from the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association. The release of the study, called... Read More

The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday announced a series of new hires to handle preparations for the party's 2020 presidential nomination convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The convention itself is being held at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee July 13-16. Debra Alligood White is joining the Democratic... Read More

The New Democrat Coalition Technology Task Force announced its goals for the 116th Congress, saying it will place an emphasis on fostering innovation while improving the nation's technological infrastructure and updating privacy protections. “Technology is changing the world and enhancing our lives every day," said Representative... Read More

A majority of American voters believe the U.S. Supreme Court was right in 1973 when it ruled in Roe v. Wade that women have a constitutionally-protected right to have an abortion, and most also believe the current generation of justices will uphold that ruling. Those are... Read More

President Donald Trump stormed out of a meeting with congressional Democrats Wednesday, and berated them to reporters gathered in the Rose Garden after learning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had earlier said he'd engaged in a "cover up." Speaking behind a lectern adorned with the words... Read More

Fred Keller, a Republican state representative backed by President Donald Trump, defeated Marc Friedenberg, a Democrat and professor at Penn State University, in a special election Tuesday to fill a vacancy in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. According to a vote count tabulated by the Associated Press,... Read More

Representatives Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., have introduced bipartisan legislation to address chronic flooding that places Veterans Affairs medical facilities at risk on a regular basis. The bill the representatives filed Tuesday, called the VA Community Infrastructure Act, would create a new Department of... Read More

As tension continues to mount here and in the Persian Gulf over a potential armed conflict between the United States and Iran, members of New Democrat Coalition in the House of Representatives say they are "deeply concerned" over the Trump administration's "lack of a coherent strategy."... Read More

Representatives Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., co-chairs of the Blue Dog Task Force on Infrastructure and Job Creation, joined with Representatives Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., their counterparts on the Blue Dog Task Force on Rural Opportunity, Tuesday to call for... Read More

A federal Judge in New York agreed to continue to seal search warrant materials related to an investigation of campaign finance violations by President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The decision by U.S. District Judge William Pauley III came after prosecutors informed him their... Read More

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., on Tuesday opened the panel's hearing on Russia interference in the 2016 election by warning the visibly absent former White House Counsel Don McGahn that he will be held in contempt for failing to appear despite the committee's subpoena. "Our... Read More

From the very beginning of the Republic, campaign finance has been a hard subject to discuss in polite company. In a capitalist society, things, including access to whatever serves as the public megaphone of the era, simply cost money. And in a Democracy where almost everyone,... Read More

A divided Fourth Circuit court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, otherwise known as DACA, was unlawful because the administration failed to "adequately explain" its decision. In a majority ruling that echoed an earlier decision by... Read More

President Donald Trump revealed Friday that his administration has reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum, ending a standoff that threatened to derail ratification of the president's new North American trade agreement. Speaking before the National Association of Retailers... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed H.R. 2483, also known as the Fentanyl Sanctions Act, which aims to pressure the Chinese government to honor its commitment to make all forms of fentanyl illegal and provide the United States with more tools and resources to go after... Read More

For several weeks, a growing number of states in the Midwest and South have passed laws sharply limiting women's access to abortions in a heavy-handed bid to force the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. To Chief Justice John Roberts... Read More

I.M. Pei, the tirelessly globe-trotting architect who placed a giant glass pyramid outside the Louvre and designed the trapezoidal addition to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, among other eye-catching structures, has died at age 102. Pei's death was confirmed Thursday by Marc Diamond, a... Read More

Eight House Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues Friday in voting in favor of legislation banning discrimination against members of the LGBT community. H.R. 5, also known as The Equality Act, was jointly introduced in both the House and the Senate on March 13, 2019. It prohibits... Read More

Pennsylvania voters say they're better off financially than they were in 2016, but the strong economy is not helping President Donald Trump in the Keystone State where Democrat Joe Biden leads the incumbent Republican by double digits, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Asked their... Read More

For the first time in history, renewable energy surpassed coal earlier this month as a source of electricity generation in the United States, the Brookings Institution reported Wednesday. The paper underlying the report attributes this remarkable development to U.S. municipalities and businesses striving to fill the... Read More

The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Tuesday co-sponsored by Representative Elaine Luria to extend disability benefits to Vietnam-era Navy veterans who have fought for years to prove they were exposed to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange. Luria, a member of the New Democrat Coalition,... Read More

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found three-out-of-four New Yorkers are against it, but that didn't deter New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for launching a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday. De Blasio officially announced his candidacy on ABC-TV's  "Good Morning America"... Read More

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., has launched a new House Task Force on Rural Broadband to provide coordination and leadership to end the rural-digital divide. The Task Force will work to advance solutions to ensure all Americans have access to high-speed internet by 2025. Several... Read More

Seventy percent of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire plan to back President Donald Trump in the state's 2020 primary regardless of who might be challenging him by then, a new Monmouth University poll revealed. The poll, which was released Monday, also found that 55 percent... Read More

Alice Rivlin, the economist and centrist Democrat who as the first director of the Congressional Budget Office taught lawmakers to be more conscious of the cost of new legislation, has died after a battle with cancer. The Brookings Institution, where Rivlin served as a senior fellow,... Read More

The attorneys for both Ohio and Michigan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to intervene and block lower court orders to rectify partisan gerrymanders. In Ohio, a three-judge panel ruled that the state's congressional district map was unconstitutionally gerrymandered to perpetuate Republican power and disadvantage... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday held that iPhone users can proceed with a class-action against Apple over what the plaintiff's claim is the company's monopoly over app sales. While the decision is potentially a landmark ruling for consumers seeking to bring anti-trust cases against corporations,... Read More

Former Vice President Joe Biden has widened his lead in South Carolina among 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, according to a Charleston Post and Courier/Change Research poll released Sunday. The poll found Biden is the preference of 46 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in South Carolina,... Read More

A divided U.S. Supreme Court Monday overturned a 40-year precedent, ruling one state cannot be sued in the courts of another without its consent. The decision ends a long-running tax dispute between California officials and a Nevada inventor named Gilbert Hyatt. Hyatt, a former California resident,... Read More

The U.S.-China trade war escalated Monday with Beijing signaling it plans to raise tariffs on about $60 billion in U.S. goods on the heels of the United States slapping new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods last week. Some 2,493 goods will see levies raised... Read More

New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation last week adopted the final elements of a regulatory regime intended to end carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants in the state by the end of 2020. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo first announced the phase out in 2016, and... Read More

Representative Richard Neal, D-Mass., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Friday issued subpoenas for six years of President Donald Trump's tax returns. The subpoenas give Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig until 5 p.m. next Friday to turn them over. "After... Read More

Bawa Jain sounded as if he had still not quite come back down to Earth. A week removed from co-hosting the inaugural Responsible Leaders Summit at the United Nations in New York, the indefatigable secretary general of the World Council of Religious Leaders, admitted he couldn't... Read More

Democrats on two House committees and a key House task force Friday introduced legislation they say will help protect next year's elections from malevolent attacks and foreign interference. The Bill, H.R. 2660, otherwise known as the Election Security Act, was introduced by Representatives Bennie Thompson, D-Miss,... Read More

The South Carolina State Senate Thursday unanimously passed The Energy Freedom Act, a comprehensive solar bill that will lift the state's 2 percent cap on net metering, among other solar-related actions. The state House is expected to take up the measure early next week. The compromise... Read More

High stakes trade talks between the United States and China ended Friday with no agreement in sight and mixed signals from the White House in regard to where things stand. In a pair of tweets sent shortly before the markets closed Friday, President Donald Trump said... Read More

The New Democrat Coalition on Wednesday formally endorsed H.R. 5, also known as the Equality Act, which aims to amend the federal Civil Rights Act to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The coalition, which is comprised of 101 forward-thinking and... Read More

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt on Wednesday evening, capping a day of escalating tensions between the White House and Capitol Hill. The committee's 24-16 vote is technically a vote to recommend the full house hold Barr... Read More

New York State's Democrat-controlled Senate Wednesday easily approved a bill that would allow three congressional committees to review President Donald Trump's state tax returns. The vote was 39-21. The bill, which now must be approved by New York's Democrat-controlled Assembly, does not mention Trump by name,... Read More

A former North Charleston, South Carolina police officer who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for killing a black motorist who fled a traffic stop four years ago, has appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael Slager pleaded guilty in May 2017 to a... Read More

More than 40 of the nation's most innovative state and local officials gathered in Denver Monday to launch a national climate change initiative aimed at driving the policy agenda to address climate change. The NewDEAL Forum Climate Change Policy Group will leverage the expertise of the... Read More

After years of economic development success, traffic congestion has become a critical challenge for the three-county region comprising the Charleston, South Carolina metropolitan area. Every morning, hundreds of thousands of commuters head off to work on local roads ill-suited to handling such a concentrated volume, often... Read More

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality denied a key permit Monday to a controversial liquefied natural gas export terminal and its feeder pipeline, a move that cheered project opponents who argued the Trump administration is moving too fast when it comes to green-lighting fossil fuel-related facilities.... Read More

Securities markets around the world swooned Monday after President Donald Trump threatened to dramatically increase tariffs on Chinese imports at a time when many believed the 10-month old trade war between the U.S. and China was coming to an end. Chinese negotiators are scheduled to arrive... Read More

A three-judge panel of federal judges tossed Ohio's congressional map Friday, holding that it was a partisan gerrymander favoring Republicans and ordering that the districts be redrawn for the 2020 elections. The unanimous decision said that as drawn the map violates voters' rights to democratically select... Read More

It had all the makings of a political disaster. The battle to replace the late Michael Busch as speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates had come down to two candidates, both Democrats, but closed-door negotiations had produced no consensus winner. Baltimore Delegate Maggie McIntosh, a... Read More

The Tennessee Chapter of the NAACP sued state elections officials Thursday, just hours after Governor Bill Lee signed a law making the Volunteer State the first in the union to fine voter registration groups for turning in too many incomplete signup forms. In a lawsuit filed... Read More

The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Thursday launched a new bipartisan Women Veterans Task Force to promote inclusivity and equitable access to resources, benefits, and healthcare to the more than two million women veterans living in the United States. The Task Force will be chaired by... Read More

Three newly elected Democratic members of Congress, all of them women and all with backgrounds in either law enforcement or the armed forces, are concerned that climate change impacts are harming military readiness at the same time they are increasing global instability. The tie that binds... Read More

Three newly elected Democratic members of Congress, all of them women and all with backgrounds in either law enforcement or the armed forces, are concerned that climate change impacts are harming military readiness at the same time they are increasing global instability. The tie that binds... Read More

Three newly elected Democratic members of Congress, all of them women and all with backgrounds in either law enforcement or the armed forces, are concerned that climate change impacts are harming military readiness at the same time they are increasing global instability. The tie that binds... Read More

Three newly elected Democratic members of Congress, all of them women and all with backgrounds in either law enforcement or the armed forces, are concerned that climate change impacts are harming military readiness at the same time they are increasing global instability. The tie that binds... Read More

U.S. employers added a robust 263,000 jobs in April, helping to push the unemployment rate to a five-decade low of 3.6 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. The latest report from the government suggests that continued economic growth is encouraging employers to add staff. The last... Read More

Representative Frank Pallone Jr., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tuesday it’s time for Congress to provide regulators and the telecom industry with tools to protect American consumers from the scourge of relentless robocalls. “We all know how annoying these calls are, but... Read More

Former congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, who later distinguished herself as a senior arms-control advisor to President Barack Obama, has died. Tauscher died late Monday night at the age of 67. Her family announced her passing in a Facebook post, stating she “lost the battle against pneumonia” which... Read More

Representatives Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., responded to word of a positive meeting between the White House and congressional leaders by saying it’s time to put politics aside in the name of creating good-paying jobs to rebuild America’s crumbling roads and bridges. In a... Read More

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf released the state's Climate Action Plan Monday, a comprehensive strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Accord. The new state climate plan developed by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and other state agency partners with... Read More

As lawmakers returned to Washington on Monday, a dominant question in the air was just how contentious things are likely to get as a number of House committees resume their investigations of President Donald Trump. Among those in a state of resignation over what is likely... Read More

As Wisconsinites await the outcome of two partisan gerrymandering cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, momentum is growing for in-state resolution to a very similar controversy. Earlier this month, three counties passed resolutions asking the state legislature to institute nonpartisan redistricting for state... Read More

The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.2 percent annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The numbers for the nation's gross domestic product were far better than expected and show an acceleration in growth from the 2.2... Read More

Representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., are leading a bipartisan effort in the House to ensure that individuals arrested for nonviolent federal crimes stemming from marijuana possession get "a second shot at a better life." On Monday, the liberal Democrat and the conservative... Read More

Maria Butina, the Russian gun rights activist who pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to influence U.S. government policy in the run-up to the 2016 election, was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal court in Washington for failing to register as a foreign agent. U.S.... Read More

The Trump administration has indefinitely delayed its controversial plan to expand oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic Coast citing the need to await the outcome of litigation that currently blocks similar drilling in the Arctic. In March, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason in Alaska reinstated... Read More

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits saw their largest increase in 19 months last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 230,000 for the week ended April 20, the department said. “Jobless... Read More

Surprising absolutely no one, former Vice President Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign on Thursday, joining a crowded Democratic field as the front-runner via a video posted to social media. Biden's announcement focuses on a "battle for the soul of this nation," with a dramatic video... Read More

San Francisco could become the first city in the United States in which large commercial property owners use only renewable energy under a plan unveiled by Mayor London Breed earlier this week. She and city supervisors Vallie Brown and Ahsha Safaí are co-sponsoring legislation that would... Read More

The Internal Revenue Service missed a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline to hand copies of President Donald Trump's personal and business tax returns over to Congress, setting the stage for a potentially lengthy legal battle. In a letter to House Ways and Means Committee chair Richard Neal,... Read More

The conservative and liberal justices of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to be sharply divided over the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The high court's ruling in the case could affect how many seats states have in the U.S.... Read More

The House Judiciary Committee on Monday issued a subpoena to former White House Counsel Donald McGahn requesting that he appear before the panel on May 7. In a statement, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said he believes McGahn may be able to shed light on... Read More

Both Social Security and Medicare are on unstable financial footing, and lawmakers need to act sooner rather than later to shore up America’s bedrock retirement programs and phase in needed changes, the trustees of both programs said in reports released Monday. Social Security is the government's... Read More

Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain has withdrawn from consideration for a seaton the Federal Reserve board amid focus on past allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity. Cain ran for president as an insurgent populist eyeing the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out of that... Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up the question of whether provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting employment discrimination applies to LGBT individuals. The justices said they would hear Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which has been consolidated with Altitude... Read More

President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization on Monday sued the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to block a subpoena that seeks years of the president's financial records. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,... Read More

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., on Friday subpoenaed the Justice Department for the full, unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report as well as the underlying evidence, including grand jury evidence. "I am open to working with the department to reach a reasonable... Read More

Home construction declined 0.3 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.14 million units, the Commerce Department said Friday. Within this overall number, single-family starts fell 0.4 percent to 785,000 units. The multifamily sector, which includes apartment buildings and condos, remained flat at... Read More

A study from Global Strategy Group finds most Americans, regardless of their political leaning, believe corporations should weigh in on political and social issues, despite the fact some of their actions might inspire a temporary backlash. The key, explained Julie Hootkin, a partner at the public... Read More

Americans went on a buying binge in March, and their spending on cars, furniture and clothing resulted in the strongest increase in sales since September 2017, the Commerce Department said Thursday morning. Overall, sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent during the month, and even... Read More

Attorney General William Barr vigorously defended President Donald Trump ahead of Thursday's public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying what some might see as obstruction on the part of the president must be viewed in the "context"... Read More

The U.S. trade deficit dropped 3.4 percent to $49.4 billion in February, driven by a sharp decline in imports from China and a surge in exports of commercial aircraft, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The combined $2.2 billion in sales of commercial aircraft to international airlines,... Read More

Think about it. Every public corporation in America is required to make frequent filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports provide a comprehensive summary of the company's performance, the risks it foresees encountering in the near and far term, and the controls management... Read More

Perhaps it should have been docketed as the case that dare not speak its name. At least that's how it seemed Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court convened to hear arguments on whether the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech extends to words and symbols... Read More

On Thursday, the world will get its first real, if redacted, look at the final report detailing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with those activities. Throughout it all, Mueller himself has remained stoically... Read More

Tobias Read chuckled. The Oregon state treasurer wasn't long into a conversation when his caller asked why it is that his colleagues in government speak so highly of him. After a self-effacing pause, Read said he's just been lucky. "I was lucky enough to have parents... Read More

A bill filed in the North Carolina House of Representatives last week would ease some standards that identification cards issued by state colleges, universities and other institutions have to meet before they can be used as photo Voter ID in the 2020 elections. The legislation, which... Read More

This is one of five noteworthy Supreme Court cases that will be heard between April 16 and April 23. You can read the other previews here: April 16: Should State Law Govern Offshore Wages? April 16: Due Process and Trusts April 17: Election Fraud April 23:... Read More

This is one of five noteworthy Supreme Court cases that will be heard between April 16 and April 23. You can read the other previews here: April 16: Should State Law Govern Offshore Wages? April 16: Due Process and Trusts April 17: Election Fraud April 23:... Read More

This is one of five noteworthy Supreme Court cases that will be heard between April 16 and April 23. You can read the other previews here: April 16: Should State Law Govern Offshore Wages? April 16: Due Process and Trusts April 23: Census Citizenship Question April... Read More

This is one of five noteworthy Supreme Court cases that will be heard between April 16 and April 23. You can read the other previews here: April 16: Should State Law Govern Offshore Wages? April 17: Election Fraud April 23: Census Citizenship Question April 23: The... Read More

This is one of five noteworthy Supreme Court cases that will be heard between April 16 and April 23. You can read the other previews here: April 16: Due Process and Trusts April 17: Election Fraud April 23: Census Citizenship Question April 23: The Rights of... Read More

After a relatively quiet start to the month, oral arguments resume before the U.S. Supreme Court next week with several noteworthy cases on the docket. As is their custom, the justices have scheduled hearings on cases that resolved splits among the nation’s circuit courts on applicable... Read More

Attorney Michael Avenatti, the longtime foe of President Donald Trump best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested in New York on Monday on charges of extortion and bank and wire fraud. Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,... Read More

With just days to go before a critical deadline, the Federal Elections Commission on Thursday failed to reach consensus on whether radio ads created by a candidate in North Carolina's upcoming special ninth congressional district election are "electioneering communication" or intended only to promote her real... Read More

The number of people seeking unemployment benefits in the United States fell last week to its lowest level since December 1969, the Labor Department said Thursday. The last time unemployment benefits claims were this low, Jay-Z was a newborn in a New York City hospital, the... Read More

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's nearly seven-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London came to an abrupt end on Thursday morning when police entered the building and arrested him after Ecuador withdrew his asylum. In a statement, London's Metropolitan police said Assange had been taken into... Read More

Bipartisan legislation enacting a long sought after drought plan for seven states in the Colorado River basin has been sent to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature. Senator Martha McSally, R-Ariz., and Representative Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., fast-tracked passage of the legislation, getting approved by... Read More

The federal budget deficit for the fiscal year to date is $691 billion and will exceed $1 trillion by the time the current budget year ends in September, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. In its monthly report on the government's finances, the department said the deficit... Read More

Fresh off helping to flip two U.S. House seats in Texas in the 2018 midterms, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Tuesday that it is stepping up its focus in the Lone Star State in 2020 by opening a regional campaign office in Austin. "Texas is... Read More

Attorney General William Barr told a House Appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that he expects to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election "within a week" as he repeatedly defended his handling of the document. Tuesday's hearing was... Read More

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a House subcommittee Tuesday that his department intends to "follow the law" and is reviewing a request from the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to provide six years of President Donald Trump's tax returns to lawmakers. Mnuchin also... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally-responsible Democrats, has endorsed a Balanced Budget Amendment authored by Representative Ben McAdams, the co-chair of the organization's task force on fiscal responsibility and government reform. McAdams, a Democrat from Utah, is the first to introduce a Balanced Budget Amendment during... Read More

A bipartisan quartet comprised of lawmakers from both the House and Senate have reintroduced a bill intended to protect state-legal cannabis businesses from federal interference. The bill, also known as the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, allows states to determine their own... Read More

President Donald Trump fired the director of Secret Service on Monday, just 24 hours after Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in the face of withering criticism from the president regarding a spike in Central American migrants crossing the border. The administration confirmed the departure of... Read More

After weeks of contentious debate in the state legislature, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp last week signed legislation that will replace the state's electronic voting machines with a new system that produces a back-up paper ballot. The legislation, House Bill 316, was introduced with Kemp’s support after... Read More

Former US Senator and South Carolina Governor Ernest "Fritz" Hollings died early Saturday morning at his home in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, after being in declining health for several weeks. He was 97. In a statement, his three surviving children said, “Our father, Fritz Hollings,... Read More

Consumer borrowing rose at a slower pace in February as a surge in the use of credit cards was offset by a slackening in demand for student loans and auto loans, the Federal Reserve said Friday. The central bank said credit card debt rose by $2.95... Read More

It may not have been March madness, but the job market rebounded strongly last month, solidly trouncing economists' expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls grew by 196,000 jobs in March, well above the 165,000 jobs most economists expected, while the nation's... Read More

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Thursday ratcheted up the pressure on Attorney General William Barr to release the full, unredacted Robert Mueller report on his Russia investigation following a pair of explosive stories published in the New York Times and Washington Post. Both newspapers... Read More

Ohio Representative Tim Ryan used an appearance on ABC's "The View" Thursday to announce he's joining an already crowded Democratic field running for president in 2020. The 45-year-old political moderate from Niles, Ohio, is perhaps best known outside of his district for his unsuccessful bid to... Read More

Black, Latina, Asian-American and Pacific Islander women voted in historic numbers in 2018, inspired by issues they felt made it impossible for them to sit on the sidelines, a new poll says. The data was collected by Intersections of Our Lives, a collaborative of three reproductive... Read More

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday formally requested that the Internal Revenue Service turn over six years of President Donald Trump's personal and business tax returns. In a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Representative Richard Neal, D-Mass., cited Congress's oversight responsibility... Read More

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday responded to accusations about him inappropriately touching women by releasing a video in which he says he will be more mindful in the future of people's personal space. In the two-minute video, which he released via Twitter, a relaxed... Read More

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday forced through a rule change, the so-called "nuclear option," to cut back on debate over President Donald Trump’s judicial and administrative nominees. McConnell claims the move was necessary because debate over Trump nominees had gotten out of hand. "The... Read More

The president's expression turned sour. Standing alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Tuesday afternoon, Donald Trump considered the reporter's question for a fleeting moment and then began launching broadsides. He'd been asked about House Judiciary Committee's scheduled vote Wednesday morning to authorize Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.,... Read More

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved subpoenas for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full Russia report increasing pressure on the Justice Department to release the document without redactions. The committee voted 24-17 to give Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., permission to issue subpoenas to the department... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition on Wednesday announced Adam Finkel has joined its staff in the role of policy coordinator. Finkel, who previously served as Director of Government Relations for the American Academy of Audiology, will work alongside Brooke Lillard, who has served as the coalition’s communications... Read More

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. has changed its name to Zovio Inc., advancing the company's strategy and transformation into an education technology services company. In addition to the name change, the company, which partners with higher education institutions and employers to deliver innovative, personalized technology solutions, also announced... Read More

The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday afternoon voted to authorize a subpoena for a former White House official to testify as part of a probe into the Trump administration’s security clearance process. The committee voted 22-15, on party lines, to approve a resolution authorizing a subpoena... Read More

A former congressional staffer was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay more than a half million dollars in restitution for a multi-year scheme in which he defrauded donors and used a portion of the proceeds to illegally finance campaigns for federal office.... Read More

Eight years ago, the NewDEAL coalesced around a philosophy that forward-looking politics and economic development were not the opposing forces many on the political fringes had long argued they were. For those who may not be familiar with the group, the NewDEAL -- "DEAL" being an... Read More

President Donald Trump appeared to backtrack Monday night on his renewed push for a Republican health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Taking a break from lambasting congressional Democrats via Twitter for their demands to see Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on Russian... Read More

A federal grand jury has indicted the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and a major Republican campaign donor on conspiracy and bribery charges related to a bid to curry favor with the state's insurance commissioner. Robert Cannon "Robin" Hayes represented North Carolina's 8th congressional... Read More

A majority of likely Democratic primary voters want above all else in 2020 to beat President Donald Trump and say the way to do it is by supporting a centrist candidate with broad appeal rather than one trying to move the party to the left. Those... Read More

The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to vote on subpoenas this week seeking release of special counsel Robert Mueller's full Russia report. House Democrats have set an April 2 deadline for receiving a copy of the full Mueller report, but so far Attorney General William Barr... Read More

A federal judge on Friday night reinstated an Obama-era ban on oil-and-gas drilling in vast swaths of the Arctic Ocean, holding President Donald Trump exceeded his authority in attempting to overturn it. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason tossed out Trump's executive order overturning... Read More

The public policy think tank Third Way has thrown its support behind the PROTECT Students Act, a bill introduced this week by Senators Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., that seeks to hold colleges, for-profit schools, and other institutions accountable when they engage in deceptive... Read More

New Hampshire will receive an additional $11.9 million to address the state's opioid crisis thanks to the willingness of the Granite State's congressional delegation to reach across the aisle and seek bipartisan support for the infusion of federal funding. New Hampshire was already in line to... Read More

First-term Representative Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., this week introduced legislation aimed at banning offshore oil and gas exploration on the eastern seaboard and Pacific Coast. Offshore oil and gas exploration has been a hot-button issue in South Carolina and many other coastal states since 2015, when the... Read More

A recent study by Third Way, an independent and centrist think tank based in Washington, DC, focuses on the potential economic and personal benefits that would be attained if policies were enacted to push the rate of postsecondary completion up to that of high school completion.... Read More

Democratic Representative Ben Ray Luján is "seriously considering" a run for the U.S. Senate in New Mexico, according to a source familiar with the congressman's plans, and at least one published report says his decision will be announced Monday. The seat became available on Monday, after... Read More

A recent study by Third Way, an independent and centrist think tank based in Washington, DC, focuses on the potential economic and personal benefits that would be attained if policies were enacted to push the rate of postsecondary completion up to that of high school completion.... Read More

Sales of newly built single-family homes surged in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 667,000, the Commerce Department reported Friday. That 4.9 percent increase is the highest level this category of home sales has reached since March 2018. The rate of sales rose in... Read More

The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that Miami, Florida with be the host city for the first Democratic presidential primary debate. The debate, which is being broadcast by NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo on back-to-back nights, is being held on June 26 and 27. The debate lineups... Read More

Responding to widespread criticism of the FAA in the wake of two deadly crashes of Boeing's 737 Max outside the U.S., the inspector general of the Department of Transportation told a Senate panel on Wednesday that the agency plans to revamp its oversight of passenger aircraft... Read More

The issues raised Wednesday during a meeting of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and Space went to the very heart of a conflict that has plagued aviation and the entities created to regulate it since the days of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. The FAA... Read More

Nine members of the New Democrat Coalition, led by vice chairs Representatives Terri Sewell, D-Ala., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., sent a letter to President Donald Trump Wednesday, urging him to abandon his threat to impose sweeping new tariffs on auto imports. Since last year, Trump has... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition on Wednesday threw its support behind two bipartisan bills that aim to lower prescription drug costs and increase transparency in the drug pricing system. The coalition is a House caucus of moderate and fiscally responsible Democrats. The bills they endorsed are the... Read More

Less than 24 hours after Senate Republicans shunned the so-called Green New Deal, House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a new bill, the Climate Action Now Act, aiming to hold the Trump administration to the United States' original commitments under the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. "The American... Read More

On the heels of Congress’ introduction of the Equality Act, a landmark national survey of over 40,000 Americans has found that seven in 10 Americans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. The survey released Tuesday by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute also found... Read More

As the U.S. Supreme Court waded into a pair of gerrymandering cases on Tuesday, a majority of the justices struggled mightily with the question of just how a federal court can fairly determine when state legislatures have been too partisan in drawing maps for voting districts.... Read More

Construction of new single-family homes dropped more than expected in February, surpassing an 18-month low, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Last month, so-called "housing starts" slumped 8.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.16 million units -- down from a 1.27 million pace in January,... Read More

The Democratic chairs of six House committees sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr late Monday demanding that Congress receive Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on his Russia probe no later than Tuesday, April 2. In their letter, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler and... Read More

The Trump administration told a federal appeals court Monday night that it believes the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down as unconstitutional. In a letter filed in the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, the Justice Department said it agreed with a December ruling by... Read More

Robert Mueller's investigation may be over, but the cases he set in motion will continue for some time. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from a corporation owned by an unidentified foreign government that has refused to turn over documents demanded by the... Read More

Attorney Michael Avenatti, the longtime foe of President Donald Trump best known for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels, was arrested in New York on Monday on charges of extortion and bank and wire fraud. Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,... Read More

President Donald Trump suggested Monday he would support the public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, but did not indicate whether he would order or ask such a release to occur. In the days since Mueller turned... Read More

In the end, it had kind of the feel of a long-running series concluding with a less-than-satisfying finale or a a novel that fell flat with a chapter to go. No matter what side one was on as Robert Mueller conducted his probe of Russian interference... Read More

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer said Friday evening that it is imperative that Attorney General William Barr make Special Counsel Robert Mueller's full report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election public. In a joint statement, Pelosi and Schumer said Barr should... Read More

Last week, Representative Xochitl Torres Small, D-N.M., introduced The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2019 (H.R. 1763), which she and her bipartisan cosponsors say will take definitive steps toward reducing nationwide physician shortages, with an emphasis in rural areas. The bill introduced by Torres Small, fellow Democrat... Read More

Predictably, despite the evident bipartisan interest in doing away with the Electoral College, one person who wants to keep it is the man who inspired the current efforts to kill it, President Donald Trump. Seven years ago, Trump would no doubt have been on the side... Read More

This week Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., made the biggest splash of her nascent presidential campaign by suggesting during a CNN town hall in Mississippi that the Electoral College should be retired and replaced by a popular-vote system that would ensure that all voters count. The moment... Read More

The federal government posted its biggest monthly budget deficit ever in February as a sharp decline in corporate revenue coincided with increased spending, the Treasury Department announced Friday. The budget gap widened to $234 billion in February, compared with a fiscal gap of $215.2 billion a... Read More

Nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states face the prospect of unprecedented major flooding over the next several weeks, U.S. weather officials said Thursday. The dire forecast is the focal point of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s latest spring weather outlook. It says 25 states... Read More

The Trump administration's various trade disputes have caused a slump in American whiskey sales abroad, the Distilled Spirits Council said on Thursday. In a new report the industry group said whiskey exports were robust in the first half of 2018, growing 28 percent to a total... Read More

Long-term fixed-rate mortgage rates fell to 4.28 percent this week, potentially giving consumers more incentive to commit to purchasing a home just as the spring home buying season gets under way, Freddie Mac said on Thursday. The average rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage declined from... Read More

State officials in Florida vowed to continue to fight the drilling of an exploratory oil well in the Everglades in the wake of a judge's ruling that the plan can go forward. “We’re disappointed in the court’s ruling, which goes against the protection of the Everglades,”... Read More

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh sued the owners of Pimlico Race Course on Tuesday in a bid to block them from moving one of the city's signature sporting events, the Preakness Stakes, to another thoroughbred racing track in Maryland. Pugh, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit in Baltimore... Read More

The Federal Reserve's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday there will be no more interest rate hikes this year, baring a significant, unforeseen change in the economy. The unanimous decision by the committee following its two-day meeting this week was widely expected, but it does... Read More

Federal authorities began investigating President Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, just months after the president took office, made available to the media by court order on Tuesday. The release of the trove of redacted documents was a victory for the nine news organizations who filed... Read More

Steady as she goes. That was the widely held expectation as the Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-making arm of the Federal Reserve, gathered Tuesday morning to kick off its two-day meeting this week. Given statements made by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in several recent interviews,... Read More

A federal appeals court panel repeatedly pushed back Tuesday at claims by two attorneys general who say President Trump is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington. At the center of the hearing before a three-judge panel of... Read More

A fix for the documentation glitch isn't the only issue National Association of Foreign Trade Zones would like to see addressed in the USMCA implementing legislation. Erik Autor, president of the association,  said his members long felt that rules established under NAFTA directly discriminated against the... Read More

Most of us don't think much about foreign trade zones. The phrase itself suggests "other" and "offshore" and somehow "separate." The reality, however, is that foreign trade zones, right here on U.S. soil, play a critical role in economic development and in inviting international investment in... Read More

As oral arguments got underway in the first of two high-profile gerrymandering cases the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this month, the justices appeared to be treading carefully despite their familiarity with claims they've heard once before. The case, Va. House of Delegates v. Bethune-Hill, not... Read More

The Supreme Court on Friday expanded the scope of oral arguments slated for April 23 on whether to reinstate a controversial question about citizenship proposed for the 2020 census to consider if the inquiry would violate the Constitution. Lower courts in New York and California have... Read More

The U.S. State Department on Friday announced it is eliminating a popular five-year tourist visa for Cubans, needed to achieve "reciprocity" between the visa rules of the U.S. and Cuba. Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, immediately slammed the move, saying via Twitter the decision by the... Read More

Last week, Democrats in both the House and Senate introduced legislation to address a "longstanding concern that has taken on newfound urgency," political interference with publicly-funded scientific research. The bill introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., called "Science Integrity Act" strives... Read More

Over the next two weeks, the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court will be dominated by issues it has recently preferred to punt back to lower courts: racial and partisan gerrymandering. On Monday, the justices will hear oral arguments in a case accusing the Virginia House... Read More

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that the United States will revoke or deny visas to International Criminal Court officials who attempt to investigate or prosecute alleged abuses committed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "We are determined to protect the American and allied military and... Read More

U.S Industrial production rose just 0.1 percent in February, slowed by the second straight monthly decline in manufacturing activity, the Federal Reserve said Friday. The central bank said manufacturing production dropped 0.4 percent last month, held down by declines in the output of motor vehicles, machinery,... Read More

The Senate on Thursday voted to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on the nation's border with Mexico, a bipartisan rebuke the president has already suggested he'll veto. The 59-41 vote on a previously-passed House measure rejecting the president's emergency declaration marked the first... Read More

A New York appeals court ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump isn't immune from a defamation lawsuit filed by a former "Apprentice" contestant who accused him of unwanted groping and defamation. The ruling is precedent setting. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that then-president Bill Clinton... Read More

Beto O’Rourke entered the 2020 race for the White House on Thursday, telling supporters ahead of a three-day campaign swing in Iowa that he intends to run "a positive campaign" that will seek to "unite a very divided country" and "bring out the very best in... Read More

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was indicted on 16 new charges in New York on Wednesday mere minutes after he was sentenced to an additional three-and-a-half more years in prison on federal conspiracy charges. Manafort's latest legal woes stem from an alleged residential mortgage fraud... Read More

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday the United States is grounding the Boeing 737 Max aircraft after days of critics saying the administration failed to swiftly protect the flying public after two of the planes were involved in deadly crashes overseas. “All... Read More

The city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina removed a Confederate statue from the grounds of an historic courthouse Tuesday morning, bringing an end to a legal battle with the preservationist United Daughters of The Confederacy. The 30-foot high monument had stood on the grounds of the former... Read More

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told a select committee on Tuesday that he would restore the use of earmarks so that members of Congress have "a greater say in directing spending toward critical public projects in their communities." "Earmarks ... can be great instruments of... Read More

Consumer prices rose a slight 0.2 percent in February, the first increase in four months, but inflation remains tame, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The latest consumer price index, which measures what Americans pay for a wide range of products, attributed the rise to higher gasoline... Read More

If there was anything about President Donald Trump's proposed budget for the 2020 fiscal year that surprised no one on Capitol Hill Monday, it was his apparent willingness to revive the nasty fight over funding of his border wall that led to a 35-day partial government... Read More

The $4.7 trillion federal budget for 2020 proposed by President Donald Trump on Monday, misses the mark on achieving meaningful deficit reduction while relying on accounting "sleight-of-hand" to bring future spending into promised balance in 15 years, according to a prominent fiscal watchdog group. “Today’s proposal... Read More

The Democratic National Committee chose Milwaukee, Wisconsin Monday to host its presidential nominating convention in 2020, meaning the party will select its nominee in the heart of the region that sent Donald Trump to the White House two-and-a-half years ago. Though the rust belt location is... Read More

The House passed along party lines a sweeping ethics and election overhaul bill Friday morning, setting up a showdown with Senate Republicans that will likely loom large in the 2020 elections. “It’s about money in politics and how that destroys the confidence people have in the... Read More

US employers added just 20,000 jobs in February, a sharp pullback after a quarter of solid gains averaging 186,000 new jobs a month, the Labor Department reported Friday. The scarcity of new jobs added to the economy is the smallest monthly gain in nearly 18 months,... Read More

The new head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was assailed by Democrats on the House Financial Service Committee on Thursday who contend an industry-friendly shift by the Trump administration has undermined the agency's mission. When the bureau opened in 2011 it was seen as the... Read More

Senators Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced a bill this week to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers adopt technology to improve their business processes, increase their energy efficiency and curb the wasteful use of resources. The bill, titled the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Act, stems... Read More

The net worth of America's households fell by a record $3.8 trillion at the end of 2018, pulled down by sharp declines on Wall Street that briefly pushed the market into bear territory, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. The bracing news, part of the Federal Reserve's... Read More

There's no time like the present to solidify the gains the Democrats made in the House during the 2018 midterm elections and target vulnerable Republican seats in 2020. That's the message of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which on Thursday announced it is rolling out a... Read More

Nevada is asking the Ninth Circuit to block the Trump administration from making further shipments of weapons-grade plutonium into the state, contending the White House is intent to turn it into "the nation's radioactive dump." In a filing in the San Francisco-based appeals court on Monday,... Read More

The United States' trade deficit surged to a 10-year high in December, reaching $59.8 billion despite the Trump administration's efforts to end and renegotiate trade deals the president claims place the nation at an economic disadvantage. Figures released by the Commerce Department Wednesday also show that... Read More

The Democratic National Committee said Wednesday that it will not partner with Fox News for the upcoming presidential primary debates, citing a story in this week's New Yorker on the close ties between the channel and President Donald Trump. The article, by New Yorker correspondent Jane... Read More

A mere 608 days before what promises to be the most hotly-contested presidential election in a generation, aging voting machines employed in nearly every state of the union fall far short of ensuring a fair and secure Election Day, a new analysis has found. According to... Read More

The Treasury Department reported Tuesday that the federal deficit for the first four months of the current fiscal year is 77 percent higher than the same period a year ago. Since the fiscal year began on October 1, 2018, the deficit has ballooned to $310.3 billion... Read More

Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will not be entering the already sizable field of Democratic candidates hoping to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. Bloomberg, who joined the Democratic party last year in anticipation of making a run for the White House, said... Read More

The Supreme Court on Monday sided with a third-party software maintenance provider in its quest to recoup the nearly $13 million it paid to Oracle Corp. to cover the litigation costs of a copyright dispute. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh held the winning... Read More

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper on Monday announced he is running for president in 2020, positioning himself as the candidate who has proven he can bridge partisan divides to accomplish progressive goals. "I'm running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need... Read More

Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced Friday that he will seek the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, and do so by making climate change his central issue. "I'm running for president because I am the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation's number one priority,"... Read More

U.S. consumer spending tumbled 0.5 percent in December, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The slide, the biggest decline in nine years, is yet more evidence that the 2018 holiday shopping season was a disappointment for retailers and sellers of bigger ticket items, like automobiles. The sharp... Read More