In The News

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

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

Election security has been under the microscope since reports of Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential election first surfaced.  The findings by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence further indicate that the Russian... Read More

WASHINGTON - The House New Democrat Coalition has asked President Donald Trump to recommit to negotiations on an infrastructure investment plan, highlighting the many benefits of bipartisan cooperation on a vital national issue. In a letter written by the coalition’s... Read More

In the wake of a scathing, bipartisan letter from lawmakers, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it will refund $100 million in fees erroneously charged to thousands of exempted veterans who participated in the VA Home Loan Program. In June,... Read More

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Legislation intended to make it easier for small businesses to comply with federal regulations passed the House with bipartisan support last week. Introduced by freshman Representative Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., the bill requires the Small Business Administration to create a centralized... Read More

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

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

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

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a second straight week demanding the resignation of Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. The demonstrations arose after hundreds of pages of offensive chat messages between the governor and... Read More

WASHINGTON - Credit reporting giant Equifax Inc. signed a settlement Monday in which it agreed to pay as much as $700 million to resolve government and consumer complaints resulting from a data breach that exposed the personal financial information of... Read More

Hawaii’s Lieutenant governor said Monday that talks to end a protest over the construction of a 14th observatory atop a sacred Hawaiian mountain are at an impasse, and he’s not sure a compromise will ever be reached. Lt. Governor Josh... Read More

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

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

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

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

WASHINGTON — Elected to Congress in 2016 after a career spent mostly in the private sector, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., was bound to see things from a decidedly nonpartisan perspective when she got to the nation's Capitol a few weeks... Read More

First-term Representatives Lucy McBath, D-Ga., and Greg Steube, R-Fla., have introduced legislation aimed at protecting disabled veterans and their families who are experiencing financial hardship. Introduced in May, the bipartisan Honoring American Veterans in Extreme Need (HAVEN) Act, H.R. 2938,... Read More

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

Controversy continues to roil Alaska, a week after the state legislature failed to overturn $444 million in budget cuts by Governor Mike Dunleavy. The latest dispute, resolved only Wednesday, concerned the location for a special session of the legislature that... Read More

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

WASHINGTON — Rodney Davis thought he knew what he was in for. After 16 years on the staff of Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., the Des Moines, Iowa, native "had some preconceived notions" about how to get things done. But after... Read More

WASHINGTON - The New Democrat Coalition has endorsed a proposal by Representative Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., to establish enhanced standards of care for people detained at the U.S. border by Customs and Border Patrol. Ruiz’s bill, the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals... Read More