In The News

NEW YORK (AP) — National lawmakers introduced a joint resolution Wednesday aimed at striking language from the U.S. Constitution that enshrines a form of slavery in America’s foundational documents. The resolution, spearheaded and supported by Democratic members of the House... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — After four years of President Donald Trump serving as his own chief spokesperson and frequently peddling false information and conspiracy theories in the process, successor Joe Biden is pledging to return to a more traditional approach to... Read More

It might be time for Attorney General William Barr to start packing his bags. President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he may fire Barr over his affirmation that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election. "Ask me that in a number of... Read More

WASHINGTON – In a release this week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced new regulations for animals flying on planes, including guidance that no longer recognizes emotional support animals as service animals. Additionally, dogs will be the only animals recognized... Read More

To those who felt their lives were just a little bit emptier after a canvassing board in Iowa certified the results in that state's 2nd Congressional District, declaring a winner in a race in which the candidates were separated by... Read More

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.... 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... 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... 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... Read More

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to announce several of his administration's health leaders as soon as next week as he considers two governors and a former surgeon general to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, according to people familiar with... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee will subpoena Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross unless the Commerce Department hands over internal documents detailing delays and issues with data related to the 2020 census, the committee chairwoman warned in a letter Wednesday. In the letter, chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D- N.Y., accused... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander's farewell speech to the chamber in which he's served for 18 years — and was a staffer decades earlier — was a reminder to colleagues of why the retiring Tennessee Republican was such a popular and effective public figure. Alexander's... Read More

WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kelly took the oath of office Wednesday, following the path of Ohio's John Glenn and others who once orbited the Earth and later landed on Capitol Hill. The Arizona Democrat, a former NASA astronaut and Navy pilot who flew combat missions in the Persian Gulf, was sworn... Read More

WASHINGTON — The next few months of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be the most difficult yet, warned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, who said the agency would cooperate with the incoming Biden administration. Redfield's remarks at a U.S. Chamber of... Read More

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 aid talks got a jolt of momentum Wednesday when the top Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill all but endorsed a $908 billion interim package a bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled the previous day. In a joint statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate... Read More

ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to drop unproven allegations of voting fraud in the state. At a news conference at the Georgia Capitol, Raffensperger decried Trump's continued insistence that voter fraud cost him the election in Georgia and elsewhere.... Read More

WASHINGTON — For the White House holiday parties that began this week, the decor was a mix of holiday fantasy and pandemic reality. A toy train scooted around a table festooned with garlands while a masked military band played. Servers stood behind plexiglass... Read More

WASHINGTON — Should a federal law that protects National Guard members and reservists from being fired from their private sector jobs while they are deployed also apply to state government jobs? Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court hinted it might weigh in on the issue.... 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... 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,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- Reps. Stephanie Murphy, of Florida, and Jimmy Panetta, of California, have been named chief deputy whips for the 117th Congress, House Majority Whip James Clyburn announced Wednesday. In addition, Clyburn announced that Reps. G.K. Butterfield, of North Carolina,... Read More

WASHINGTON -- As part of the official launch of its Academic Leaders Task Force on Campus Free Expression Initiative, the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank dedicated to bipartisanship, hosted a roundtable discussion on campus free expression faced... Read More

WASHINGTON — Congress will emerge from the Trump administration with weakened power to check a president or oversee the operation of the federal government, the most consequential fallout experts see for lawmakers after four years of nearly constant high-profile courtroom showdowns with a... Read More

Historians and watchdog groups sued the Trump administration again over its alleged failure to preserve White House records. "With President Trump's term in office soon coming to an end," the White House's flouting of record-keeping requirements could deprive historians and the public "of records documenting a... Read More

WASHINGTON — Congress is focused this week on negotiating a government funding deal and determining whether bipartisan consensus can be reached to enact any additional COVID-19 relief before year's end. Those fiscal negotiations will continue among top appropriators, congressional leaders and their staffs... Read More

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans split on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's decision to end most of the emergency lending facilities established at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic at a Senate hearing Tuesday. "Even the Chamber of Commerce said that shutting down the emergency lending programs 'closes the door on important... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Zoe Lofgren spent her summer doing "a very nerdlike" line-by-line reading of the 55-year-old law that governs U.S. immigration policy in anticipation of widespread Democratic election wins that would give her party the ability to enact a massive immigration overhaul next year.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force on Tuesday that its new guidance would cut quarantine time for individuals exposed to the virus by as much as half, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration will not automatically authorize emergency use of coronavirus vaccines before completing a rigorous independent review, despite heightened expectations that two vaccine candidates will be available to Americans this month, Dr. Stephen Hahn, FDA commissioner, told McClatchy in... Read More

WASHINGTON — Health care workers and residents at long-term care centers should be first in line for COVID-19 vaccines, key government advisers urged Tuesday, citing the high risk for infection within the two groups and the positive effects on hospital care.... Read More