National Politics

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a bill to increase direct payments to $2,000, likely closing the door on any pathway to passage before the end of the Congress this weekend. McConnell took to the Senate floor to attack the House-passed bill, specifically on the issue of higher-income individuals and couples that would be eligible

On Joe Biden’s first day as President, his White House will issue a memo to halt or delay midnight regulations and actions taken by the Trump administration that will not have taken effect by Inauguration Day, Biden transition spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday. Psaki noted that issuing a regulatory freeze is standard practice

The Trump administration will halt imports of palm oil from Malaysia over findings of forced labor abuses at the plantations of one of the country’s top producers of the product, which is found in many everyday items. It is the latest in a string of Customs and Border Protection restrictions aimed at stopping goods made

The Trump administration will soon take steps toward designating Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism as an 11th hour effort to create hurdles for the incoming Biden administration, which is likely to pursue warmer ties with Havana. A senior administration official told CNN that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to make the

The biggest obstacle to retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin’s nomination for secretary of defense is his retirement date from the military just four years ago — too recent under American law and for the tastes of several members of Congress. Multiple Democratic aides tell CNN they don’t think Austin’s nomination is in serious jeopardy right

Things are going to drag on in the Senate for a few days. Bottom line: There is absolutely no sign right now that a standalone bill on $2,000 checks is going to get a vote on the Senate floor. It looks like McConnell is simply going to run out the clock. There were several opportunities

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled sanctions on a Venezuelan judge and prosecutor for their roles in the prosecution and sentencing of six US oil executives, collectively known as the “CITGO 6.” Judge Lorena Carolina Cornielles Ruiz presided over the trial and “ultimately sentenced each of the six US persons on charges of corruption with

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced legislation Tuesday to combine two additional demands from President Donald Trump to an expansion of direct stimulus payments as part of the Covid-19 relief package, raising Democratic concern the pathway for expanded stimulus payments would soon be short-circuited. The Kentucky Republican, shortly before adjourning the Senate on Tuesday afternoon,

In the weirdest of twists at the end of his presidency, President Donald Trump is now in league with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders over $2,000 Covid-19 relief checks, doing battle with Republican leaders over Pentagon policy and warning the political party he overtook and remade in his own image could soon be

President-elect Joe Biden’s explosive allegation this week that the outgoing Trump administration is throwing up “roadblocks” on key national security matters was a low-point for a transition plagued by mistrust, overseen by a sitting President uninterested in facilitating a smooth transfer of power. Afterward, Trump administration officials insisted Biden was stretching the truth when he

Welcome to Atlanta, where the players politic. Anger, fear, new voters, PAC money, minority turnout — these are often credited with shaping elections. What you don’t tend to hear is that rappers in hip-hop’s modern mecca educated voters and got them to the polls to help bounce an incumbent out of the White House. That’s

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s margin for error is slim on Sunday, when lawmakers return to Washington to officially usher in a new session of Congress and elect their new speaker. After serving 17 years as Democrats’ leader, Pelosi is running unopposed. But the looming threat of coronavirus paired with the Democrats’ smallest majority in decades