Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

Congressional crackdown on TikTok raises logistical and legal questions

Mar 14, 2024
Efforts to force parent company ByteDance to either divest or sell off the app would likely meet resistance from China.
Efforts to force parent company ByteDance to either divest or sell off TikTok would likely meet resistance from China.
Chesnot/Getty Images

What lawmakers slipped into the $460 billion spending package

Mar 12, 2024
Earmarks promise to spend money on specific projects requested by individual members of Congress.
In this latest funding package, there are more than 6,000 earmarks totaling more than $12 billion, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Government.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

How the budget fight in Congress threatens federal wildland firefighters' pay

Feb 21, 2024
Federal firefighters make as little as $15 an hour. A permanent boost has bipartisan support, but it’s tied up in Congress' budget fight.
Federal firefighters starting out in their careers may earn as little as $15 an hour.
Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images

A record number of Chinese migrants make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border

Feb 1, 2024
A record number of Chinese migrants are using the established South American trail to reach the U.S. border.
Chinese migrants attempting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in November 2023.
Nick Ut/Getty Images

What was (and wasn't) accomplished in D.C. this past year

While the passage of legislation in Congress has largely been stalled by political drama, impacts from the CHIPS Act and infrastructure law are starting to be felt.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Criticism, crashes, and crises: Revisiting three ghosts of debt ceiling battles past

Dec 5, 2023
There have been about 80 debt ceiling battles since 1960. But those decades of drama have never led to an actual default.
The National Debt Clock shows the increasing U.S. debt, near an IRS office in New York City. When this photo was taken, on July 26, 2011, Congress was one week away from a debt ceiling deadline.
Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images

With a government shutdown averted, funding for Israel and Ukraine remains in the air

Nov 17, 2023
A bipartisan group of Senators is working on a compromise on immigration that would be included in a broader package of aid for Ukraine and Israel.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives also passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel, with no funding for Ukraine.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

What a government shutdown could look like: "Things start breaking"

Nov 13, 2023
With Congress approaching another funding deadline, we consider some of the practical effects if lawmakers don't avoid a government shutdown.
TSA agents are among the federal government employees who will stop getting paid as soon as a government shutdown starts.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

What's the deal with Speaker Mike Johnson's financial disclosure?

Nov 9, 2023
Congressional ethics rules only require disclosure if a member of Congress has total deposits in interest bearing accounts worth more than $5,000.
Under assets on Speaker Mike Johnson's most recent financial disclosure report for 2022, it says "none disclosed."
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The latest push for a national retirement savings system

A new bill follows up on recent bipartisan legislation to expand access to retirement savings.
A new bill in Congress, the Retirement Savings for Americans Act, would boost retirement security for low- and moderate-income workers.
Mark Makela/Getty Images