Family separations cause a rift between GOP leaders, WH

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gestures while speaking to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, June 14, 2018. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gestures while speaking to the media during the daily briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, June 14, 2018.

Senate Judiciary votes 11 to 10 to forward Ryan Bounds’ 9th Circuit nomination to Senate floor

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday voted 11 to 10 along party lines to forward the nomination of Oregon assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Bounds for a vacancy on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Senate floor for confirmation. The vote followed recriminations by Democratic senators who accused Republicans of "gutting checks and balances,'' in their rush to stack the federal courts with conservative judges who are ideologically aligned.

Senator accuses Trump admin of ‘cruel’ effort against immigrant children

A Democratic senator is accusing the Trump administration of being part of a "cruel" effort against unauthorized immigrant children after he was denied entry to a Texas immigration center for unaccompanied minors when he showed up asking for a tour of the facility. Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley -- who acknowledged that he had been told in advance he wouldn't be admitted to the facility -- told CNN's "New Day" Monday morning that he believes President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Homeland Security "do not want members of Congress or the public to know what's going on" in the center.

Senator blocked from entering detention center housing migrants’ kids

A United States senator tried to enter a federal facility in Texas where immigrant children are being held, but police were summoned and he was told to leave. Sen. Jeff Merkley's attempt late Sunday to enter the facility, and his request to speak to a manager, comes amid a national debate over the practice of separating families caught crossing the border illegally.

US Senator refused entry to facility holding migrants’ kids

A United States senator trying to gain access to a federal facility housing immigrant children in Texas near the Mexico border and talk to a supervisor has been turned away after police were summoned. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, told one of the police officers in Brownsville that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions' team and the Office of Refugee Resettlement are trying to hide what's happening behind the doors of the former Walmart.

GOP moves ahead with judicial nominee Ryan W. Bounds for the 9th Circuit over Democrats’ objections

Senate Republicans pressed ahead with one of President Trump's appeals court picks Wednesday despite opposition from both home-state senators, in what Democrats said marks a new low in the GOP's push to fill the courts with conservative judges. Both Sen. Ron Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon's two Democratic senators, are opposing Ryan W. Bounds , a lawyer Mr. Trump has tapped to sit on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden speaks in Portland in April 2018.

Oregon's senior U.S. Sen., Ron Wyden, took to the Senate floor today to blast the nomination of Ryan Bounds, a Portland federal prosecutor, for a spot on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Bounds, a conservative and a protege of U.S. Rep. Greg Walden failed to gain the support of either of Oregon's U.S. Senators, Wyden or Jeff Merkley.

Cantwell’s fundraising far ahead of Gibson’s in U.S. Senate race

Congressional candidates recently filed quarterly campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission, providing the first glimpse this year into the fundraising race between local Republican challenger Joey Gibson and Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell. Before candidates are required to file, they need to raise $5,000.

Q&A on the Democrats’ big idea: A job-creation program

All of a sudden, you can't turn around in progressive Washington policy circles without bumping into a jobs guarantee proposal. The most prominent version is a bill introduced this week by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., with heavy hitting Democratic co-sponsors including Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York , Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

GOPa s omnibus bill should have gone off a cliff

On Dec. 22, President Donald Trump signed the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the most significant levy reduction since 1986. Even Trump's critics conceded that Republicans ended 2017 on an unexpectedly high note, with their free-market banners flapping smartly in the tail winds.

Early Positive Effects Of Tax Reform Law Counter Democrats’ Fearmongering

President Donald Trump signed the tax cuts bill into law just before Christmas, making the Christmas holiday weekend a little brighter and cheerier for the vast majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. The new law's positive effects have already begun.

Progressive Groups Want Doug Jones To Throw Caution To The Wind

Through a unique confluence of events, Democrat Doug Jones managed to defy the deeply Republican leanings of Alabama and win a special election on Tuesday to represent the state in the Senate. But without an alleged child predator like Republican Roy Moore on the ticket in 2020, Jones will almost certainly have an uphill climb to re-election.

Trump attacks Gillibrand in tweet critics say is sexually suggestive and demeaning

Democrats accused the president of making unsavory insinuations. , D-N.Y., who had called for Trump's resignation a day earlier because of allegations of sexual misconduct, called Trump's attack as a "sexist smear attempting to silence my voice."