DC BUREAU
Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.
STAFF
Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories.
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.
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.
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.
STORIES
Federal prisons ‘riddled with mismanagement’ probed by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee grilled the top leader of federal prisons last week on how the agency would address staffing shortages and reports of abuse of incarcerated people. “The Bureau [of Prisons] has been riddled with mismanagement and, sadly, with scandal,” the chair of the committee, Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin, […]
U.S. Senate approves stopgap spending bill with disaster relief, heating aid
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate approved broadly bipartisan legislation Thursday that would provide billions for natural disaster relief, military and economic aid to Ukraine and funding to help low-income families offset the rising costs of heating and cooling their homes. It includes $2.5 billion in assistance for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire that burned large […]
Manchin seeks bipartisan ‘sweet spot’ for a new try at his energy permitting bill
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators from both parties said Wednesday they hope to negotiate an energy permitting reform bill yet this year, reviving efforts to streamline the process after West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III had to pull back his plan amid broad opposition. The Manchin proposal was attached to a must-pass government funding bill […]
Stopgap spending bill advances in U.S. Senate after Manchin pulls his energy plan
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate advanced a catchall spending package Tuesday that would provide billions to aid Ukraine’s war effort, help communities throughout the country recover from natural disasters and keep the federal government funded through mid-December. Democrats and Republicans voted 72-23 to move the measure toward a final vote later this week—a success that […]
Key U.S. Senate panel advances bill aimed at preventing another Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee on Tuesday passed legislation that would update an 1887 elections law and clarify how electoral votes are certified, with the hopes of averting another attempt to overturn a presidential election. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, put forth the bill, […]
U.S. House panel investigating Jan. 6 attack postpones hearing
WASHINGTON — A Wednesday hearing planned by the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has been postponed due to Hurricane Ian nearing landfall in Florida. A new date has not been announced. “In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to […]
Republicans in Congress say they’d keep federal abortion funding in cases of rape, incest
WASHINGTON — A nearly 50-year-old federal law backed by Republicans allows the use of federal dollars for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save a patient’s life. That so-called Hyde Amendment, which is folded into spending bills, is less stringent than new or planned abortion bans in some GOP-led states, where governors and […]
Tribal law enforcement boosted under bill proposed by members of Congress from the West
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers re-introduced legislation last week to provide more resources for tribal law enforcement, an issue they say has become more urgent as Congress begins to consider how to respond to a July Supreme Court case that complicated state-tribal criminal jurisdiction. The bill, introduced Thursday in the House by U.S. Rep. […]
U.S. House GOP outlines agenda in bid for control in the midterms
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans gathered inside a warehouse in Southwestern Pennsylvania on Friday to outline the legislation they’d try to enact if voters give them back control of that chamber following the November midterm elections. Speaking from an HVAC factory in Monongahela, about an hour south of Pittsburgh, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said […]
Faith leaders urge minimum wage hike, expanded child tax credit as Congress nears recess
WASHINGTON — Faith leaders pressed Congress to pass voting rights legislation, a $15 minimum wage and a permanent expansion of the child tax credit during a Thursday briefing on Capitol Hill. “Poverty is a policy choice,” Rev. Dr. William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said to lawmakers. Barber, who is the pastor of […]
U.S. House passes bill reforming Electoral Count Act to stop Jan. 6 repeat
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House passed on Wednesday a bill updating a 19th-century law in an attempt to prevent the subversion of future presidential elections. The Presidential Election Reform Act, which passed 229-203, is meant to deter a repeat of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, in which the U.S. Capitol was attacked by a […]
Clash over climate change funding emerging in farm bill debate
WASHINGTON — As lawmakers begin envisioning the next farm bill, some U.S. House Republicans are wary of making climate change a priority for farmers and ranchers. The pushback from Republicans at a Tuesday hearing came as the Biden administration has tried to make significant new investments in climate change mitigation on farmland, last week […]