Articles

Study shows growing ocean damage as protection bills languish BY ELVINA NAWAGUNA - 12/11/2019  As lawmakers push legislation to protect the nation’s coastal waters, scientists are placing much of the blame for degrading ocean conditions on emissions from large energy companies including Exxon Mobil Corp., which was cleared Tuesday in a long-running climate court… Read more »

Federal employees could be ‘very close’ to long-awaited paid parental leave win BY NICOLE OGRYSKO - 12/9/2019 Federal employees may be close to a new benefit that some lawmakers and employee groups have been fighting for nearly a decade. Congress and the White House have reached a tentative deal to include up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in the upcoming National Defense… Read more »

Democrats leveraged Trump’s fixation on Space Force to pursue parental-leave victory for federal workers BY JEFF STEIN, LISA REIN AND JOSH DAWSEY - 12/8/2019  When Congress took up a must-pass defense bill earlier this year, President Trump saw it as a rare opportunity to win approval for the Space Force — his proposed sixth branch of the military — ahead of the 2020… Read more »

Fairfax Connector workers on strike BY ANGELA WOOLSEY - 12/6/2019 Hundreds of Fairfax Connector workers walked off the job on Thursday, joining their colleagues with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority who have now been striking for 44 days. Both groups of workers are calling for better pay and working conditions from their employer, the private contractor Transdev,… Read more »

Heading for NATO summit, Trump slams impeachment effort BY JAMIE DUPREE - 12/2/2019 With Democrats in Congress returning from a Thanksgiving break ready to continue their push on a historic impeachment investigation, President Donald Trump on Monday once more blasted the work of House Democrats, saying impeachment undermines him during his foreign travel.   "For them… Read more »

U.S. Supreme Court may sidestep a big Second Amendment fight BY ROBIN BRAVENDER - 12/2/2019 A high-profile gun rights case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday might be dismissed with little fanfare. The justices heard an hour of arguments in the case that challenges now-defunct New York City gun restrictions. The case has been billed as the biggest gun rights lawsuit in… Read more »

Dems see one last chance to boost public support for impeachment BY HEATHER CAYGLE, SARAH FERRIS & KYLE CHENEY - 11/27/2019 House Democrats have one final shot to drive up public support for impeachment, with a slate of hearings in the House Judiciary Committee beginning next week. But even Democratic lawmakers acknowledge public sentiment might be impossible to move in the… Read more »

Rep. Beyer on John Bolton: "we would love to hear from him" MSNBC - 11/22/2019 As the marathon of public impeachment hearings comes to a close, lawmakers have returned to their home districts to hear from their constituents. Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) joins Ali Velshi to discuss what his constituents took away from the hearings.   Click here to watch the full interview Read more »

House Democrats feeling the heat on ‘SALT’ cap rollback BY DOUG SWORD - 11/21/2019  It’s been almost a year since Democrats assumed control of the House, and they still haven’t touched the cap on state and local tax deductions imposed by the GOP Congress and President Donald Trump that disproportionately affect blue state districts. That’s starting to become a problem for the… Read more »

More than 100 Democrats sign letter calling for Stephen Miller to resign BY BRETT SAMUELS - 11/21/2019  More than 100 Democratic lawmakers on Thursday signed on to a letter calling for President Trump to fire senior adviser Stephen Miller as a civil rights group details hundreds of controversial emails he sent prior to his time in the administration. "Given… Read more »