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U.S. House GOP pushes through debt ceiling increase coupled with massive spending cuts
WASHINGTON – U.S. House Republicans on Wednesday struggled but whipped just enough votes to pass their plan to temporarily raise the nation’s borrowing limit and also cut spending by slashing key parts of President Joe Biden’s climate and tax law, potentially risking some veterans’ health benefits and imposing more work ruled on the nation’s safety […]
U.S. House GOP plan would expand work requirements for food aid for older adults
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans could face higher barriers to food assistance under the U.S. House Republican plan to cut spending while temporarily lifting the debt limit, advocates say. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act proposes returning discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing […]
U.S. Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill as lawsuit continues
WASHINGTON — The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday. The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing lower court rulings about when and how the abortion medication should be available […]
U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas. The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer screenings, […]
As opioids overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published last week. That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises. The 600-page volume — which […]
Biden says U.S. bank deposits are safe despite tumult over California bank collapse
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden reassured Americans early Monday that their money is safe in U.S. banks, after a tumultuous weekend following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a move by regulators to shut down a second lender. Americans “should feel confident that their deposits will be there, if and when they need them,” […]
Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bipartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]
House Republicans back rules plan without disclosing deals made with hard-right members
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adopted rules for the 118th Congress on Monday, though several of the concessions Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted to far right members of the Republican Party to secure the gavel weren’t included in the document, or publicly circulated ahead of the vote. The 55-page rules package the House voted nearly party-line 220-213 to adopt sets […]
House Republicans finally pick McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War. The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel on the 15th ballot by […]
U.S. House stuck for a third day as Republicans struggle to unite around a speaker
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned Thursday again without a speaker, racking up five more ballots throughout the day before members left the floor shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, with some decamping to closed-door negotiations and others leaving the Capitol. “I am not a part of any negotiations,” Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, a leading opponent of […]
House paralyzed following second day of Republican failure to elect a speaker
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans’ stalemate over who should lead the chamber for the next two years dragged on Wednesday, with Kevin McCarthy failing to get the votes needed to become speaker on three more ballots. The chamber then adjourned until 8 p.m. Eastern to give the House GOP a chance to meet privately, though House […]
GOP’s hard right flank tanks McCarthy’s bid to be House speaker on multiple ballots
WASHINGTON — Republican control of the U.S. House got off to a rocky start Tuesday when the party was unable to decide who should become speaker amid a sharp disagreement within the party’s hardline faction. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy didn’t clinch the backing of the 218 lawmakers he needed to become the head of the […]