The spending package includes a provision that will criminalize the sale of almost all consumable hemp products nationwide, restoring a similar ban to the one vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
President Donald Trump has signed a government funding bill that ends a record 43-day shutdown.
The deal cut by some Senate Democrats to reopen government has refueled the party’s tussle over strategy and identity just days after sweeping election victories had raised hopes that the left’s disparate factions were pulling in the same direction heading into the 2026 midterms.
The Senate has passed legislation to reopen the government, bringing the longest shutdown in history closer to an end after a small group of Democrats struck a deal with Republicans.
The Senate approved a resolution Tuesday evening that would nullify President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, including oil, coffee and orange juice, as Democrats test GOP senators’ support for Trump’s trade policy.
A shortage of air traffic controllers has caused more flight disruptions at airports across the country.
Notices of rising health insurance premiums are landing in voters’ mailboxes and sending some to town halls to vent their frustration.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility.
The Senate on Thursday rejected dueling partisan bills to pay federal workers during the government shutdown, with both Republicans and Democrats deflecting blame as many employees are set to miss their first full paycheck at the end of this week.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit that seeks to get Democrat Adelita Grijalva sworn in as the state’s newest member of Congress after House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to seat her for a month since winning the post.
Eleanor Holmes Norton has been an outspoken advocate for the District of Columbia during her 18 terms as the city's delegate in Congress.
House members' absence during the government shutdown is creating a political dilemma for Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and is testing his leadership.
Democrats are ramping up pressure on Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to swear in the newest member of Congress.
The Senate has voted to repeal the resolution that authorized the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, following a House vote last month that would return the basic war power to Congress more than two decades later.
Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson says he is running for a U.S. House seat representing Memphis, challenging longtime Democratic congressman Steve Cohen to represent the majority-Black city in a contest of youth versus experience.
Political leaders in Washington are spending much of their energy these days blaming the other party for what could be a significant government shutdown.
President Donald Trump is using the federal shutdown to push deep spending cuts in states that backed Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.
A new poll conducted just prior to the current government shutdown showed most Americans wanted Congress to extend tax credits that could expire at the end of the year.
New Mexico legislators moved quickly to prop up funding for food assistance and rural health care services in response to President Donald Trump’s cuts in federal spending on Medicaid and nutrition programs.
A week after her decisive win in an Arizona special election for the U.S. House, Democrat Adelita Grijalva has yet to take office.
The federal and state governments want restrictions on recognizing trans and nonbinary people. Here’s how Texas’ higher education leaders are responding.
The North Carolina legislature has approved a criminal justice package in response to the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on Charlotte's light rail.
North Carolina Republican legislators have introduced criminal justice measures to toughen bail rules and evaluate offenders for mental health issues.
A number of charities have severed ties with Prince Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson after British newspapers published an email that she reportedly wrote to the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A possible federal shutdown is looming at month's end, and the Democratic leaders of Congress are demanding a meeting with President Donald Trump to negotiate.
The Senate rejected competing measures to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date.
In a story published Sept. 16, 2025, about the House voting on bills on the Washington criminal justice system, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a bill would replace the members of the Judicial Nomination Commission with presidential appointees.
There’s bipartisan support in Congress for extending tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Carolina's Republican legislative leaders are pushing for stricter pretrial release laws after a Ukrainian refugee was fatally stabbed on a Charlotte train.
President Donald Trump’s emergency order that federalized Washington’s police force is set to expire.
A community workshop in October will be held to tackle the alarming rise in property theft cases that leave families without their rightful homes.
Two teenagers have been arrested on murder charges in the killing of a congressional intern who was struck by stray bullets during a shooting in the nation’s capital.
Texas lawmakers passed two bills that will bring sweeping change to how youth camps are regulated. House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 passed late Wednesday and are scheduled to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday.
Both legislative chambers adjourned without agreeing on changes to Senate Bill 2, which aimed to create new training and licensing requirements for local officials.
House Bill 7, which would allow people to sue manufacturers and distributors of the drug, is one vote away from Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Democrats say recent changes to the bill give too much power to the TEA and fall short of meaningfully easing the pressures of standardized testing.
The NCAA is considering a rule requiring incoming Division I athletes to disclose name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals from high school or junior college.
A Democratic U.S. lawmaker sent a letter to leaders at the more than 350 Division I schools across the country, warning of a two-tier college system with haves and have-nots if a proposed bill to regulate the industry passes without changes.
After the Texas Senate and House passed bills related to disaster preparedness and response at Texas youth camps, another bill seeks to reshape the Texas Youth Camp Advisory Committee.
Dallas businessman Kyle Bass has proposed exporting millions of gallons of water from East Texas to other parts of the state.
As speaker, Phelan oversaw passage of numerous conservative priorities, but he gave up the gavel under pressure from the far right over the House’s impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Texas Rep. Gene Wu is taking a stand by proposing an amendment to block the state's redistricting plan until the Epstein files are fully released.
Now that the Texas House has a quorum following Democrats’ two-week absence, lawmakers are back to debate a wide range of issues, including redrawing congressional maps to benefit Republicans.
Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give California’s dominant political party an additional five U.S. House seats in a bid to win the fight to control Congress next year.
Crime lab officials told lawmakers Wednesday they are struggling to keep up with deadlier drugs like fentanyl and a THC ban or new regulations would add to the challenge.
The governor and attorney general have asked the court to find that Democratic lawmakers abandoned their seats when they left Texas to delay a new congressional map.
Republicans who are censured by their county party leaders may be blocked from the primary ballot under a new party rule passed last year, that is expected to be tested by the courts.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke and his organization, Powered by People, alleging unlawful fundraising activities and a potentially misleading financial-influence scheme to support Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to break quorum.
The Voting Rights Act was signed into law 60 years ago but has been slowly eroding for more than a decade.
The situation is an opportunity for the speaker to bolster his credibility with the right, but he has limited tools to combat a prolonged Democratic absence.
Legal experts say it’s “inconsistent with the Texas Constitution” to argue that leaving the state to halt legislative action qualifies as abandoning an office.
Texas Democrats have fled the state in an effort to keep Republicans from approving a new U.S. House map that could boost their slim congressional majority next year.
Democrats are launching a nationwide summer blitz designed to force vulnerable Republicans to defend President Donald Trump’s big tax and spending bill, especially Medicaid cuts.
The wave of lawsuits from college athletes seeking another season of eligibility seems to be slowing down.
Redistricting usually happens after the once-a-decade population count by the U.S. Census Bureau or in response to a court ruling.
The bills would carry a $5,000 fine for a first-time violation and comes as momentum for such restrictions has increased in the state and nationally.
Senate Bill 5 would ban products containing any detectable amount of any cannabinoid, creating criminal offenses for possession of hemp-derived THC.
A House Republican is seeking to censure Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey over an incident stemming from a congressional oversight visit to a new immigration detention facility in her state.
A House subcommittee has voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Texas Republicans are poised to redraw the state’s congressional map during a special session that starts Monday.
The number of people still missing in a Texas county ravaged by deadly flooding over the Fourth of July holiday weekend now stands at three, down from nearly 100.
President Donald Trump has signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting new regulations for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency tied to assets like the U.S. dollar.
In Alaska, a public radio station general manager took a moment from a busy day warning her community about a possible tsunami for a special task — sending a text message to Sen. Lisa Murkowski urging her to vote against a measure to strip federal funding of NPR and PBS.
House Republicans are struggling with cryptocurrency legislation that they had expected to pass during what they dubbed “crypto week.”.
The man accused of killing two women at a Kentucky church and wounding a state trooper in separate shootings had been expected in court for a domestic violence hearing the next day.
Dartmouth College and the University of Notre Dame say they're ending their participation in a Chinese scholarship program.
House Republicans strained through a day of starts and stops trying to advance President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cuts package.
The NCAA’s House settlement era has launched, with athletic programs across the country free to start paying millions to their athletes in the biggest change in the history of college athletics.
At some 887 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.
The package includes $13.5 billion to reimburse states for border spending. It is expected to meet resistance in the House from some Texas Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans “got the job done” in passing President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.
At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.
At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.
College sports leaders seeking antitrust and other protections from Congress have a potential bargaining chip: School assurances that they will provide funding for their increasingly imperiled Olympic programs, by far the biggest pipeline of talent for Team USA.
President Donald Trump says “NO ONE GOES ON VACATION” until the big, beautiful bill is on his desk by the Fourth of July deadline.
One of the late-night vetoes signed by Gov. Greg Abbott included legislation aimed at cracking down on title theft and deed fraud across Texas.
Texas will require all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments under a new state law that will make the state the nation’s largest to attempt to impose such a mandate.
House and Senate Republicans are taking different approaches when it comes to the tax cuts that lawmakers are looking to include in their massive tax bill.
A proposal by Senate Republicans would adjust the pace at which some crucial home energy efficiency and electric vehicle tax credits are phased out in timelines different from what House Republicans proposed in the multitrillion-dollar tax bill they passed last month.
Texas lawmakers approved a sweeping package to overhaul the state’s bail system, a longtime priority of Gov. Greg Abbott’s.
