Articles written by Drew Taylor
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Biden's $6T budget: Social spending, taxes on business
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday unveiled a $6 trillion budget for next year that's piled high with new safety net programs for the poor and middle class, but his generosity depends on taxing corporations and the wealthy to keep the n...
Austin wins Senate confirmation as 1st Black Pentagon chief
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lloyd J. Austin, a West Point graduate who rose to the Army's elite ranks and marched through racial barriers in a 41-year career, won Senate confirmation Friday to become the nation's first Black secretary of defense. The 93-2 v... Full story
Inauguration rehearsal evacuated after fire in homeless camp
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Capitol complex temporarily locked down Monday during a rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration after a fire in a homeless encampment roughly a mile away sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused s...
Democratic wins could strengthen Biden's legislative push
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden's victory in November was tempered by concerns that he would face Republican opposition in the Senate that could stymie him at every turn. Those worries eased this past week when Democrats swept two Senate...
Chaos, violence, mockery as pro-Trump mob occupies Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — "Where are they?" a Trump supporter demanded in a crowd of dozens roaming the halls of the Capitol, bearing Trump flags and pounding on doors. They — lawmakers, staff members and more — were hiding under tables, hunkered in lockd... Full story
Trump reluctantly signs COVID aid, sparks fresh fight in GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shelving his objections, President Donald Trump has signed a $2 trillion-plus COVID-19 and annual federal spending package providing relief for millions of Americans, even as Congress returns to confront the White House on r...
Trump assails COVID relief bill, suggests he may not sign
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is assailing the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and is suggesting that he may not sign it. Trump complained in a video that he tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill...
Congress averts shutdown; fight continues over pandemic aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying yet more time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. T...
Agreement likely Sunday on nearly $1 trillion virus aid bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Washington negotiators, propelled by a late-night agreement on the last major obstacle to a COVID-19 economic relief package, said a Sunday agreement is all but inevitable to deliver long-overdue pandemic aid of almost $1 t...
Congress averts shutdown; fight continues over pandemic aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress passed a two-day stopgap spending bill Friday night, averting a partial government shutdown and buying yet more time for frustratingly slow endgame negotiations on an almost $1 trillion COVID-19 economic relief package. T...
Close but not yet: Deal near on COVID-19 economic aid bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional negotiators closed in Wednesday on a $900 billion COVID-19 economic relief package that would deliver additional help to businesses, $300 per week jobless checks, and $600 stimulus payments to most Americans. But there...
New White House offer adds $600 checks to COVID-19 relief
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration dove back into Capitol Hill's confusing COVID-19 negotiations on Tuesday, offering a $916 billion package to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans — but eli...
Virus talks drag on liability as Congress preps stopgap aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are giving themselves more time to sort through their end-of-session business on government spending and COVID-19 relief, preparing a one-week stopgap spending bill that would prevent a shutdown this weekend. House f...
COVID-19 relief: What's on the table as Congress seeks deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — After numerous fits and starts and months of inaction, optimism is finally building in Washington for a COVID-19 aid bill that would offer relief for businesses, the unemployed, schools, and health care providers, among others s...
Biden, top Democrats swing behind bipartisan virus aid bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden swung behind a bipartisan COVID-19 relief effort Wednesday and his top Capitol Hill allies cut their demands for a $2 trillion-plus measure by more than half in hopes of breaking a monthslong logjam and d...
Trump halts COVID-19 relief talks until after election
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday called an abrupt end to negotiations with Democrats over additional COVID-19 relief, delaying action until after the election despite ominous warnings from his own Federal Reserve chairman about t...
House easily passes stopgap funding bill, averting shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a sweeping bipartisan vote that takes a government shutdown off the table, the House passed a temporary government-wide funding bill Tuesday night, shortly after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over...
Stopgap bill to prevent shutdown held up over farm funding
WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to fashion a temporary spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month ran aground Friday amid a fight over farm bailout funding that's a key priority of President Donald Trump and Capitol Hill R...
Virus bill blocked in Senate as prospects dim for new relief
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats scuttled a scaled-back GOP coronavirus rescue package on Thursday as the parties argued to a standstill over the size and scope of the aid, likely ending hopes for coronavirus relief before the November election. T...
Last-ditch virus aid talks collapse; no help for jobless now
WASHINGTON (AP) — A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money collapsed in disappointment Friday, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people w...
Progress slow as urgency grows on virus relief legislation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Frustrated Senate Republicans re-upped their complaints Tuesday that Democratic negotiators are taking too hard a line in talks on a sweeping coronavirus relief bill, but an afternoon negotiating session brought at least modest c...
GOP tucks $8 billion for military weaponry in virus bill
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new $1 trillion COVID-19 response package by Senate Republicans is supposed to give the government more weapons to battle the surging coronavirus pandemic. But GOP lawmakers have more than just the "invisible enemy" in mind. T...
White House drops payroll tax cut after GOP allies object
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday reluctantly dropped his bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes as Republicans stumbled anew in efforts to unite around a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package to begin negotiations with D...
Republicans eye sweeping shield from coronavirus liability
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new plan from Senate Republicans to award businesses, schools, and universities sweeping exemptions from lawsuits arising from inadequate coronavirus safeguards is putting Republicans and Democrats at loggerheads as Congress recon...
Romney says he'll 'stay quiet' on his 2020 presidential vote
WASHINGTON (AP) — Utah Sen. Mitt Romney declined again Monday to endorse President Donald Trump's reelection, saying he would "stay quiet" about whom he'll be supporting in November. Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, told reporters o...