With time ticking down on his term as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, Jerome Powell’s reappointment to the post looks less certain than it did just a few weeks ago, as left-leaning Democrats hammer away at a series of scandals involving senior Fed personnel. On Monday, Powell’s chief antagonist in Congress, Senator Elizabeth…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden assailed opposition Republican lawmakers Monday for obstructing Democrats from increasing the country’s borrowing authority to avert a potentially catastrophic default on October 18, when the U.S. government expects to run out of cash to pay its bills. Biden said he could not guarantee the United States would not default for the…
read moreKey U.S. Democratic lawmakers remained at odds Sunday on how to approve both infrastructure improvements in the country and the biggest social safety net expansion in five decades, but the leading progressive signaled there was room for compromise. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has for months pushed for a $3.5 trillion plan calling for climate…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Paris, his first trip to France following an enhanced trilateral security partnership known as AUKUS (Australia, U.K., and the U.S.) that heightened tensions between the transatlantic allies. Experts said they expect Blinken, who has strong personal ties to France, to use the upcoming trip to try…
read moreThe future of abortion rights is in the hands of a conservative Supreme Court that is beginning a new term Monday that also includes major cases on gun rights and religion. The court’s credibility with the public also could be on the line, especially if a divided court were to overrule the landmark Roe v.…
read morePresident Joe Biden was scheduled to meet Friday with his fellow Democrats in Congress, progressives and moderates in his party remained divided over two massive spending bills that account for much of his domestic agenda. Democrats have struggled to coalesce around those two bills. Progressives have vowed to block a $1 trillion infrastructure bill without…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden faces opposition from within his own party in Congress to pass his signature Build Back Better legislation. The $3.5 trillion package would dramatically expand child care, health care and clean energy in America. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. …
read moreAbout two centuries ago, American local, state and federal governments poured millions of dollars into building canals to move the nation’s people and goods. By 1840, there were 3,000 miles of canals in the United States. But, within 20 years, the rise of the railroads would make canals practically obsolete. In the 1840s, several U.S. states…
read moreDemocratic leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives delayed a planned vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that had been set for Thursday, bowing to party progressives who had demanded action on a larger social policy bill first. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden have been scrambling to patch up differences…
read moreU.S. President Joe Biden faces opposition from within his own party in Congress to pass his signature Build Back Better legislation. The $3.5 trillion package would dramatically expand child care, health care and clean energy in America. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports. …
read moreThe House and Senate voted Thursday afternoon in favor of stopgap legislation to keep the government funded until December 3, avoiding a midnight shutdown. The Senate vote was 65-35, which was followed by a House vote of 254-175. President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law Thursday night at the White House. The legislation maintains current…
read moreProtesters around the world marked International Safe Abortion Day this week as high-profile cases in the United States and Latin America once again focused attention on the debate over reproductive rights.VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on the fight over a Texas abortion law that has reached Capitol Hill. Producer: Bakhtiyar Zamanov …
read moreThe Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress appeared set Wednesday to approve a stopgap funding measure to avert a partial national government shutdown at midnight Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the legislation would maintain current funding levels across government agencies through December 3. It would also include $6.3 billion to help relocate Afghan refugees moving to…
read moreIf Congress fails to act, the U.S. government’s authority to continue spending money will expire at midnight on Thursday, forcing more than 1 million federal workers and an untold number of contractors to stop working. Thousands more will be expected to continue working without clarity about precisely when they will be paid. “The stakes are…
read moreThe events of the next four days on Capitol Hill will go a long way toward determining the ultimate success or failure of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, as four different legislative initiatives converge in a burst of frenetic policymaking. Congress must pass a budget resolution for the new fiscal year before Friday to avoid…
read moreThe U.S. Senate failed Monday to pass measures to avert a partial government shutdown and prevent a federal default at the start of a crucial legislative week that is highlighting the challenges facing the sharply divided Congress. Republican lawmakers voted to oppose the bills Monday evening, forcing Democrats to look for other ways to keep…
read moreThe U.S. House of Representatives is due to begin debate Monday on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill ahead of a planned vote Thursday on the measure that is a major part of President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the dates in a letter to Democratic lawmakers Sunday, and in television interviews…
read moreA time of intensity. That’s what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is calling this coming week in Congress as lawmakers are expected to vote on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, but also consider the Democrat-backed $3.5 trillion sweeping social spending package, core to the Biden administration agenda. Michelle Quinn reports. Produced by: Henry Hernandez …
read moreDemocrats pushed a $3.5 trillion, 10-year bill strengthening social safety net and climate programs through the House Budget Committee on Saturday, but one Democrat opposed the measure in an illustration of the challenges party leaders face in winning the near unanimity they’ll need to carry the sprawling package through Congress. The Democratic-dominated panel, meeting virtually,…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is defending President Joe Biden’s foreign policy record as the administration faces pressure over its handling of Haitian migrants on the U.S. border, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and a nuclear submarine deal with Australia that angered France. VOA’s senior diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more. Produced by: Kim Weeks …
read moreA Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona’s largest county ended Friday without producing proof to support former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election. After six months of searching for evidence of fraud, the firm hired by Republican lawmakers issued a report that experts described as riddled with errors, bias…
read morePresident Joe Biden will not invoke executive privilege to shield former President Donald Trump’s records in relation to an investigation into the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. “The president has already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege,”…
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