Shutdown watch: Key House vote Tuesday but Senate changes expected

House Republican leaders have the votes to pass a bill Tuesday to fund the government through March 23, with a full defense appropriations bill attached to the measure, as well as two years of funding for community health centers. WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders have the votes to pass a bill Tuesday to fund the government through March 23, with a full defense appropriations bill attached to the measure, as well as two years of funding for community health centers.

Democrats jeer Trump for ‘treason’ charge

Congressional Democrats are reacting with outrage to President Trump's accusation they were "treasonous" and "un-American" for failing to applaud during his State of the Union speech. "The president once again is making a simple but scary mistake here," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said on CNN on Tuesday morning.

Lawmakers, advocates urge Trump administration to resume Equifax probe

Consumer advocates on Monday urged the Trump administration to resume an investigation into how Equifax failed to protect the personal data of millions of consumers after Reuters reported the head of the U.S. consumer watchdog has pulled back on the existing probe. On Monday, Reuters reported that Mick Mulvaney, head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , has dialed back the investigation begun by his predecessor, Richard Cordray.

Congress grapples with immigration, averting funding fight

Legislation to help young "Dreamer" immigrants struggled to gain footing in the U.S. Congress on Monday, as lawmakers prepared to hold a Tuesday vote on a short-term government funding measure to avoid a rerun of January's three-day partial shutdown. Republicans in the House of Representatives were told at a Monday night meeting that the stop-gap measure would extend funding through March 23, along with a year of defense funding and two years of funding for community health centers, lawmakers said.

PAC endorses Connie Pillich for Ohio governor

A political action committee dedicated to electing Democratic women on Tuesday endorsed Connie Pillich, the lone female remaining in the Democratic May primary for governor. Backing from EMILY's List could help boost Pillich, a former Air Force captain and ex-state lawmaker, in a five-way primary that includes former federal consumer watchdog Richard Cordray and former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

New budget barrier: Pelosi opposes pact if no ‘Dreamer’ help

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with law enforcement officials on the MS-13 street gang and border security, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018, in Washington. . Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., smiles as he meets with reporters as work continues on a plan to keep the government as a funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018.

James Comey: Connecting the Dots

If Rep. Trey Gowdy, R- S.C., really believes the House Intelligence Committee's FISA memo does not vindicate President Trump, then he must also believe it does not answer the question of when Donald Trump stopped beating Melania. Gowdy made that claim , among others, in a series of tweets on Friday and in a "Face the Nation" interview on Sunday: Rep. Trey Gowdy said the release of the controversial FISA memo by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee does not discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

House Republicans working on averting another shutdown

House Republican leaders have come out with a plan to keep the government open for six more weeks while Washington grapples with a potential follow-up budget pact and, perhaps, immigration legislation. GOP leaders announced they would seek to pass the stopgap spending bill by marrying it with a full-year, $659 billion Pentagon spending bill that's a top priority of the party's legion of defense hawks.

A House-vs.-Senate GOP Split on Intel Memo

The clearest sign that the House Republican memo criticizing the FBI's surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide won't be a blow to special prosecutor Robert Mueller is the reaction of Republicans in the Senate. While President Trump claimed that the memo "totally vindicates" him, no Republican senator has since come forward and joined him in that view.

Bipartisan immigration bill surfaces, Trump knocks it down

A bipartisan immigration proposal has surfaced in the Senate, only to be quickly knocked down by President Donald Trump via Twitter on Monday. Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons planned to propose legislation Monday that would shield from deportation immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, known as "Dreamers" helped by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.

Senators McCAIN & Coons to Introduce Bipartisan Immigration Compromise

U.S. Senators John McCain and Chris Coons will introduce legislation today to address two pressing issues , providing a path to resolve these important immigration issues and allowing Congress to devote full attention to finalizing a budget deal that fully funds the military. The legislation is a Senate companion bill to the Uniting and Securing America Act , bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Will Hurd and Pete Aguilar to protect Dreamers from deportation and provide a pathway to citizenship while implementing new border security measures.

CHART: How Trump’s Immigration Proposal Compares With Other Plans

An unexpected announcement of an agreement between top Democrats and President Trump, a quick reversal from the White House, a government shutdown, and a meeting where Trump reportedly described particular countries using vulgar language. All of these major news stories have centered around immigration - and more specifically, Washington's inability to agree on what to do as President Trump's deadline to end the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Child Arrivals policy fast approaches.

Supreme Court justices call for civility: ‘Let’s stop this nonsense’

President Trump's call for unity and bipartisanship during his State of the Union on Tuesday wasn't the only appeal for a break from the hyper-partisan atmosphere that has engulfed Washington, D.C. Along with the president, justices on the Supreme Court on at least two separate and unrelated occasions in as many weeks spoke to the need for civility. Justice Neil Gorsuch, Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, during a speech at Stockton University in New Jersey last week, and again by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who sits on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum from Gorsuch, in two different events.

What Hillary Clinton-Media Collusion? THIS Hillary Clinton-Media Collusion

On November 21, 2016, Michael Sainato at the New York Observer presented an overwhelming number of examples of 2015-2016 collusion between the press and the Hillary Clinton campaign. It serves as a definitive rebuttal of any claim that the press wasn't in the tank for Mrs. Clinton.

Trump pulls nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White for top environmental post

The White House said Sunday that Kathleen Hartnett White asked that her name be pulled from consideration for the position. President Trump withdrew the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White to be the top environmental official in the White House Saturday after Senate Democrats attacked her climate change views, and few Republicans came to her defense.

Gowdy: ‘There’s Going To Be A Russia Probe, Even Without A Dossier’

The recently-released Republican memo alleging abuses of covert surveillance powers by the Justice Department and FBI to investigate a former member of President Trump's campaign team will not have "any impact on the Russia probe," said Republican Trey Gowdy, R-S.C. Gowdy, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was speaking on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. He also said that even if the controversial Steele dossier didn't exist, that there would still be a Russia investigation.

Precinct caucuses start the sorting of candidates to become Minnesota governor

With Gov. Mark Dayton not seeking re-election this year, a wide-open race to succeed him will take center stage as precinct caucuses mark the official start of the campaign season across Minnesota on Tuesday night, Feb. 6. Both the Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican parties will conduct non-binding straw polls for governor that will test the early grassroots support for announced candidates. Caucus-goers also will start the processes for endorsing each party's candidates for two U.S. Senate seats, eight congressional seats, 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives, plus state auditor, secretary of state and attorney general.