Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin

Bipartisan group predicts U.S. debt default as soon as summer, depending on tax receipts

By: - February 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan think tank expects that the United States will default on its debt in the summer or early fall, if Congress doesn’t take action to address the debt limit before then.  The timeline is similar to one the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released last week, saying lawmakers have until sometime between July […]

Abortion drug pills and drinking water

Attorneys general from Democratic-led states urge judge to keep abortion pill legal

By: - February 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — Attorneys general from 21 Democratic-leaning states are calling on a Texas judge to keep the abortion pill on the market, rejecting claims anti-abortion medical groups made in a lawsuit that’s centered on the medication’s approval more than two decades ago.  The latest brief in the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food […]

Abortion pill

Attorneys general from 23 GOP-led states back suit seeking to block abortion pill

By: - February 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — Attorneys general representing nearly two dozen Republican states are backing a lawsuit that would remove the abortion pill from throughout the United States after more than two decades, eliminating the option even in states where abortion access remains legal.   The state of Missouri filed its own brief in the case Friday while Mississippi […]

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrive to a meeting with governors visiting from states around the country in the East Room of the White House

Biden meets with governors, urges them to implement laws allocating billions to states

By: - February 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — Governors from throughout the country met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday to hash out the best way to implement the billions of federal dollars flowing to their states from both bipartisan and Democratic legislation.  Biden, who typically meets with the governors when they’re in Washington, D.C., for their […]

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, right, greets Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, before the first hearing of the Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee

New U.S. House weaponization panel to probe FBI, IRS, ATF

By: - February 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Democrats on Thursday urged the GOP lawmakers running the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to work with them on genuine oversight investigations that weren’t political or focused on leveling grievances.  Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said during the panel’s first hearing that the subcommittee “could conceivably […]

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in 2022

Who’s on the guest list for the State of the Union speech?

By: and - February 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — While members of Congress may not be able to speak during the State of the Union address, they often get their message across through the guests they bring. This year is no exception. Lawmakers through their invitees attempted to signal their approval or disapproval of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, or […]

U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, gives a thumbs-up after being elected Speaker of the House

U.S. House speaker calls for ‘responsible’ debt limit legislation, shares few details

By: - February 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday said the greatest threat to the nation’s future is the rising national debt, though he gave few specifics for how he planned to lower deficit spending or avoid a first-ever default on the debt this year.  The California Republican, in a 10-minute address from the U.S. […]

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds speaks to reporters following a closed-door meeting on the debt limit, in the Capitol basement

Biden, McCarthy hold ‘productive’ and ‘frank’ debt limit talks as fiscal cliffs loom

By: - February 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy huddled behind closed doors at the White House on Wednesday in the first of what will likely be several conversations as the country approaches two fiscal cliffs this year amid divided government.  The top issue at the moment is when and how to address […]

U.S. Capitol

Of more than 7,500 threats against members of Congress in 2022, just 22 prosecuted

By: - January 31, 2023

WASHINGTON —  Members of Congress receive thousands of threats a year, though just a fraction of the people who call, mail or email will ever be prosecuted — a situation that’s of great concern to the police who guard members. Just 22 of the 7,501 threats lobbed at members during 2022 led to prosecution, the […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, responds to reporters' questions about a White House meeting with Democratic congressional leaders on the nation's debt limit

Biden, Democrats to U.S. House Republicans: Show us your debt limit plan

By: - January 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders huddled with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, ahead of what will be a tumultuous few months, with lawmakers sharply divided on the debt limit and short on time.  “I have no intention of letting the Republicans wreck our economy, nor does anybody around this table,” Biden said […]

a woman holding a pill in one hand and a glass of water in the other

Federal judge could decide as soon as February to yank abortion pill nationwide

By: - January 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — A Texas judge could decide as soon as next month whether to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States.  A nationwide injunction in the case, as requested by anti-abortion groups, would […]

US Capitol

U.S. to hit debt limit much sooner than expected, thrusting Congress into showdown

By: - January 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government will hit its borrowing limit next week, forcing the new, divided Congress into negotiations over the debt limit much sooner than expected, though a potential date for the nation to default isn’t expected until this summer. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Congress on Friday afternoon, telling leaders the United […]