Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Even if Democrats are favored to take back the House of Representatives later this year -- though their clear-cut advantage has eroded in recent days amid terrific economic news and a failed Democratic government shutdown -- the Senate is a different story. The 2018 map heavily favors Republicans, so much so that it would take a gigantic blue wave to wipe away their upper chamber majority.
Key Takeaway: Voucher advocates inadvertently paved the way for Democrats' plans to skirt a punitive element of the new tax law. When Republicans in Congress pieced together the new tax law, they included a particularly partisan element, placing a disproportionate tax burden on taxpayers in so-called Blue states-those that voted for Hillary Clinton in the last election.
"Good evening, everybody. It may be time to declare war outright against the deep state and clear out the rot in the upper levels of the FBI and the Justice Department."
Bank of America is ending its free checking option, upsetting some customers enough that they've vowed to close their accounts. Customers who had free checking have been moved into accounts where they must maintain a minimum monthly balance of $1,500 or have at least $250 in direct deposits, or they will be charged $12 a month in maintenance fees, the Chicago Tribune reported.
While Democrats didn't land a deal on immigration, the recent agreement to reopen the government nonetheless laid the groundwork for a potential Senate floor debate. "We're very pleased with how it worked out," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tuesday about the short-lived government shutdown, which drew attention to the standoff over the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program .
"I had my legs blown off in Iraq, and because I had my legs blown off in Iraq, people are listening to me. I'm not going to get my legs back, and that's fine, but if that gives me a platform to talk about the things that are important to me, like education and jobs, that's great."
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York speaks to reporters following a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Hopes for a fresh start on immigration slammed into political reality Tuesday as the Senate's top Democrat said he rescinded an offer to President Donald Trump on a border wall and the White House called an emerging bipartisan compromise "dead on arrival."
Sen. Tammy Duckworth will make history when she becomes the first sitting senator in history to give birth later this year, her office said Tuesday. "Bryan and I are thrilled that our family is getting a little bit bigger, and Abigail is ecstatic to welcome her baby sister home this spring," she said in a statement.
He was there to talk about the current state of the Minnesota Legislature. But Sen. Gary Dahms said it was hard to make any predictions about the upcoming session.
The Senate on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump's selection of Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve beginning next month.
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords speaks, as her husband, Mark Kelly looks on, during the memorial dedication for Tucson's January 8th Memorial at El Presidio Park in Tucson on Jan. 8, 2018. The dedication was held on the seven-year anniversary of the Tucson-area mass shooting that left six people dead and 13 others injured, including Giffords.
Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, will become the first United States senator to give birth while in that office when she delivers her second child this spring, she announced on Tuesday. Ms. Duckworth, who gave birth to her daughter Abigail in November 2014 while serving in the House of Representatives, is already one of only 10 women who have given birth while serving in Congress.
Bill Cosby is suddenly out and about in his hometown of Philadelphia in what legal experts say appears to be an effort by the comedian to rebuild his good-guy image ahead of his retrial on sexual assault charges in the spring. In the past two weeks, the 80-year-old Cosby emerged from a long period of near-seclusion to have dinner with friends at a restaurant and gave his first comedy performance in more than two years.
Two lawmakers are calling for Facebook and Twitter to immediately investigate allegations that Russian accounts engaged in a social media campaign aimed at undermining Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign. "If these reports are accurate, we are witnessing an ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors," Senator Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff say in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
WASHINGTON – The deal that ended the government shutdown on Monday paved the way for Senate consideration of immigration legislation, but it did nothing to ensure that the House would act on such a bill – or that President Trump would sign it. That has raised fears among immigrant advocates that the shutdown-ending compromise merely sets up a repeat of what happened five years ago, when eight senators forged an immigration deal that passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House after the GOP's conservative base revolted against any attempt to give "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
As the dust settled Monday on an agreement to reopen the government, the path forward for immigration remained as murky as ever. Democrats and Republicans who worked to break the impasse over the shutdown spun their vote to accept a slightly shorter continuing resolution as a victory because of a commitment to turn to immigration.
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday to permanently eliminate earmarks, a system of spending in Congress that allows funds for a specific purpose to be drawn into a larger federal spending bill. "The swampiest of swamp creatures is what earmarks are," McCaskill said.
President Trump signed a short-term spending bill that will fund the government through Feb. 8, ending a weekend-long government shutdown. The measure also extends the Children's Health Insurance Program through 2023 and suspends three Obamacare-related taxes and fees.
Prominent immigrant advocacy groups are skewering Democratic senators for relenting in a fight that linked immigration changes to continued government funding. The youth group United We Dream says Senate Democrats who supported a deal to keep the government running through Feb. 8 are "enablers" of President Donald Trump's agenda.
Congress sped toward reopening the government late Monday as Democrats reluctantly voted to temporarily pay for resumed operations. They relented in return for Republican assurances that the Senate will soon take up the plight of young immigrant "dreamers" and other contentious issues.