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U.S. politics: the White House, Congress, the courts and the campaigns, and what each move means.
The Senate Budget Committee chairman called an emergency meeting Monday to explore bundling the Pentagon's war request, ICE funding, and anti-fraud measures into a package that bypasses the 60-vote filibuster.
Veteran VOA journalists claim Lake has trampled editorial independence and promoted pro-Trump content in violation of constitutional principles.
Bipartisan negotiations over Department of Homeland Security funding intensified Monday as Senate Majority Leader John Thune threatened to cancel the Easter break unless negotiators can close the gap — with airport security chaos worsening during spring break.
The largest rollback of Medicaid since 1965 is now taking effect, with enhanced federal funding expired and states barred from raising provider taxes to compensate.
The court's 6-3 ruling in February struck down the sweeping reciprocal tariff regime; Trump is now relying on a 150-day emergency authority that legal experts say faces its own challenge — while average American households absorb an estimated ,512 in annual tariff costs.
The president declared no funding agreement should be reached until the SAVE Act requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration clears the Senate — a demand that Democrats say is a poison pill designed to torpedo talks.
The White House released a seven-pillar AI legislative blueprint demanding Congress act this year, sparking immediate backlash from both parties over a provision that would strip states of the power to regulate artificial intelligence.
Trump's pick for Homeland Security secretary survives key committee vote after Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman provides crucial support, despite Mullin's private discussions about softening immigration crackdown.
A bipartisan attempt to end the six-week DHS shutdown collapsed in the Senate, with Democrats demanding warrant requirements for ICE agents and Republicans offering body cameras but refusing to budge on judicial oversight.
With no congressional authorization and no clear endgame, lawmakers from both parties are pressing the White House to define victory in a conflict now entering its fourth week, as oil prices soar and 3,000 vessels remain stranded.
With the TSA callout rate topping 55% at some airports and wait times stretching past two hours, President Trump ordered ICE agents to take up positions at airport entrances — a plan aviation security unions say 'creates a gap, not fills one.'
The GOP senator chosen by Trump to lead DHS privately discussed immigration concessions the administration has repeatedly rejected.
The U.S. Trade Representative opened Section 301 probes into the EU, China, Mexico, and 13 other trading partners, citing evidence of 'structural excess capacity' — a maneuver designed to survive court challenges that invalidated the administration's earlier tariff strategy.
New government data reveals an economic picture sharply at odds with President Trump's State of the Union claims, with February logging the worst monthly job loss in two years and pump prices surging following the outbreak of U.S. military operations against Iran.
Oral arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee on March 23 could eliminate mail-in ballot grace periods in at least 15 states before the November 2026 midterms, affecting millions of voters including military personnel serving overseas.
President Trump posted on Truth Social Friday that the U.S. is 'getting very close to meeting our objectives' and mulling a wind-down, even as the Defense Department confirmed deployment of two Marine Expeditionary Units and oil prices remained above $110 per barrel.
The Department of Homeland Security shutdown, now the longest partial agency funding lapse in modern American history, has snarled airport security lines, blocked immigration oversight, and stalled ICE operations — as Senate negotiators failed again Saturday to bridge the gap on ICE body camera and warrant requirements.
The Trump administration's four-page AI blueprint, published Friday, asks Congress to establish a single national regulatory floor for artificial intelligence — overriding state AI rules on child safety, copyright, and liability — with legislation sought 'this year.'
Republicans launched days of around-the-clock Senate floor speeches on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register and photo ID to cast any ballot, though the bill remains likely to fail a 60-vote filibuster threshold.
The justices accepted the expedited TPS challenge for both Haiti and Syria but declined the administration's request to immediately end the protections, setting oral arguments for late April in what could be the biggest immigration ruling of the Trump era.
An NPR analysis found that the Board of Immigration Appeals — reduced from 28 to 15 judges, packed with Trump loyalists, and pumping out a record 70 precedent-setting decisions in 2025 — has eliminated due process protections for millions of immigrants with almost no public scrutiny.
Saturday's 47-53 vote again featured Rand Paul as the only Republican to cross over and John Fetterman as the lone Democratic holdout, as Booker and five colleagues promise to force a new war powers vote every day until the administration holds public hearings.
The Congressional Budget Office moved up the insolvency date by a year to 2032, citing higher-than-expected inflation driving larger cost-of-living adjustments, with an across-the-board cut of up to 25 percent automatic if Congress fails to act.
The White House's four-page blueprint for federal AI governance would prohibit states from enacting any AI regulations that conflict with federal law, require age verification for AI platforms used by minors, protect AI intellectual property, and streamline permitting for data center power plants — with AI czar David Sacks calling it 'a bold, America-first approach.'
Senator Mike Lee orchestrated a rare Senate floor takeover to force consideration of legislation that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in all federal elections — a bill supporters call essential election security and critics call the most far-reaching voter suppression measure in decades.
The Oklahoma senator's stormy confirmation hearing featured Republican chair Rand Paul confronting him over violent rhetoric, Democratic grilling over immigration enforcement, and a pivotal crossover vote from Democrat John Fetterman that sent the nomination to the full Senate.
Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Lake 'repeatedly thumbed her nose' at statutory requirements and that her appointment violated the Constitution's Appointments Clause, voiding the mass layoffs that had gutted VOA from 49 languages to just 4.
The FCC waived its own 39% ownership cap to green-light a deal that will give Nexstar 265 stations in 44 states, but eight state attorneys general and DirecTV immediately filed lawsuits calling the merger 'illegal, plain and simple' and asking courts to freeze it.
WatchThe Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit Friday alleging Harvard leadership showed 'deliberate indifference' to the harassment, assault, and stalking of Jewish and Israeli students after October 7 — escalating the administration's financial war on elite universities to an unprecedented level.
Defense Secretary Hegseth confirmed the largest military supplemental request in American history, saying 'it takes money to kill bad guys,' but Republican Rep. Boebert said 'I am a No,' and Sen. Murkowski demanded a strategic plan before approving any war spending.