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More federal dollars coming from climate law for Western wildfire management
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend nearly $500 million on projects to reduce wildfire risk in 11 areas in Western states, the department said Thursday. The new funding, $490 million, comes from Democrats’ budget, climate and taxes law that passed last year, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on a call with reporters. The funding […]
U.S. House GOP would make it easier for feds to give public lands away to states
U.S. House Republicans included in the new rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page rules package. It affects internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to give any […]
U.S. House passes legislation barring sales of strategic reserve oil to China
U.S. House Republicans wrapped up their first week in the majority Thursday by passing with bipartisan support a bill to prohibit the Energy Department from selling the nation’s stockpile of crude oil to China or affiliated entities. The bill, written by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, would prevent […]
Democrats praise U.S. Capitol police and pledge to seek accountability on Jan. 6 anniversary
NC’s Deborah Ross praise Capitol police, mourns lost officers Two years after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to undo Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, Democrats in Congress on Friday vowed to remember the Capitol police officers who died, hold Trump accountable and prevent similar attacks […]
Trump fixation on Wisconsin, Ginni Thomas text regrets and more from the Jan. 6 panel
In the final weeks of 2022, the Democrat-led U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol disclosed thousands of pages of transcripts of interviews the panel’s members and staff conducted with key witnesses. The transcripts were central to a committee report released in December that held Donald Trump responsible for the 2021 […]
TikTok ban for federal workers close to becoming law, following flurry of state bans
A ban on federal employees using TikTok on their government-issued phones is on track to become law after Congress included the provision in the year-end government funding bill released early Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s legislation barring the popular social media platform from federal devices was one of several bills attached to the spending measure, […]
U.S. House Jan. 6 panel refers Trump for criminal charges, including inciting insurrection
The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in a historic vote agreed unanimously Monday to refer former President Donald Trump and others to the Justice Department for potential criminal charges, including inciting or aiding an insurrection. Trump associates, including attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro and White House Chief […]
U.S. Senate votes to bar TikTok from government devices as state bans multiply
The U.S. Senate late Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to ban federal employees from downloading TikTok on their work phones. Critics of TikTok, a widely popular social media platform, say the app creates national security concerns because of its ability to track users’ data — and because the Chinese government can compel that data from […]
Club Q survivors at U.S. House hearing denounce anti-LGBTQ rhetoric
Survivors of a deadly attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and other advocates told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that political rhetoric and policy fights dehumanize LGBTQ people and contribute to such violence. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee largely sympathized with the survivors, but drew different conclusions […]
FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation
NC's Patrick McHenry defends cryptocurrency industry at House Financial Services Committee hearing; Senator-elect Ted Budd is a no-show
Attempt to help states ease banking for marijuana businesses stumbles in Congress
The annual Defense Department policy bill members of Congress released late Tuesday did not include measures to loosen federal marijuana restrictions, to the disappointment of advocates. That leaves few avenues to pass marijuana measures seen as boons to states where the drug is legal before Congress adjourns for the year. As one of the last […]
Despite FTX fallout, some U.S. House members still skeptical about crypto regulation
Ted Budd, a major recipient of crypto industry campaign contributions, joins in questioning federal oversight Nearly nine months after a bipartisan group of U.S. House members sent a letter questioning the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation into cryptocurrencies, including the failed FTX exchange, the lawmakers are maintaining their position that the agency’s approach to regulating […]