Dan McCue

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