Jennifer Shutt, Michigan Advance The Biden administration on Tuesday asked Congress for billions more in funding this year to address COVID-19 and the ongoing war in Ukraine, suggesting lawmakers attach it to a spending bill that must pass before Dec. 16. The $9 billion request for COVID-19 operations and nearly …

Jennifer Shutt, Virginia Mercury U.S. Senate cleared a key hurdle to passing a marriage equality bill Wednesday, garnering even more than the 60 senators from both political parties needed to move past a legislative filibuster. The bill, which could win final passage in the Senate as soon as this week, …

Jason Hancock, Missouri Independent A Missouri judge on Monday ruled staff in the attorney general’s office, while it was being run by now-U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, used private email accounts to “knowingly and purposefully” subvert the state’s open records law. Cole County Judge Jon Beetem determined the attorney general’s office …

The FBI has officially announced that a single minor youth is the main suspect in most racially motivated bomb threats to dozens of Historically Black Colleges and Universities earlier this year that terrorized students. The FBI in a statement on Monday did not release any further details — only that the individual …

Stephen Fowler, GPB News A coalition of Democratic groups announced they are suing the state of Georgia over its interpretation of a state law that disallows an optional Saturday of early voting before the Dec. 6 U.S. Senate runoff. In a press release, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Warnock …

Jacob Fischler, Florida Phoenix Former President Donald Trump, whose lies about his reelection loss in 2020 precipitated an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Tuesday he will make another run for the White House in 2024. His announcement came only a week after a disappointing showing by Republicans — …

Stephen Neukam and Matthew Choi, The Texas Tribune A fight is brewing between Senate Republicans as they prepare to pick their leader for the next Congress — and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is among a loud cohort voicing their discontent with leadership after the party failed to retake control …

Jacob Fischler, Michigan Advance The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, denying a request from Arizona Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her husband to block the panel from obtaining their cellphone records. The court’s two-paragraph order ends …

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Sunday said congressional Democrats should use the upcoming lame-duck session to eliminate the U.S. debt ceiling for good, warning that leaving the borrowing limit intact gives Republicans an opening to hold the economy hostage. “I’d get rid of the debt ceiling altogether,” Warren (D-Mass.) told NBC‘s …

Ariana Figueroa, Virginia Mercury A federal appeals court on Monday issued a nationwide injunction indefinitely blocking the Biden administration’s student debt relief program in response to a challenge by six GOP-led states. The unanimous ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis came after the six states — Nebraska, …

Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams Less than a month after he expressed eagerness to provide testimony on live television, former President Donald Trump sued the House January 6 panel to block a subpoena ordering him to testify. In a lawsuit filed Friday night in the Southern District of Florida, Trump’s legal …

On Friday night, two additional Democratic candidates for secretary of state defeated Republicans who endorsed former President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential contest was stolen, delivering another blow to far-right conspiracy theorists running for top elections posts. In Arizona, Democrat Adrian Fontes beat his Republican opponent Mark Finchem, …

Ariana Figueroa, Virginia Mercury Young Black and Latino voters were critical in holding off the Republican “red wave” in several battleground states for U.S. Senate seats and in tight U.S. House races in the midterm elections, according to analyses by researchers and grassroot organizations. Young, diverse voters between the ages …

By Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, considered a rising star among Texas Democrats, overcame a vigorous challenge from a well-funded Republican opponent Tuesday night and barely held on to her seat overseeing the state’s most populous urban county. Hidalgo faced a steep fundraising disadvantage, attacks …

April Corbin Girnus, Nevada Current In a nailbiter watched all over the country, Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto prevailed over challenger Republican Adam Laxalt and secured Democratic control of the U.S. Senate in the process. Cortez Masto was considered by many to be one of the most vulnerable U.S. …