Poli Alert Politics & Civics

Jennifer Shutt, New Jersey Monitor President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders were unable to reach a bipartisan debt limit agreement during a closed-door meeting Tuesday, leaving the dispute unresolved as the country moves closer to a default predicted as soon as early June. White House staff and aides to …

Michael Moline, Florida Phoenix Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a raft of education bills into law Tuesday, including one that makes it harder for teachers’ unions to collect dues and to qualify to represent a bargaining unit. The governor took the occasion of a bill-signing ceremony at a Miami charter school …

Jennifer Shutt, Michigan Advance The U.S. government could default as soon as next month if Congress and the Biden administration can’t reach a debt limit agreement before then, according to a new analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center. The updated guidance, which puts the default window between early June and …

Ashley Murray, Georgia Recorder Lawmakers in the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation last week 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 …

Prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice have filed criminal charges against Republican Congressman George Santos of New York, sources familiar with the matter told multiple media outlets on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York filed charges against the freshman lawmaker, who is expected to appear …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams Faced with mounting calls to resign due to the impact of her extended absence, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein headed to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday after being away since late February while recovering from shingles. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the California Democrat “boarded a chartered …

A federal jury in New York found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in a civil trial stemming from allegations he raped the writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. While jurors rejected Carroll’s claim that she was raped, they found …

Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner The Republican Party of Wisconsin has invited Mayra Flores, a former Republican member of Congress from Texas who shared conspiracy theories on her Twitter account, to speak at the party’s state convention in La Crosse next month. Flores, the first Mexican-born member of the House of …

Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams As congressional leaders prepare for a Tuesday meeting at the White House, Congressman Jamie Raskin, a constitutional scholar, affirmed Sunday that if GOP lawmakers won’t raise the debt ceiling without major spending cuts, President Joe Biden can invoke the 14th Amendment to keep borrowing and avert …

James Barragán, The Texas Tribune   Rep. Bryan Slaton resigned from the Texas House on Monday after an investigation determined that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 19-year-old woman on his staff, providing her with enough alcohol before their encounter that she felt dizzy and had double vision. …

Mel Leonoe Barclay Originally published by The 19th A coalition of abortion rights advocates in Florida is set to push a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, with the launch of a public campaign to get the issue on the Florida 2024 ballot expected next …

Sneha Dey and Joshua Fechter, The Texas Tribune   After a mass shooting on Saturday at an Allen outlet mall ended with eight people dead, Texas Republicans are doubling down on their resistance to gun control legislation. A gunman used an AR-15-style weapon to open fire on shoppers on Saturday …

Sofia Resnick, Michigan Advance Anti-abortion leaders could not stop paraphrasing Winston Churchill last June after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a victory that took 50 years to realize. “While we celebrate the momentous ruling in Dobbs, we must remember that overturning Roe was not the beginning of …

By Matthew Choi, The Texas Tribune A gunman killed eight people Saturday afternoon and wounded at least seven more after he opened fire at an outlet mall in Allen, creating a scene of panic and bloodshed in the latest mass shooting in Texas. The massacre ended when a police officer …

By Zach Despart and Renzo Downey, The Texas Tribune A House committee has recommended the expulsion of Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton after finding he had engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with an aide, then acted to thwart an investigation into the matter. A scathing report by the House General …