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Biden administration to rapidly expel more migrants at the border, add legal pathways
By: Jacob Fischler and Ariana Figueroa - January 5, 2023
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border, while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from advocates who said he should not broaden […]
U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability
By: Jacob Fischler and Ashley Murray - December 23, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever again. The report caps 18 months of […]
TikTok ban for federal workers close to becoming law, following flurry of state bans
By: Jacob Fischler - December 20, 2022
A ban on federal employees using TikTok on their government-issued phones is on track to become law after Congress included the provision in the year-end government funding bill released early Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s legislation barring the popular social media platform from federal devices was one of several bills attached to the spending measure, […]
U.S. House Jan. 6 panel refers Trump for criminal charges, including inciting insurrection
By: Jacob Fischler - December 19, 2022
The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in a historic vote agreed unanimously Monday to refer former President Donald Trump and others to the Justice Department for potential criminal charges, including inciting or aiding an insurrection. Trump associates, including attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro and White House Chief […]
Kentucky’s Comer blames Democrats as Club Q survivors denounce anti-LGBTQ political rhetoric
By: Jacob Fischler - December 14, 2022
Survivors of a deadly attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and other advocates told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that political rhetoric and policy fights dehumanize LGBTQ people and contribute to such violence. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee largely sympathized with the survivors, but drew different conclusions […]
FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation
By: Jacob Fischler - December 13, 2022
Members of a U.S. House committee disagreed at a Tuesday hearing about whether more aggressive federal regulation would have protected customers from the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX and the alleged fraud of its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried. Lawmakers at the four-hour House Financial Services Committee hearing appeared to view the unfolding scandal around Bankman-Fried, arrested […]
Attempt to help states ease banking for marijuana businesses stumbles in Congress
By: Jacob Fischler - December 12, 2022
The annual Defense Department policy bill members of Congress released last week did not include measures to loosen federal marijuana restrictions, to the disappointment of advocates. That leaves few avenues to pass marijuana measures seen as boons to states where the drug is legal before Congress adjourns for the year. As one of the last […]
U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky
By: Jacob Fischler - November 30, 2022
The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]