Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
Since winning a House majority in 2010, congressional Republicans have asked for any increase in the nation’s borrowing limit to be offset, at least in part, by spending cuts. “Any debt limit increase should be paired with spending cuts to address our debt,” @Jim_Jordan says. President Barack Obama denied that ambition, but it’s different now…
KYIV, Ukraine—On May 13, an artillery shell fired from within separatist-controlled territory landed in a residential neighborhood of Avdiivka, a front-line town in eastern Ukraine. Three women and a man were standing outside the home where the shell hit. Elena Aslanova, Olga Kurochkina, Maria Dikaya, and Oleg Borisenko. They all died. Two children became orphans…
The California Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $400 billion universal health care bill Thursday with no plan to pay for it. The committee passed the bill in a 5-2 vote, sending it to be taken up on the Senate floor next week. The bill, known as the Healthy California Act, was introduced by Democratic state Sen. Ricardo…
A Department of Veterans Affairs manager fired for corruption the first day of President Donald Trump’s presidency—to rousing acclaim from veterans who heralded it as a sign of lasting reform—has been returned to work by VA officials after he filed a civil-service protections appeal. The return of the Puerto Rico hospital director is the latest example…
A new report … says you can put a price on success … when it comes to Congress. The report by Issue One exposes the secretive money system in which members of Congress “buy” top spots on the most powerful committees. To raise the money, they often collect from the very interests their committees are supposed…
SAN DIEGO—Deep inside the U.S. Border Patrol is a little-known elite team called the Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue Unit. Since its creation nearly 20 years ago, BORSTAR has largely flown under the radar. “Most people don’t realize that the Border Patrol has paramedics, search and rescue capability,” says John Welter, a BORSTAR agent…
European countries and major corporations are pressuring President Donald Trump to remain in the Paris climate agreement despite his promises on the campaign trail to withdraw the United States from the Obama-era deal that never gained congressional approval. The Trump administration so far is sticking with being undecided—at least until Trump returns to the United…
Last week, a former Florida mayor was escorted to the Orange County Jail after a jury convicted him on a felony voter fraud charge. Eatonville is a suburb of Orlando, where in the 2015 municipal race, former Mayor Anthony Grant lost by just 15 votes on election day, but won 196 to 69 among mail-in…
Carl Lavin was in high school when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. At 18, the Ohio native decided to join the Army. From there, his life would be forever changed, as he went on to fight as a foot soldier with the 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. In a new book,…
Two developments in the past few weeks suggest that America’s China policy is on a cusp. The more publicly discussed event involves the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Dewey, which conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Mischief Reef in the Spratlys island group. This is the first freedom of navigation action conducted by the Trump administration….
The health police are turning their sights to energy, calling for tobacco style regulations on caffeine and bans on energy drinks for young Americans. Nutrition experts are calling on the federal government to heavily regulate the levels of caffeine permitted in energy drinks out of fear that the beverages are harming public health, particularly the youth. Advocates…
The American Health Care Act is in the hands of the Senate, where Republican lawmakers sound positive about the task of drafting their version of the Obamacare repeal legislation. “We’re continuing to work on policy outcomes to bring the conference together, and most critically to lower health insurance premiums so that health care is more…
An activist-led measure on global warming at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s upcoming annual meeting could financially wipe out the company’s largest shareholders, one long-time Exxon shareholder said. BlackRock and Vanguard Group are toying with the idea of supporting an investor-created proposal that would force Exxon to measure how regulations limiting greenhouse gases could affect the value of the…
Classified information leaks to the media have often been framed as clash between the so-called “deep state” and President Donald Trump. However, Britain’s threat to stop intelligence sharing information with the United States demonstrates the larger problem. “The president has made it very clear going back months that leaks threaten national security,” @PressSec says. The…
KYIV, Ukraine—On Tuesday, President Donald Trump presented a budget request to Congress that would boost spending for an Obama-era buildup of U.S. military forces in Europe meant to deter Russia from military provocations and show NATO and its European partners that the U.S. is committed to their defense. “Such a request is more reassuring for…
Health care costs continue to rise under Obamacare. A report released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services shows a significant hike in the average cost of individual plans since 2013 in 39 states. In 2013, the average annual cost of a premium for an individual health care plan was $2,784. By 2017,…
Student and faculty protesters rushed a college administration building Monday calling for the school to punish its College Republicans chapter. Orange Coast College faculty and students protested the College Republicans chapter after the group published emails from OCC professor Jessica Alabi to Orange Coast College President Dennis Harkins. The emails revealed the professor said she would…
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office launched a new unit Tuesday dedicated to representing illegal immigrants faced with deportation and focused on providing local tax money for cases heard in the city’s federal immigration courts. The special immigration division, one of only three such programs in the country, consists of three deputy public defenders and a…
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz threatened the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police with “consequences” for holding equipment that she says belongs to her in order to build a criminal case against a Pakistani staffer suspected of massive cybersecurity breaches involving funneling sensitive congressional data offsite. The Florida lawmaker used her position on the committee that…
Obamacare introduced new regulations into the health care marketplace that contributed to premiums doubling after the legislation took full effect in 2014, according to a report the Department of Health and Human Services released Tuesday evening. HHS compared premiums in the exchange marketplaces in 2013, one year before Obamacare regulations took full effect, to premiums in…