WASHINGTON—Both chambers of Congress on Dec. 21 passed a last-minute funding package that would extend government funding to March 14, sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk. The legislation, dubbed the American Relief Act, passed the Senate in a late-night 85-11 vote that wrapped up not long after the midnight shutdown deadline on Saturday. The […]

WASHINGTON—The House on Dec. 19 voted down a pared-down, Trump-backed plan to fund the government with just more than 24 hours until a government shutdown begins. In a 235–174 vote, lawmakers rejected the proposal. The group voting against the bill included all but two Democrats and a slate of conservative Republicans. The bill, which advanced […]

WASHINGTON—Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said on Wednesday night the massive stopgap funding bill put forward by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was scrapped after President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance came out in opposition to the bill. “There is no new agreement right now,” Scalise told reporters, and lawmakers are “looking at […]

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Dec. 17 unveiled a bipartisan bill that would keep the government funded until March 14, punting the issue of permanent funding to the incoming 119th Congress in the early days of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. This bill is known as a continuing resolution, or CR. It would keep […]

President-elect Donald Trump has unveiled his pick for U.S. ambassador to Japan, alongside a slate of other diplomatic appointments. George Glass, a businessman and former investment banker who served as Ambassador to Portugal during the first Trump administration, is Trump’s choice for chief diplomat to Japan—one of the country’s most important ambassadorships. Trump made the […]

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan rejected on Dec. 16 a long list of immunity-related arguments President-elect Donald Trump made in an attempt to throw out the guilty verdict he received earlier this year. Trump had argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office improperly used certain evidence, including former White House advisers’ testimonies, […]

Over 120 House Democrats are calling on President Joe Biden to conclude the process for adding the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. The push, spearheaded by outgoing Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), wants the lame duck president to urge the national archivist to treat the ERA—an amendment from […]

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s open to working with Democratic Party lawmakers to make a deal on allowing Dreamers to stay in the United States. “I will work with the Democrats on a plan,” Trump said in an interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker that aired Dec. 8. That’s in reference to recipients […]

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Dec. 8 that he will move to “very quickly” pardon those pursued by the Department of Justice in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. “I’m going to be acting very quickly,” Trump said in an interview with “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker, clarifying that he would begin […]

The House of Representatives on Dec. 5 blocked a pair of Democrat-led efforts to force the release of the House Ethics Committee’s report about former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). In a largely partisan vote, the House backed motions put forward by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) to refer the report back to the Ethics […]

WASHINGTON—The House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump will hold its final hearing on Dec. 5. The panel, which is investigating the United States Secret Service (USSS) missteps that led to two attempts on President-elect Donald Trump’s life, will hear from USSS Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr, who previously addressed […]

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of political ally Kash Patel to head up the FBI sent shockwaves through the capital, but it’s in the Capitol that his fate will be decided. Several Republican senators aren’t making any commitments yet, but Patel has already had a warmer reception than previous nominees.  As with other high-level executive appointments, […]

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Nov. 30 that he would nominate Kash Patel to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). “I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Trump wrote in a post on social media on Nov. 30. “Kash is […]

President-elect Donald Trump has announced that Massad Boulos will serve as his senior presidential adviser on Arab affairs. In a post to Truth Social on Dec. 1, Trump wrote that Boulos “has has been a longtime proponent of Republican and conservative values, an asset to my campaign, and was instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions […]

Russ Vought is on track to return to a little-known but powerful position in the incoming administration at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him on Nov. 22. The OMB’s director is crucial to ensuring that each executive agency is coordinated behind the president’s economic and political goals, playing […]

Vice President-elect JD Vance said in a now-deleted post on social media platform X that he and President-elect Donald Trump were interviewing candidates for a new FBI director. The post, quoted by several media outlets and widely shared across social media in the form of screenshots, appears to primarily react to the Senate’s Nov. 19 […]

WASHINGTON—With Republicans projected to retain control of the U.S. House, the GOP has won a trifecta in the federal government for the first time since 2016. Although The Associated Press had yet to call all House races, it projected as of about 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 that Republicans would keep at least 218 seats […]

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced during a Nov. 13 press conference that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) had resigned his seat in the House of Representatives after being nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as attorney general. Though he’ll likely face a tough fight to be confirmed by the Senate, Johnson said that Gaetz resigned his […]

Republicans lead in several crucial races that will determine control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and they appear to be on the verge of ensuring that President-elect Donald Trump will enter his second term with a trifecta. A party has a trifecta if it controls the White House, the Senate, and the House of […]

The 2024 race for the White House came to a close early in the morning on Nov. 6 with former President Donald Trump winning the presidency after taking several swing states. With a win projected in Wisconsin by the Associated Press, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. Republicans regained control […]