Author: Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON • Democrats who control the U.S. Senate plan to move President Joe Biden’s upcoming nomination of a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on a quick timetable, similar to the single month that Republicans used for Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a source familiar with the planning said. Breyer, 83, will retire when…

WASHINGTON • U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday signaled her willingness to advance legislation that could ban lawmaker stock trades, if her rank-and-file Democrats support such a move. At her weekly news conference, Pelosi was asked about tightening controls on stock transactions. She responded: “If members (of the House) want to do…

WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden on Thursday will make a personal plea to U.S. Senate Democrats to unite to change the chamber’s rules to pass voting-rights reform, a day after the Senate’s top Republican launched a blistering attack on the initiative. Passions are high in Washington as former President Donald Trump’s claims that his 2020…

WASHINGTON • As Democrats struggled to move forward on broad new voting rights legislation, the U.S. Senate’s top Republican signaled interest on Wednesday in changing an 1887 law that allows members of Congress to dispute presidential election results. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opened the door to altering the Electoral Count Act, a day before…

WASHINGTON • U.S. Senate Democrats were struggling on Wednesday to find a path forward on President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion domestic investment bill, with moderate Joe Manchin objecting to parts of the program, a person familiar with their negotiations said. Having averted a government shutdown and potential default this month, Senate Democrats hoped to pass…

WASHINGTON • The U.S. Congress’ months-long drive to raise the federal government’s $28.9 trillion debt limit, and avert an unprecedented default, took a step forward on Thursday as the Senate advanced the first of two bills needed for the hike. Fourteen Republicans joined the chamber’s 48 Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them…

WASHINGTON • U.S. President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social program and climate change investment bill was moving closer to a House of Representatives vote as the chamber’s Rules Committee scheduled a meeting on Thursday to clear the way for debate. Earlier on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she hoped votes on the landmark…

WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $1.75 trillion economic and climate change plan that he said unified Democrats then was quickly rebuffed by members of his own party. “We have a historic economic framework” that will create jobs and make the United States more competitive, Biden said after a last-minute trip to…

WASHINGTON • Senior Democrats in the U.S. Congress were at odds on Wednesday over a proposal to tax billionaires’ assets to help pay for President Joe Biden’s social and climate-change agenda, leaving it unclear if the idea had enough support to become law. The Senate’s top tax writer, Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, unveiled the…