Dan McCue

WASHINGTON - In the end, it wasn't even close. After a year of behind-the-scenes campaigning by a trio of candidates, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut, has been chosen to lead the House Appropriations Committee in the 117th Congress. Both Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Florida, and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, of New York, won a close race to lead the House Democrats' campaign arm during the 117th Congress, narrowly defeating Rep. Tony Cárdenas, of California, 119-107 in a secret ballot. The outcome of the vote, which was conducted remotely during... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. — Vice President-elect Kamala Harris named three individuals who'll be part of her senior staff in the White House, including veteran Democratic strategist Tina Flournoy, as her chief of staff. Flournoy's appointment as Harris' top staffer adds to a team of advisers led by... Read More

WASHINGTON - Thousands of federal employees can proceed with a class act in which they claim they were forced to work without pay during the 35-day partial government shutdown that extended from late 2018 to early 2019. “The claims brought by plaintiffs in this case are... Read More

WHEATLAND, Iowa - Democrat Rita Hart is challenging the vote totals in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, two days after a state board certified Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks the winner in a contest that came down to just six votes. The race is the closest federal election in... Read More

WASHINGTON - The first session of the 117th Congress will convene at noon on a Sunday in January and have an extra-long August recess, according to the House calendar released by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Wednesday. And of course, the chamber will continue its current... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Reps. Stephanie Murphy, of Florida, and Jimmy Panetta, of California, have been named chief deputy whips for the 11th Congress, House Majority Whip James Clyburn announced Wednesday. In addition, Clyburn announced that Reps. G.K. Butterfield, of North Carolina, and Jan Schakowsky, of Illinois, have... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Suzan DelBene, of Washington State, was unanimously elected Tuesday to serve as the next chair of the New Democrat Coalition. In addition, the coalition of moderate Democrats elected five individuals -- Reps. Ami Bera, of California, Sharice Davids, of Kansas, Annie Kuster, of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The committee raising money for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration is limiting individual contributions to no more than $500,000, and corporate contributions to no more that $1 million, according to an official involved in the planning of the event. The contribution limits were initially reported... Read More

WASHINGTON - Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that the Justice Department has not uncovered voting fraud at a scale that could have affected the results of the presidential election. Barr's comments, made during an interview with the Associated Press, fly in the face of President... Read More

Now into their second week of freshman orientation, incoming members of Congress are beginning to pick up the pace of building their staff for the 117th Congress. Each member-elect can access funds to officially hire one staffer for the interim period, and most of the names... Read More

WASHINGTON - Republican and Democratic senators were joined by members of the House Problem Solvers conference Tuesday to endorse a $908 billion COVID economic relief bill they say should carry the nation into the early spring. The proposal, described by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., as a... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced his senior economic team, confirming after a week of speculation, that he would nominate Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chair, to be the first woman to head the Treasury Department, In a statement, Biden said he... Read More

In the end, it came down to a razor thin margin of six votes out of 394,441 cast, but that was margin enough for the Iowa state canvassing board Monday to declare Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks winner of the state's hotly contested 2nd Congressional District race. On... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. - President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris unveiled their Presidential Inaugural Committee on Monday, as preparations continue for their swearing in on Jan. 20. Although final plans for the inauguration are still somewhat up in the air due to the ever-changing circumstances... Read More

WASHINGTON - There has probably never been a comprehensive tome on the American presidency quite like this one. Entitled "Wine and the White House: A History" and coming in at 456 pages, this new, elegant offering from the White House Historical Association is a tour de... Read More

Throughout the 2020 election cycle a persistent narrative was just how divided the United States has become. But an as-yet uncalled House race in Iowa is taking the concept of a nation equally divided between Republicans and Democrats to a whole new level. Since Monday, the... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. - It wasn't the kind of breaking news one expected while scanning Pennsylvania's all news radio stations for word on the state certifying the 2020 election results. "Now back to our top story," one news anchor after another said over the course of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Getting a formal concession, finally, might all come down to this. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of appeals on Monday granted a request from President Donald Trump's campaign to consider, on an expedited basis, an appeal of a mere facet of a federal judge's... Read More

BOULDER, Colo. - A giant sunspot is expected to traverse the Earth-facing side of the Sun by Thanksgiving, according to scientists at the National Science Foundation's National Solar Observatory. They based their prediction, first made on Nov. 18, on a special technique called helioseismology. It allows... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Bookvar certified the results of the 2020 presidential election Tuesday, after all 67 counties in the state certified their individual results late Monday night. A short time later, as required by federal law, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Monday she will step down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee when the 117th Congress convenes in January, apparently bowing to critics who believe she wasn't aggressive enough in her handling of Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. - President-elect Joe Biden has selected top aides to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin to serve in key roles on his White House legislative affairs team. Shuwanza Goff, who has been serving as Majority Leader Hoyer's floor director... Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. - President-elect Joe Biden unveiled several of his top national security picks on Monday, his campaign revealing he will nominate Avril Haines to be his director of national intelligence and Alejandro Mayorkas, to be his secretary of Homeland Security. In both cases, the nominations... Read More

WASHINGTON - Bathed in chill sunlight and standing just yards from where work crews continue to build the platform for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the Capitol Christmas tree was already a destination in its own right Monday as a handful of families gravitated to... Read More

WASHINGTON - During a week when newly elected members of Congress were all over Capitol Hill for their formal orientation, Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., remembered how vastly different her experience was in 2012. Jay Inslee, the previous representative of Washington State's 1st Congressional District, had decided... Read More

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Thursday night, extending the deadline by which counties must certify the results of the 2020 election. The immediate effect of the order relates to two counties, Ocean and Salem, whose boards of elections have... Read More

Ørsted, the Danish renewable energy group, and the North America's Building Trades Unions have entered into a pact to train an offshore wind construction workforce as the firm eyes construction of a series of wind farm projects up and down the East Coast. The deal comes... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats completed their second of two days of leadership election by elevating Rep. Pete Aguilar of California to the position of caucus vice chair. The 148-82 vote, in which he prevailed over Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois, makes Aguilar the highest-ranking Latino on... Read More

WASHINGTON -- It is traditionally the largest travel holiday of the year, however, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging Americans not to travel during this Thanksgiving holiday and to skip gatherings with family members outside their households. Officials with the agency... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution will temporarily re-close all of its museums and the National Zoo due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the region and across the country. The closures, which will begin Monday, Nov. 23, will impact all eight Smithsonian facilities in... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats nominated Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to lead the chamber for another two years on Wednesday in a virtual voice vote that reflected a triumphant rebound in her stature among members, two years after a rebellious faction tried to topple her. Though some... Read More

WASHINGTON - The abbreviated transition caused by the Trump administration's refusal to recognize President-elect Joe Biden's victory could impair the new president's ability to fill the more than 1,200 executive branch jobs requiring Senate confirmation, a new report says. The white paper prepared for the Center... Read More

It's the time of year when many of us start to think "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," but for residents of an ever-growing number of states, this November is starting to look an awful lot like March all over again. That's because a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Gary Palmer has been elected chairman of the Republican Policy Committee for the 117th Congress. This is the Alabama Republican's second consecutive term as chairman, his having held the post in the 116th Congress. “I’m grateful to my colleagues for their support and... Read More

Richmond, Va. - Virginia could reap more than $300 million in tax revenue a year if lawmakers were to legalize recreational marijuana, according to the Commonwealth's legislative watchdog. In a new report, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission says it would take about five years... Read More

WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden announced several appointments to his White House senior staff on Tuesday, assembling his administration even as President Donald Trump continues to refuse to acknowledge the Democrat's election victory. Mike Donilon, the chief strategist for Biden's campaign and a long-time adviser, will... Read More

WASHINGTON - It's the election insiders were talking about while most of America was still wondering what would happen on Election Day. Every two years, the election of a new Congress is followed closely by caucus leadership elections. On Tuesday, the House Republican caucus will hold... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite known unknowns including when the 2020 presidential election will definitively end and what the status of the coronavirus pandemic will be at the time, preparations for the 59th inaugural ceremonies continues apace on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Already, the spot... Read More

WASHINGTON - They came from Texas and Colorado and New York and New Mexico. Some came in family SUVs, others in taxi cabs. But what they had in common as they arrived at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill on a gray and rainy Thursday in Washington... Read More

WASHINGTON - Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., told the Federalist Society in a keynote address Thursday night the coronavirus pandemic has led to "previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty." "I am not diminishing the severity of the virus's threat to public health," Alito continued in a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., has been nominated to serve as co-chair of the Democratic caucus' Steering and Policy Committee, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday. Bustos will replace Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, who informed the speaker last month of her decision to run... Read More

ATLANTA - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday that the state will conduct a hand recount of all ballots cast in last week's presidential contest. The announcement came during a news conference at which Raffensperger continued to deflect pressure from fellow Georgia Republicans who... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump may be refusing to concede the 2020 election, but that's not stopping the Biden transition team from moving forward with its preparations to assume office. On Tuesday it unveiled the agency review teams that will lay the groundwork within federal agencies... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House New Democrat Coalition is out with its assessment of the 2020 election and they believe voters clearly endorsed pragmatic Democrats and their espoused approach to controlling the pandemic, making a full economic recovery and moving the country forward. “Voters all across America... Read More

WASHINGTON - The head of the nation's largest advocacy group for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans predicted Tuesday that 2021 will be a very good year for those who have long sought comprehensive aid for soldiers harmed by burn pit and toxin exposure in those wars.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- So much for the new conservative majority of the Supreme Court dismantling the Affordable Care Act. On Tuesday, during oral arguments for California v. Texas, one of this term's most anticipated cases, two members of that majority, suggested they're not inclined to strike down... Read More

WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden wasted no time in assembling the new coronavirus task force he unveiled Monday, but it will likely be early December before the majority of Americans learn who the new president has picked for his cabinet. The plan, according to people familiar... Read More

WASHINGTON - Speaking out on the presidential election for the first time since the race was called in Democrat Joe Biden's favor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said President Donald Trump is "100% within his rights" to challenge the outcome. In remarks delivered on the... Read More

Stocks surged around the world Monday after Pfizer announced that early results from trials of its coronavirus vaccine suggest the shots may be 90% effective at preventing COVID-19. But President-elect Joe Biden quickly reminded Americans that the good news does not mean it's time to abandon... Read More

WASHINGTON -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is once again running for the Democrat-controlled House's second most powerful position. In a letter to fellow Democrats made public Saturday, Hoyer said he's proud of the unity and success the party has enjoyed since regaining the House majority... Read More

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden announced the members of his new coronavirus task force Monday morning, putting the contentious 2020 presidential campaign behind him and moving definitively on to the transition. Biden said repeatedly during the campaign that "crushing" the pandemic once and for all would... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he's been lobbied for months about who would fill Kamala Harris' Senate seat should she be elected vice president, and he admitted it hasn't been fun. "It's not something I'd wish on my worst enemy," he told... Read More

WASHINGTON— Former Vice President Joe Biden had the presidency within his reach Friday evening, as he continued to hold onto narrow but apparently solid leads over President Donald Trump in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and Pennsylvania. Revised vote counts trickled in throughout the day, but... Read More

WASHINGTON - Employers added 638,000 jobs in the month of October, pushing the national unemployment rate down to 6.9%, the Labor Department reported Friday. But Congressional Democrats noted the pace of renewed hiring isn't nearly enough to quickly get the millions of Americans thrown out of... Read More

LANSING, Mich. -- The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit in Michigan claiming its election observers have not been granted "meaningful" access to the counting process. As of about 3 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, former Vice President Joe Biden is leading President Donald Trump by about 1%... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. - As the nation anxiously awaited the outcome of the 2020 presidential election Wednesday, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar advised the general public and a phalanx of reporters gathered before her to be patient. “We are exactly where we said we would be,”... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Voters last night approved an amendment to the state constitution that will create a bipartisan redistricting commission, putting an end, once and for all, to years of court battles over partisan gerrymandering. With 98% of election precincts reporting as of Wednesday morning,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal officials monitoring voting and threats to the 2020 election said they've seen no major problems, but they continue to urge the public to be both watchful and patient as they head to the polls. All told, the U.S. Justice Department has deployed personnel... Read More

WASHINGTON - Though President Donald Trump doesn't technically have the power to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, he suggested during one his final campaign appearances Monday that supporters won't have long to wait for the ouster of the nation's top infectious disease expert. Trump has been continually... Read More

WASHINGTON — Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined her new colleagues on the Supreme Court Monday, participating in oral arguments for the first time. The cases on the docket Monday were no head-turners. The first, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club Inc., concerned public disclosure... Read More

WASHINGTON - It came as no surprise last week when the majority of questions posed to two members of Congress during a virtual town hall Friday focused on currently stalled negotiations over the next COVID-19 relief package. Despite being on opposite sides of the aisle, both... Read More

WASHINGTON - Over the course of the 2020 election cycle, the NewDem Action Fund has backed 31 congressional candidates by either adding them to its "watch list" or fully endorsing them. But on Friday night came word the fund, the political arm of the New Democrat... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has rejected a Republican candidate's attempt to delay the vote in a high-profile congressional race in Minnesota following the unexpected death of a third-party candidate. The date of the vote in Minnesota's Second Congressional District was thrown into question in September,... Read More

The last Marquette Law School poll to be released before Election Day finds former Vice President Joe Biden the choice of 48% of likely voters in Wisconsin, with President Donald Trump trailing with the support of just 43% of likely voters. The poll found 7% of... Read More

A federal judge has prohibited the rejection of absentee ballots in South Carolina on the basis of a perceived mismatch of the voter's signature and ordered a review of any ballots already set aside due to alleged signature discrepancies. In a ruling handed down Tuesday, U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden has about an 86% chance of winning next week's presidential election and could come away with 344-350 electoral college votes, according to Sabato's Crystal Ball, a publication of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. The forecast was developed... Read More

This is an installment of an ongoing series of political advertising fact checks during the 2020 campaign. If you would like to submit an advertisement for consideration, please email a link to [email protected] A pair of advertisements, one funded by a super PAC dedicated to securing... Read More

President Donald Trump was in his element. Standing before more than 1,000 supporters who had jammed a large hanger facility at Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon, Ga., he promised a "red wave" would crush Democrats in November. He had not a moment of doubt, he... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court put the brakes on a lower court order that would have allowed curbside voting in Alabama in November. The underlying lawsuit was filed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy... Read More

WASHINGTON - The BCC microphone used by CBS journalist Edward R. Murrow during his historic broadcast from war-torn London during World War II is taking up temporary residence at the National Press Club this fall. Casey Murrow, the legendary journalist's son, agreed to the loan while... Read More

WASHINGTON - Consider it another sign of an increasing partisan divide -- heading into the final week of the 2020 election cycle, only 4% of registered voters in states with a Senate contest say they will support Donald Trump or Joe Biden and a Senate candidate... Read More

WASHINGTON - The GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to advance the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the full Senate, despite a Democratic boycott on the hearing. The 12-0 vote by the committee virtually assures Barrett will be confirmed to the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The National Cherry Blossom Festival may still be five months away, but organizers on Wednesday announced the festival parade, long a beloved part of the annual event, has been cancelled for 2021. The reason: The ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “The health and safety of our... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Senate will put in a long work session this weekend in a bid to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by next Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday. McConnell has repeatedly said Barrett has clearly demonstrated she's the... Read More

This is an installment of an ongoing series of political advertising fact checks during the 2020 campaign. If you would like to submit an advertisement for consideration, please email a link to [email protected] President Donald Trump's re-election campaign claims in an advertisement running on YouTube and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Monday accused Google in an antitrust lawsuit of maintaining an illegal monopoly over online search and search advertising. The filing of the lawsuit in the D.C. federal court came just two weeks after Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee... Read More

WASHINGTON - The absence of a tiebreaker on the Supreme Court will allow election officials in Pennsylvania to count some mailed ballots received up to three days after Election Day. A 4-4 deadlock among the justices let stand a ruling by Pennsylvania's highest court that allowed... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is holding nothing back as he prepares to face former Vice President Joe Biden in the next -- and final -- presidential candidate debate of the 2020 election cycle. While Biden plans to take most of the week off from the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up two cases arising from President Donald Trump's efforts to slow both legal and illegal immigration from Mexico. Monday's announcement followed an order late Friday in which the high court said it will fast-track the appeal in... Read More

WASHINGTON - With fewer than 20 days to go until in-person voters head to the polls, nearly all indications are that the battleground state of Wisconsin is going solidly for former Vice President Joe Biden on Election Night. Not only does the latest Heartland poll show... Read More

WASHINGTON - With less than 20 days to go until Election Day 2020, the Biden campaign is engaging in a full-throttled effort to reach out to small business owners across the country. The goal is both to enlist them as local thought leaders while also explaining... Read More

WASHINGTON - Right now, it's just a hub of activity behind a construction area awning at the foot of Capitol Hill, but come Nov. 11 the site, on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian, will be transformed into the National Native American... Read More

Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has suspended in-person events through Monday after two people associated with the campaign tested positive for the coronavirus. Though Harris herself has tested negative for the virus in recent days, a flight crew member on her campaign plane... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is pushing to kick-start the creation of a new infrastructure grant program that would improve the energy efficiency of the U.S. transportation sector while boosting the nation's competitiveness in the global marketplace. A new bill sponsored by Shaheen -- the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Tom Malinowski are urging the FBI to step up the federal response to the Proud Boys, a white supremacist group they say has increased its activity in New Jersey. According to a recent report from the New Jersey Office of... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. - A federal judge on Wednesday extended the deadline for registering to vote in Virginia by 48 hours after the state’s online voter registration system went down because of an accidentally severed cable. The deadline to register to vote is now 11:59 p.m. on... Read More

A record 128,590 voters cast ballots on the first day of early voting in Georgia Monday, but for many of them it was a day of long waits, sometimes for hours and frustration as computer woes repeatedly took down polling places, including inside the State Farm... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court late Tuesday stayed a preliminary injunction that required the Census Bureau to continue to collect data until the end of the month. Last month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh agreed with civil rights groups that argued a plan announced by the... Read More

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump's re-election campaign in Pennsylvania, tossing out a challenge to the state's drop boxes and poll-watching law. The ruling is notable not just for how it related to the election to be held three... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to revive a lawsuit filed by members of Congress that accused President Donald Trump of illegally profiting from his presidency. As is their custom the justices did not explain why they were rejecting the case, including it in... Read More

This is an installment of an ongoing series of political advertising fact checks during the 2020 campaign. If you would like to submit an advertisement for consideration, please email a link to [email protected] A television ad the Trump reelection campaign is featuring in key battleground states... Read More

WASHINGTON - It happens like clockwork, every two years. Whenever one Congress ends and another is about to begin, House Historian Matthew Wasniewski and his staff of nine know the next several weeks will be busy indeed. Not only do they do what Wasniewski described as... Read More

WASHINGTON - If there's one sweeping generalization one can safely make about the people of Minnesota, it is that the vast majority of them love to participate in electoral politics. Since 2000, no fewer than 70% of registered voters have turned out to cast their ballot... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation on Friday that would task a congressional commission with reviewing whether future presidents are mentally fit to remain in office. Pelosi has been raising questions about Trump's mental fitness since his COVID-19 diagnosis and has been demanding more transparency about... Read More

WASHINGTON - It appears the final two scheduled presidential debates of the 2020 election cycle are not going to happen. After a morning of fast-moving events, ABC News has announced that Democratic nominee Joe Biden will take part in a town hall forum hosted by the... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The topic was high tech: the code behind smartphones. But on Wednesday the Supreme Court looked to more low tech examples, from the typewriter keyboard to restaurant menus, try to resolve an $8 billion-plus copyright dispute between tech giants Google and Oracle. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The White House Correspondents’ Association on Wednesday "strongly" encouraged journalists to "avoid working from the White House grounds entirely" if at all possible. The notice, circulated among the association's members and posted on its website, came after BuzzFeed News pulled one of its correspondents,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court declined to get involved in a long-running dispute among members of the late author John Steinbeck's family, leaving in place a $5 million award to his stepdaughter. The author of "Cannery Row," “The Grapes of Wrath,” "East of Eden" and at... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that President Trump cannot block enforcement of a New York grand jury subpoena for eight years of his tax returns. The ruling, which affirmed a lower court decision, sets the stage for an almost certain appeal to the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Fans of Led Zeppelin are feeling a "Whole Lotta Love" for the U.S. Supreme Court this week after the justices declined to take up the long-running copyright battle over the band's "Stairway to Heaven." The justices did not explain their rationale for refusing to... Read More

Tonight's debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris will likely be the most-watched vice presidential debate ever, but it's unlikely to dramatically change the minds of viewers, according to an academic steeped in debate and cultural studies. "Both vice... Read More

WASHINGTON — Anger on Capitol Hill boiled over Tuesday after President Donald Trump called an abrupt end to negotiations with House Democrats over additional coronavirus relief, delaying action until after the election. Trump announced he was walking away from the bargaining table Tuesday afternoon in a... Read More

This is the first installment of an ongoing series of political advertising fact checks during the 2020 campaign. If you would like to submit an advertisement for consideration, please email a link to [email protected] In a television and Internet ad running in New York State's 22nd... Read More

WASHINGTON - Within hours of the start of its new term on Monday, the Supreme Court revived a South Carolina law that requires absentee ballots to be returned accompanied by a witness's signature. Lower courts had set aside the law, holding it interfered with the right... Read More

WASHINGTON - "What you're about to witness will be a kind of a Kabuki theatre," Ron Bonjean said the other day. The communications Sherpa during Justice Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, he was reflecting on that experience as he described what could be... Read More

Sixty-one percent of Americans are worried that the U.S. could be on the verge of another Civil War, while 52% say they've already started stockpiling food and other essential in anticipation of social unrest, according to a new national poll. Among the 61% of Americans who... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider a bid by Arizona Republicans to overturn a lower court ruling that struck down recently imposed voting restrictions in the state. In January, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated the restrictions, holding they... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear oral arguments in a challenge to the FCC's efforts to loosen rules that limit media ownership. The underlying case was brought by Philadelphia-based Prometheus Radio Project, a coalition of low-power radio stations. Prometheus and others are... Read More

You can call it the battleground state with the sharpest divisions. Like the jagged edges that course through the Grand Canyon, Arizona's political landscape is marked by sharp distinctions, shadows and hazardous crevices. As the Oct. 7 start of early voting in the state approaches, Joe... Read More

To many of them, she is a one-time classmate and sorority sister, but that didn't stop more than 1,500 Rhodes College alumni from signing a letter to the school's president opposing the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Nor did it stop... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to fast-track a dispute over whether people living in the United States illegally must be included in the reapportionment of congressional seats. Under federal law, once the decennial census is completed, the secretary of commerce must give the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Commission on Presidential Debates said Wednesday it will consider changes to ensure the next two debates between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden don't descend into chaos. "Chaos" is among the more printable words pundits are using to describe Tuesday... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted to advance a stopgap spending bill Tuesday night, the penultimate step to avoiding a government shutdown at midnight Wednesday. The vote to limit debate on the measure paves the way for a final vote in the chamber on Wednesday afternoon. The... Read More

A federal judge in Arizona has rejected a request from members of the Navajo Nation that elections officials be given 10 extra days to count their mail-in ballots. The six Navajo plaintiffs had asked for the extension because service is slow on the reservation and less... Read More

The Washington Monument, closed for six months due to the coronavirus pandemic, will reopen to the public Thursday, Oct. 1. The National Park Service announced Monday that the monument will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week, though it will close... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Circuit Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Saturday afternoon, capping a dramatic first-term reshaping of the federal judiciary that he hopes will provide a needed boost to his re-election effort. Barrett, 48, a former clerk to the... Read More

WASHINGTON - In the battleground state of North Carolina the conventional wisdom is simply put: President Donald Trump can win re-election even if he just squeaks out a victory in the Tar Heel State, but he might as well pack his bags for Mar-a-Lago Election Night... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will announce Saturday that he plans to nominate U.S. Appeals Court Judge Amy Comey Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. According to the White House, Trump will make the formal announcement at 5 p.m.... Read More

WASHINGTON - An 18-month effort to make Congress work better and retain staff more effectively came to an end Thursday, when the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress announced its final list of recommendations. Created by an overwhelming bipartisan vote at the beginning of... Read More

The top elections officials of what will undoubtedly be two of the most closely watched states in the nation on election night 2020 told attendees of a virtual forum Tuesday that their top priority will be ensuring that the vote is counted "accurately" and "effectively." The... Read More

WASHINGTON - In their recent report of Capitol Hill staffing issues, authors Alexandra Furnas and Timothy LaPira paint a harrowing picture of a culture that basically pushes its best resource -- its people -- to the private sector and away from public service. But Furnas and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Thanks to its woefully low pay and long hours, Capitol Hill is proving to be a "funnel" to lucrative jobs in lobbying, leaving congressional offices in a perpetual state of brain drain, a new report has found. Published by New America, the public policy... Read More

WASHINGTON - The crowd began gathering early behind the aluminum railing that ran up and down East Capitol Street Wednesday morning. Some said they'd journeyed to the neighborhood the night before to scope out their logistics for the day ahead. One woman, wearing a facemask covered... Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio - With just 42 days to go before Election Day, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Tuesday that 1,784,004 absentee ballot applications have been received by the county boards of election, including a whopping 385,657 in the past week. At the same time... Read More

WASHINGTON - Lindsay Singleton, longtime managing director at ROKK Solutions, will now also serve as lead of its new practice area: social impact communications. The practice, launched Tuesday by the bipartisan political communications firm, will assist organizations in amplifying their social impact efforts and messaging to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is refusing to back down from what is sure to be an intense fight over who will fill the Supreme Court seat now vacant after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In his first remarks from the... Read More

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's casket will arrive in front of the court just before 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and a private ceremony will take place inside the Great Hall of the court shortly thereafter. Following the private ceremony inside, Justice Ginsburg will lie in repose under... Read More

Comcast gave students and teachers in a Pennsylvania school district a big surprise last week -- free Dell Laptops and a year of internet access to support virtual learning and help them overcome the coronavirus pandemic. The city of McKeesport, Pa., was recently ranked the fourth... Read More

WASHINGTON - The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, has injected new uncertainty into the presidential election and set the stage for a bruising political battle in the nation's capital. Even as hundreds of people gathered Friday night... Read More

WASHINGTON - The hallmark of a true battleground state is that any one of a variety of factors can come into play and make a sure bet in the weeks leading up to the vote an “also ran” on election night. In that respect Michigan in... Read More

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited memorial honoring president and World War II commanding general Dwight D. Eisenhower was dedicated Thursday night and is open to the public as of Friday. The new garden memorial was originally slated to open on May 8, the 75th anniversary of the... Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Things aren't exactly coming up roses for the Green Party and its presidential nominee, Howie Hawkins. For the second time this week a state supreme court has denied the party's bid for inclusion among the contenders on the November 2020 ballot. On Thursday,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Tom Wickham is stepping down as parliamentarian of the House of Representatives at the end of the month, and will be replaced by Jason Smith, his current deputy parliamentarian. In announcing the change, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., described Wickham, who is only the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will continue to hold oral arguments by telephone for the start of the new term in October in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a court spokeswoman said Wednesday. Kathleen Arberg of the court's public information office said in keeping with... Read More

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan's Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday approved a bill allowing the state's larger municipalities to begin processing an expected surge of absentee ballots prior to Election Day. The legislation, which passed 34-2 with strong bipartisan support, would allow clerks in communities with at least... Read More

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday demanded Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar shed light on how his department has handled coronavirus-related reports. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., sent a strongly worded letter to Azar following reports the department... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of 50 centrist lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a $1.5 trillion proposal they hope will end the current stalemate over new relief to bolster the coronavirus battered economy. The Problem Solvers Caucus, led by co-chairs Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Tom Reed,... Read More

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Macy's and the City of New York on Monday announced that the annual Thanksgiving Day parade will be dramatically different this year as a result of ongoing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of holding a parade extending from the city's Central... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution announced Monday that it will reopen four more of its Washington, D.C., museums to the public on Friday, with new health and safety measures in place due to ongoing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. The facilities slated for reopening Friday are... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Restaurant Law Center wants the Supreme Court to overturn a 9th Circuit ruling that effectively classified calls and text messages to confirm dining reservations as nuisance robocalls. The Center, an industry association representing about 1 million restaurant and food service outlets across the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Conference of Mayors and a coalition of leaders from smaller municipalities are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold protections against discrimination in the delivery of government services. The court is currently scheduled to hear the case Fulton v. City of Philadelphia... Read More

It's going to be a close one. That's about the only reasonable thing anyone can say about the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania with less than 60 days remaining before Election Day. Most recent polling in the state gives former Vice President Joe Biden a slight... Read More

WASHINGTON - It wasn't unexpected. Counterfeits and knockoffs are all around us, from sneakers to handbags and even cures for the common cold. But a surge in demand for personal protection equipment, not to mention tobacco, alcohol and cleaning products, at the peak of the coronavirus... Read More

MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Supreme Court has temporarily delayed the mailing of absentee ballots for the Nov. 3 election as it considers whether to order the addition of the Green Party presidential ticket. The 4-3 decision in which all of the liberal-backed justices dissented, has... Read More

WASHINGTON - It was the kind of announcement that makes one stop and wonder if they'd heard it right. While unions have profitably invested in private equity firms as part of their portfolio for years, the general belief about the two is that in every other... Read More

The Census Bureau told a federal judge on Tuesday that it will delay laying off some census takers and will restore quality-control measures it had already begun winding down as the end of the once-a-decade population count nears its end. The notice, in a court filing,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the Senate would vote on a trimmed-down Republican coronavirus relief package, though it's unlikely to appeal to Democrats who have already passed a much more sweeping package in the House. The $500 billion package was released as... Read More

WASHINGTON - It was the end of a long day and night in Florida’s Martin County. Straggling reporters wandered into the newsroom, filing a few late sentences to be added to the local election coverage. But inside the newspaper's library, a brief stroll from the city... Read More

WASHINGTON - Regardless of what happens between now and Tuesday, Nov. 3, the 2020 campaign for the White House will go down in history as a race like no other. Played out against the backdrop of a global pandemic, the contest now comes down to a... Read More

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Election officials across the country have a new tool to help them recognize and respond to malicious interference in the votes they oversee. Created by the Belfer Center at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, the new "Election Influence Operations Playbook" focuses on... Read More

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have been added to sample ballots in South Carolina after initially being left off the voter education pieces. The sample ballots were made public Thursday, and shortly thereafter accusations began to fly... Read More

Voters who plan to participate in the 2020 election say they trust Democrat Joe Biden more than incumbent Republican President Donald Trump to protect their health care options and to deal with the persistent coronavirus pandemic. The new survey, released Thursday by Public Policy Polling, a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., wants to reduce the barriers currently preventing many Rural Utility Service borrowers from refinancing their debt to take advantage of lower market rates. Unlike most private lenders, the Rural Utility Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, does... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the moderators for its upcoming general election debates with Chris Wallace of Fox News presiding over the first meeting of President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The moderators for the remaining two presidential debates and the... Read More

SPRINGDALE, Ark. - As part of its ongoing effort to protect its workers from COVID-19, Tyson Foods is launching a nationwide monitoring program at its facilities while extending its occupational health staff. The new monitoring strategy was designed with the assistance of outside medical experts and... Read More

SPRINGDALE, Ark. - The COVID-19 pandemic put everyone through changes. But for large companies, particularly those in the business of providing Americans with something to eat, the challenges that needed to be addressed, quickly, were far ranging and complex. A case in point is Tyson Foods,... Read More

If there is a COVID-19 vaccine by Christmas, Santa Claus -- and his fellow frontline seasonal workers -- could be among the first to receive it. After appearing before the Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last week, Ric Erwin, chairman, of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Lincoln Project, a group of prominent Republicans working to prevent the re-election of President Donald Trump and members of Congress who support him, unveiled a coalition of veterans, members of the military and individuals from the national security community who are joining in... Read More

Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., made a little history on Monday by launching the Blue Dog Democrats' first-ever virtual rural opportunity roundtable series. The discussion with local and tribal leaders focused on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on rural and tribal communities. “There’s no better place... Read More

WASHINGTON - As America inches toward perhaps the most consequential election in its history -- the first to be played out against the backdrop of a global viral pandemic -- a heated debate continues to rage. Since the election of President Donald Trump, he and his... Read More

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Its energy sector devastated by the coronavirus outbreak, officials in Wyoming announced $250 million in budget cuts, saying more are on the way. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," said Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, during a news conference last Wednesday.... Read More

BOISE, Idaho - Federal coronavirus relief funds will pay for 102 projects aimed at extending broadband connectivity to 43,000 underserved households in Idaho, the state's governor and Department of Commerce announced Friday. Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, and Commerce officials, said $48.9 million in coronavirus funding... Read More

WASHINGTON - Though former Vice President Joe Biden continues to ride high in polls after two weeks of political conventions, the key to defeating President Donald Trump in November will be in the focus on how a booming U.S. economy was ravaged by the coronavirus, a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris said Friday that a nationwide mask mandate she and running mate Joe Biden have called for would simply reinforce the behavior of "responsible people who love our neighbors." "We have to just do that right now," Harris... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department announced Wednesday it is seeking data from the governors of four states that issued orders "which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents." Officials said Wednesday afternoon that the department's civil rights division is evaluating... Read More

WASHINGTON - A coalition of haunted house operators and others who offer "seasonal" and "location-based" entertainment are pressing Congress to change the Paycheck Protection Program so their industry can take advantage of it. They are also asking that their industry be included in any future stimulus... Read More

WASHINGTON - Data for the 2020 census is still being collected, but the Census Bureau reports the U.S. population has already achieved a population milestone this summer -- topping 330 million people. The agency said based on the population "clock" it maintains the milestone was reached... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democrats dominated the political universe this week, holding what has been widely called a very successful first-of-its-kind virtual national convention, and sending its ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee, Sen. Kamala Harris, off to start their fall campaign.... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sales of existing homes in the United States rose by an unprecedented 24.7% in July extending the summer rebound from the coronavirus after the global pandemic hammered the market in late winter and spring. The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales of... Read More

WASHINGTON - As the House convenes for a rare Saturday session, over 100 Democrats are urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi to open the floor to consideration of a bill to extend an emergency bonus to unemployment benefits due to the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter sent to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats has begun circulating a letter they plan to send to leaders in the House and Senate, urging them to return to bargaining on a new coronavirus relief bill. Earlier this month, the congressional leaders declared themselves at... Read More

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday became the latest Democratic governor to formally pledge to uphold the integrity of the November general election. The informal coalition stemmed from concerns over changes Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has imposed on the agency's operations since he took office in... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the chamber back to the Capitol ahead of a vote on legislation to block recent cost-cutting measures at the U.S. Postal Service and ensure the agency can handle a surge in mail-in ballots ahead of the November elections.... Read More

WASHINGTON - As if a global health crisis wasn't enough to have on their plate, wine sellers are bracing for the imposition of another round of tariffs that could raise the price of imported European wines and other products by as much as 100%. Though no... Read More

WASHINGTON - Every month an email from the Federal Election Commission arrives in the inbox with a certain insouciant inevitability. "Pending advisory opinion requests," it says. "That's right," you say to yourself. "They're back to not having a quorum on the commission board." It's never a... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's campaign requested a fourth presidential debate against former Vice President Joe Biden be added in early September, arguing that a number of states will already have begun sending mail-in ballots to voters before the first scheduled debate. Currently, the two presidential... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday requiring the federal government to buy "essential" drugs from U.S. companies, a White House trade advisor said. “If we’ve learned anything from the China virus pandemic, it is that we are dangerously over-dependent on foreign nations... Read More

MILWAUKEE, Wis.— Former Vice President Joe Biden will not travel to Milwaukee, Wis., later this month to accept the Democratic presidential nomination due to concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Party officials also said Wednesday none of the other planned speakers for the 2020 Democratic National... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan trio of senators urged their colleagues Tuesday to create a $10 billion fund to extend broadband cable access into underserved rural communities. The Governors' Broadband Development Fund bill was introduced by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and his co-sponsors, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,... Read More

TOPEKA, Kan. - As Congress continues to wrestle with how much it will give to states and cities in the next coronavirus relief package, the state of Kansas says it has seen a dramatic increase in its tax collections, partly due to its decision to demand... Read More

WASHINGTON - Roughly half of voters in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania have health concerns due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and would prefer to vote by mail in the November election, according to a new poll. The same is true of 53% of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Football fans for teams at both the college and professional level would be just as upset by a season without games as they would by their preferred candidate losing the race for the While House, a new survey has found. According to the latest... Read More

WASHINGTON - Moderates who flipped the House of Representatives to Democratic control after the 2018 election figure prominently in former President Barack Obama's first slate of endorsements for the 2020 elections. Obama endorsed 118 candidates in 17 states, announcing his preferences on Medium.com. A second set... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition endorsed several pieces of legislation to promote affordable housing development, increase access to affordable lending, and provide transparency of COVID-19 housing and rental relief. “Access to affordable housing is essential to our quality of life. Yet in every community I... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved a $1.3 trillion spending package which includes bills to fund almost all of the federal government while providing an additional $500 million for election security. The so-called minibus passed 217-197 in a largely party-line vote. It... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., vowed Friday that members will not leave the nation's capital until there's a deal on a new coronavirus relief package. Speaking on the House floor, Hoyer said, "We will not start the August district work period until we... Read More

WASHINGTON – The New Democrat Coalition Action Fund announced Friday that it is expanding its commitment to building on the party's majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by throwing its support behind 10 additional candidates. The Fund, formed by members of the New Democrat Coalition,... Read More

WASHINGTON – The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress unanimously endorsed 12 new proposals on Friday aimed at improving the continuity of operations in Congress. The new slate of recommendations is the fourth such package passed by the bipartisan panel. Since many congressional offices began... Read More

WASHINGTON - Four months out from Election Day, Democrats appear on the upswing in America's increasingly diverse suburbs. But to seal the deal, and secure the White House, presumptive nominee Joe Biden needs to win over the one-in-five suburban voters who still describe themselves as undecided... Read More

Wisconsin on Thursday became the latest state to impose a statewide face mask mandate, meaning all 24 states with a Democratic governor now have such a requirement in place. By comparison, only 8 of the 26 states with Republican governors -- Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,... Read More

WASHINGTON - For weeks it had been the stuff of living room banter and fodder for self-quarantining late night comedians. Suddenly, apparently on a whim, the president who once described himself as a "very stable genius," was talking about how he "aced" a mental fitness test.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 32.9% in the second quarter -- the worst quarterly decline ever -- amid a coronavirus pandemic that shuttered businesses and threw millions out of work. The Commerce Department's estimate of the second-quarter decline in the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Nearly four months after Congress approved a $10 billion loan for the struggling U.S. Postal Service as part of the CARES Act, the service and the Treasury Department have struck a deal on the terms of the loan. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is winding down the U.S. military presence in Germany, and relocating some, but not all of those troops closer to the Russian border, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Wednesday. The decision marks a major force restructuring aimed at shrinking the U.S. mission... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Trump's re-election campaign allegedly laundered $170 million in spending to conceal payments made to Trump family associates and people working with the campaign, a non-partisan campaign watchdog claims. In an 81-page complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, the Campaign Legal... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Monday night that he will accept the Republican presidential nomination in Charlotte, N.C., two months after throwing the convention process into chaos over a spat with North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Trump, who visited a coronavirus vaccine development site... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats is urging the chamber to take up two measures aimed at responding to reports of a Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In a statement released Tuesday, the coalition... Read More

WASHINGTON - There's probably never been a month in presidential politics like July 2020. For the better part of it, the current occupant of the White House, President Donald Trump, has sought to display his mental fitness on television, by reciting in interviews what he said... Read More

WASHINGTON - The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former VIce President Joe Biden, has been moved to the Health Education Campus Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, the organizers announced. The Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit and nonpartisan... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democratic mayors of six U.S. cities have sent a letter to congressional leaders, asking Congress to take steps to bar the federal government from deploying federal agents to municipalities that don’t want them. The letter, sent Monday, comes as the Trump administration is... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House on Monday voted to approve legislation that would create a national Latino museum on the National Mall. The initiative, which had widespread bipartisan support, passed unanimously Monday morning by a voice vote. If the measure passes the Senate and is signed into... Read More

WASHINGTON - Americans left jobless due to the COVID-19 pandemic could soon gain greater economic peace of mind thanks to a bill introduced Monday by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. The Worker Relief and Security Act ties expanded unemployment benefits to the current... Read More

The District of Columbia has issued a traffic advisory for the funeral procession for Rep. John Lewis which will occur Monday in the District of Columbia before arriving at the United States Capitol to lie in state. Individuals planning to observe the procession are reminded of... Read More

WASHINGTON - China, Russia and Iran are continuing to try to disrupt political campaigns and the 2020 general election, posing "a direct threat to the fabric of our Democracy," the nation's top counterintelligence official said Friday. William Evanina, director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Friday afternoon that he says will dramatically reduce the cost of prescription drugs. But even before his press conference in the Old Executive Office building was over, the orders were being panned as everything from "political stunt"... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House approved a $259.5 billion spending package Friday, rejecting a White House proposal to slash the budgets of the State Department and Environmental Protection Agency, and providing ample funding for the humanities. The four-bill minibus, the first appropriations measure approved by either the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency directive Friday ordering operators of the Boeing 737 passenger jet to inspect and potentially replace a key engine component following four reports of unexpected engine shutdowns. The FAA's "emergency airworthiness directive" applies to any 737 that has... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Centers for Disease Control is reversing course and now says schools should reopen in the fall, downplaying the potential health risks associated with such a move while conceding the recommendation is based on “limited data.” The new guidance, posted on the CDC’s website... Read More

WASHINGTON - It has been an eventful summer for Philip Morris International, the company perhaps best known for its Marlboro and Chesterfield cigarette brands. First, Chief Executive Officer André Calantzopoulos declared in the company’s recently released integrated report that he is "convinced" it will be possible... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. John Lewis will lie in state at the Capitol next week, with the public viewing extended over two days and moved outdoors to allow for social distancing and public health precautions due to COVID-19. After an invitation-only arrival ceremony in the Capitol rotunda... Read More

The Biden for President campaign is expanding its staff and operations in the key battleground state of North Carolina, where polls currently have the former vice president leading President Trump by two percentage points. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in North Carolina by four percentage points in... Read More

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a new face mask order Wednesday after the city saw a marked increase in coronavirus cases, particularly among those under 40. “Basically it says, if you leave home, you should wear a mask,” Bowser said. “This means, if you’re... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., took to the floor of the House Wednesday to urge members to support his bill requiring the Transportation Security Administration to conduct a pilot temperature screening program of all airline passengers. Budd and Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and John Larson,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and John Katko, R-N.Y., introduced bipartisan legislation to require federal executive branch agencies to report to Congress on their planning to address a potential resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak. Under the provisions of the COVID Preparedness, Response, and Effective Planning... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance establishing rules for lawfully researching cannabis. The guidance is limited to the development of drugs and does not cover other FDA-regulated products. Nevertheless, the release of the document and publication of a Federal Register notice... Read More

WASHINGTON - Bipartisanship ruled the day Monday when several amendments were added to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2021 to better regulate a class of cancer-linked chemicals on military bases and surrounding communities. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS chemicals, are found... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Tuesday barring people in the U.S. illegally from being counted in congressional reapportionment. The Supreme Court last year blocked the administration's effort to add a citizenship question to the census form, with a majority saying the administration's rationale... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill Tuesday providing a tax credit to food and beverage distributors to cover debt incurred for products shipped, but not yet paid for, due the coronavirus outbreak. The legislation is intended to help those... Read More

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Tuesday provided the most detailed description yet of what's going to be in the Republican-controlled Senate's next coronavirus relief proposal. Speaking on the floor of the Senate, McConnell said the GOP plan includes increased assistance for schools... Read More

WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have called on FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide a classified briefing before the August recess on how the agency is combating an active foreign interference campaign they say is... Read More

N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and members of the state's COVID-19 task force traveled to Savannah, Ga., Monday to help officials there cope with a surge in coronavirus cases. While in Savannah, Cuomo will host a roundtable meeting with the New York delegation, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson... Read More

Georgia Democrats have selected state Sen. Nikema Williams, chair of the state party, to replace Rep. John Lewis on the ballot in November. The executive committee of the Democratic Party of Georgia voted overwhelmingly on Monday for Williams to take Lewis' spot on the ballot for... Read More

WASHINGTON - Members of the largest ideological caucus in the House threw down the gauntlet on a new coronavirus relief package Monday, calling on their colleagues on Capitol Hill to strike a deal extending existing benefits now while ensuring continued government aid will be available to... Read More

WASHINGTON - More than 100 U.S. companies, including Microsoft, Estee Lauder and Target have committed to engage in nonpartisan efforts to bolster participation by their employees and customers in the 2020 elections. The initiative, called the Civic Alliance, was founded by the CAA Foundation and Democracy... Read More

WASHINGTON - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court. The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, said she began chemotherapy... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee is reducing the size of its planned presidential nominating convention in Jacksonville, Fla., in August in the face of a continued surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the state. The GOP’s plans were first reported by The Hill.... Read More

WASHINGTON - A week before Congress turns its attention to the next coronavirus relief bill, advocates for the nation's restaurants are urging lawmakers to include a number of provisions to specifically bolster the struggling industry. “In just the past two weeks alone, state and local government... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., and Bill Posey, R-Fla., have introduced legislation that would create Centers of Excellence on Harmful Algal Bloom research, prevention, response, and mitigation to aid in the fight against harmful outbreaks of red tide and blue-green algae. Between October 2017 and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill on a vote of 30 to 22.  The legislation funds the Department of Defense, including operations and maintenance, readiness activities, research and development, equipment modernization, and health and quality-of-life programs... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration has rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., is leading a bipartisan coalition that wants to add a comprehensive solution to PFAS contamination to the Fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment -- originally proposed by Dingell and passed with bipartisan support in the House in January... Read More

WASHINGTON - The recent passage of the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act provided House Democrats with a high profile opportunity to draw distinctions between how they and their Republican colleagues differ on the health care law. It was a line in the sand... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump's re-election campaign announced Monday they've hired an additional 300 staffers to help get out the vote in 20 target states. The new hires bring the field operation of Trump Victory, the joint effort of the two... Read More

WASHINGTON - The policy platform recommendations released by the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden provide little ammunition for President Donald Trump to use to right his struggling campaign. Ever since Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in the spring, Trump has searched... Read More

Nineteen months ago a Democrat who had never run for elected office stunned the political intelligentsia and won a U.S. House seat when barely anyone thought he would succeed. South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, snaking along the southeastern coastline of the state, had been reliably Republican... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., want intelligence officials to immediately notify key members of Congress when they determine -- with moderate to high confidence -- that a foreign government is deliberately seeking to kill or severely injure U.S. service members. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - When House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer explains the congressional appropriations process, it all sounds so simple. "Funding the government is the Constitutional responsibility of the Congress," he told The Well News recently, in a statement for this article. "House Democrats are committed to meeting... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a large part of eastern Oklahoma belongs to Native American tribes - a significant victory for a reservation that challenged the state's authority to prosecute crimes on its land. Writing for the majority, in the 5-4 decision, Justice... Read More

A Jacksonville attorney filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a circuit court  to declare next month’s Republican National Convention a nuisance “injurious to the health,” and require it to either be cancelled or scaled down to a much smaller event with strict mask and social distancing requirements.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that neither Article II of the Constitution nor the Supremacy Clause categorically preclude or require a heightened standard for the issuance of a state criminal subpoena to a sitting president. The 7-2 ruling by the high court in... Read More

WASHINGTON - More than 1.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, a pace that suggests employers continue to lay people off in the face of a resurgent coronavirus. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of jobless benefits claims did decline from 1.4... Read More

For the musician Nick Parker, a dream 17 years in the making was just coming to fruition when the coronavirus outbreak suddenly brought the world's arts and entertainment industries to a screeching halt. The son of the acclaimed artist Robert Andrew Parker, whose work hangs in... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a Trump administration regulation that lets employers with religious objections limit women’s access to free birth control under the Affordable Care Act. The 7-2 decision could have a profound, immediate effect on as many as 126,000 women who... Read More

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts spent a night in the hospital last month after he fell and injured his forehead while walking for exercise near his home, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Tuesday night. According to court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg, Roberts' injuries required sutures and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Voters have grown more pessimistic about a quick "v-shaped" economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, especially in the south and west where the number of new cases have spiked recently, a new poll has found. The survey released on Tuesday by... Read More

WASHINGTON— The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a 1991 law that bars robocalls to cellphones. The case, argued by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic, stems from a 2015 decision by Congress to carve out an exception to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that so-called faithless electors can be penalized if they renege on their pledge to vote for their state voters' choice for president. Writing for a nearly unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan began with a summation of the electoral... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters at his weekly pen and pad session that the House will vote later this month to remove the bust of Chief Justice Roger Taney from the U.S. Capitol. Taney wrote the infamous majority opinion in the 1857... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it would decide whether Congress may see currently redacted parts of the report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. As is their custom, the justices did not... Read More

WASHINGTON - Employers added 4.8 million jobs in June, pushing the nation's unemployment rate down to 11.1%, down from a peak of 14.7% in April, the Labor Department said Thursday. June was the second month in a row of payroll gains after a loss of more... Read More

WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans said they would feel safe patronizing a business or restaurant if they knew those who worked there were guaranteed paid sick leave if they came down with COVID-19, a new poll shows. The latest Back to Normal Barometer survey conducted... Read More

WASHINGTON - It's NAFTA no more. As of 12:01 this morning, the U.S. - Mexico - Canada trade agreement, better known as the USMCA, is in full effect, formally replacing the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement "Today marks the beginning of a new and better... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court struck down a ban on taxpayer funding for religious schools on Tuesday, saying such institutions can't be prevented from participating in programs that use public funds to support private education. The 5-4 ruling upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a series of recommendations Tuesday that it say should help facilitate the timely development of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. The agency said the guidance reflects advice it has been providing over the "past several months"... Read More

WASHINGTON — A nearly unanimous Supreme Court said Tuesday that the travel website Booking.com can trademark its name, a ruling of high significance to other companies using a generic word followed by ".com." as a name. Lower courts had sided with Booking.com, but the Trump administration... Read More

WASHINGTON - Defense policy discussions are attracting most of the attention on Capitol Hill this week as the Senate takes up the fiscal 2021 defense authorization bill on the floor and the House Armed Service Committee marks up its version. Though bitter controversies often threaten the... Read More

Proxy voting has been extended through mid-August in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Monday.  House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving, in consultation with the Office of the Attending Physician, notified Pelosi that the public health emergency due to the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic remains ongoing. “I... Read More

WASHINGTON - Members of both parties on Capitol Hill continue to demand answers from the Trump administration about reported bounties paid by Russian operatives to Afghan insurgents for targeting American troops. Administration officials held a briefing for a limited number of House Republicans on Monday, and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed President Donald Trump's ability to fire the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Monday, but left undisturbed the rest of the statute that created the agency in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. Writing for the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court upheld a provision of federal law Monday that requires foreign affiliates of U.S.-based health organizations to denounce prostitution as a condition of receiving taxpayer money to fight AIDS around the world.  Writing for the majority in the 5-3 ruling, Justice Brett... Read More

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court on Monday refused to block the execution of four federal prison inmates -- executions that will mark the first use of the death penalty on the federal level in nearly 20 years. A majority of justices declined to hear an... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights in the first big abortion case of the Trump era. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with the liberal wing of the court in ruling that... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Friday evening decline to force Texas officials to offer mail-in ballots to all voters in the state because of the threat posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The court's order is the latest development in a weeks-long battle between Texas... Read More

WASHINGTON - Barely a month after regaining its ability to take major enforcement actions, the Federal Elections Commission is once again losing its quorum. On Friday, longtime Republican commissioner Caroline Hunter submitted her letter of resignation to President Donald Trump, effective July 3. Depending on how... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally divert Pentagon funds to build a miles-long wall on the U.S. border with Mexico, a federal appeals court ruled Friday afternoon. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Confronted with an extraordinary public health crisis, the federal government moved with uncommon agility to bolster the economy and quickly establish services for those infected with the virus, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said Thursday. But in doing so it also sowed confusion, failed... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court Thursday night, arguing the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down by the Justices. Overturning the Affordable Care Act would take away health coverage for about 20 million Americans at a time... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court handed a major victory to the Trump administration on Thursday, ruling that asylum seekers have no right to a federal court hearing before being removed from the United States. The 7-2 decision reverses an earlier ruling by the 9th U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON - A policing reform bill proposed by the Senate's lone Black Republican failed to garner enough votes to pass on Wednesday after Senate Democrats said its proposed reforms didn't go far enough in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd and other African Americans... Read More

A Georgia House committee Wednesday gave its blessing to a bill that would prevent election officials from acting on their own to send mail ballot request forms to voters ahead of any election. If the bill clears both Republican controlled chambers of the Georgia legislature, and... Read More

California can't require a cancer warning label on Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, a federal judge ruled Monday, saying the state hadn't met the legal standard for such a requirement. California requires warning labels on cancer-causing products under the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. Currently... Read More

WASHINGTON - With decisions in several high profile cases pending -- including one on whether President Donald Trump can shield his financial records from Congressional scrutiny --  the U.S. Supreme court on Monday opted to rule on a case with quite a bit lower profile. By... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats unveiled a sweeping $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan on Thursday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said combines the best of several existing proposals on roads, education, broadband and more, with a particular focus on clean energy, sustainability and climate resiliency. Speaking with reporters,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed a major bipartisan public lands bill Wednesday authorizing the spending of nearly $3 billion a year on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands. The Great American Outdoors Act, which passed in a 73-25 vote,... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on Thursday ordered the removal of four portraits in the Capitol of previous House Speakers who served in the Confederacy. The move is the latest in her effort to expunge honorifics for Confederate figures from the Capitol complex. Last... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump does not have the legal authority to abruptly rescind the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a decision that for now will protect about 650,000 young immigrants from deportation. Chief Justice John Roberts,... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who represented the Trump administration in a series of high profile Supreme Court cases, is leaving the Justice Department. Francisco, who officially informed President Trump of his decision Wednesday morning, will step down on July 3. "With the current... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former President Barack Obama is making his fundraising debut for Joe Biden next week, appearing at an online event aimed at reaching thousands of small-dollar donors Biden, who was Obama's vice president, announced the fundraiser via Twitter Monday night. "Folks, I’ve got some big... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition on Tuesday endorsed the Justice in Policing Act, bicameral legislation that seeks to better hold police accountable, change the culture of law enforcement, and build trust between law enforcement and communities. “Action is long overdue," said Coalition Chair Rep. Derek... Read More

WASHINGTON - Retail sales rebounded across the country in May as a growing number of states allowed stores and restaurants to reopen and consumers were finally allowed to venture out and spend federal stimulus checks and tax refunds. According to the Commerce Department, in-store and online... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency authorization of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for treating COVID-19 as evidence mounts that the drugs don't work and can cause serious side effects. “We’ve made clear throughout the public health emergency that our actions will be guided... Read More

WASHINGTON - Nearly half of workers ages 45-64 say they are not in any rush to return to the office in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, a new "Back-to-Normal Barometer" survey has found. Released Monday, the ongoing survey's latest findings also indicate that after the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden's presidential campaign announced Monday that it raised $80.8 million in May, fueled by a daily virtual fundraising campaign the candidate and two committees associated with the Democratic Party perfected during the coronavirus pandemic. In an email sent to supporters,... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to overturn one of California's so-called “sanctuary” laws, leaving intact rules prohibiting law enforcement from aiding federal agents in taking custody of immigrants as they are released from jail. The Justice Department had asked... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a landmark ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects gay, lesbian and transgender workers from workplace discrimination. The 6-3 ruling was considered something of a surprise, given the supposed rightward tilt of the court since... Read More

Residents of Puerto Rico will be casting a telling vote this November -- one that could decide whether the island -- now a territory of the United States -- will seek statehood or not. While the referendum is non-binding because both Congress and the president would... Read More

New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed what he called the "most aggressive" police reform legislative package in the nation on Friday, just days after the state legislature moved to make officers more accountable. Among other things, the package of bills -- 10 in all --... Read More

WASHINGTON – The New Democrat Coalition Action Fund announced Friday that it is doubling down on its commitment to hold the Democratic House Majority by backing five additional challengers in their bids for Congress. These include Alyse Galvin, who is running for an at-large seat in... Read More

WASHINGTON - After an accelerated, last-minute search, the Republican National Committee has selected Jacksonville, Fla., as the site of its presidential nominating convention's keynote events, including President Donald Trump's prime-time speech accepting the GOP nomination. “We are thrilled to celebrate this momentous occasion in the great... Read More

A new tool developed by the RAND Corporation analyzes COVID-19 cases and air travel data to predict the spread of the coronavirus. According to the non-profit think tank, by providing estimates of the number of infected passengers, the tool can help policymakers better respond to the... Read More

WASHINGTON - Days after the Trump administration's use of smoke bombs and pepper spray to push demonstrators from Lafayette Park near the White House so that the entire area could be sealed off with a temporary iron fence, the barrier itself has become a statement. You... Read More

WASHINGTON - The coronavirus pandemic shaved roughly $3.9 trillion from the U.S. economy and will likely prevent the nation's quarterly growth rate from climbing above zero percent through the end of 2021, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. The gloomy forecast was laid out in... Read More

Georgians who overcame concerns about the coronavirus to participate in Tuesday's primary election encountered long lines, extended waits and a new touch screen voting system that experienced widespread problems. So bad did the situation become that by mid-morning one lawmaker, state Rep. William Boddie, declared that... Read More

Republican lawmakers in North Carolina plan to vote Tuesday on a measure that would allow President Donald Trump to speak in front of a capacity crowd at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte without the restrictions officials have imposed on other events to stop the spread... Read More

Comcast is allocating $100 million toward fighting injustice and inequality faced by African-Americans and other communities. The new initiative will encompass social-justice programs aimed at inequality against “any race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or ability,” chairman/CEO Brian Roberts announced in a memo distributed companywide on... Read More

WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democrats proposed a sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures Monday, the first legislative response to mass protests that have gripped the nation in the wake of the death of an unarmed black man while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota.... Read More

The state of Tennessee must provide all 4.1 million of its registered voters with the option of casting ballots by mail during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a state court judge ruled on Thursday. Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle held the state’s limits on absentee voting... Read More

WASHINGTON - A switch to all-by-mail voting ahead of the 2020 general election would disenfranchise Native Americans because it would be impossible for some of them to cast a ballot that way, the Native American Rights Fund says in a new report. Entitled, "Obstacles at Every... Read More

WASHINGTON - If you wanted to have a front row seat to a global viral pandemic, you probably couldn't have been in a better position to do so than Keith Herron was three months ago. The company he'd worked at for seven years as a software... Read More

A federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled Thursday that Texans cannot request mail-in ballots for the upcoming 2020 elections out of fear that they might contract the coronavirus if they vote in person. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling voids an injunction issued by... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. employers added 2.5 million jobs in May as businesses began to reopen following months of closures ordered at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic. The uptick in hiring dropped the unemployment rate to 13.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. Many economists had predicted... Read More

WASHINGTON - America's veteran population is changing, with its overall size declining, the number of women in its ranks on the rise, and a generation of Post 9-11 vets who are far more likely to suffer from a service-connected disability than their predecessors. Those are primary... Read More

WASHINGTON - Maryland's Democratic Sens. Benjamin Cardin and Chris Van Hollen on Wednesday introduced legislation in their chamber to replace the bust of Roger B. Taney, author of the Supreme Court's racist Dred Scott decision, currently on display in the U.S. Capitol, with one of former... Read More

WASHINGTON - Eagles founder and co-songwriter Don Henley urged a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday to stand by the side of artists he contends have been catastrophically harmed by a safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When it was passed in 1998, the DMCA... Read More

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday he opposes the use of active-duty military to police U.S. cities and contain current street protests over the death of George Floyd. "I've always believed and continue to believe that the National Guard is best suited for performing... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House could return to Capitol Hill early to consider legislation to overhaul policing policies in response to the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody and the nationwide protest and violence that has followed. Last week, an updated calendar for the... Read More

The Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a case that could remove about 129,000 people from the state's voter rolls ahead of the November election.  This is the second time the state's highest court considered hearing the case, having previously deadlocked on whether to take... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court declined on Monday to revive a lawsuit filed by supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who claimed the Democratic National Committee improperly tipped the scales for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primaries. As is their custom, the justices did not explain... Read More

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by a California church challenging state limits on attendance at worship services imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberals late Friday night in turning away a... Read More

WASHINGTON - A new survey has found that 36% of American workers would sue their employers if one of their co-workers contracted COVID-19 upon their return to work, and soon after contracted it themselves. Additionally, the latest "Back-to-Normal Barometer" survey conducted by Engagious, the Sports and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Radio, it has been said, is both the most intimate of all media and part of the fabric of the American experience. Whether it was through "Make Believe Ballroom" or presenting harrowing tales from the front lines during times of war or thrilling us... Read More

CHARLESTON, S.C. - It wasn't exactly a typical Friday night in what could arguably be described as the "foodie district" of Charleston, South Carolina. But it was something of a barometer of how restaurants are fighting to come back from the coronavirus outbreak. Up and down... Read More

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A day of peaceful protests in one of the South's most bucolic cities turned violent Saturday night as angry crowds smashed storefronts, battled police and engaged in clashes with business owners trying to protect their property. The daytime protest, which drew several thousand... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Friday released the updated plan for conducting congressional business into the summer. The plan and calendar emailed members states that the focus for June will be on having the House committees hold hearings and mark up and report... Read More

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The theme of the contest is most succinctly spelled out on the campaign signs that have appeared this week in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, like so many clumps of blooming Black-Eyed Susans. "Take Back the Lowcountry," the signs of Republican primary frontrunner,... Read More

WASHINGTON - A letter outlining the Republican National Committee's coronavirus safety plan for its upcoming presidential nominating convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, includes several medical checks, but makes no mention of either wearing masks or requirements for social distancing. The letter, signed by Republican National Committee... Read More

WASHINGTON - The National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists strongly condemned the early morning arrests on Friday of a CNN correspondent and his production team, as they were covering ongoing protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, over the death in police custody of George Floyd.... Read More

A majority of Hawaii residents continue to support the construction of a new observatory atop the dormant Maunakea volcano on the Big Island of the archipelago, despite protests that have brought the project to a standstill, a new poll shows. The Thirty Meter Telescope is part... Read More

The North Carolina House of Representatives on Thursday gave its near unanimous support to a bill allocating millions of dollars and granting counties more flexibility in dealing with what is expected to be a huge surge in mail-in voting in November. In most elections, only about... Read More

WASHINGTON - In an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, the House on Thursday passed legislation providing struggling small businesses with greater flexibility in using coronavirus relief loans. The bill, which amends the Paycheck Protection Program enacted in March, passed by a vote of 417-1. Introduced by Reps. Dean... Read More

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that he's informed Congress the State Department no longer considers Hong Kong to have significant autonomy under Chinese rule, a move seen as foreshadowing the end of some or all of the U.S. government's special trade and... Read More

WASHINGTON - District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday the city will lift its stay-at-home order on Friday and begin phase one of its reopening process. The details of Bowser's announcement are available here. The mayor said though new cases of the virus are still... Read More

North Carolina's health and human services secretary has asked the CEO of the Republican National Convention to provide the state with a written coronavirus safety plan for the presidential nominating event currently planned for Charlotte in August. The request by state HHS Secretary Mandy Cohen came... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with 20 other Republican lawmakers sued House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday night in a bid to block the first proxy votes in congressional history. The House is returning to Washington Wednesday to vote on a bill to reauthorize... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., announced Tuesday there will be a vote tomorrow on a measure she's championed to prohibit the collection of Americans’ internet search history and web browsing data without a warrant. Since January, Lofgren, Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, and a bipartisan coalition... Read More

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has offered his state and its "world-class facilities" to serve as host of the Republican National Convention in August, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to move the event from North Carolina unless he is assured it won't be hamstrung by... Read More

WASHINGTON - Both the New Democrat Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus endorsed legislation on Tuesday intended to make the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program work better for more businesses across the country. Since its creation in the very first coronavirus relief package, many businesses have... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress held a virtual discussion late last week on the challenges faced by district staff working remotely and the steps federal agencies can take to protect staffers as they return to the office environment. Joining the committee... Read More

The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange reopened Tuesday, and though it was largely seen as a symbolic first step toward economic recovery, the financial markets opened with a surge of optimism. In early trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 600 points,... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and several ranking House Democrats introduced legislation on Friday to protect inspectors general across the executive branch from being fired as a result of political retaliation. The Inspector General Independence Act would allow an inspector general to be... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan bill introduced in both the House and Senate this week would create a flexible, $4,000 skills training credit for workers who have lost their job due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Skills Renewal Act affords these workers the opportunity to access their... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate has left town for its annual Memorial Day recess with no agreement in sight on a fourth coronavirus economic relief bill and a schedule that suggests a new stimulus won't be done until July. Last week, the House passed the $3 trillion... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday of "deliberately misleading" the public about House remote voting rules adopted by the chamber last week. Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, McConnell said Democrats have "jammed through"... Read More

A former elections judge in Philadelphia pleaded guilty to accepting cash and "other things of value" in return for tampering with the results of city primary elections over several years, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Domenick J. Demuro pleaded guilty to “conspiring to deprive persons of... Read More

WASHINGTON - There's no question that the coronavirus outbreak that began in earnest in March profoundly affected the nature of politicking ahead of one of the most consequential elections in modern times. For instance, the latest batch of Federal Election Commission filings, released Wednesday, show that... Read More

WASHINGTON - Most Americans live in small incorporated towns and villages with populations of fewer than 5,000, a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau finds. Released on Thursday, the bureau's latest population estimates for cities and towns found that of the nation's 328.2 million people,... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Thursday that he 's decided to withdraw from yet another arms control accord, the third he's walked away from in the past two years. The Open Skies Treaty, negotiated three decades ago, allows nations to fly over each other's territory... Read More

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the nine weeks since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic reached 38.6 million last week, just as states across the nation began to take decisive steps to reopen their economies and reverse the trend. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday introduced a bill on the floor of the Senate that could have a profound effect on American movie studios as it aims to stop Chinese censorship of Hollywood films. American studios have long allowed Chinese censors to make changes... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Thursday confirmed Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence, placing him at the head of several agencies from which President Donald Trump jettisoned official after official. The last Senate-confirmed director of national intelligence, former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, left... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the release of blacked out portions of the report prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller at the conclusion of his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The court’s order, concerning a request by the House... Read More

WASHINGTON - Unemployment among the nation's travel sector workers has reached 51% heading into the Memorial Day weekend, as Americans continue to refrain from resuming their normal lives in the face of the slowly easing coronavirus pandemic, according to data from the U.S. Travel Association. In... Read More

WASHINGTON - Would you be willing to take a cruise right now? How about attending a live sporting event? Or staying in a hotel? Perhaps flying? A new survey of the travel and leisure attitudes of Americans found that more than half would take a cruise,... Read More

The number of women running America's largest corporations has reached a record high with 37 of the companies on this year's Fortune 500 being led by female CEOs, Fortune magazine announced on Monday. The Fortune 500, which ranks America's largest companies, has long been looked to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Both Congress and the American public will "suffer grave and irreparable injury" if there continues to be a delay in the release of grand jury testimony from the Robert Mueller investigation, lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee said in court papers on Monday. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan, bicameral effort is underway to provide hundreds of billions in funding to state and local governments reeling from the budgetary hit they've taken due to the coronavirus outbreak. The House bill introduced Monday by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has been tapped to be the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, taking the place of Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who stepped down last week amid an investigation into his stock transactions. Burr stepped aside after federal agents examining... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Sudan is liable for $4.3 billion in punitive damages for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224 people dead and injured thousands. Despite the court's unanimous ruling, however, it is unlikely the victims and... Read More

WASHINGTON - If there's a simple way to sum up the message Rep. Kendra Horn delivered to her colleagues and constituents during the marathon session of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, it was that enough is enough. In the first of two significant votes... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Readers of The Wall Street Journal saw an unusual, but timely advertisement in its pages this week -- an open letter urging them to encourage their employees to seek absentee ballots or vote early in person to avoid any lingering threat posed by the... Read More

For Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., the sentiments of those he was elected to serve have become a familiar refrain over the course of the coronavirus emergency. "Folks are anxious to reopen the economy, of course, but mostly, I think they're being cautious," he said. "My district... Read More

WASHINGTON - Anyone who doubts how difficult it will be to reopen the nation's public schools in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak need only spend a few moments speaking to leaders of the National School Boards Association. Public schools are the one part of American... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the rancor one hears consistently on cable news and in the Twittersphere, bipartisanship is alive and well among rank and file members of Congress, according to a new survey conducted by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown... Read More

WASHINGTON - Nearly 3 million laid-off Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total job losses since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in mid-February to roughly 36 million, the Labor Department said Thursday. An additional 842,000 people applied for aid through a separate federal... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled against President Donald Trump on Thursday in a lawsuit alleging he's violated the Constitution's emoluments clause by profiting from foreign and state government patrons at his hotel in downtown Washington. A divided 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday was asked to sort out rules for the Electoral College system of selecting a president, and to decide whether those rules allow "faithless" electors to vote as they please or instead gives states the power to remove them. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The National League of Cities is calling on the Senate and White House to embrace a new coronavirus relief bill introduced in the House on Tuesday that allocates $375 billion for the nation's smaller cities, towns, counties and villages. Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive... Read More

WASHINGTON - Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America called on Congress and the Inspector General of Veteran Affairs to look into VA oversight of state-run veterans homes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation casting light on the grave consequences of a reportedly lax inspection regimen.... Read More

WASHINGTON - Attorneys for President Donald Trump on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to toss congressional and state subpoenas seeking financial records from his bankers and accountants. In the first of the related cases heard Tuesday, the justices were asked to decide the validity of subpoenas... Read More

WASHINGTON - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, told a Senate panel on Tuesday there could be "really serious" consequences to states and cities across the United States reopening their economies too quickly. He told the Senate Health, Labor and Pensions Committee that... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats rolled out their latest package of legislation intended to provide economic relief during the coronavirus pandemic while focusing on areas that were either missed or in need of revision in other aid packages. In a briefing with reporters Tuesday morning, House Majority... Read More

A pair of congressional primaries on Tuesday could prove to be the first indicators of a brewing second blue wave come the November general election. The most high-profile of the contests is taking place in California's 25th Congressional District, in the north Los Angeles suburbs, where... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Monday told all employees working in the White House that they will now be required to wear masks whenever they are in the West Wing. The internal memo, which was distributed to staff members through the White House management office,... Read More

WASHINGTON - In recent years most arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding political divisions have involved racial and partisan gerrymandering. On Monday, the justices considered a case that asks, at its heart, whether a large swath of eastern Oklahoma remains an American Indian reservation. In... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition Action Fund endorsed Vice President Joe Biden for president on Monday, with Rep. Ami Bera of California, chair of the group, declaring "we know a winner when we see one." “Our coalition is comprised of members who had to fight... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Derek Kilmer, chairman of the New Democrat Coalition, joined with Rep. Don Beyer this week to release a draft framework for the Workers’ Relief and Security Act, bicameral legislation that would tie ongoing expanded unemployment benefits to the public health emergency and economic... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of House members led by Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is seeking to stem the stunning wave of layoffs across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic by expanding the employee retention tax credit. Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for... Read More

It was cold and rainy in Taylorville, Illinois as Rep. Rodney Davis answered his phone to discuss the new normal that comes with living through a pandemic. As Davis spoke, his wife Shannon was working as a practicing nurse at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois,... Read More

WASHINGTON - NewDEAL, a group dedicated to developing exceptional American leaders, has selected a new class of 15 elected officials to join its select membership. Leaders in the 185-person network cover 48 states and are working to enact pro-growth progressive solutions in a diverse array of... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court tossed out the convictions of two people involved in New Jersey's "Bridgegate" scandal Thursday, concluding their prosecution was a case of prosecutorial overreach. "The question presented is whether the defendants committed property fraud," said Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the unanimous... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sinclair Broadcast Group agreed on Wednesday to pay a record $48 million fine to the Federal Communications Commission to resolve allegations it failed to disclose the sponsor of paid content and misled the agency during its failed merger with Tribune Media. The conservative-leaning broadcaster... Read More

WASHINGTON - Members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus will hold what it is billing as its first "Virtual Congress" to debate the inclusion of state and local government funding in the next coronavirus relief package. The caucus says 24 lawmakers, half Republican/half Democrat, will participate... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Education Department unveiled new campus sexual assault rules on Wednesday that significantly reduce the legal liabilities for schools, narrow the scope of cases educators will be required to investigate and bolster the rights of those accused of such assualts. “Today we release a... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared to be divided Wednesday over the future of a pair of Trump administration rules that allow employers who cite a religious or moral objection to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women required by the Affordable Care Act.... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. private sector employers cut 20.2 million jobs from their payrolls in April, a stunning sign of just what the coronavirus outbreak has done to the economy in a relatively short time. In a report released Wednesday, ADP, the payroll processing company, says no... Read More

Election officials in New York State must hold a Democratic presidential primary election in June, with all qualifying candidates restored to the ballot, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, who presides in the federal court in Manhattan, came in... Read More

WASHINGTON - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday after being diagnosed with an infection, the U.S. Supreme Court announced. A statement posted on the court's website says the 87-year-old jurist underwent non-surgical treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Tuesday for acute cholecystitis, a benign... Read More

Like a lot of us, Mark Nathan noticed that no matter how successful a business trip had been, he regularly returned home only to fall ill from the bacteria and viruses he encountered on airplanes, in hotel and conference rooms and everywhere in between. What sets... Read More

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Monday that while the coronavirus remains a serious problem, enough appears to be going right that the time has come to consider reopening the state's economy. During a briefing with reporters, Northam said the number of new cases reported in Virginia... Read More

WASHINGTON - Somewhere, Alexander Graham Bell must be smiling. Some 144 years after the Scottish-born scientist invented the world's first working telephone, the U.S. Supreme Court made history Monday by hearing oral arguments using his technology and allowing the world to listen in. The justices haven't... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Library of Congress may be closed due to the coronavirus, but its manuscript division has just added the digitized papers of three presidents to its online collection. The presidencies of each of the men, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, and William McKinley all... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed the Inspectors General Independence Act, which establishes seven-year terms for the position and protects those who hold it from politically-motivated firings by only allowing removal for cause. The bill was introduced by Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., a longtime... Read More

WASHINGTON - The University of Virginia's Center for Politics made a key change Friday to its rating of the race for the Alaska Senate Seat currently occupied by GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, moving the seat from "Safe" to "Likely" Republican in November. Larry Sabato, the political... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee on Friday asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify after both Republicans and Democrats on the panel expressed concerns his deputies may have lied to Congress. The letter, which is signed by four Democrats and three Republicans, says a recent... Read More

WASHINGTON - A wealthy homeowners association on exclusive Kiawah Island in South Carolina is returning a $1 million federal loan intended to help small businesses and nonprofits after being taken to task by Rep. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C. Cunningham, who is in his first term representing South... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve said Thursday it is expanding a program that helps the government provide stimulus loans to small businesses and is designed to keep workers on payrolls during the coronavirus pandemic. In a brief statement on its website, the central bank said it... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve said Thursday it is expanding the scope and eligibility for the Main Street Lending Program, a vehicle created to help credit flow to small and medium-sized businesses that were in sound financial shape before the pandemic. When the initial terms of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday publicly denied allegations from a former staffer who says the then-senator sexually assaulted her 27 years ago. "They aren't true," Biden said in a statement emailed to reporters and also published on the website Medium. "This never... Read More

WASHINGTON - NASA awarded contracts to three companies on Thursday to design and develop human landing systems, one of which will land the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon by 2024 as part of the agency's Artemis program. The contracts were... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have struck a deal that will allow Sanders, the former White House hopeful, to keep hundreds of delegates to the Democratic National Convention. The agreement gives Sanders and his supporters a voice in helping... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that dogs, cats and other animals keep the same social distance from their counterparts as has been recommended for humans. The recommendation came after a small number of animals -- ranging from house pets to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve is expanding the eligibility criteria for a lending program intended to support the municipal bond market to allow small U.S. cities and municipalities to access needed funds from the central bank. The loosening of lending from the $500 billion fund comes... Read More

WASHINGTON - A day after announcing members would be returning to Washington, House leadership reversed course Tuesday and announced they will not bring the chamber back into session next week. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., made the announcement Tuesday morning, citing the advice of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats endorsed a bipartisan bill on Monday that would establish a commission to assess the nation's readiness to deal with future pandemics. H.R. 6429, the National Commission on COVID-19 Act, was introduced in the House by Rep. Stephanie... Read More

New York election officials on Monday canceled the state's Democratic presidential primary due to concerns over spreading the coronavirus, infuriating Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and his supporters. The decision by the New York Board of Elections was unanimous, and the board Democratic co-chairman, Douglas Kellner, brushed... Read More

WASHINGTON - NewDEAL, a network of state and local leaders, is urging Congressional leaders of both parties to consider the input of those on the front lines of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill to craft the next relief package. In... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House and Senate will return to work on Capitol Hill on May 4, some 11 days before the stay-at-home order currently in effect in the District of Columbia is set to expire. “Senators will return to Washington D.C. one week from today. We... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that an annotated version of Georgia's state law code is not subject to copyright protection because it is a "government edict" and must be free for all to use. In a 5-4 ruling, the judges rejected a copyright... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Congress acted unlawfully when it reneged on a commitment to shield Affordable Care Act insurers from financial losses in the early years of its implementation. In an 8-1 ruling, the justices held insurers are entitled to the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday tossed one of its most closely-watched cases of the term, claiming a subsequent easing of the restrictions being challenged -- a ban on transporting guns -- effectively left them with nothing to decide. The decision is a blow to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the fact that nearly every working American is doing so from home, necessitating video conferencing and the rest, the nation's power grid is doing just fine, according to the not-for-profit regulatory authority tasked with overseeing it. In a report released Thursday, the North... Read More

WASHINGTON - Due to a combination of the passage of multiple economic stimulus bills and a deep recession caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the federal deficit for the 2020 fiscal year will quadruple to $3.7 trillion, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday. In dizzying detail that... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bill introduced by two Democratic congressmen Thursday would make businesses in the previously flourishing cannabis industry eligible to apply for COVID-19 relief programs run through the Small Business Administration. In the wake of the shuttering of many businesses in mid-March, eight of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - As the House prepares to vote on a $483 billion coronavirus aid package, a majority of Americans say they'd like Congress to return to Washington immediately to try to deal with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, a new poll finds. Though Congress has passed three... Read More

WASHINGTON - Just over 4.4 million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to tame it continue to batter the U.S. economy. The Labor Department said Thursday that 4,427,000 Americans applied for benefits between April 12 and 18, bringing... Read More

A federal lawsuit filed in Arkansas on Wednesday claims the state's election laws make it virtually impossible to collect the requisite signatures for placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot. At issue in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday shelved a vote on a temporary change to House rules to allow proxy voting, announcing instead that a bipartisan panel will look at it and other issues relating to House operations during the coronavirus pandemic. During a Democratic... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal workers hoping for some clarity on when and how they will return to work in their offices got a hint on Monday, when the White House released its framework for gradually reopening the federal government. The framework, spread across 11 pages, is entitled... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Census Bureau is launching two new surveys to gather data on disruptions to households and small businesses due to the coronavirus outbreak. The bureau received emergency approval from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Sunday to conduct a Household Pulse Survey... Read More

WASHINGTON - The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus has released a lengthy checklist it hopes will help guide the White House and congressional leaders as they continue to work toward fully reopening the U.S. economy. While the caucus, which has 25 Republican and 25 Democratic members, acknowledges... Read More

WASHINGTON - Congressional negotiators and the White House reached agreement Tuesday on a $500 billion coronavirus relief bill that includes $331 billion to replenish a small business rescue fund while also providing an additional $75 billion to hospitals. The new bill also includes $25 billion to... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration Tuesday approved the first diagnostic test for the coronavirus that allows people to collect their sample at home -- a development that could greatly expand testing options in states fighting to corral the outbreak. The COVID-19 RT-PCR from LabCorp... Read More

A Milwaukee, Wisconsin health official said Tuesday that the city had identified at least seven people who appear to have contracted the coronavirus while participating in the state's controversial April 7 primary election. Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik said in a statement that six of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition urged the Trump administration Tuesday to fix problems community-based financial institutions are encountering as they try to access the Paycheck Protection Program. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Jovita Carranza, administrator of the Small Business Administration, the... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, led by Reps. Andy Levin, D-Mich., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., is pressing for the inclusion of funding and a directive in the next coronavirus stimulus bill to enable the National Labor Relations Board to hold union elections electronically. Last... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says an emergency proxy-voting plan for members that could be voted on as soon as Thursday is a fine first step, but he would like to take a second look at technology that would enable lawmakers to do more... Read More

WASHINGTON - Montana homeowners can sue Atlantic Richfield Co. under state law to get additional cleanup of arsenic left over from years of copper smelting, however, writing for the majority on a divided court, Chief Justice John Roberts said before the homeowners can proceed, they must... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that defendants in criminal trials can only be convicted by a unanimous jury, striking down a practice that has already been abandoned by all but one state. Writing for the majority on a divided court, Justice Neil Gorsuch... Read More

WASHINGTON - A bipartisan quartet of Senators is urging the chamber's leadership to support aid to local newspaper, radio and television stations in the next iteration of the federal Paycheck Protection Program. In a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority... Read More

New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered four companies to immediately stop selling unauthorized coronavirus home test kits and purported cures. "This isn’t a game," James said in a post on Twitter. "Giving people a false sense of security is not only illegal, but it also... Read More

WASHINGTON - After weeks of calls for some kind of tech-based system to allow members of Congress to work from their districts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee proposed a decidedly low-tech alternative -- having another member vote for you.... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Republican party is moving forward with plans to hold its National nominating convention in Charlotte, N.C. this summer, despite continued uncertainty over when the coronavirus outbreak will finally crest and go away. "Truthfully, there really isn't a contingency plan, at least in terms... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., are among the bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers named to a White House panel tasked with counseling the White House on when and how to get the economy moving again in the wake of the coronavirus... Read More

WASHINGTON - Ahead of an expected White House announcement on the easing of restrictions meant to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, governors across the nation are preparing for a "new normal" that will be quite different from the business as usual that existed before... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Initial unemployment claims, a proxy for layoffs, jumped by another 5.2 million last week, bringing the four-week total to about 22 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That number wipes out the total number of jobs created during the nine-and-a-half years that have elapsed... Read More

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump has signed into law bipartisan legislation that enables veterans to virtually attend Department of Veteran Affairs claims hearings from home. The legislation was introduced by Reps. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C, and John Katko, R-N.Y. in October. Prior to the bill becoming law,... Read More

WASHINGTON - In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump's name will be printed on the stimulus checks the Internal Revenue Service is about to start sending to millions of Americans across the country. The inclusion of Trump's name was first reported Wednesday by the Washington Post.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America is expanding its highly regarded rapid response program to provide aid and comfort to even more veterans during the coronavirus pandemic. Newly rebranded as the IAVA's "Quick Reaction Force," the initiative provides confidential peer-to-peer support, comprehensive care... Read More

WASHINGTON — Despite the widespread hoarding of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items that continue to leave many store shelves bare, U.S. retail sales plunged 8.7% in March, an unprecedented decline, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The deceleration of sales far outpaces the previous record... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., a tireless advocate for fiscal responsibility whether on her own or as co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats, has been awarded the 2020 Fiscal Hero award by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Each year, the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The global economy will likely experience the worst recession since the 1930s as governments around the world fight to end the coronavirus outbreak and restart their economies, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. The organization, which is headquartered just blocks from the White House,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden on Tuesday, re-entering the political fray after months of maintaining his neutrality. The former president's endorsement came a day after Biden's last remaining rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., gave his endorsement via a livestream chat. In a... Read More

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers will not return to Capitol Hill for regular legislative activity before May 4, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday. “As the country continues working together to flatten the curve, following the advice of health experts, the full Senate is not expected to travel... Read More

The governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced Monday that they've come to an agreement on a shared vision for reopening their economies and controlling COVID-19 in the future. In a joint statement, Govs. Gavin Newsom, Kate Brown and Jay Inslee, said the coronavirus outbreak had... Read More

WASHINGTON - The bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is urging the House leadership to seize opportunity from a grave national crisis and adopt new policies ensuring members can carry out their obligations to debate and vote on legislation even if they can't meet in person. In a... Read More

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a series of bills this past weekend that dramatically expand voting rights in the state, by eliminating its voter ID requirement, increasing access to early voting and making Election Day a state holiday. “Voting is a fundamental right, and these new... Read More

WASHINGTON Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president on Monday during a livestream conversation between the former rivals for the Democratic nomination. “We’ve got to make Trump a one-term president and we need you in the White House,” Sanders said. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear oral arguments by telephone conference next month, including cases involving so-called "faithless electors" and the Affordable Care Act's contraception requirement. Those cases, respectively, are Colorado Department of State v. Baca and Little Sisters of the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The results of Wisconsin's chaotic April 7 primary will be released Monday evening, immediately after local boards of election across the state finish counting the record 1.3 million absentee ballots cast. Despite widespread fears caused by the coronavirus outbreak and a series of late... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reached what conservationists are calling a historic deal to protect monarch butterflies, which pass through multiple states on their annual two-way migrations. “Completing this agreement is a huge boost for the conservation of monarch butterflies and other... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer urged the National Governors Association Friday to direct its members to collect demographic data on racial disparities and the coronavirus outbreak. Hoyer's request, directed to Govs. Larry Hogan, of Maryland, and Andrew Cuomo, of New York, the chair and... Read More

WASHINGTON - As Congress considers a fourth coronavirus relief package, it must include direct and flexible funding and resources to counties of all sizes, the National Association of Counties said this week. In a lengthy letter sent to the leaders of both the House and Senate,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration agreed on Friday to pursue bipartisan talks with members of the House and Senate on an interim bill to boost funding to the federal government's $350 million "Paycheck Protection" program. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday afternoon that he had... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the continued uncertainties related to the COVID-19 virus, government officials trying to beat back the pandemic need to resist the temptation to erect new barriers to trade, an international trade watchdog said Friday. Further, the report said, lawmakers need to take care now... Read More

WASHINGTON - To no one's surprise, the coronavirus outbreak -- once it breached our shores -- became all anyone was talking about. Fears over the pandemic and the grim death toll projections dominated the early narrative, to be surpassed later by attention focused on the federal... Read More

WASHINGTON - While Republicans and Democrats alike concede the road to the White House is paved through America's suburbs, what's less clear is how much they truly understand this rapidly changing portion of the electorate. For decades, the suburbs were synonymous with baby boomers, little league... Read More

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order Wednesday that will move the state's primary from June 2 to July 7. As he signed the order, Murphy said he was doing so to avoid scenes like those that played out Tuesday, when Wisconsin voters were... Read More

WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he believes the U.S. could reopen for business in May, following a near halt caused by the coronavirus outbreak. During an extended interview on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" program, Mnuchin said the resumption of economic activity will... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency improperly rescinded Obama-era restrictions on a class of greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), after the court struck down a portion of the rules, a federal appeals court held Tuesday. In a divided ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who made two tries to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, ended his latest bid for the White House Wednesday, conceding he is too far behind frontrunner Joe Biden to catch up. “I wish I could tell you otherwise,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Bowing to increasing pressure, acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigned Tuesday, following his profanity-laced tirade against the fired captain of the coronavirus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt. Modly’s abrupt exit came shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the mounting chorus calling for his... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee is partnering with the Democratic Party of Georgia on a massive campaign to encourage Georgians to fill out and return an application to vote by mail. Georgia's presidential and state primaries, originally planned for March 24, are now scheduled to... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday summarily removed the inspector general who was tapped to chair a special oversight board of the $2.2 trillion economic package intended to help businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus. Glenn Fine, the acting Defense Department inspector general and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- "We knew it was coming." Those were among the first words uttered by a young emergency room doctor when reached by The Well News earlier this week. The doctor, who had told his hospital he would be speaking with a reporter, nevertheless asked that... Read More

Wisconsin’s presidential preference and other primaries will proceed as scheduled Tuesday after the state Supreme Court blocked Gov. Tony Evers’ last-minute attempt to delay in-person voting by executive order. The state’s highest court, voting 4-2, agreed with Republican legislators who had argued the governor lacked the... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Age Discrimination and Employment Act allows federal employees to sue over any age bias inferred by an adverse employment action -- even when that bias isn't the driving factor behind a decision. The petitioner, Noris Babb,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court did not add any new cases to its docket Monday morning, declining, among other things, to revisit the murder conviction of the 1960s black militant formerly known as H. Rap Brown. A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he rose to fame... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a Kansas deputy sheriff did not violate a motorist's constitutional rights when he pulled over a truck owned by a driver with a revoked license. The case stems from events that occurred April 28, 2016. It was on... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Friday said it would postpone oral arguments scheduled for its April session due to the coronavirus pandemic, making it increasingly unlikely they will be able to hear every case they planned to before their summer recess begins in July. In... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy lost 701,000 jobs in March as the coronavirus outbreak spread, ending more than a decade of uninterrupted employment growth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The bureau's monthly employment situation report attributed the shedding of jobs both to the effects... Read More

WASHINGTON - The rating agency Moody's downgraded its outlook for non-bank mortgage lenders in the U.S. from "stable" to "negative" on Thursday, warning the industry faces "intense" liquidity problems due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. As previously reported in The Well News, nonbank lenders like ABC... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has directed federal courts across the nation to conduct a search for surplus medical supplies after two Florida courts discovered such stockpiles and donated them to local hospitals. Employees in the Northern District of Florida, a court... Read More

WASHINGTON - "Surreal" is the first word Shaun Thompson uses to describe what's happened to his business since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the U.S. just over a month ago. Tele-Town Hall was founded in 2006 with a single customer -- a freshman California congressman... Read More

A federal judge on Thursday refused to push back the date of Wisconsin's April 7 presidential primary despite concerns about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. U.S. District Judge William Conley's ruling came after listening to arguments Wednesday over whether the primary should be moved while dire warnings... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that it will delay its presidential nominating convention until the week of Aug. 17, citing the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic and how long it will last. “In our current climate of uncertainty, we believe the smartest approach... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formation of a bipartisan select committee to oversee the allocation of trillions of dollars in approved funding to address the coronavirus crisis and ensure taxpayers dollars are "spent carefully and effectively." Pelosi told reporters during a conference call... Read More

WASHINGTON - A pair of veterans service organizations are calling on Congress and the National Governors Association to re-examine the nation's current medical credentialing system to allow veterans with medical experience to join in the fight against COVID-19. Both the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America... Read More

WASHINGTON - While less than 16% of consumers currently pay for news and another 44% pay for entertainment, a willingness to pay for content they really want to see is on the rise, according to new research from the World Economic Forum. The resulting report, "Understanding... Read More

WASHINGTON - More than 6.6 million Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, shattering the record number for the second week in a row, the Labor Department announced Thursday. Last week, 3.3 million people filed jobless claims, meaning the two week total comes to... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Democrats unveiled a wide-ranging and ambitious plan Wednesday to significantly make over the nation's infrastructure while also tamping down on the economic distress caused by the coronavirus outbreak. “We need to invest in our infrastructure to address some of the critical impacts and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Census Bureau, which had already suspended its field operations due to the coronavirus outbreak, has announced it will further postpone those operations at least through April 15. In a written statement, the agency said it made the decision based on continuing assessments... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn has not been shy in recent weeks in touting a number of women he believes are well-qualified to be the first African-American vice president of the United States. “I really believe that we’ve reached a point in this country... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department provided some guidance Monday night on how it will award grants and loans to airlines affected by the coronavirus outbreak, urging them to apply for "payroll support" by Friday. The department said the resources it was making available online are intended... Read More

WASHINGTON - Even before Congress had passed the third economic stimulus package of the coronavirus era on Friday, talk had turned to what should be included in a currently hypothetical, but no less likely, fourth stimulus bill. Among the welcome steps taken so far are decisions... Read More

Federal judges in three states blocked efforts to shutter abortion providers during the coronavirus outbreak. In Texas, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel held that the Supreme Court has already "spoken clearly" on a woman's right to abortion and therefore Texas was acting unlawfully when it attempted... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Capitol building will remain closed to tourists through May 1, the Sergeants at Arms of the House and Senate announced Monday. The decision comes after the White House extended its voluntary guidance on social distancing to the end of April. Both moves... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a case with implications to both maritime transportation and international trade, the Supreme Court ruled a firm that contracted for a delivery of oil was obligated to provide “safe berth” for the vessel carrying it. The underlying facts of the case go back... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to Seattle's "Democracy Voucher Program," leaving in place the city's public financing program for local elections. Though the justices offered no explanation for their decision not to weigh in on the case, their... Read More

New York is postponing its April 28 presidential primary until June 23, a late date that places it at risk of forfeiting some of its delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee. The reason for the delay, which was announced Saturday, is the coronavirus outbreak... Read More

WASHINGTON - Presidential Donald Trump announced Sunday that federal social distancing guidelines that were set to expire March 30 will be extended another month, this after aggressive lobbying by his coronavirus task force. In recent days President Trump has repeatedly said the time has come to... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., and Mike Kelly, R-Pa. are the latest members of Congress to test positive for the coronavirus. The representative from Charleston had already been in self-quarantine after learning from the attending physician of the House that he'd been in contact with... Read More

Less than a week after Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo approved a board of elections request to move the state's presidential primary from April 28 to June 2, a plan to have a mostly mail-in election in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak is already taking... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package in what had to be record time on Friday, speedily sending the bill on to the White House for the president's signature. “This will deliver urgently needed relief," President Donald Trump said... Read More

WASHINGTON - Although it barely caused a ripple given the understandable focus on the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, a historic new chapter in North American commerce began two weeks ago Friday, when Canada became the third and final country to ratify the region's new trade pact. The... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. unemployment claims reached a historic high of 3.28 million last week due to a wave of layoffs and business closures stemming from the coronavirus outbreak, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The figure shattered the previous record of weekly jobless claims from October 1982... Read More

WASHINGTON - As of this week, eight states - Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio and Rhode Island - and one territory - Puerto Rico - have postponed their presidential primary elections due to the coronavirus outbreak. Additionally, three states - Alabama, Mississippi and North... Read More

WASHINGTON - Despite the fact the White House and Senate were able to reach a deal on a roughly $2 trillion stimulus bill early Wednesday, the U.S. economy is still facing a huge shock to its system, the president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve said.... Read More

WASHINGTON - With the latest economic stimulus bill stalled on Capitol Hill since Sunday, both the Blue Dogs and New Democrat coalitions in the House are calling for an end to the partisanship that is preventing the roughly $2 trillion plan from getting done. On Tuesday,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has abandoned plans to form a new super PAC dedicated to defeating President Donald Trump and is instead donating $18 million to the Democratic National Committee to achieve the same ends. In addition, the billionaire and former... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has granted requests from AT&T and Verizon to use additional spectrum to help meet escalating wireless demand during the coronavirus outbreak. AT&T has been granted authority to operate in the AWS-4 band Spectrum licensed to DISH, and... Read More

WASHINGTON -- All K-12 schools in Virginia will remain closed "at least" for the remainder of the current academic year, and all restaurants must end dine-in service, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday. Northam announced the new measures as the number of coronavirus cases in Virginia, Maryland... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that state governments cannot be sued for copyright infringement, rejecting a case filed against North Carolina over footage of a pirate shipwreck. In a unanimous ruling, the justices held North Carolina is shielded by state sovereign immunity from a... Read More

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Saturday directed the state's Department of Revenue to waive regulations and allow restaurants to include sealed containers of beer and wine for curbside pickup or to-go orders. The move came just days after McMaster ordered all restaurants in the state... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Canada-U.S. border will close to all non-essential travel in both directions Friday night, and officials are set to impose similar restrictions at the U.S. border with Mexico later today. It was only two months ago President Donald Trump signed the implementing legislation for... Read More

The leaders of Wisconsin's Republican-controlled legislature told a federal judge Thursday they are opposed to a request by Democrats to amend absentee and online primary rules in light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The state Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee filed a federal lawsuit... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House appears close to adopting new voting procedures on bills in the wake of two members testing positive for the coronavirus this week. Though the situation is evolving rapidly, as of Thursday afternoon, House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern was preparing a report... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Kurt Schrader doesn't miss a chance to reach across the aisle if it will benefit his constituents. Among the most recent of multiple examples is the Oregon representative’s introduction of H.R. 4455, the Bolstering Innovative Options to Save Immediately on Medicines (BIOSIM) Act.... Read More

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits surged to its highest level in more than two years last week, causing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to vow the government will do "everything necessary" to help families weather the coronavirus outbreak. According... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld have ended their 2020 election bids. Gabbard, who endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, left the race after poor showings in every primary and caucus but one -- American Samoa, which she won, garnering... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., is no stranger to fighting to create jobs and a stronger economy for all Americans. His latest effort in this area is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation to foster workforce training for transitioning military personnel in the growing field of solar energy.... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., knew it would be a crippling blow to her constituents and the local economy. It had been bad enough when the Republican Tax Cut and Jobs Act enacted in 2017 capped the deduction middle class taxpayers would take for their... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., is one of the leaders in a bipartisan effort to address an oft-overlooked area of jobs development -- the dramatic shortage of support professionals to work with the disabled. Rice, along with Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y., John Katko, R-N.Y., Sean... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Democratic Party sued the state of Wisconsin Wednesday in a bid to expand access to voting in response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The filing of the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin coincides with the state... Read More

WASHINGTON - Reps. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., and Joe Cunningham, D-S.C., have written a letter to the Congressional leadership, urging them to temporarily suspend tariffs imposed by the White House as part of Congress’ upcoming coronavirus response bill. Both Murphy, a member of the House Ways and... Read More

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

WASHINGTON - The head of the Democratic party asked the remaining primary states on Tuesday to embrace alternatives like voting by mail during the coronavirus crisis, rather than entertain last-minute cancellations of the vote that would only bread "more chaos and confusion." The statement from Democratic... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration announced Tuesday that individuals and businesses will be allowed to delay paying their 2019 tax bills for 90 days past the usual April 15 deadline to July 15. The extension is an effort to inject up to $300 billion into the... Read More

The first presidential primary day held against the backdrop of self-quarantines and widespread shortages of toilet paper and hand sanitizer was a mixed bag for the three states that opted to go ahead with the vote despite concerns over the global pandemic. Officials in Ohio pulled... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Senate reached a short-term deal Monday night on reinstating national security authorities that expired over the weekend, giving the chamber a chance to pivot to debate coronavirus relief legislation. Senators unanimously agreed to a 77-day extension of three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act powers... Read More

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

After hours of confusion the Ohio primary scheduled to be held Tuesday has been canceled by order of the state Health Director, Dr. Amy Acton. Acton's decision, announced shortly after 10 p.m. Monday night, capped a seven-hour period when it appeared the election was off, then... Read More

WASHINGTON - U.S. Airlines are asking for close to $60 billion in government assistance to help them deal with industry travails associated with the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Airlines for America, the trade association that represents Delta, United, American and Southwest, among other carriers, urged the Trump... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Office of Management and Budget on Sunday asked federal agencies in and around the nation's capitol to offer telework to all eligible employees, the latest in the government's evolving steps to deal with the coronavirus. In a memo sent to all agency and... Read More

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday postponed oral arguments scheduled for the rest of March, "in keeping with public health precautions recommended in response to COVID-19." In a written statement the court said it "will examine the options for rescheduling those cases in due... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House passed an emergency spending package in overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion Saturday morning, just hours after reaching an agreement with the White House on the next steps in addressing the unfolding coronavirus outbreak. The vote on the 110-page bill, which will provide billions of... Read More

Louisiana is postponing its presidential primaries, originally set for April 4, becoming the first state to take the step as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said Louisiana will now hold its presidential primaries on June 20, and will delay local... Read More

WASHINGTON - The American Constitution Society has launched a new data tracker that will monitor the gender, racial and ethnic diversity of the nation's federal courts. According to the nonpartisan legal think tank, while the overwhelming number of judges who sit on the federal courts of... Read More

WASHINGTON - Blue Wall counties that flipped to Trump in 2016 were smaller, had a less skilled workforce, and had fewer businesses than their safe blue neighbors, but most importantly, they were all predisposed to struggle in the face of manufacturing decline, a new report says.... Read More

North Charleston, South Carolina, the smaller, hard-working neighbor of the historic coastal city that shares its name, suddenly found itself at the center of a regional crisis. Home to a thriving Navy base for nearly a century, it learned in the early 1990s the massive facility... Read More

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

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

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee is moving Sunday’s presidential primary debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders from Phoenix to Washington, D.C., due to concerns over the coronavirus. In a brief written statement, DNC communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said the move was... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday that Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, a veteran of five presidential campaigns including two with Barack Obama, will now be his campaign manager, replacing Greg Schultz. The change comes after Schultz helped guide the presidential candidate to a commanding... Read More

WASHINGTON - The United States stopped drafting young men into the military in 1973, but the issue of the draft, and whether women as well as men should be subject to it, is very much alive. On March 25, the National Commission on Military, National and... Read More

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

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

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats are throwing their support behind a potential economic stimulus package aimed at helping Americans deal with the coronavirus outbreak. But in doing so, the coalition of fiscally-responsible Democrats said the crisis illustrates why running a $1 trillion... Read More

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

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

The Virginia House of Delegates has voted to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to largely strip itself of the power to draw new political maps next year, instead placing responsibility in the hands of an independent commission. By a 54-46 vote late last... Read More

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

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel held a confirmation hearing Tuesday on President Donald Trump's GOP nominee to the Federal Election Commission, a hearing that could put him a simple majority vote away from confirmation by the full chamber. The session ended without a vote and the... Read More

To settle a federal lawsuit, Georgia election officials have agreed to quickly notify voters that their absentee ballots have been rejected, allowing them time to correct mistakes and other issues, and have their ballots counted. The settlement was announced on Saturday in a joint release issued... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden's string of Super Tuesday victories has temporarily calmed fears about what a Bernie Sanders nomination or actual presidency might mean for the Washington establishment. But longtime members of the city's downtown community - those who work in the district's... Read More

WASHINGTON -- The Democratic National Committee increased the threshold for qualifying to participate in its next presidential debate, meaning the next time candidates take the stage, viewers will likely see only two: former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The new rules announced... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Blue Dog Coalition is calling on the House Budget Committee to live up to its name and produce a budget this year, in spite of the fact spending caps have been set through the end of the 2021 fiscal year. In a letter... Read More

WASHINGTON - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sharply criticized Facebook on Thursday for allowing President Donald Trump's re-election campaign to run an ad that some might confuse for the upcoming 2020 census. The U.S. Census Bureau is set to launch the once-a-decade head count on Monday with... Read More

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is dropping out of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination after a Super Tuesday route that saw her coming in third in her home state. Warren’s announcement came shortly after a conference call with staff from her home in Cambridge,... Read More

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement rebuking Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, for remarks the Senate minority leader made regarding Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning. Speaking about two hours into a rally of... Read More

California Assemblywoman Christy Smith advanced Wednesday in her bid to fill the House seat left vacant by the resignation of former Rep. Katie Hill. Smith entered the race almost immediately after Hill quit following a nude photo scandal which led to a House ethics probe. As... Read More

WASHINGTON - Rep. Henry Cuellar, a centrist House Democrat and longtime member of the fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Coalition, defeated a well-funded primary challenger backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. The contest between Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration attorney, was widely seen as... Read More

WASHINGTON - Congressional negotiators have reached an agreement to provide $8.3 billion in funding to combat the growing coronavirus outbreak. The full House is scheduled to consider the funding bill, H.R. 6074 – Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 – under suspension of its... Read More

WASHINGTON - Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. "I've had the chance to work with Joe on those issues over the years, and Joe has fought for... Read More

WASHINGTON — All eyes were on Chief Justice John Roberts Wednesday as the Supreme Court appeared to be sharply divided over issues raised during the first major abortion case of the Trump presidency. The case out of Louisiana could test whether a high court that has... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition has rolled out an ambitious policy agenda it says will reinvigorate the government while also establishing the group's goals for the remainder of the 116th Congress. In announcing their "20 for 2020" plan on Friday, the coalition, comprised of 104... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court wrestled Tuesday with the politically charged dispute over whether the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, is constitutional. The arguments the justices heard Tuesday stemmed from an appeals court decision that upheld the structure... Read More

Saturday's First-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary had the highest turnout ever recorded in the history of the contest. According to the South Carolina Democratic Party, more than 539,000 voters cast a ballot in the primary, about 7,000 more than cast a ballot in 2008, the previous record-holder... Read More

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

In the wake of complaints that Illinois' news automatic voter registration system is riddled with problems, Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill, last week convened a congressional listening session to get a handle on the problem many fear is compromising voters' rights. "We've seen firsthand that our nation's... Read More

WASHINGTON - Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, will end her presidential campaign Monday night and endorse Joe Biden at his campaign rally in Dallas. The decision comes one day after former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., departed the race, and after weeks of Democratic... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday granted petitions filed by the House and Democratic state officials to consider a lower court ruling that threatens to wipe out the Affordable Care Act. The underlying case was brought by a Republican state official who argued that when... Read More

Former Vice President Joe Biden had long said South Carolina would be his "firewall" and on Saturday, his faith in the state proved well placed as it handed him a commanding victory and his first primary win in three decades of seeking the White House. Meanwhile,... Read More

As thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump gathered outside the North Charleston Veterans Memorial Coliseum Friday, hours before his scheduled rally there, the consensus in the crowd was nothing would help his re-election bid more than Sen. Bernie Sanders being the Democratic nominee. "Why? Because... Read More

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell vowed Friday that the central bank will use its entire toolbox to support the economy in the face of worldwide fears over the coronavirus outbreak. "The fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong," Powell said. "However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to... Read More

A poll released Friday finds most Americans are deeply concerned about the security and integrity of elections, with only about a third having high confidence votes cast in the 2020 presidential election will be counted accurately. The latest Associated Press-NOC Center for Public Affairs poll was... Read More

The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief Thursday asking the Supreme Court to hear the case of an Arkansas man challenging the way a lower court assessed whether he received effective counsel during the punishment phase of his death penalty trial. Timothy Wayne Kemp was... Read More

It's the race President Donald Trump hoped would never happen. When Sen. John Isakson announced last summer that he would be vacating his seat at the end of the year due to health reasons, the president was sure he had the perfect replacement -- four-term Rep.... Read More

The Arizona Republic, which drew global attention in 2016 for endorsing a Democrat for president for the first time in its 126-year history, announced Wednesday that it will stop endorsing candidates for public office. In a lengthy column, Executive Editor Greg Burton and Editorial Page Editor... Read More

The Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats on Thursday endorsed H.R. 5209, a bill that would hold social media companies accountable for aiding in the spread of terrorist content on line. The bill, also known as the Raising the Bar Act of 2019, was introduced by... Read More

A federal appeals court has declared the winner-take-all system 48 of 50 states use to assign their electoral college votes is constitutional. A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the Texas system.... Read More

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

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, widely considered to be the political kingmaker in South Carolina, endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday, just three days ahead of the nation's First in the South primary. The endorsement was announced minutes after the two men shared the stage... Read More

It is the kind of assertion that brings a reporter up short, temporarily. To hear it twice, in two completely separate conversations, was astounding. It was the idea that as result of changing demographics and highly successful voter registration drives across the state, Sen. Lindsey Graham,... Read More

A total of 105,195 voters turned out for last weekend's Nevada Democratic caucuses surpassing the 84,000 voters who participated in 2016, the Nevada State Democratic Party said. Despite the big crowd, the numbers fell short of the record 118,000 people who participated in the 2008 caucuses.... Read More

Vice President Joe Biden holds the lead heading into the South Carolina presidential primary, opening up a 15 point gap with second place Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to a poll released Monday by Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling. Biden has led the race in the... Read More

It was an unusual way to spend a Thursday morning in January to say the least. Though the 2017 House of Delegates election was for the most part in its rear view mirror, the Virginia State Board of Elections had gathered for its closing act. Also... Read More