Congress

The US Congress — legislation, the Senate, the House, and the budget fights — reported with balance.

224 articles shownof 224 totalLast updated 2026-06-22 05:24 UTC
us politics 6 4h ago 4 min read

Trump Links FISA Reauthorization to Voting Bill, Puts Senate Majority Leader Thune on Notice

President Trump is threatening to block FISA Section 702 reauthorization unless the Senate passes the SAVE America Act, a voter ID and mail-in ballot restriction bill stalled by Democratic filibuster. Senate Majority Leader John Thune isn't budging, and Republican colleagues say the problem isn't Thune — Trump simply doesn't have the votes.

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us politics 7 19h ago 4 min read

Congress Asks Whether the Iran War Was Worth It as Conflict Winds Down

The U.S. military campaign against Iran appears to be winding down as of June 21, 2026, and Congress is now pressing the question it should have asked louder at the start: what did this cost, and what did America get? The source available is a navigation page from AP News, not a full report, so this article draws on what the headlines themselves confirm and flags clearly where the record is thin.

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us economy 6 20h ago 4 min read

Senate Introduces Bipartisan Housing Bill Backed by Scott, Warren, Hill, and Waters

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cleared a major hurdle on June 16, 2026, when Senate leaders introduced updated bill text agreed to by both chambers. The legislation aims to cut red tape, expand housing supply, and speed up disaster recovery funding. As of June 21, the Senate has not yet passed the final version.

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us economy 5 21h ago 4 min read

Brazil's Chamber Votes 461-19 to Ban the Six-Day Workweek. The Senate and the Economics Are Another Matter.

Brazil's lower house approved a constitutional amendment in late May to cut the maximum workweek from 44 hours to 40 and mandate two rest days, effectively ending the '6x1' schedule common in retail, healthcare, and hospitality. The vote was lopsided, but the economic tradeoffs are real: requiring the same pay for fewer hours raises labor costs without raising productivity, and Brazil's informal sector already absorbs roughly 40 percent of workers. The proposal now awaits the Senate.

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us politics 7 21h ago 4 min read

Senate Democrats Escalate Investigation into Trump Pardons, Demand Records by July 24

Senator Peter Welch and Rep. Dave Min have sent four formal oversight letters demanding clemency records from the DOJ, White House, and Secret Service, with a July 24 deadline. The probe targets whether money, lobbyists, or personal access to Trump drove pardon decisions. Democrats lack subpoena power for now, so the investigation is a congressional request, not a legal compulsion.

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us politics 5 1d ago 4 min read

Georgia Senate Votes to Keep QR Code Ballots Through 2028, Adds Manual Recount Requirement

The Georgia Senate passed legislation Saturday extending the state's QR code ballot system through 2028, delaying a deadline that was supposed to kill it. The bill adds mandatory hand recounts for the top two races before results can be certified. It passed on a party-line vote and now needs Gov. Brian Kemp's signature.

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us politics 5 1d ago 4 min read

Texas Senate Race Sharpens: Talarico Attacks Paxton on Child Sex Abuse Plea Deal as Trump Rallies Republicans

Since Ken Paxton defeated John Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff, the Texas Senate race has escalated fast. James Talarico is now running directly at Paxton's legal record, including a Waco child sex abuse case that drew bipartisan criticism. Paxton's camp says Talarico is exploiting a child victim for votes.

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us energy 5 1d ago 4 min read

Outside Groups Keep Blocking Alaska Resource Development. Alaskans Are Pushing Back Through Congress.

Alaska sits on some of the largest untapped oil and gas reserves in the United States, but a combination of federal land control and out-of-state opposition has stalled project after project for decades. New legislative efforts in Congress are targeting the North Slope leasing process directly, and Alaskans across the political spectrum are increasingly united on one point: the rest of the country does not get to treat their state as a nature preserve while its residents struggle to build an economy.

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us economy 6 1d ago 3 min read

Wall Street Owns 30% of Atlanta's Single-Family Homes. A Senate Bill Aims to Stop That.

A report from the American Economic Liberties Project says corporate investors control roughly 72,000 homes in metro-Atlanta, more than double any other U.S. metro area. Senator Raphael Warnock's ban on large corporate home purchases passed the Senate as part of the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act. The numbers on displaced equity are real. Whether a federal ban is the right fix is the legitimate fight.

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us politics 6 1d ago 3 min read

Trump Threatens Hormuz Tolls, Congress Splits on Iran MOU, and Bill Maher Says Obama Was Right All Along

Congress is divided over the reported memorandum of understanding on Iran's nuclear program, Trump has threatened to charge shipping tolls in Hormuz if a final deal isn't reached within 60 days, and HBO's Bill Maher used his Friday broadcast to argue that the JCPOA model was correct despite Iran's likely cheating.

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us economy 5 1d ago 3 min read

NYC Council Calls on Congress to Review MLB's Antitrust Exemption Over Streaming Blackouts

A bipartisan pair of New York City Council members introduced a non-binding resolution on June 11 demanding Congress examine whether MLB's century-old antitrust exemption still serves the public after more Yankees and Mets games migrated to paid streaming services. The resolution has no legal force, but it puts a real question on the table: when stadiums get built on public money, does the public retain any claim to watch the games?

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us tech 7 1d ago 3 min read

Congress Banned TikTok Over Surveillance Fears While Renewing the Government's Own Mass Surveillance Law

The U.S. government forced ByteDance to sell TikTok over fears China spies on Americans, then turned around and reauthorized Section 702, the domestic surveillance law the FBI misused over 278,000 times in a two-year span. The hypocrisy is bipartisan and documented.

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us tech 6 2d ago 3 min read

Meta Lobbied Congress to Insert Lawsuit Immunity into Kids Online Safety Act, Reuters Reports

Meta has been pushing Congress to add language into the Kids Online Safety Act that would shield the company from child-harm lawsuits under state law. The move comes after a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google liable in a bellwether case and awarded $6 million in combined damages, with punitive proceedings still ahead. No lawmakers have publicly said they will adopt the language.

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us politics 5 2d ago 4 min read

Trump's Primary Wars Are Costing Senate Republicans Money, Votes, and Patience

Donald Trump's campaign to install loyalists in Republican primaries is generating a growing backlash from within his own party. A senior Senate GOP operative told Politico the recent primary wins are 'self-owns,' not victories. The fallout is concrete: a botched DNI confirmation, $90 million already spent backing a candidate Trump just abandoned, and a lame-duck senator now voting against the White House.

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us health 5 2d ago 4 min read

Gabbard Releases Declassified COVID Documents on Her Final Day as DNI, Alleging Fauci Funded Wuhan Research and Lied to Congress

Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a trove of declassified documents Thursday, alleging that Anthony Fauci directed taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, manipulated intelligence on COVID's origins, and perjured himself before Congress in 2024. The documents are allegations supported by internal communications and whistleblower claims, not yet adjudicated in any court. Fauci has not publicly responded, and no charges have been filed against him.

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us politics 4 2d ago 4 min read

Texas Senate Race Takes Shape: Talarico Hammers Paxton on Child Sex Abuse Plea Deal, Corruption Charges

Democrat James Talarico is running his general election Senate campaign in Texas almost entirely on Ken Paxton's scandal record, including a plea deal that let a convicted child molester avoid the sex offender registry. Paxton won the Republican runoff by beating John Cornyn, whose allies had warned this exact vulnerability would surface. Democrats describe their chances as still uphill.

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us economy 6 2d ago 4 min read

Pentagon Asks Congress for $80 Billion as Trump Invokes Defense Production Act Over Munitions Shortfall

Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers this week the Pentagon needs roughly $80 billion to cover Iran war costs and other military expenditures. Separately, President Trump signed a memo invoking the Defense Production Act to accelerate munitions manufacturing, as a Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis estimated the U.S. may have burned through more than half its inventory of four critical munitions during the Iran campaign.

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us defense 5 3d ago 4 min read

U.S. Military Has Killed at Least 211 People in Pacific Drug Boat Strikes Since September. Congress Wants Unedited Video.

Two U.S. military strikes last week, including one Thursday that killed three people in the eastern Pacific, pushed the cumulative death toll from the Trump administration's anti-narco campaign to at least 211 since September 2025. Southern Command has consistently labeled those killed 'narco-terrorists' without releasing evidence the boats carried drugs. Senators are now demanding unedited strike footage, and the Pentagon's watchdog has opened a review.

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us economy 5 3d ago 3 min read

Senate NDAA Provision Would Codify Pentagon Equity Investments, With Few Guardrails and No Conflict-of-Interest Rule

Since our June 18 coverage of the Senate NDAA's proposed $500 million Defense Equity Investment Account, new details have emerged about what the bill explicitly does NOT restrict. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted down an amendment that would have blocked investments in companies tied to Trump, his family, or his cabinet, and at least one existing Pentagon investment already benefits a company where Donald Trump Jr. holds a partnership stake.

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us politics 3 3d ago 4 min read

America Turns 250: Nashville, Congress, and History Class All Show Up for the Semiquincentennial

With July 4, 2026 two weeks away, the country's 250th birthday is generating tributes from songwriters, politicians, and historians alike. The celebrations carry genuine weight, but the messaging so far has come almost entirely from one political direction. That's worth noting, not as a knock on the sentiment, but because national anniversaries belong to everyone.

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us finance 6 3d ago 4 min read

Senate NDAA Would Create $500 Million Pentagon Fund to Buy Equity Stakes in Private Companies

The Senate Armed Services Committee has drafted a provision in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would formalize and expand the federal government's ability to take ownership stakes in private businesses. The Trump administration has already taken equity positions in more than a dozen companies using existing executive authority, and Congress is now moving to put that practice into law. A conflict-of-interest amendment was voted down in committee.

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us politics 6 3d ago 4 min read

Senate Republicans Openly Defy Trump on SAVE America Act as FISA Standoff Hardens

Since Trump's weekend ultimatum threatening to veto FISA reauthorization without the SAVE America Act attached, Senate GOP leaders have held firm against the strategy, with a closed-door caucus lunch Wednesday turning into an open rebellion against Sen. Mike Lee. As of June 18, Section 702 remains expired and Jay Clayton's intelligence director confirmation hearing has been blocked by Trump himself.

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us health 6 3d ago 4 min read

RFK Jr. Admitted Trump Approved the ACIP Firings. Now Senate Democrats Want It in Writing.

Senate Democrats are pressing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explain contradictions between his public statements and April 2026 Senate testimony, in which he acknowledged President Trump and White House staff personally approved firing all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. The ACIP was dissolved in June 2025, and the fight over who actually made that call — and why — has been running for nearly a year.

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us economy 6 3d ago 4 min read

Congress Is Piling Pressure on Bessent Over China. He Hasn't Moved Far Yet.

Bipartisan senators want Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to rally G7 allies against China's currency practices, a Republican House committee chair wants him to block Chinese investment, and his own department threatened Canada with 100% tariffs over its China trade deal. Bessent has called the U.S.-China relationship 'the most unbalanced in modern history' but has not formally designated China a currency manipulator. The gap between the rhetoric and the policy response is the story.

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us economy 6 3d ago 4 min read

Trump's FY2027 EPA Budget Proposes 90% Cut to Federal Water Revolving Funds. Congress Rejected the Same Idea Last Year.

The Trump administration's proposed FY2027 EPA budget would slash federal drinking water and wastewater revolving loan funds by roughly 90%, dropping the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund from $1.12 billion to $150 million and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to $155 million. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argues Congress has gutted the program with earmarks anyway. Congress rejected a similar proposal for FY2026 and appropriated $8.8 billion for the EPA instead.

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us finance 5 3d ago 3 min read

House Republican Bryan Steil to Introduce Prediction Market Betting Ban for Members of Congress

Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) is attaching a provision to the pending congressional stock-trading ban that would prohibit lawmakers and their families from betting on political, policy, and election prediction markets. Violations would cost $2,000 or 10% of the transaction value, whichever is greater, plus any gains. The larger bill has floor support from Speaker Mike Johnson and President Trump, but Senate passage remains uncertain.

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us defense 7 3d ago 4 min read

Implementation Talks on the U.S.-Iran MOU Begin Friday at Burgenstock. Senate Republicans Are Already Drawing Red Lines.

Since the G7 signing of the 14-point U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, the focus has shifted to whether the agreement can survive contact with implementation. Talks open Friday at Burgenstock, Switzerland, with JD Vance and Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf expected to attend. Back in Washington, Senator Rick Scott is already warning he cannot support a final deal that leaves Iran with ballistic missiles, proxy funding, or any unpaid U.S. war costs.

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us politics 4 3d ago 4 min read

UVA Center for Politics Moves North Carolina Senate Race to 'Leans Democrat,' Joining Cook Report

Three major race-rating organizations now favor Roy Cooper over Republican Michael Whatley in North Carolina's open Senate seat contest. Cooper holds an 11-point lead in the latest Carolina Journal Poll, but North Carolina hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, and Whatley's campaign argues the ratings will look different on Election Day.

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us politics 4 3d ago 4 min read

Three Major Race Analysts Now Rate North Carolina Senate as Leans Democrat, but the State Has Fooled Them Before

Roy Cooper leads Michael Whatley by double digits in every public poll, and the Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and UVA's Center for Politics have all moved North Carolina's Senate race to 'leans Democrat.' North Carolina Democrats, however, have heard this story before and lost every Senate and presidential race since 2008.

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us politics 6 4d ago 4 min read

Trump Blocks Jay Clayton's DNI Confirmation Hearing, Ties Senate's Hands to Force SAVE America Act Vote

Since the bipartisan scramble to confirm Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence began earlier this month, Trump upended it Wednesday with a pre-dawn Truth Social post that postponed Clayton's Senate confirmation hearing and linked the nomination to passage of a GOP voting bill. The move keeps Bill Pulte, Trump's acting DNI pick with no intelligence background, in position for at least several more weeks. Sen. Tom Cotton had initially said the hearing would proceed, then reversed course within hours.

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us defense 6 4d ago 4 min read

Senate Armed Services Committee Votes 18-9 to Restrict Defense Contractor Stock Buybacks in FY2027 NDAA

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a provision that would block major defense contractors from executing stock buybacks or paying dividends without Pentagon approval. The measure has bipartisan backing, draws from a Trump executive order, and would take effect June 15, 2027 if enacted. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing are expected to fight it hard.

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us economy 6 4d ago 4 min read

Trump's June 11 Defense Production Act Order Is Now Public. Congress Still Has to Decide Whether to Fund It.

President Trump signed a Defense Production Act order on June 11 to accelerate munitions manufacturing, and the memo went public this week. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is asking Congress for roughly $350 billion in supplemental Pentagon funding, but Republican skeptics and unified Democratic opposition make passage far from certain.

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us politics 5 5d ago 4 min read

Trump Goes 3-for-4 in Tuesday Primaries: Senate Wins in Alabama, Georgia, and Oklahoma, Governor's Race Lost in Georgia

Since our coverage of the Georgia gubernatorial upset yesterday, the full Tuesday picture is now clear. Trump's endorsed candidates won GOP Senate nominations in all three states where he weighed in, but the Georgia governor's race — covered in our June 17 report — remains the one notable loss in an otherwise strong night for the president's endorsement machine.

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us politics 6 5d ago 3 min read

Georgia GOP Runoffs Deliver a Split: Collins Wins Senate Nomination, Jackson Defeats Trump-Backed Jones for Governor

Tuesday's Georgia Republican primary runoffs produced a divided outcome for President Trump. Rep. Mike Collins won the Senate nomination and will face incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff in November, while billionaire Rick Jackson upset Trump's endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the gubernatorial race, spending more than $100 million of his own money to do it.

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us energy 6 5d ago 5 min read

Iran Deal's Day-Two Reality: Congress Wants the Text, Israel Was Denied It, and Qatar's LNG Restart Has a Permanent Ceiling

Since the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding was digitally signed on Sunday, the cracks in the deal have widened faster than the oil price has fallen. As of June 16, Congress still hasn't seen the text, Israel was formally denied access to the document, and QatarEnergy's celebrated LNG restart plan tops out at 80 percent of pre-war capacity for years. The Strait of Hormuz is scheduled to reopen Friday, but whether ships will actually transit it is a separate question.

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us politics 6 5d ago 4 min read

Trump Moves Special Education and Civil Rights Oversight Out of the Education Department, Using Interagency Agreements Congress Never Approved.

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will transfer the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to HHS and the Office for Civil Rights to the Justice Department. Both moves rely on interagency agreements rather than congressional action, raising a direct legal question: does the executive branch have the authority to do this on its own? The $15 billion in annual special education funding and decades of civil rights enforcement infrastructure are now in transit to agencies that have never run them.

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us economy 6 5d ago 4 min read

Wharton Puts Social Security Depletion a Few Months Later Than Trustees. The Gap Is Narrow and Both Agree: Congress Has to Act.

A new Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis projects the Social Security retirement trust fund runs dry in February 2033, roughly one quarter after the official trustees report released June 9 projected. The methodologies differ, but both reach the same conclusion: without legislative changes, retirees will eventually face automatic benefit cuts. Neither forecast is a reason for comfort.

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us defense 5 6d ago 4 min read

Federal Judge Says Military Lawyers Prosecuting Civilians Break Pentagon's Own Rules. Congress Is Now Demanding Answers.

A federal magistrate ruled that using an active-duty Army JAG officer to prosecute a civilian in Minnesota violates Defense Department regulations, though she allowed the case to proceed because she lacks authority to enforce Pentagon policy. On Capitol Hill, a Senate provision ordering a Government Accountability Office investigation into JAG deployments survived committee markup while a House Republican majority killed a similar effort. The two-front fight over military lawyers in civilian roles has been building for months and is now embedded in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act debate.

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us energy 7 6d ago 4 min read

Iran Deal Heads Toward Friday Signing in Geneva. Congress Is Skeptical, Netanyahu Is Trapped, and the Text Is Still Secret.

Since the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding was electronically signed over the weekend, the document itself has not been made public. VP Vance says Trump may release it before Friday's formal ceremony in Geneva, but Congress hasn't seen it, Israel is defying it, and the one-and-a-half-page MOU leaves critical nuclear details unresolved.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

Todd Blanche's AG Nomination Hits the Senate With Three Unresolved Problems Baked In

Since Trump sent Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination to the Senate on Monday, the confirmation fight has centered on three distinct pressure points: the collapsed anti-weaponization fund, Blanche's refusal to recuse from cases he personally handled as Trump's defense lawyer, and a slim margin for error in a GOP caucus that includes outgoing senators with nothing to lose.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

Trump Sends Todd Blanche's Attorney General Nomination to the Senate. The Confirmation Fight Starts Now.

President Trump formally nominated Todd Blanche as attorney general on Monday, June 9, submitting the paperwork to a Senate where at least one Republican has already signaled hesitation. Blanche has served as acting AG since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April, spending those two months aggressively prosecuting Trump's perceived enemies and defending a now-blocked $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization fund.' Whether enough Republican senators trust the man who once said 'I love you, sir' to his boss to run the nation's top law enforcement agency is the question now sitting in front of the Judiciary Committee.

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us politics 4 Jun 15 4 min read

Michigan Senate Candidate Mallory McMorrow Deleted 6,000 X Posts, Including a 2016 Post Wishing 'Middle America' Would Split Off from the U.S.

Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow scrubbed roughly 6,000 posts from her X account in late April 2026, wiping everything prior to 2020. The deletions came after the New York Post surfaced a December 2016 post in which McMorrow wrote that she dreamed the U.S. would split into coastal regions and 'Middle America.' She is currently in a near-tied Democratic primary race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Gary Peters.

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us politics 7 Jun 15 4 min read

Trump Formally Nominates Todd Blanche as Attorney General, Sending His Former Defense Lawyer to Senate Confirmation.

President Trump sent Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination to the Senate on Monday, converting an acting role Blanche has held since April into a permanent bid. Blanche arrives at confirmation carrying real baggage: a collapsed $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, controversial indictments of Trump critics, and at least one undecided Republican on the Judiciary Committee whose vote he needs.

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us economy 4 Jun 14 3 min read

Senate Agriculture Committee Expected to Drop 'Save Our Bacon' Provision from Farm Bill

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman says his version of the 2026 farm bill will not include the Save Our Bacon Act, which would have nullified California's and Massachusetts' voter-approved animal welfare laws. The provision already cleared the House but faces a filibuster-proof wall of bipartisan opposition in the Senate. Former lead Senate sponsor Roger Marshall has now withdrawn his support, narrowing the path further.

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us health 5 Jun 14 4 min read

Maine Democrat Graham Platner Won a Senate Primary Despite a Nazi Tattoo and Abuse Allegations. His 'Broken Veteran' Defense Deserves Scrutiny.

Graham Platner won Maine's Democratic Senate primary this week despite a documented trail of troubling behavior, including a Nazi tattoo, written statements demeaning women and Black people, and allegations of threatening conduct toward former girlfriends. His campaign has leaned hard on his Marine Corps service and PTSD as the explanation. That defense raises serious questions about veterans, accountability, and who actually gets to use military service as a moral shield.

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us politics 4 Jun 14 4 min read

Cornyn Tells Mike Lee the SAVE America Act Has No Path in the Senate. Lee Says He's Wrong.

Senate Republicans went public with a sharp strategic divide over the SAVE America Act this week, with Sen. John Cornyn calling the vote count a math problem and Sen. Mike Lee calling that a failure of will. The fight is messier than a simple policy dispute: Cornyn lost his Texas primary partly because the bill never passed, and he called voter-registration activist Scott Presler a 'grifter' on X.

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us politics 4 Jun 14 4 min read

Alaska Elections Officials Rule Same-Name Senate Candidate Ineligible, Citing Voter Confusion Risk

Alaska's Division of Elections issued a preliminary ruling on June 12 that Daniel J. Sullivan of Petersburg cannot appear on the 2026 U.S. Senate ballot. The candidate shares a name, a former campaign slogan, and a near-identical logo with incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Whether this was a coordinated Democratic operation or a legitimate independent candidacy remains alleged but unproven in any legal proceeding.

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us politics 6 Jun 13 3 min read

Senate Democrats Are Blocking Bills Wholesale, Including Bipartisan Ones, as a Pressure Tactic Against Trump

Senate Democrats have shifted to a blanket obstruction strategy, refusing to move even bipartisan legislation as leverage against the Trump administration. The immediate flashpoint is a $1.776 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund that a federal judge temporarily blocked and that the DOJ signaled may be dead. Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Wyden and colleagues are pressing Senate Majority Leader John Thune to halt what they call the gutting of independent agencies and the installation of Trump loyalists as watchdogs.

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us defense 6 Jun 13 4 min read

Senate Committee Moves to Restrict Trump's Control Over U.S. Troops in Europe as NATO Spending Debate Continues

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a fiscal 2027 defense bill on June 12 that would require 120-day congressional notice before any U.S. troop reductions in NATO countries, directly checking Trump's authority after he ordered 5,000 troops pulled from Germany in May. Meanwhile, analysts across the political spectrum are debating how much credit Trump deserves for Europe's rising defense spending, and European security experts argue the continent needs to stop framing its buildup around pleasing Washington.

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us economy 6 Jun 13 4 min read

TrumpRx.gov Expands to 600-Plus Generic Drugs. A Senate Bill Would Complicate the Patent Side of That Picture.

The Trump administration has built TrumpRx.gov into a price-comparison platform covering more than 600 generic medications and dozens of brand-name drugs negotiated at discounted cash prices. A separate Senate bill, the Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act, is drawing industry fire for tying FDA approval to patent filings and potentially opening new litigation exposure. The two developments are distinct policy tracks, but they're colliding in the same political debate over who actually controls drug costs.

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us politics 4 Jun 13 4 min read

Graham Platner Wins Maine Democratic Senate Primary With 72% of the Vote, Setting Up November Race Against Susan Collins

Marine veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner won the Maine Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday despite allegations of sexually explicit texts to other women and claims of physical abuse, which he denies. He will now face five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a November race Democrats consider essential to flipping Senate control. The general election contest is shaping up as one of the most-watched of the 2026 midterms.

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us politics 4 Jun 12 4 min read

Texas Senate Race: GOP Targets Talarico's Past Statements on Gender, Sports, and Race as General Election Begins

Since winning his Democratic primary, James Talarico has become the focus of a coordinated Republican opposition research campaign targeting years of progressive statements on transgender issues, race, and religion. The NRSC and RNC are running paid digital ads amplifying the material. Talarico is punching back, but his campaign has declined to answer specific questions about the unearthed positions.

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us energy 6 Jun 12 4 min read

Senate Republicans Attached Roadless Rule Repeal to Wildfire Bill, Committee Advances It on Party-Line Vote

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted this week to advance the Wildfire Prevention Act with a last-minute Republican amendment that would permanently eliminate the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Democrats say the move kills what was a bipartisan wildfire bill. Republicans say roadless protections block the forest management needed to reduce fire risk.

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us finance 6 Jun 12 4 min read

Congress Pushes to End Fed's Interest-on-Reserves Payments. The Banking Industry Says It Would Backfire.

Senators Rick Scott and Ted Cruz have introduced the FAIR Act to eliminate the Federal Reserve's authority to pay banks interest on their reserves, citing $728 billion in cumulative payments since 2008. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott says the decision needs full deliberation, not a rushed budget maneuver. The American Bankers Association warns the move would restrict credit to ordinary households and businesses without producing the promised budget savings.

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us defense 6 Jun 12 4 min read

Senate Armed Services Committee Proposes New Four-Star Combatant Command for Drones and Autonomous Systems in $1.14 Trillion FY2027 NDAA

The Senate Armed Services Committee passed its fiscal 2027 defense policy bill 18-9 on Wednesday, with a provision permitting the Pentagon to establish a Robotic and Autonomous Systems Combatant Command led by a four-star general. The proposal is permissive, not mandatory, and still faces a full Senate vote, a House reconciliation process, and unresolved questions about how the new command would fit alongside existing military structures.

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us health 5 Jun 11 3 min read

Congress Lets Taxpayer Funding Ban on Transgender Procedures Lapse in Spending Deal

A ban on taxpayer funding for transgender medical procedures expired after Congress passed a spending deal without renewing it. Senator Josh Hawley has called for a probe into Planned Parenthood's use of federal dollars for such procedures. The lapse is drawing sharp criticism from conservatives, while no congressional vote to reinstate the ban is currently scheduled.

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us politics 6 Jun 11 4 min read

Senate Republicans Return to Washington With No Deal on DHS Funding or the $1.776 Billion 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund

Since House Republicans' budget reconciliation fight dragged into this week, a separate — and arguably more combustible — standoff over DHS funding has been grinding for months. Senate Republicans who left town without passing a Homeland Security spending bill still don't have the votes to move it, and a White House-backed $1.776 billion settlement fund for Trump allies is the sticking point nobody in leadership wants to talk about on the record.

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us politics 6 Jun 11 4 min read

Bill Gates Testifies to Congress That Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him Over Extramarital Affairs

Bill Gates appeared before the House Oversight Committee on June 10, 2026, telling lawmakers under oath that Jeffrey Epstein attempted to use knowledge of his extramarital affairs — plus fabricated lies — as leverage to force Gates back into a professional relationship. Gates denied witnessing any criminal conduct and denied ever visiting Epstein's island, ranch, or Florida home. The committee has already questioned the Clintons and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnic as part of its wider probe into DOJ's handling of the Epstein cases.

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us politics 6 Jun 10 4 min read

Senate Faces Confirmation Vote on Todd Blanche as Attorney General — Conflict-of-Interest Concerns Center on His Prior Role as Trump's Personal Criminal Defense Lawyer

Since the Senate blocked Bill Pulte's DNI nomination on June 9, the upper chamber now faces another high-stakes confirmation fight: Trump has formally nominated Todd Blanche — his former personal criminal defense attorney — to be the permanent Attorney General. Critics from across the legal community argue the appointment is an unprecedented conflict of interest. Blanche and his defenders say the concern is overblown and that he has done nothing improper.

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us economy 6 Jun 10 4 min read

House Passes Faster Labor Contracts Act 230-193, Sending Union First-Contract Bill to the Senate

The House voted 230-193 on June 9, 2026, to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act, which would force employers to begin contract negotiations within 10 days of a union election and trigger arbitration if no deal is reached within roughly four months. Twenty Republicans crossed the aisle in support. The bill now heads to the Senate, where a companion bill from Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) is already in play.

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