In the News

Jenna Portnoy The Virginia congressional delegation is generally split along party lines over whether the federal government should allow oil and gas drilling off the state’s coast. The issue reemerged last week when President Trump signed an executive order that aimed to reverse an Obama administration moratorium on extracting fuel from the ocean floor. Proponents say offshore… Read more »

Faiz Siddiqui A congressional spending bill set to be voted on this week maintains full federal funding for ­Metro, a positive sign for the struggling transit agency as it seeks continued support from a Republican-controlled Congress, officials said Monday. The bill authorizes $150 million in grant funding through the end of September, but it’s unclear whether Congress will approve… Read more »

Emma Brown Congress is expected to extend the D.C. school voucher program as part of a bipartisan budget deal this week, a move that follows the release of a new federal analysis showing that some voucher recipients in private schools trailed their public-school counterparts on standardized tests. The legislation would re­authorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which… Read more »

James Tennent While US President Donald Trump has struggled with the realities of passing legislation during his first 100 days in office, there is one realm that seems an easier target but which could have a devastating effect: climate change. Passing a new healthcare bill was not something that Trump and Congressional Republicans could manage before the 100-day milestone but they… Read more »

Mark Hand The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday evening, only hours before climate marchers would be filling the streets of Washington, D.C., that it plans to make changes to its website to reflect the views of the Trump administration and agency Administrator Scott Pruitt. The website changes will involve “updating language to reflect the approach of new leadership,”… Read more »

James Tennent Thousands of demonstrators marched through the US capital, Washington DC, on Saturday (29 April) to protest President Donald Trump's policies and call for more action to migrate against climate change. Marchers faced sweltering heat as they walked along Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House, with predictions putting the day's high at 33C and some claiming the… Read more »

Today, Representatives Will Hurd (R-TX), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Robyn Kelly (D-IL) and Sentor Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act. The legislation builds off the MGT Act which unanimously passed the House of Representatives in 2016. “I am proud to join Representatives Hurd, Kelly, and Senator Warner in reintroducing this critical IT modernization… Read more »

Joe Uchill A bipartisan group of lawmakers has reintroduced a bill aimed at modernizing federal information technology, returning focus to an issue Congress attempted to tackle last year. The Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act provides two funding channels for the purchase of new IT equipment that would be cheaper to run and more secure. The legislation allows agencies to… Read more »

William Mauldin and Jonathan Cheng President Donald Trump’s call to rewrite—or rip up—a trade agreement with South Korea is alarming some lawmakers and business lobbyists still unnerved by threats earlier this week to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement. White House officials said Friday that Mr. Trump is dissatisfied with the five-year-old trade deal with one of… Read more »

Today, Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, sent a letter to Chairman Jason Chaffetz requesting that he allow Committee Members to vote on H.R. 305, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which would require President Donald Trump and all future presidents to disclose their tax returns to the American people. The… Read more »