The budget resolution from Republicans was on the agenda in the Senate, but the nearly all-night debate encompassed so much more.

Experts say the layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers likely mean the end of the agency’s plans to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections.

The moment that local officials in our nation’s capital have been dreading for months is finally here.

An architect of a controversial bid to fly migrants from Texas to a Massachusetts resort town in 2022 has been named to guide Florida's new state board of immigration enforcement.

Republicans are trying to exclude people who are in the U.S. illegally from the numbers used to portion out congressional seats among the states.

While Democrats have been speaking out against President Donald Trump's federal cuts, Republicans are just beginning to stir.

The aggressive Republican agenda’s success depends on how well the three leaders harmonize their tactics and goals for the legislative session.

For years, Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have railed against the IRS and its cadre of armed agents.

Senate Republicans are vowing to move quickly on a budget plan that could pave the way for about $340 billion in additional border security and defense spending.

Wisconsin’s top education official faces challengers on the right and left as she runs for reelection.

Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has hinted at a possible run, has more support than the four-term senator among Republicans, polling shows.

Local officials, school advocates and tax policy experts said such a proposal could have dire impacts on basic services.

Elon Musk has promised transparency as President Donald Trump's leader in making the federal government more efficient.

As Republicans in Congress look for ways to slash spending, some legislators are floating new taxes on college scholarships, an end to student loan repayment plans and a big hike in taxes on university endowments.

Talks on a spending bill for the current budget year have bogged down in the wake of President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash federal spending and its workforce.

A group that dedicated to electing Republicans to state attorney general positions has brought back a former executive director who resigned in the aftermath of Jan. 6.

A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the swing state’s nonpartisan top elections official can remain in her post despite not being reappointed and confirmed by the state Senate.

Saving the planet is so 2024.

The Senate has confirmed Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee for White House budget director.

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives.

Democrats are fighting to energize their party’s growing resistance to President Trump and his chief lieutenant, Elon Musk.

California’s Democratic-dominated Assembly has endorsed up to $50 million in funding to defend the state’s progressive policies against challenges by the Trump administration.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is preparing to announce a Democratic bid for an open U.S. Senate seat in the state.

Federal disaster aid is nearly everywhere.

Women represent half of the U.S. population.

USAID’s website has dropped offline without explanation in the Trump administration's two-week-old funding freeze of U.S. foreign aid and development funding.

In January 2025, a University of Houston survey of 1,200 Texans revealed mixed opinions on immigration policies under President Trump's intensified measures.

President Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet nominees have flooded the zone in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings.

Robert F.

The nation’s cybersecurity agency has played a critical role in helping states shore up the defenses of their voting systems, but its election mission appears uncertain amid sustained criticism from Republicans and key figures in the Trump administration.

Robert F.

Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is running for the Democratic nomination for governor in New Mexico after championing conservation and clean energy during her tenure as Interior secretary under President Joe Biden.

Donald Trump in his return to the White House has already previewed his second term foreign policy approach: Talk loudly and wield a big stick.

Democratic former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Republican Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears are picking up steam in their bids to be Virginia's next governor.

In the early days of President Donald Trump’s second term, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski had openly challenged or rebuked him at least three times.

Senate Bill 2 starts a new debate on a school voucher program in Texas. A funding proposal would allow up to 100,000 K-12 students who want to enroll to a private school to participate.

Republicans are eager to find replacements for former GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz in Tuesday’s special congressional primaries in Florida to add some breathing room to their slender majority in the U.S. House, but control of the chamber isn’t on the line.

Democrats in the Minnesota House who have boycotted daily sessions are using tactics that lawmakers elsewhere have tried dozens of times in seeking to thwart their opponents.

Utah lawmakers have advanced a bill that experts say would establish one of the most restrictive labor laws in the country.

Conservative activists in the GOP caucus called any power sharing with the minority party a betrayal of Republican voters.

Federal agencies, employees and contractors are trying to process how President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-DEI executive order will upend their work.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a more than $2.5 billion package to help the Los Angeles area recover from its recent deadly wildfires.

Some U.S. House Republicans in California are breaking with Speaker Mike Johnson over his suggestion that federal disaster aid be coupled with as-yet unspecified conditions on the wildfire-ravaged state.

The House has passed a bill to require the detainment of unauthorized migrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

Republicans in statehouses are emboldened by GOP electoral successes to push a new wave of bills to restrict transgender rights and gender-affirming care.

Republican efforts to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from numbers used to divvy up congressional seats among states have begun anew, with four Republican state attorneys general suing to alter the once-a-decade head count even before President Donald Trump’s second term in office began.

Many Republicans on Capitol Hill do not agree with President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon and commute sentences for more than 1,500 people charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The Senate has passed a bill that would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

President Donald Trump is beginning to fulfill pledges to crack down on immigration and restore “energy dominance.”.

The Senate is set for an Inauguration Day vote on legislation that would require federal authorities to detain migrants accused of theft and violent crimes.

Few Democrats found ways to negotiate with Republicans quite like Shalanda Young — whose work as White House budget director stopped several potential economic crises from erupting.

President-elect Donald Trump has proposed trillions of dollars of tax cuts.

As President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, gets set for her Senate confirmation hearings, only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” confident the Justice Department will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during his second term.

Despite failing to deliver his promise for broad student loan forgiveness, President Joe Biden has now overseen the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million Americans — more than any other president in U.S. history.

Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs knows she is outnumbered this legislative session as Republicans expanded their statehouse majorities in the last election.

An increasing number of Democrats are questioning whether their party’s commitment to diverse candidates, especially women, may lead to more political struggles in the Trump era.

Newly in the minority, Democrats voted with Republicans on Thursday to advance legislation that would require federal authorities to detain unauthorized immigrants who have been accused of certain crimes — signaling that they will try and find spots to work with President-elect Donald Trump while simultaneously trying to block much of his agenda.

Rep. Cody Harris filed a complaint against Texas GOP Chair Abraham George for sending mailers and censuring lawmakers who support Rep. Dustin Burrows as House speaker.

President-elect Donald Trump has raised more than $170 million for his upcoming inauguration, a record amount as tech executives and big donors have eagerly written large checks.

Virginia’s three special elections this week garnered national attention as Democrats protected their slim statehouse majority by winning two left-leaning districts.

A former FBI informant who fabricated a story about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter accepting bribes has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump’s election under the tightest national security level possible.

Inside the Capitol, reminders of the violence from the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, are increasingly hard to find.

New Senate Majority Leader John Thune is kicking off the new session with a promise to preserve the filibuster, saying in his first floor speech as leader that his priority will be to “ensure the Senate stays the Senate.”.

A new poll finds that Republican voters are more confident in the accuracy of U.S. elections now that Donald Trump has won.

The FBI is releasing new information about a suspect who planted pipe bombs four years ago outside the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees near the Capitol.

Mike Johnson is fighting for his political life, again.

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team has dropped its attempt to form a union.

Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her agency will need to start taking “extraordinary measures,” or special accounting maneuvers intended to prevent the nation from hitting the debt ceiling, as early as January 14th, in a letter sent to congressional leaders Friday afternoon.

The fate of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is still unclear after Republican senators spent much of December carefully dodging questions.

Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, says she’s removing herself from consideration to be a Florida senator.

One of the most turbulent sessions of Congress in the modern era is about to make way for the next one.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas.

A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of Supreme Court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice Clarence Thomas and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct.

With hours to go before a midnight government shutdown, the House has approved a new plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, but dropped President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

Donald Trump seemed poised to inherit a relatively strong economy when he begins a second term in the White House in January.

The Pentagon is warning that Republicans’ decision to abandon a congressional spending plan will cost more than 2 million troops their paychecks over the holidays unless some agreement is reached before Friday’s deadline to prevent a government shutdown.

American farmers are hoping that aid to agriculture will be revived as Congress struggles to avert a looming partial government shutdown.

Congress has until midnight Friday to come up with a way to fund the government, or federal agencies will shutter.

Democrats in North Carolina were celebrating big wins in the swing state after the November election, including victories for governor and other top statewide offices.

A Votebeat analysis shows how such requirements risk disenfranchising key voter groups, including Native Americans and college students.

The Senate has passed a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion.

Wrapping up their report on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, House Republicans have concluded it’s former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney who should be prosecuted for her work probing the riot.

This is the latest example of the Republican Party of Texas spending its resources attacking its own members.

Some voucher opponents are ready to compromise; others are hoping supporters will fumble over the program's size, eligibility and accountability.

Congressional leaders have unveiled legislation that will keep the federal government funded through March 14 and provide more than $100 billion in emergency aid to help states and local communities recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton and other natural disasters.

In a Q&A, Burrows said he’s still confident he’ll win. But he says the leadership race is bigger than any one person and his supporters are trying to protect the integrity of the House.

Prosecutors in Texas will seek the death penalty for two Venezuelan men who are accused of killing a 12-year-old Houston girl after they entered the U.S. illegally.

Americans may have elected Donald Trump to a second term in November, but that doesn’t mean they have high confidence in his ability to choose well-qualified people for his Cabinet or effectively manage government spending, the military and the White House.

IRS leadership on Thursday announced that the agency has recovered $4.7 billion in back taxes and proceeds from a variety of crimes.

The House has passed what was once a bipartisan effort to expand the number of federal district trial court judgeships across the country.

President-elect Donald Trump says he’s picking Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world.

Days after the Texas House GOP caucus backed Cook, Abbott made clear that he expects Republican representatives to do the same.

Several prominent Amarillo business people donated to support the so-called travel ban. Meanwhile, statewide progressive groups helped the opposition.

Democrats in Michigan are pressing to pass reproductive health care legislation before the party loses its majority with the new legislative session next year.

The House has shut down Democrats’ efforts to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Wu defeated incumbent Trey Martinez Fischer on Thursday to become the next chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus.

Democrats and Republicans agreed on at least one thing before November's election: California would play a central role in determining which party controls the U.S. House.

Wisconsin’s upcoming Supreme Court election already had high stakes, with majority control on the line.