Harvey aid, debt on returning Congress’ daunting to-do list

Harvey has scrambled the equation for Congress as lawmakers return to Washington Tuesday. . In this Feb. 27, 2017 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington, following their meeting wit... The expected crush of interviews, subpoenas and testimony this fall underscores both the broad scope of the Russia probes and the certainty that they will shadow Trump's presidency for months or even years.

Harvey changes the equation as Congress returns

Harvey has scrambled the equation for Congress as lawmakers get ready to return to Washington on Tuesday after a five-week summer recess. A daunting workload awaits, including funding the government by month's end and increasing the federal borrowing limit to head off a catastrophic first-ever default.

APLU Urges Congress to Take Swift Action to Protect DACA Participants

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President Peter McPherson today sent the following letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan , Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi , and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressing strong support for swift congressional action that would, at a minimum, codify the provisions of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy into law. On behalf of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities I write to strongly support swift congressional action which will, at a minimum, codify the provisions of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy into law.

Trump’s summer of discontent bleeds into high-stakes fall

In this July 31, 2017 photo, President Donald Trump talks with new White House Chief of Staff John Kelly after he was privately sworn in during a ceremony in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump in Washington. After a summer of staff shake-ups and self-made crises, President Trump is emerging politically damaged, personally agitated and continuing to buck at the confines of his office, according to some of his close allies.

Trump seeks an initial $7.9 billion in Harvey aid

President Donald Trump has sent lawmakers an initial request for a $7.9 billion down payment toward Harvey relief and recovery efforts. The request, expected to be swiftly approved by Congress, would add $7.4 billion to rapidly dwindling Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid coffers and $450 million to finance disaster loans for small businesses.

Humboldt County reacts to Trumpa s possible cuts to undocumented protections

Arcata resident Karla Sanchez was 2 years old when she crossed the border with her mother and grandmother into the United States from Mexico in search of a better life. Sanchez, now 23, said the only life she has known has been in the U.S. where she has lived for 21 years and is now finishing up her last semester at Humboldt State University where she studies psychology.

From CEOs to bishops, support grows for immigrant program

Corporate executives, Roman Catholic bishops, celebrities and immigrants have become unlikely companions in an effort to pressure national leaders to save an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation. Immigrant groups have been staging daily protests in the scorching Phoenix heat, mobilizing people through phone banks in California, and demonstrating outside House Speaker Paul Ryan's church and office.

Trump Asks for $8 Billion in Initial Harvey Aid, Debt Cap Hike 31 minutes ago

The Trump administration sent Congress a request Friday for almost $8 billion in initial relief for Hurricane Harvey victims and suggested the assistance be authorized in tandem with a measure to raise the federal debt ceiling, a move that House Republicans are unlikely to embrace.   In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan requesting the storm aid, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney stops short of explicitly asking for the two to be linked.

Harvey package grows; likely to include debt ceiling hike

President Donald Trump's initial request for a multibillion-dollar down payment for initial Harvey recovery efforts is growing. Republican leaders are already making plans to use the aid package, certain to be overwhelmingly popular, to win speedy approval of a contentious increase in the federal borrowing limit.

Tucker Carlson Shames GOPers Who Back DACA: ‘Their Campaign Pledges Were Lies’

The White House has said that President Trump will announce on Tuesday his decision whether to keep DACA in place or to gut it as he promised during the election. Meanwhile, several top Republicans including Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. Orrin Hatch have urged the president not to terminate the policy .

White House says Trump’s DACA announcement coming Tuesday

The White House says President Donald Trump will announce a decision Tuesday on the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children - immigrants the president is calling "terrific" and says he loves. "We love the dreamers, we love everybody," Trump told reporters Friday, using a shorthand term for the nearly 800,000 young people who were given a reprieve from deportation and temporary work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program created by the Obama administration.

Young US immigrants mobilize effort to avoid deportation

President Donald Trump is facing increasing pressure from CEOs, Roman Catholic bishops, celebrities and a national mobilization effort as he weighs eliminating an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation. The last-ditch effort has taken on greater urgency in recent days amid reports that the White House may end the program.

Congressional Republicans offer ‘Conservative’ Dream Act for illegal immigrants

House Speaker Paul Ryan said to a Wisconsin radio station on Friday "I actually don't think" President Donald Trump should rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals , which was put in place by Barack Obama to allow 800,000 young illegal immigrants to work legally and prevent their deportation. He added that this is "something Congress has to fix."

The Latest: Trump decision on immigrant kids coming Tuesday

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, right, speaks in support of allowing residency for some of the young people who immigrated illegally to the United States with their parents in Modesto, Calif., on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. At left is Tomas Evangelista, who crossed the border from Mexico as a child and qualified under an Obama-era executive order that Denham would like to extend through an act of Congress.

Trump Gives Congress An Olive Branch With Tax Pitch, But Will It Last?

When President Trump traveled to Missouri on Wednesday to make his pitch for tax code overhaul, it was a more conventional - even conciliatory - chief executive who showed up. Trump expressed optimism that he could work together with the legislative branch to pass something meaningful - although as NPR's Scott Horsley noted, the president offered scant specifics about what that legislation would be.

Trump to tout tax reform in Missouri, won’t offer specifics

U.S. President Donald Trump will turn his signature populist rhetoric toward tax reform on Wednesday in a speech expected to tout tax cuts as a way to help workers and the middle class in an economy "rigged" against them, senior White House officials said. With his domestic policy agenda stalled amid Republican infighting and his approval rating at just 35 percent, Trump will make his first presidential speech specifically on tax reform, one of his key 2016 campaign promises.