Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

a view of a wind turbine in front of the sun

Biden administration targets deep waters near Oregon, Maine for new offshore wind power

By: - September 15, 2022

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 […]

oil well and valve

PR work for ‘Big Oil’ helped stymie climate action, U.S. House Democrats say

By: - September 14, 2022

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 […]

Senator Joe Manchin

A third of U.S. House Democrats oppose Manchin permitting deal in stopgap spending bill

By: - September 12, 2022

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

By: - September 12, 2022

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

By: - September 9, 2022

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,” […]

President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort

U.S. Justice Department to appeal Trump special master order

By: - September 8, 2022

Prosecutors are also asking the not to force them to hand over classified records that were seized in an Aug. 8 search.

Ukraine apartment building destroyed in bombing

White House requests $47 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, vaccines and more

By: - September 2, 2022

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 […]

Secret Service and Palm Beach police are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago on August 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida.

GOP lines up behind Trump after he says FBI searched Mar-a-Lago

By: - August 9, 2022

Democrats had little to say Tuesday about the apparent search, though some defended the execution of justice regardless of a person’s political power.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) gives the thumbs up as he leaves the Senate Chamber after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act at the U.S. Capitol

U.S. Senate passes major health, tax and climate bill in boost for Democrats

By: and - August 7, 2022

The 755-page bill was passed after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie in the evenly divided Senate. It now heads to the House, where Democratic leaders have announced they will take it up on Friday.

Sen. Joe Manchin walking through Senate chambers

U.S. Senate Democrats’ climate, health and tax bill clears first hurdle to passage

By: and - August 7, 2022

The U.S. Senate voted along party lines Saturday night to advance to debate on Democrats’ sweeping energy, health and taxes bill, clearing a major hurdle to passage. The 51-50 vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie, cleared the chamber to debate and vote on amendments to the measure and indicated that it had […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Climate spending in new reconciliation deal a ‘turning point’ for the U.S., supporters say

By: - July 28, 2022

Environmental advocates largely praised the climate provisions in Senate Democrats’ massive taxes, health care and energy bill released Wednesday night, saying even with provisions to help the fossil fuel industry, the measure represents a historic step toward addressing the climate crisis. The 725-page bill — made public mere hours after U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin III […]

Senator Joe Manchin

Manchin and U.S. Senate Democrats strike a deal on major health, climate, tax package

By: and - July 27, 2022

WASHINGTON — West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck an agreement Wednesday for a Democrats-only reconciliation package that would allow negotiations on some Medicare prescription drugs, end corporate tax loopholes and address climate change as well as invest in energy projects. President Joe Biden in a statement on […]