Hantavirus, Ebola highlight political division over disease
The Trump administration’s shake-up of the United States’ public health apparatus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has public health experts concerned about the country’s ability to respond to emerging disease outbreaks like hantavirus and Ebola. Whether that’s a concern for Congress, however, often depends on the member’s party — a reaction that should […]
At the Races: Choosin’ Texas
Welcome to a special edition of At the Races! Throughout the 2026 primary season, watch for these updates from the CQ Roll Call campaign team on what you need to know for election day. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. By Daniela Altimari and Mary Ellen McIntire Texas Sen. […]
Funds to combat child exploitation added to reconciliation bill
The Homeland Security Department would get a new influx of funding to investigate child exploitation cases, including to identify victims of sexual abuse material online, under the GOP budget reconciliation bill. The $108.5 million added in a substitute amendment Tuesday would support hiring additional investigators and forensic analysts within the department. The roughly $72 billion immigration […]
Blanche says he won’t recommend pardoning Maxwell
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday he would not recommend a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a federal prison sentence for her role in a sex trafficking scheme involving deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The head of the Justice Department made the remark during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill under […]
GOP senators push for challenge to House maps in Democratic states
Senate Republicans used a hearing Tuesday to push the Trump administration to file lawsuits challenging congressional maps in California, Illinois and other Democrat-controlled states in the wake of a Supreme Court decision rolling back the Voting Rights Act. The hearing comes weeks after the Supreme Court’s six-justice conservative majority in Louisiana v. Callais overturned a […]
Massie ousted in Kentucky primary by Trump-backed challenger
Donald Trump scored a political win in eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, with his chosen candidate vanquishing Rep. Thomas Massie, a fiscal hawk with a libertarian streak who has publicly sparred with the president on spending bills, the war in Iran and the release of records related to the convicted late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Former […]
Matchups for 4 battleground House races are set in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Democrats on Tuesday picked their nominees for a handful of House races that could help determine control of the chamber this fall. Bob Brooks, a union leader and retired firefighter, won the Democratic primary to challenge freshman Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s 7th District in what was the night’s most competitive primary for […]
GOP Senate primaries in Georgia and Alabama head to June runoffs
The Republican primaries for Senate in Georgia and Alabama are heading to runoffs next month after no candidate took a majority of the vote in Tuesday’s respective primaries. In the Republican race in Georgia to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, Rep. Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley each secured spots on the June […]
Where have all the Blue Dogs gone? Ask Vicente Gonzalez
Texas Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is part of a dwindling breed — he co-chairs the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate Democrats, which counts just 10 members in the current Congress. The ideological middle was a different place when he interned at the Capitol in the 1990s, according to Gonzalez. “Back then, there was 50 or 60 […]
Former Rep. Barney Frank dead at 86
Former Rep. Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to voluntarily announce he was gay, who rose to lead the House Financial Services Committee at a seminal moment in American economic history, died Tuesday night. He was 86. The progressive Frank had among the sharpest wits of members of the House and was known at […]