Congress

The Pentagon has given the green light for the Navy to build a second Arleigh Burke-class destroyer this fiscal year at a shipyard in Maine, an announcement that could provide a boon to Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the final weeks of her exceedingly tight race for reelection. In a news release Monday, the Pentagon […]

When Sen. Richard J. Durbin first proposed what’s known as the DREAM Act, his current interns weren’t born yet. Pagers were often used instead of cellphones, and George W. Bush was president.  More than 25 years later, it hasn’t become law. And in just a few months, Durbin will leave the bill — and the […]

Lawmakers in both parties are blasting the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the execution of the man convicted of carrying out the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. “I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that,” Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member […]

This week’s release of a U.S. Army investigation into the deadly 2025 air crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is fueling calls for congressional negotiators to default to the Senate’s position on aviation safety legislation that’s been stuck in a bicameral standoff.  The investigation, completed in May but only made public on Thursday, found […]

When you land a job in most parts of the federal government or the private sector, you can expect a fairly standard step — a criminal background check.  Want to work for your member of Congress? No background check necessary. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., hopes to change that.  A resolution introduced by Cammack would amend […]

More than a year has passed since permanent authority for cybersecurity information-sharing protections expired, and there’s little sign that a standoff in the Senate over the law will end this Congress. A long-term extension of the law, titled the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, has bipartisan backing. If Democrats win control of the Senate […]

The endless fight over daylight saving time is back in the news after President Donald Trump urged the Senate to clear a House-passed bill to make it permanent. Trump said in a social media post over the weekend that Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., is the chief obstacle to the measure and gave out Cotton’s cellphone […]

As Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. hints he could retire next year, senators are watching closely. It would mean a tough confirmation process on Capitol Hill for any replacement picked by President Donald Trump, experts say. Alito, 76, has contemplated retirement but decided to stay through the end of the Supreme Court term that started […]

Two years ago, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., published a book about restoring the so-called talking filibuster and repairing what he describes as a “broken” system in the Senate. Now he’s forming an unlikely duo with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., to push a sweeping proposal to overhaul the chamber’s rules. “America today is larger, busier and […]

A 2020 law intended to protect patients from “surprise” medical bills would get an overhaul under a bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The New Jersey Democrat’s bill would replace the law’s arbitration process that insurers and providers use to reach a decision on […]