Political News

Samantha Dietel, Iowa Capital Dispatch Democratic leaders on Wednesday called on Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s $16 billion supplemental child-care funding request. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts gathered with child-care activists and other House Democrats at a press conference outside …

Jimmy Williams, Polialert In a move to provide further relief to borrowers, the Department of Education announced on Wednesday the approval of nearly $5 billion in federal student loan cancellations. This brings the total student debt relief granted under the Biden administration to an impressive $132 billion, benefiting more than …

Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Wednesday joined the growing list of Congress members heading for the U.S. Capitol exits. McCarthy’s planned departure by year’s end, following the expulsion of disgraced New York Republican Congressman George Santos, will leave the House GOP with a razor-thin majority in 2024. The California …

Ariana Figueroa, Arkansas Advocate The success of the U.S. Senate in passing a $106 billion global security supplemental aid package hinges on a bipartisan agreement about U.S. border security, but any deal was at an impasse Tuesday. “There will not be a national security bill unless and until there is …

Jimmy Williams In a significant development on Capitol Hill, the Senate has greenlit the confirmation of more than 400 military nominees. The breakthrough came after Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama announced that he would be lifting the majority of his holds, marking the end of a lengthy campaign that lasted …

Brett Wilkins Scores of independent reproductive health centers have been forced to close or stop offering abortion care, with 14 states now having no abortion clinics, a report published Tuesday revealed. Abortion Care Network (ACN) released its annual Communities Need Clinics report, which details how “abortion bans, extremist harassment, and …

Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline A group of Black and Latino voters in North Carolina say in a lawsuit that four of the state’s new congressional districts are racial gerrymanders. They are asking a panel of federal judges to declare it unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed Monday focuses on Districts 1, 6, …

Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams The U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus said Monday that most of its 103 members would oppose an emergency spending package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan that empowers the Republican House majority to undermine protections for asylum-seekers, reinstate Trump-era travel bans, and implement other anti-immigrant policies. “As Congress …

Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Monday he would end his campaign to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. In a statement on suspending his campaign, Burgum criticized the Republican National Committee’s debate structure, saying the fundraising and polling criteria “ensure advantages for candidates from …

Ariana Figueroa, Georgia Recorder As Congress negotiates the White House’s $106 billion supplemental aid request for Israel, Ukraine and U.S. border security, fights over immigration policy have tied up the request. The White House sent its proposal that includes nearly $14 billion in supplemental border security funding to Congress in late October, but it …

Rob Schofield, NC Newsline Last week, December 1 — was the day North Carolina became the 40th state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Roughly 300,000 adults who lacked health insurance last month, now have it. And if officials, providers, and nonprofits do an effective job of outreach …

Ashley Murray, Michigan Advance South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Republican colleagues stormed out of a Democratic-led U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two high-profile GOP operatives as part of an ethics probe into undisclosed financial ties to U.S. Supreme Court justices. The panel voted 11-0 …

Ariana Figueroa, Georgia Recorder Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats this week discussed how to treat gun violence as a public health crisis, in hopes of building upon last year’s federal gun safety legislation. “Across the country, gun violence is a public health epidemic,” Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, the chairman of the …

  In a televised faceoff that lasted over 90 minutes, Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gavin Newsom of California engaged in a fiery debate on Fox News, covering an array of critical issues. Touted as “The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,” the discussion, hosted by Sean Hannity,  became …

Ashley Murray, Florida Phoenix The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93. Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, Arizona of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement …