DC BUREAU

Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.

STAFF

Jane Norman

DC Bureau Chief

Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories.

Jacob Fischler

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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.

Ashley Murray

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

Jennifer Shutt

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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.

Ariana Figueroa

DC Bureau Reporter

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

STORIES

Biden, McCarthy say they have brokered a debt limit deal to avert U.S. default

BY: and - May 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a deal in principle Saturday night that would stave off a first-ever default on the nation’s debt as long as it can clear both chambers of Congress before June 5. The agreement would address the nation’s debt limit and include a “historic” reduction in spending, McCarthy said, though […]

a syringe, pills and a vial of fentanyl

Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House

BY: - May 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation Thursday in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from the Biden administration, would […]

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Biden wetlands regulation, ruling for Idaho couple

BY: - May 25, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable water. All nine justices agreed to […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, speaks with reporters about the debt limit and government funding negotiations outside the Capitol building

With debt default as soon as a week away, U.S. House jets off for holiday break

BY: - May 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House members walked down the steps of the Capitol building Thursday morning to head back to their districts for a Memorial Day recess that began exactly one week before the country could default on the debt. House Democrats took to the floor after the final vote of the week to give a […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, holds a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall

After years of bipartisan spending boosts, U.S. House GOP won’t lift debt ceiling without cuts

BY: - May 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress together brokered dozens of debt limit agreements, including several during the past decade, marked by a desire in both political parties to increase federal spending. But U.S. House Republicans now are pushing for the federal government to spend less next year than it will this year in order […]

An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022 in El Paso, Texas.

New bipartisan immigration legislation proposed in U.S. House

BY: - May 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of six U.S. House lawmakers on Tuesday described details of proposed legislation that would create a legal pathway for citizenship for undocumented people through work requirements, and would also fund border security measures.  The two Latinas who spearheaded the bill, Reps. Veronica Escobar, a Texas Democrat, and María Elvira Salazar, […]

Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet

BY: and - May 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy left their closely watched meeting Monday without an agreement on government spending or the debt limit, prolonging a stalemate that could soon disrupt Americans’ everyday lives as well as the global economy.  Both struck a positive tone Monday, though neither divulged details about what remains unresolved […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy outside the White House

Biden says he’s offered $1 trillion in spending cuts but GOP won’t budge on debt limit

BY: - May 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday his administration has offered $1 trillion in spending cuts as part of the ongoing talks with Republicans around a budget agreement, but he said no deal has yet been reached.  Biden, speaking from Japan during a press conference following the G7 summit, said his administration wants House Speaker […]

Volunteer escorts gather outside Delta Clinic in Baton Rouge

Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers

BY: - May 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger the Federal […]

Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender student athlete, speaks at a press conference on LGBTQI+ rights, at the U.S. Capitol

U.S. House GOP questions education secretary on transgender athletes, student loans

BY: - May 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on Tuesday grilled the secretary of education about student debt cancellation and protections for transgender student athletes during a lengthy hearing on the president’s proposed budget request for the Department of Education. While the subject of the five-hour House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing was the fiscal 2024 budget […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy outside the White House

Some movement reported in debt limit talks as Biden cuts short overseas trip

BY: and - May 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and congressional leaders struggled to find common ground on the debt ceiling during a Tuesday meeting, though lawmakers said afterward there was some progress toward a deal. Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will become the two primary negotiators on a bipartisan debt limit bill that could include other […]

The view from atop an offshore drilling platform shows a derrick, various pipes and a flame atop the derrick from vented gas.

Speedier permitting of energy projects gains bipartisan backing on U.S. Senate panel

BY: - May 11, 2023

Members of both parties on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voiced their support Thursday for reforming the federal process for approving energy projects, saying it should be prioritized to secure domestic energy supply and boost renewable energy. There is bipartisan interest in revising the permitting process and members of both parties have […]