Sorted by date Results 1 - 14 of 14
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Wednesday for a vote to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, pressing ahead with her long-shot effort despite pushback from Republicans at the highest levels tired of the political chaos. Greene, who is one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters in Congress, stood on the House floor and read a long list of "transgressions" she said Johnson had committed as speaker. Colleagues booed in protest. The vote, which under House rules is required within two days, could happen imminently. The Georgia R...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Republican majority is stuck, one week after the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with lawmakers unable to coalesce around a new leader in a stalemate that threatens to keep Congress partly shuttered indefinitely. On Tuesday evening, two leading contenders for the gavel, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, were addressing colleagues behind closed doors at a candidate forum. But they appeared to be splitting the vote. McCarthy, meanwhile, was openly ready to reclaim the gavel he just l...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with Republicans add-ons blocking abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber. Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week. T...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Time growing shorter, President Joe Biden planned to meet privately Wednesday with House and Senate Democrats as Congress worked to bridge party divisions over his big "build back better" agenda ahead of crucial voting deadlines. The meetings at the White House come at a pivotal juncture for Biden's $3.5 trillion package as lawmakers struggle to draft the ambitious effort. With Republicans solidly opposed, Democratic leaders are counting on the president to galvanize consensus between progressives and centrists in their p...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House rushed headlong Tuesday into a vote on legislation to fund the government, suspend the federal debt limit and provide disaster and refugee aid, forcing a showdown with Republicans who oppose the package despite the risk of a fiscal crisis. The federal government faces a shutdown if funding stops at the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, midnight next Thursday. At the same time, the U.S. risks defaulting on its accumulated debt load if its borrowing limits are not waived or adjusted. The package unveiled Tuesday w...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Compromising with moderates, House Democratic leaders will try again Tuesday to muscle President Joe Biden's multitrillion-dollar budget blueprint over a key hurdle, hoping to end a standoff that halted proceedings and risked upending their domestic infrastructure agenda. Tensions flared overnight as a band of moderate lawmakers threatened to withhold their votes for the $3.5 trillion plan. They were demanding the House first approve a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan package of road, power grid, broadband and other public w...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators reached agreement Wednesday on a $1 trillion infrastructure package, with the Senate ready to begin consideration of a key part of the administration's agenda. An evening test vote was possible. Biden welcomed the accord as one that would show America can "do big things" — with the most significant long-term investments in nearly a century, on par with building the transcontinental railroad or the Interstate highway system. "This deal signals to the world that our dem...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans rejected an effort Wednesday to begin debate on the big infrastructure deal that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with President Joe Biden, but pressure was mounting as supporters insisted they just needed more time before another vote possibly next week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had scheduled the procedural vote to nudge along negotiations that have dragged for weeks. But Republicans mounted a filibuster, saying the bipartisan group still had a few unresolved issues and needed t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The bipartisan infrastructure deal senators brokered with President Joe Biden is hanging precariously ahead of a crucial Wednesday test vote as senators struggle over how to pay for nearly $1 trillion in public works spending. Tensions were rising Tuesday as Republicans prepared to block the vote, mounting a filibuster over what they see as a rushed and misguided process. With Biden preparing to hit the road to rally support for his big infrastructure ideas — including some $3.5 trillion in a follow up bill — restless Democ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans on Friday panned President Joe Biden's latest infrastructure proposal and were expected to make a revised offer as talks grind toward next week's slipping deadline for progress on a bipartisan deal. Speaking after the release of a modest May jobs report, Biden made the case for his robust investment package to push the economy past the COVID-19 crisis and downturn, and into a new era. "Now is the time to build on the progress we've made," Biden told reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. "We need to make t...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rarely has a routine water resources bill generated so much political buzz, but as senators hoisted the measure to passage Thursday the bipartisan infrastructure legislation served as a potential template for building consensus around President Joe Biden's ambitious American Jobs Plan. The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 authorizes about $35 billion over five years to improve leaky pipes and upgrade facilities, and is widely supported by lawmakers and their states back home. This time, though, it c...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Threatening to tank Congress' massive COVID relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump's demand for bigger aid checks for Americans is forcing Republicans traditionally wary of such spending into an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare Republicans to break with Trump, calling up his proposal for a Christmas Eve vote. The president's last-minute objection could derail critical legislation amid a raging pandemic and deep economic u...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's reluctance to hold a vote on a popular criminal justice bill has angered top Republican senators and created an unusual rift with a longtime GOP ally, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. And on Friday, it also brought on a tweet from President Donald Trump. "Hopefully Mitch McConnell will ask for a VOTE on Criminal Justice Reform," Trump tweeted. "It is extremely popular and has strong bipartisan support. It will also help a lot of people, save taxpayer dollars, and keep our communities s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi met privately Friday with several newly-elected Democrats who could be crucial to her bid for House speaker, as she works to tamp down discord and fend off a challenge from a small but persistent group determined to stop her from reclaiming the gavel. The freshmen entering and exiting Pelosi's stately office off the House floor indicated they were having good meetings with the leader as they prepare to join Congress as part of the largest Democratic class since Watergate. But few said the talks had changed t...
