Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
Denver County’s sheriff office has been slapped with a fine by the Department of Justice because it refused to hire noncitizens as deputies. From the beginning of 2015 through last March, the Denver Sheriff Department went on a major hiring binge, adding more than 200 new deputies. But those jobs ended up only going to citizens,…
President-elect Donald Trump requested Congress pass a short-term spending bill to fund the government through March, according to reports. House Republican members are looking to pass a spending bill, or continuing resolution, that would fund the government through March 31. A continuing resolution funds government programs short term through appropriations legislation. “I would say the…
In a video message released Monday, President-elect Donald Trump told Americans the first executive actions he’ll take on Jan. 20 to “drain the swamp” in Washington. They include, in Trump’s words: “On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country. Instead,…
The leading candidate to be the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., has said he wants the Democratic Party to come out against the Second Amendment, compared the 9/11 attacks to the Nazi Reichstag fire, and was affiliated with the controversial Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam. “We’re not broke. There’s…
In the media, Sen. Jeff Sessions has been under fire since it was announced he was Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general. “I say that the people making these allegations don’t know Jeff Sessions,” said William Smith, the first Republican African-American chief counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, in an interview Monday on “Fox & Friends.”…
President-elect Donald Trump will come into power next year with the authority to redefine his predecessor’s ambitious and divisive legacy on climate and energy policy. Just as President Barack Obama has used regulations and executive actions to try and make the U.S. a world leader in cutting planet-warming emissions across much of the nation’s economy—especially…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quietly shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that intercepts drugs and illegal crossings along the Mexican border. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, vows to challenge DHS’ move, saying Congress provided “full funding” for 2017. Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the homeland security subcommittee, is…
Editor’s note: During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared, “We’re not going to help [Trump] build his wall.” Schumer was one of the Democrats to support construction of a wall in 2006. Democrats are already grumbling about Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, though Barack Obama and other leaders in…
As attorney general, Jeff Sessions could go a long way toward reversing the politicization of the Justice Department that occurred under the Obama administration, Republican senators and conservative activists said Friday, after President-elect Donald Trump announced he is nominating the Alabama Republican senator for the nation’s top law enforcement job. “Sen. Sessions’ solid understanding of…
With a new Republican administration in tow, conservative lawmakers are renewing their call for welfare reform that incentivizes families rather than punishing them. “When we look at what we want for our society, when we look at the key ingredients that have to be contained within any thriving civilization, there are a couple of common…
Insurance companies hoping for relief in the form of changes to two Obamacare programs may end up disappointed now that President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to take the White House. Obamacare’s risk corridor and reinsurance programs sunset at the end of the year, but conservative groups are worried that Congress would attempt to give insurers more…
The president of one of the nation’s largest teachers’ union cited the Holocaust in comments she made about President-elect Donald Trump while speaking at an LGBT event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “After what happened in the 1930s and ’40s, we used to have a saying called ‘never again,’” Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation…
President-elect Donald Trump has selected a conservative congressman, Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., as his Central Intelligence Agency director. Pompeo, elected to Congress in the tea party wave of 2010, is considered one of the strongest national security voices in the House as a prominent member of the Intelligence Committee. He’s a vocal opponent of the…
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next U.S. attorney general. He previously served in that role for Alabama, and was also a federal prosecutor before his election to the Senate. Sessions was the first senator and among the only members of Congress to endorse Trump during the…
President-elect Donald Trump chose Michael Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, to fill the role of assistant to the president for national security affairs. Flynn accepted the position Friday. My transition team, which is working long hours and doing a fantastic job, will be seeing many great candidates today. #MAGA — Donald J. Trump…
Steven Lopez has gone without health insurance for 15 years, and the Affordable Care Act hasn’t changed his mind. Once again, this year he will forgo coverage, he said, even though it means another tax penalty. Last tax season, the 51-year-old information technology professional and his family paid a mandatory penalty of nearly $1,000, he…
An article in Time called President-elect Donald Trump’s transition “chaotic,” while The New York Times asserted that Trump’s transition team is plagued by “discord” and “disarray.” Politico quoted an anonymous insider saying the transition team was having a “knife fight” when it comes to filling Cabinet posts. If very recent history is a guide, it…
Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, asked nearly two dozen fellow GOP governors gathered in Orlando to directly reach out to him on policy matters in the course of the coming Donald Trump administration. During the Republican Governors Association meeting Tuesday in Orlando, Pence reiterated Trump’s plan to repeal Obamacare, improve infrastructure, and…
House Republicans voted Thursday to block the sale of aircraft to Iran, a move GOP lawmakers and some Democrats said would protect taxpayer dollars from being used to finance the export of airplanes to Tehran. The House voted 243 to 174 to pass legislation sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., prohibiting the secretary of the…
When Donald Trump becomes president in January he will inherit challenges beyond America’s borders. Trump ran a campaign opposing the internationalism promoted by predecessors from both parties, and now he must decide how to deal with the realities of foreign policy and national security. Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. is engaged militarily in various…