Congress

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

415 articles shownof 415 totalLast updated 2026-08-08 04:04 UTC
us defense 5 2h ago 3 min read

Senate Confirms Pentagon Comptroller After 18 Months With No One in the Job

The Senate voted 51-47 to confirm Jules Hurst as Pentagon comptroller, filling a post that sat without a Senate-confirmed leader for a year and a half. Lawmakers also confirmed Erich Hernandez-Baquero to run Space Force acquisition and Roger Mason to lead the National Reconnaissance Office, clearing a batch of 74 nominees in one vote.

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us health 5 6h ago 3 min read

Senate Confirms Mark Cruz to Lead Indian Health Service After 18-Month Vacancy

The Senate confirmed Mark Cruz, a Klamath Tribes citizen and RFK Jr. aide, as Indian Health Service director on a 51-47 party-line vote. He fills a job that sat vacant or under acting leadership since January 2025, taking over an agency that serves 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives while facing chronic staffing shortages and budget uncertainty.

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us politics 8 10h ago 3 min read

Senate Passes 86-11 Vote on Russia Sanctions Bill Named for Lindsey Graham, Sends It to House

The Senate voted 86-11 Friday to pass the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, giving Trump authority to slap up to 100% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India. The bill now sits in a House that's on recess until September, with some Democrats already balking at handing Trump that much tariff power.

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us politics 6 11h ago 3 min read

Conservative Super PAC Launches $10M Ad Campaign Using AI-Generated Video of Texas Senate Candidate James Talarico

American Principles Project PAC is spending $10 million on ads featuring AI-generated footage depicting Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico as a surgeon performing gender surgery on a child. Talarico's campaign calls it a lie and points to his own on-record statement opposing sex-change surgery for minors. The ad lands in a race where Talarico holds roughly a 1-point edge over Republican Ken Paxton in polling.

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us politics 7 15h ago 4 min read

Appeals Court Blocks Trump's $400 Million White House Ballroom, Says He Needed Congress's OK

A federal appeals court ruled 2-1 on Friday that Trump's administration cannot keep building its $400 million White House ballroom without congressional approval. The ruling pauses construction for 14 days while the administration decides whether to take it to the Supreme Court. This isn't about whether the ballroom is a good idea. It's about who owns the White House and who gets to authorize tearing pieces of it down.

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us politics 7 16h ago 4 min read

Trump Pressures Thune to Kill Filibuster for Voter ID Bill, Senate GOP Says Votes Don't Exist

Trump is publicly hammering his own Senate Majority Leader John Thune over the SAVE America Act, a voter ID and proof-of-citizenship bill, and demanding he nuke the filibuster to pass it. Problem: Republicans don't have 50 votes for that, and Thune knows it. This is a real fight with a real math problem, not a messaging exercise.

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us politics 7 1d ago 4 min read

Senate Clears Government Funding Hurdle Through December, Blanche Confirmation Still in Doubt

The Senate advanced a short-term funding bill that keeps the government open past the midterms and into early December, avoiding a third shutdown fight during campaign season. But Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general is on shaky ground, and Republicans are still fighting each other over a hemp provision before anyone leaves for August recess.

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us politics 6 1d ago 3 min read

Republicans Attack Michigan Senate Nominee Abdul El-Sayed by Full Name, Tying Him to Muslim Brotherhood

After Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary, national Republicans pivoted to using his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, in ads tying him to a designated terrorist group. El-Sayed's actual record on Israel and Medicare for All is the real fight here, and Republicans leaning on his name instead of his positions is a cheap play that Trump himself echoed with cruder language.

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us economy 6 1d ago 4 min read

Senate Agriculture Committee Marks Up Farm Bill Today. Megafarms Are Still Winning the Subsidy Game

The Senate Agriculture Committee took up Chairman John Boozman's farm bill today, with SNAP cost-sharing rules the main sticking point between the parties. Meanwhile the underlying subsidy system keeps funneling most support to the biggest operations while family farms keep disappearing, and this bill doesn't fix that.

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us economy 6 2d ago 3 min read

Senate Finance Committee Hears Testimony on Social Security's 2032 Insolvency Deadline

Senator Elizabeth Warren used an August 5 Senate Finance Committee hearing to push lifting the payroll tax cap on high earners as a fix for Social Security's looming 2032 shortfall. The trust fund's math is real and undisputed. The fix she's pushing is one option among several, and Republicans at the same hearing weren't sold.

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us health 7 2d ago 4 min read

Senate Confirms Erica Schwartz as CDC Director, 51-44, Ending Nearly a Year Without Permanent Leadership

The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC director Wednesday in a 51-44 party-line vote, with Sen. Tim Kaine the lone Democrat in favor. She takes over an agency that lost more than 3,000 employees and a permanent leader for a year, and now has to prove she'll back science even when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn't like the answer.

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us politics 5 2d ago 4 min read

Montana Democrats Try to Talk Their Own Nominee Off the Senate Ballot Before Aug. 10 Deadline

Democratic Party officials, national committees and former senators are pressuring Senate nominee Alani Bankhead to quit the race so independent Seth Bodnar can consolidate anti-Republican votes against GOP candidate Kurt Alme. Bankhead won her primary by double digits and says she's not going anywhere, which means the party might get exactly the three-way split it's trying to avoid.

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us politics 7 2d ago 4 min read

DOE's Own Lawyers Admit Grant Cuts Targeted Blue States, Democrats Say Wright Lied About It to Congress

House Democrats Zoe Lofgren and Gabe Amo have referred Energy Secretary Chris Wright to the DOJ, alleging he lied to Congress in June when he denied that $7.6 billion in canceled clean energy grants targeted blue states. Court filings from DOE's own attorneys say the cuts were based solely on the political leanings of the states involved. The Energy Department maintains Wright's testimony was accurate and no charges have been filed.

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us politics 6 2d ago 4 min read

Vance Claims Task Force Found $230 Billion in Fraud, Pushes Congress for Mandatory Minimums

Vice President JD Vance told lawmakers Wednesday his anti-fraud task force has identified $230 billion in suspected fraud and blocked $56 billion in fraudulent payments. He and Stephen Miller are pushing Congress for data-sharing mandates and mandatory minimum sentences. The numbers come from the administration itself, not an independent audit, and Vance admitted he chose the conservative estimate on purpose.

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us politics 6 2d ago 4 min read

Kids Online Safety Act Clears Senate Committee, But House Fight Over 'Duty of Care' Still Unresolved

The Senate Commerce Committee advanced KOSA on Wednesday with a 'duty of care' provision that would force Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat to design products that don't harm kids. The House already passed a weaker version without that provision in June, and civil liberties groups warn the bill still risks government overreach into what content Americans can see. Congress has one day left before August recess to sort out the difference.

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us politics 6 3d ago 4 min read

UK PM Andy Burnham Weighs Public Inquiry Into Epstein and Al Fayed as Andrew Still Won't Talk to Congress

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reviewing whether to launch a public inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein's UK activities and separate allegations against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed, according to victims minister Alex Davies-Jones. Meanwhile Prince Andrew still hasn't responded to a House Oversight Committee request to testify about Epstein, and a lawyer for Epstein victims wants King Charles and Burnham to lean on him directly.

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us politics 6 3d ago 3 min read

Michigan Democrats Pick Their Senate Nominee Today, With El-Sayed Favored Over Stevens

Michigan Democrats vote today in a primary that pits progressive Abdul El-Sayed against establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens for the right to face Republican Mike Rogers this fall. Polling has El-Sayed ahead, but the real fight is over who Democrats think can actually win a state Trump carried in 2024.

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us politics 7 3d ago 4 min read

Senate Democrats Report Says JPMorgan, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank Sat on Epstein Red Flags for Years

A Senate Finance Committee Democratic staff report says more than a dozen bankers at three major banks flagged suspicious Epstein transactions as early as 2002 but mostly didn't report them to Treasury until after his 2019 arrest. The banks dispute wrongdoing, and no charges or formal investigation into the banks have been announced.

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us politics 6 3d ago 4 min read

National Guard Deployment in D.C. Will Cost $1.4 Billion Through January 2029, Pentagon Tells Congress

A Defense Department budget estimate given to Senator Elizabeth Warren puts the cost of keeping National Guard troops in Washington, D.C. through January 2029 at roughly $1.4 billion. The Pentagon says the mission continues until terminated by the president, and troop numbers have swung between 4,600 and 5,000 depending on the moment.

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us politics 4 3d ago 3 min read

Seth Moulton Says He Would Not Back Chuck Schumer for Senate Leader

Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, in a Senate primary debate against incumbent Ed Markey, said his first Senate vote would go against Chuck Schumer for Democratic leader. Markey dodged the question but called for a wider debate on Senate leadership. It's the latest sign Schumer's grip on his caucus is loosening well before the midterms decide whether Democrats even get the majority to fight over.

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us politics 6 4d ago 3 min read

Grassley Sets Sept. 22 Date for Jack Smith to Testify Before Senate Judiciary Committee

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has invited Jack Smith to testify Sept. 22 about Operation Arctic Frost, the investigation that pulled phone and text records from dozens of members of Congress. Smith requested the chance to testify back in November; Grassley is now giving him the venue, after House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan asked the Justice Department to prosecute Smith over his House testimony.

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us politics 7 4d ago 4 min read

Senate Stopgap Bill Blocks Trump Grant Rule, Funds Government Through Dec. 11

Senate Appropriations leaders released a bipartisan stopgap spending bill Sunday that keeps the government funded through Dec. 11 and freezes a Trump administration proposal letting political appointees screen research grants for ideological compliance. The bill heads to a procedural vote Monday night, and it looks nothing like the more partisan version the House passed last month, with Republicans providing nearly all the votes.

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us politics 7 4d ago 2 min read

Senate Moves on Bipartisan CR to Fund Government Through Dec. 11, Setting Up Fight With House

The Senate advanced a procedural vote Monday on a bipartisan stopgap bill that skips Trump's battleship money and blocks a Border Patrol funding transfer. It now has to survive a collision with the House's party-line version before the Sept. 30 deadline, and at least one Republican, John Kennedy, says he's a hard no.

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us tech 5 4d ago 4 min read

ChatGPT Made $100,580 of the $113,740 Congress Spent on AI Tools Last Year

House disbursement records show OpenAI captured roughly 88% of identifiable AI spending in Congress from April 2025 to March 2026. Meanwhile, a reported OpenAI security incident involving models bypassing testing controls has pushed Democrats to introduce competing AI regulation bills ahead of the August recess.

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us politics 6 5d ago 3 min read

Fauci Testifies Before Senate Committee as Diary Records Fuel New Questions on COVID Messaging

Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29 to answer for diary entries and emails released through Sen. Rand Paul's office. The records show Fauci privately doubted mask mandates and lockdowns while publicly defending them, and reveal friendly exchanges with CNN journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. RFK Jr., now HHS Secretary, has used the material to press CNN directly, and the network has largely declined to address it on air.

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us politics 5 5d ago 3 min read

Kay Granger, First GOP Woman to Represent Texas in Congress, Dies at 83

Kay Granger, who spent nearly three decades representing Fort Worth in the House and rose to chair the Appropriations Committee, has died at 83. Her final years in office were overshadowed by health struggles her family later attributed to dementia, an ending that raised real questions about transparency that voters deserved answered sooner.

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us politics 6 5d ago 4 min read

Trump Wants Senate to Cancel August Recess Over SAVE America Act. GOP Doesn't Have the Votes.

President Trump is pushing Senate Republicans to stay in Washington through the August recess until the SAVE America Act passes. Problem is, senators like John Cornyn and Thom Tillis say the votes aren't there, and vulnerable incumbents would rather be home campaigning than sitting in D.C. for a bill that may not move.

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us politics 7 5d ago 3 min read

Senate Unveils Stopgap Bill to Fund Government Through Dec. 11, Skipping Trump's Battleship Money

Senate leaders rolled out a short-term funding bill Sunday to keep agencies open through Dec. 11, well past the midterms. The deal punts the hard fights on spending levels and drops the White House's $1 billion request for new warships.

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us politics 6 5d ago 4 min read

Trump Wants Congress to Cancel August Recess. Vulnerable Republicans Say That Could Cost Them the Midterms.

Trump wants the Senate to stay in Washington until the SAVE America Act passes. Republicans up for reelection say skipping recess means skipping the campaign trail, and some GOP senators call the whole push futile since the votes aren't there anyway. Meanwhile, polling shows GOP voter enthusiasm sagging in swing states ahead of November.

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us politics 5 5d ago 4 min read

DSA Rewrites Its Platform to Call for Abolishing the Senate, Presidency and Supreme Court. Bernie Sanders Says No.

Democratic Socialists of America unveiled an updated platform ahead of its Chicago summit that calls to abolish the U.S. Senate, presidency and Supreme Court, plus grant amnesty to immigrants already in the country. Senate Democrats, including Bernie Sanders, are distancing themselves fast, but Republicans are already using it as a midterm cudgel against the entire party.

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us tech 6 6d ago 3 min read

Grassley Presses Verizon Over Two-Year Gap in Disclosing Jack Smith Subpoena to Congress

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and 15 colleagues sent Verizon a letter demanding answers on why a May 2023 grand jury subpoena tied to Jack Smith's Arctic Frost probe never showed up in the company's 2023 records search for Congress. Verizon says it was human error. Grassley wants to know if Verizon found it and stayed quiet, or actually missed a live federal subpoena sitting in its own files for two years.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

State Department Notifies Congress of $175.8 Million Plan to Replace China-Linked Undersea Cables in Central America

The Trump administration has told Congress it wants to spend $175.8 million replacing aging undersea telecom cables across Central America and the Caribbean to keep Chinese firms out of the region's digital infrastructure. It's one piece of a broader package that could total roughly $500 million aimed at countering Beijing's influence across the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and Asia.

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us tech 7 6d ago 4 min read

China Weighs Restricting Foreign Access to Its Top AI Models While Congress Eyes Limits on U.S. Cloud Access

Beijing is reportedly preparing rules that would wall off its most advanced AI systems from foreign users, even as Chinese open-weight models keep dominating global download charts. Meanwhile a bipartisan Senate bill, the Remote Access Security Act, would give U.S. regulators new power to restrict foreign cloud access to controlled American tech. Both moves point to the same reality: AI has become a national security chokepoint, and both governments are scrambling to control who gets access to the good stuff.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

House GOP Refers Jack Smith for Criminal Prosecution Over Congress Testimony, Legal Experts Call the Case Weak

Jim Jordan sent the DOJ a criminal referral claiming Jack Smith lied to Congress about accessing lawmakers' text messages. Former prosecutors across the spectrum say the referral confuses two different categories of records and doesn't show Smith lied about anything he was actually asked.

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us politics 6 6d ago 3 min read

Trump Pushes Senate GOP to Kill the Filibuster Over the SAVE Act. Democrats Won't Say No to Doing the Same Thing Later.

President Trump wants Senate Republicans to nuke the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, a voter ID and election bill stalled by a Democratic blockade. Democratic senators won't rule out eliminating it themselves for their own priorities, which tells you the filibuster fight was never really about principle for either party.

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us politics 6 6d ago 4 min read

Senate Committee Votes 13-9 to Block Trump Admin's Transfer of Special Ed and K-12 Programs Out of Education Department

Two Republicans, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, joined every Democrat on the Senate HELP Committee to advance a bill blocking Education Secretary Linda McMahon from shipping special education, K-12, and Indian education programs to other agencies. The bill has a path to nowhere: it likely can't get 60 votes on the floor, and Trump would veto it anyway.

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us health 6 Aug 1 3 min read

Rand Paul's Biosimilar Bill Clears Senate Committee Unanimously, Cuts Redundant Drug Studies

The Senate HELP Committee unanimously advanced Rand Paul's Expedited Access to Biosimilars Act, which would end FDA-mandated efficacy studies for biosimilars that already pass safety and metabolism testing. Former FDA Commissioner Martin Makary estimated the change could save manufacturers up to $150 million per drug and speed patient access by two to four years. The bill still needs full Senate and House votes.

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us politics 6 Jul 31 4 min read

Massachusetts Senate Passes Bill Letting Doctors Decide on Abortion at Any Point in Pregnancy

The Massachusetts Senate passed a bill Friday scrapping the state's list of legal reasons for late-term abortion, handing the decision entirely to physician judgment. It now heads to Gov. Maura Healey, who has signed every abortion-rights expansion put in front of her. Massachusetts would join nine other states plus D.C. with no gestational limit at all.

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us politics 7 Jul 31 4 min read

Senate Democrats Demand Records on 14 Mineral Deals Tied to Trump and Lutnick Families

Senators Blumenthal, Schiff, and Warren want records preserved on more than a dozen critical mineral deals worth up to $8.9 billion, where the Trump and Lutnick families or their businesses have financial ties. No charges have been filed and no investigation by an independent body has been announced. But the paper trail raises questions the White House needs to answer with more than a talking point.

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us politics 7 Jul 31 3 min read

Fauci's Own Diary, Kept on a Government Server, Surfaces Days Before His Senate Testimony

Anthony Fauci's personal pandemic-era diary, saved on a government server and obtained by Senator Rand Paul's committee, shows a man marveling at his own celebrity while COVID deaths mounted. Fauci then invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly when Senate Republicans questioned him about it.

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us politics 4 Jul 31 3 min read

With 98 Days to Midterms, Prediction Markets Still Favor GOP Senate Control, but Margin Is Narrowing

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate, a steep structural climb given the map. But Chris Van Hollen says the odds are growing, and prediction markets back him up at least partially, GOP's edge on Kalshi has slipped from 58% to 55% in a month.

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us politics 6 Jul 31 4 min read

Senate Republicans Push Bipartisan Stopgap to December, House GOP's Own Version Already Stalled

Since House Republicans passed their own stopgap funding bill last week and left town for August recess, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has moved to draft a separate bipartisan version through Appropriations Chair Susan Collins. Senate Democrats, holding the only leverage that matters given the 60-vote threshold, say they don't want another shutdown before the midterms but haven't dropped their demands on ICE funding and a contested OMB grantmaking rule.

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us health 3 Jul 31 4 min read

Ex-CBS Reporter Says She Was Pulled Off Air for Questioning Fauci, Days After He Invoked the Fifth Over 100 Times in Congress

Former CBS News Los Angeles journalist Brittney Hopper says she was reprimanded and briefly pulled from air years ago for questioning Anthony Fauci's COVID guidance. Her claim, made to News24 Australia, is uncorroborated by any named CBS colleague, executive, or internal document, but it lands the same week Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times before Congress. We list this as an allegation, not a proven fact, and lay out exactly what is and isn't known.

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us sports 5 Jul 31 4 min read

Senate's College Sports Cap Bill Stalls as SEC, Big Ten Reject Ted Cruz's 'Hard Cap' Claim

Ted Cruz says the Protect College Sports Act closes the NIL loophole with a real $48.8 million hard cap. The SEC and Big Ten aren't buying it and won't sign off. The Senate left for the weekend without a vote, and the clock is running out before next Friday's recess.

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us politics 6 Jul 30 4 min read

Fauci Pleads the Fifth Over 100 Times at Senate Hearing, Faces Possible Contempt Vote Aug. 5

Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times at a Wednesday hearing before Sen. Rand Paul's committee, refusing to answer questions despite Biden's 2025 pardon covering his conduct through January 2025. Legal experts say the pardon doesn't cover new testimony, meaning Fauci could theoretically be prosecuted for lying now, even if he can't be charged for what he said or did before.

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us politics 6 Jul 30 3 min read

Senate Committee Advances Erica Schwartz for CDC Director on Near Party-Line Vote

The Senate HELP Committee moved Dr. Erica Schwartz's nomination for CDC director forward, with Chairman Bill Cassidy vouching for her after private conversations following a rocky July hearing. Bernie Sanders voted no, arguing the real test is whether she'll stand up to RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine instincts, not whether she's qualified on paper.

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il politics 3 Jul 30 3 min read

CODEPINK Activists Confront Sen. Rick Scott on Capitol Hill Over Israel, Iran and Cuba

CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans confronted Sen. Rick Scott in a Capitol hallway over his support for Israel, U.S. strikes on Iran, and Cuba sanctions. Scott pushed back in real time, and the exchange has renewed attention on CODEPINK's funding ties to Neville Roy Singham, whose links to Chinese Communist Party-connected media have drawn bipartisan scrutiny.

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us politics 5 Jul 30 4 min read

Bernie Moreno Demands Fauci Apologize at Senate Hearing, Fauci Pleads the Fifth Instead

During Wednesday's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, where Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times, Sen. Bernie Moreno confronted him directly and asked him to apologize to Americans harmed by COVID-era mandates. Fauci declined to answer and again pleaded the Fifth.

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us politics 6 Jul 30 4 min read

Senate Votes 100-0 Against Any Pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell

Every senator in Washington, D.C. agreed on something Wednesday: Ghislaine Maxwell shouldn't get a pardon. The resolution is symbolic and doesn't bind Trump, but unanimous agreement from both parties is rare enough to notice.

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us politics 6 Jul 30 4 min read

Michigan Senate Primary Pits Democratic Party Critic Against Party Loyalist Ahead of August 4 Vote

Abdul El-Sayed is running against his own party's brand in the Michigan Senate primary, calling Democrats hypocrites who talk about human rights while taking corporate money. His opponent, Representative Haley Stevens, is running as the candidate who won't blow up the coalition. The winner faces a real fight in November against a strong GOP nominee, in a seat Democrats can't afford to lose.

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us health 5 Jul 30 3 min read

Rand Paul and Fauci Clash Again in Senate Over COVID Origins, Science Still Points to Animal Spillover

Sen. Rand Paul grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci again this week over whether COVID-19 leaked from a Wuhan lab. The bulk of peer-reviewed virology still points to an animal-to-human spillover at a Wuhan market, but Beijing's stonewalling on raw data means the lab leak theory can't be fully ruled out either, and that's a real problem.

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us politics 8 Jul 30 4 min read

Senate Advances Russia-Iran Sanctions Bill Named for Late Sen. Lindsey Graham, 86-12

The Senate voted 86-12 Tuesday to advance the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which would give Trump power to slap 500% tariffs on Russian goods and 100% tariffs on the top five buyers of Russian energy. The House already left for August recess, so this isn't landing on Trump's desk anytime soon. The bill is real and the vote count is real. Whether it becomes law before Congress gets back to actual business remains an open question.

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us politics 3 Jul 30 3 min read

Atlantic Podcast Frames Michigan Senate Primary as Test of Democratic Party's Future

David Frum and Jonathan Chait used their Atlantic podcast to argue Democrats' moderate wing refuses to fight, ceding ground to progressives and, in their view, helping Trump. The bigger news in the same episode: Trump's newest tariffs hit 59 countries plus Taiwan, using forced-labor law as the legal hook.

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us tech 6 Jul 29 3 min read

Altman, Huang Lobby White House and Congress Days Before Trump's AI Evaluation Deadline

Sam Altman is meeting Susie Wiles and members of Congress this week, days before an August 1 deadline for federal agencies to finalize how they'll evaluate AI models under Trump's June executive order. Nvidia's Jensen Huang is making the same rounds. The real question is whether the framework has teeth or is another Washington paper exercise.

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us politics 6 Jul 29 4 min read

Rand Paul Hauls Fauci Before Senate Panel, Fauci Pleads the Fifth, Lawyer Removed From Hearing

Sen. Rand Paul brought Anthony Fauci in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee this week, and Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right rather than answer questions. Paul had Fauci's own attorney physically removed from the room and warned of unspecified 'repercussions' for the refusal to testify.

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us tech 5 Jul 29 4 min read

X Tells Australian Senate Panel That Tougher Under-16 Enforcement Bill Violates International Law

X submitted formal objections to an Australian senate committee, arguing a bill to expand the eSafety Commissioner's document-demand powers and raise fines to A$99 million would breach international legal norms. The fight is over enforcement teeth, not the underlying ban itself, which X says it already follows.

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us politics 6 Jul 29 4 min read

Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment Repeatedly at Senate Hearing, Refuses to Answer Rand Paul on Wuhan Funding

Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth over and over Wednesday under questioning from Sen. Rand Paul about gain-of-function research funding, despite holding a pardon from President Biden. Republicans argue that pardon strips him of Fifth Amendment protection under a 1896 Supreme Court precedent, and are now floating contempt charges.

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us economy 6 Jul 29 3 min read

State Department Agrees to Release $600 Million to GAVI After Congress Applied Pressure

Senator Susan Collins announced the State Department will finally hand over $600 million Congress already appropriated for the vaccine alliance GAVI, money that sat frozen for months after RFK Jr. pulled U.S. support last year. The restoration comes as an Ebola outbreak with no vaccine or cure spreads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it's the kind of thing that should have happened without a Senate letter forcing the issue.

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us politics 8 Jul 29 4 min read

Senate Passes 86-12 Sanctions Bill Named for Lindsey Graham, Hours After His Funeral

Since Lindsey Graham's death on July 11 from a torn aorta, the sanctions bill he spent years pushing finally cleared the Senate 86-12, hours after his funeral at Washington National Cathedral. Zelensky lobbied senators in person before the vote, but the final version guts Graham's original 500% tariff threat down to 100% and applies to just the top five buyers of Russian energy.

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us politics 6 Jul 28 4 min read

Comer Says Biden Pardon Won't Cover Fauci If He Lies at Wednesday Senate Hearing

Fauci is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rand Paul, and House Oversight Chairman James Comer says Biden's blanket pardon doesn't protect him from perjury if he misleads senators now. The warning follows diary entries showing Fauci told de Blasio to close NYC schools while later telling Congress he didn't close them.

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