Author: Paul Kane
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Shutdown standoff to stretch past Christmas
Parts of the federal government are set to remain closed through much of next week as Congress shuttered Saturday for Christmas amid a stalemate with President Trump over border wall funding. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that his chamber would not return to legislative business until Thursday, which means many federal agencies will…
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McCain to halt treatment for brain cancer, family says
Sen. John McCain, who defied death in the skies over Vietnam, endured years of torture in enemy captivity and embarked on a storied political career that brought him to the precipice of the presidency, has ended medical treatment for the brain cancer he has fought for 13 months, his family said Friday. “John has surpassed…
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Lawmaker Steve Scalise critically injured in GOP baseball shooting; gunman dies in custody
A man unleashed a barrage of gunfire Wednesday at a park in Alexandria, Va., as Republican members of Congress held a morning baseball practice, wounding five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.). President Trump said the gunman — identified by multiple law enforcement officials as James T. Hodgkinson III, 66, from Illinois —…
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Furor over Comey firing grows with news that he sought resources for Russia investigation before his dismissal
The furor over President Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James B. Comey grew Wednesday with the revelation that Comey had sought more resources for an investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government shortly before he was dismissed. Republicans and Democrats alike expressed dismay Wednesday over Comey’s firing the day…
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Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination is on track to change the Senate — and further divide the country
Sens. Roger E. Wicker (R-Miss.) and Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) are not usually partisan firebrands, particularly on presidential appointments. Back in 2013, Wicker helped temporarily defuse a showdown over Republican filibusters of President Barack Obama’s nominees to the judiciary and agencies. More than a decade ago, Carper voted to confirm President George W. Bush’s first…
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Republicans vote to rebuke Elizabeth Warren, saying she impugned Sessions’s character
Senate Republicans passed a party-line rebuke Tuesday night of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for a speech opposing attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions, striking down her words for impugning the Alabama senator’s character. In an extraordinarily rare move, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) interrupted Warren’s speech, in a near-empty chamber as debate on Sessions’s nomination heads…
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Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July. The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was…
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Dems rallying behind Obama on health care
Congressional Democrats on Thursday began their push to unify their ranks behind President Obama’s outline for health-care legislation, hours after the president laid out that plan in a speech that was met with loud protests from some Republican lawmakers. House Democrats held a meeting of their top vote-counters in the morning, and they scheduled a…
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Congressional leaders amend bailout to sway GOP holdouts
WASHINGTON • Prodded by a wave of angry calls from constituents, congressional leaders dialed back partisan bickering over the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan Tuesday and advanced modest changes to the legislation in an effort to win over House Republican holdouts.Leaders of the Senate, where most members have indicated support for the bailout plan,…