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The battle for control of Congress: Abortion, inflation, crime and Biden
In this file photo from January 2020, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, leaves the Senate chamber during a brief recess during the impeachment trial proceedings at the U.S. Capitol. McConnell said odds are even for Republicans to regain control of Congress in the midterm elections. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Biden to pardon all federal offenses for simple marijuana possession, review criminalization
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. Biden then called on governors to follow suit with state offenses for simple marijuana possession, saying that “just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the […]
A new justice at the U.S. Supreme Court, and an Idaho wetlands case up first
When the U.S. Supreme Court opens its fall term on Monday, a few things will be different. A Black woman, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, will hear oral arguments for the first time ever. And the public will be allowed into the room for the first time since early 2020. The content of the term’s first […]
‘Crisis pregnancy centers’ that oppose abortion questioned by U.S. Senate Democrats
Seven U.S. Senate Democrats questioned a leading Ohio-based antiabortion group Tuesday about its practice of collecting personal information from patients seeking abortions. So-called crisis pregnancy centers—facilities that often mirror abortion provider aesthetics but actually provide services to discourage abortion—collect sensitive data from patients. That presents troubling new complications as states move to increase penalties for […]
Biden administration targets deep waters near Oregon, Maine for new offshore wind power
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will seek to add deep-water offshore wind energy, a developing technology that isn’t yet widely used, to its mix of renewable energy sources, administration leaders said Thursday. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told reporters on a White House call that their departments would advance efforts to […]
PR work for ‘Big Oil’ helped stymie climate action, U.S. House Democrats say
WASHINGTON – Public relations firms aligned with oil and gas companies have tested the limits of their industry ethics and caused major slowdowns to federal climate change policy, Democrats on a U.S. House panel said at a Wednesday hearing. The firms’ conduct went beyond the bounds of ethical public relations work, Democrats on the House […]
A third of U.S. House Democrats oppose Manchin permitting deal in stopgap spending bill
WASHINGTON – The group of U.S. House Democrats asking the chamber’s leaders not to include environmental permitting changes in a stopgap spending deal this month comprises 72 members, including senior leaders of budget and spending committees and factions across the caucus’ ideological spectrum. The 72 signers on a letter sent late last week make up […]
Confronting history, Congress studies addition of lynching sites to national park system
The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent racial history. A bill from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, […]
Biden slams ‘extreme MAGA Republicans’ as Democrats launch drive to midterm election
President Joe Biden in a Thursday night speech to a crowd of party faithful promoted legislation passed by the Democratic Congress and attacked supporters of former President Donald Trump for defending rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “Extreme MAGA Republicans just don’t threaten our personal, economic rights. They embrace political violence,” […]
U.S. Justice Department to appeal Trump special master order
Prosecutors are also asking the not to force them to hand over classified records that were seized in an Aug. 8 search.
White House requests $47 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, vaccines and more
The Biden administration is asking Congress for emergency funding to support Ukraine’s military, national COVID and monkeypox responses and to help communities affected by natural disasters. The current fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and Congress has not passed a funding measure for next year, so a short-term bill would be needed to keep the government […]
GOP lines up behind Trump after he says FBI searched Mar-a-Lago
Democrats had little to say Tuesday about the apparent search, though some defended the execution of justice regardless of a person’s political power.