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PACT Act in one year aided 340,000 ailing veterans and survivors, Biden says
WASHINGTON — One of the “most significant laws ever signed to help veterans” has already assisted over 340,000 former service members and their survivors seeking care for illnesses and cancers now presumed to be connected to open burn pits and other toxins, President Joe Biden said in Utah on Thursday as he marked one year since the […]
Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive related to the 2020 election. Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that […]
Veterans exposed to burn pits, toxins urged to apply for retroactive benefits
WASHINGTON — A deadline for a year’s worth of backdated benefits is fast approaching for U.S. veterans suffering illnesses after exposure to open burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxins. Nearly a year ago, President Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, a law supporters describe as the largest expansion of veteran benefits in U.S. history. The law […]
Congress, GOP presidential candidates react to Trump indictment
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress and Republicans competing against Donald Trump in the presidential primary quickly reacted Tuesday to the latest indictment against the former president, falling largely along party lines. This one, by a federal grand jury, stems from Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election after Election Day and leading up to […]
Trump indicted in connection with Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
This post was updated at 9 p.m. Aug. 1, 2023. WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that Trump and co-conspirators attempted to subvert the 2020 election to keep the former president in power through a series of illegal actions that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack […]
Military nominees still stalled by Tuberville hold, with U.S. Senate gone until September
WASHINGTON — Despite warnings from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that vacant top military positions affect readiness, Congress is heading into August recess with hundreds of defense nominees on hold as Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville continues his protest against the Defense Department’s abortion leave policy. As of Thursday, 301 military nominees had not yet reached […]
Massive defense bill approved by U.S. Senate, but deep partisan divide with House looms
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators avoided a heated partisan split as they passed the massive annual defense policy package late Thursday — in stark contrast to the GOP-led House version, in which far-right members included language to restrict abortion access and transgender care for service members. Senators passed the National Defense Authorization Act, 86-11, but lawmakers […]
Is there evidence of extraterrestrial life? Congress tries to figure it out
WASHINGTON — During an otherworldly hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, lawmakers and witnesses launched accusations that the Pentagon is stonewalling Congress and the public from information about unidentified anomalous phenomena, more often referred to as UFOs. That includes a 2014 encounter when a “dark gray or black cube inside a clear sphere” traveled within 50 […]
Ethics rules for Supreme Court justices approved on party-line vote by U.S. Senate panel
WASHINGTON — The Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Thursday approved a proposal to impose a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court, amid revelations that justices failed to disclose luxury travel and real estate deals, as well as directing staff to promote book sales. The panel split along party lines, in an 11-10 vote, […]
Israeli president tells Congress criticism of his country must not negate ‘right to exist’
WASHINGTON — Israeli President Isaac Herzog, honoring Israel’s 75th year of independence, on Wednesday assured U.S. lawmakers that his nation “has democracy in its DNA,” even as tensions grow over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s increasingly extreme agenda to overhaul Israel’s judicial system and ramp up construction of settlements in the West Bank. Herzog’s remarks to […]
Family pleads for U.S. teacher imprisoned in Russia: ‘We’re not forgetting my brother’
WASHINGTON — Days after meeting with high-level White House officials, the family of an American teacher imprisoned in Russia walked the halls of the U.S. Capitol complex Thursday, pleading with U.S. leaders to remember that Marc Fogel is staring down a 14-year sentence in a penal colony on a marijuana charge. Fogel, 61, an international […]
Tuberville concedes ‘white nationalists are racists’ but hangs on to holds on military nominees
WASHINGTON — As U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama continues his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, he again entered the spotlight Tuesday for his comments that seemingly excused white nationalism. Just before 2 p.m. Eastern, the Alabama senator told Capitol Hill reporters that “white nationalists are racist,” according to pool audio, when asked to clarify […]