The Latest
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House Dems Plan Budget Vote Next Week, Defying Moderates
Nine centrists have threatened to vote against their own party’s budget blueprint, enough to defeat it in the closely divided House.
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Police Tightening Security for Traveling Lawmakers
The House’s chief law enforcement officer is tightening security for traveling lawmakers as Congress reassesses safety in an era when threats against members were surging even before Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. Capitol Police officers will be stationed at Washington-area airports and the city’s Union Station train depot on busy travel days, the acting House sergeant at...
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House Vote Locks in Impeachment as Issue in '20 Hill Races
The day after nearly every House Democrat voted to impeach President Donald Trump, the chief of the House Republican campaign committee said the political fallout was clear. “Last night their obsession with impeachment finally came to a head, and they basically ended their majority,” Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer said Thursday. “Max Rose is done,” he continued, listing him among freshmen...
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Trump Impeachment Vote Underscores a Harshly Partisan Era
This coming week’s virtually certain House impeachment of President Donald Trump will underscore how Democrats and Republicans have morphed into fiercely divided camps since lawmakers impeached President Bill Clinton. Twenty-one years ago this Thursday, a Republican-led House approved two impeachment articles against Democrat Clinton. While that battle was bitterly partisan, it was blurrier than the near party-line votes expected this week...
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Impeachment's Influence Hazy as Issue in Congressional Races
Republicans aim to use the House drive toward impeaching President Donald Trump to whittle down Democrats’ majority by dislodging vulnerable incumbents from swing districts loaded with moderate voters. It could work, especially in Democratic-held districts Trump carried in 2016 with throngs of independent voters who polls shows are closely divided over his removal. Or it could flop, in an era...
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Trump Border Emergency Foes in Senate Close on Needed Votes
Senate opponents of President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border moved within a hair Thursday of having enough votes to prevail, and one Republican suggested he could face a rejection by the GOP-led chamber if he doesn’t change course. Trump’s move would “turn a border crisis into a constitutional crisis,” veteran Sen. Lamar Alexander said...
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Trump Tests Presidential Power, Declares Emergency at Border
Defiant in the wake of a stinging budget defeat, President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, moving to secure more money for his long-promised wall by exercising a broad interpretation of his presidential powers that is certain to draw stiff legal challenges. In his emergency proclamation, Trump painted a dark picture of the border...
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Shutdown Deadline Looms as Wall Negotiations Hit a Snag
As the White House refused to rule out the possibility that the federal government may shut down again, negotiators clashed over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain, creating a new hurdle for a border security compromise Congress can accept. With a Friday deadline approaching, the two sides remained separated over how much to spend on President...
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Likely Deal Would Give Trump Fraction of Desired Wall Money
Congressional bargainers are working toward a border security deal amid indications that the White House is preparing to accept a bipartisan agreement that would give President Donald Trump a fraction of the money he’s demanded for his proposed southern border wall. Participants said they expect money for physical barriers to end up well below the $5.7 billion that Trump has...
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Trump-GOP Meeting Boosts Optimism About Reaching Border Deal
President Donald Trump appears to be taking a more positive view of Capitol Hill talks on border security, according to negotiators who struck a distinctly optimistic tone after a White House meeting with a top Republican on the broad parameters of a potential bipartisan agreement. Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama said Thursday’s session in the Oval Office was...
