Author

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana Figueroa

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. (Photo: John Partipilo)

State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding

By: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election […]

(Photo by Karen Pulfer Focht)

GOP state officials at U.S. House hearing push back against federal election oversight

By: - March 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican election officials from Florida, Ohio and Louisiana on Friday detailed to lawmakers on a U.S. House Administration panel the success of their states’ handling of the 2022 midterm elections, and said they can run their own elections without federal intervention. The chair of the Elections Subcommittee, Florida GOP freshman Rep. Laurel Lee, […]

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 08: Rebekah Bruesehoff, a transgender student athlete, speaks at a press conference on LGBTQI+ rights, at the U.S. Capitol on March 08, 2023 in Washington, DC. Bruesehoff spoke out against the proposed national trans sports ban being considered by Republicans on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

National ban on transgender athletes in girls’ sports passed by U.S. House panel

By: - March 9, 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee early Thursday passed a bill on a party-line vote that would block transgender girls from competing in school sports consistent with their gender identity, a reflection of a broader push in multiple states to curb the rights of transgender student athletes. The bill, H.R. 734, introduced […]

U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)

Biden student debt relief plan met with skepticism from U.S. Supreme Court conservatives

By: - March 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — The majority conservative wing of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical Tuesday that the Biden administration had the authority to implement a federal student debt relief program that was estimated to potentially aid millions of borrowers. The conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority on the court, questioned whether the Department of Education […]

Student loan borrowers gather near The White House to tell President Biden to cancel student debt in Washington, DC. | Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million

Black student loan borrowers at risk as U.S. Supreme Court weighs forgiveness plan

By: - February 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — As the Biden administration prepares to defend its student debt cancellation program before the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 28, data shows that Black borrowers have the most to lose should a majority conservative court strike down the policy. Black borrowers hold a disproportionate share of student loan debt, and many likely were […]

Aerial view of the train derailment wreckage in East Palestine. (Screenshot from NTSB B-roll recorded Feb. 5, 2023)

Federal government to send medical experts to site of Ohio train derailment

By: - February 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government is sending medical personnel and toxicologists to conduct public health testing following the derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials that released into a small town near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. A team from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be […]

Discarded shoes lie in the dirt at a vehicle barrier which serves as the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Dec. 10, 2021 near Yuma, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images)

U.S. House speaker visit to Arizona border labeled publicity stunt by White House

By: - February 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a handful of Republican freshman lawmakers traveled to the U.S. – Mexico border Thursday, where they continued to blame the Biden administration for the fentanyl drug crisis.U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and a handful of Republican freshman lawmakers traveled to the U.S. – Mexico border Thursday, where […]

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his proposed “Build Back Better” social spending bill as Vice President Kamala Harris (L) looks on in the East Room of the White House on October 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Biden renews a call for action on gun control following Michigan State mass shooting

By: - February 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden at an annual meeting with county leaders on Tuesday said there is much more work to be done on gun control legislation —  such as banning assault-style weapons, which are typically used in most mass shootings.  The call again for gun control came after a school shooting at Michigan State […]

(Illustration: Getty Images)

U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents’ rights’, school vouchers and transgender athletes

By: - February 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.  The Republican chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx, provided a forum for […]

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 01: US President Joe Biden arrives to deliver the State of the Union address as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris (L) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) look on during a joint session of Congress in the U.S. Capitol House Chamber on March 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. During his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden was expected to speak on his administration’s efforts to lead a global response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, work to curb inflation, and bring the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images)

Who’s on the guest list for the State of the Union speech?

By: and - February 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — While members of Congress may not be able to speak during the State of the Union address, they often get their message across through the guests they bring. This year is no exception. Lawmakers through their invitees attempted to signal their approval or disapproval of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, or […]

Bags of heroin, some laced with fentanyl.(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

U.S. House Judiciary’s debut hearing on the border centers on blame for fentanyl crisis

By: - February 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl drug smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border during a Wednesday hearing. Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio also blamed U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the number of migrants at the border, and said there are already hundreds of […]

TIJUANA, MEXICO - JULY 22: A person stands next to the U.S.-Mexico border barrier painted with a mural depicting people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children and were deported as adults on July 22, 2021 in Tijuana, Mexico. The mural was created by artist Lizbeth De La Cruz Santana. While the Biden administration has haltingly restarted the asylum system along the southwest border, only a small number of asylum seekers whose situations are considered the most urgent have been allowed to cross the border with Title 42 exceptions. Thousands of asylum seekers remain stuck in Tijuana in precarious conditions. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Democrats in Congress condemn Biden administration expansion of Title 42

By: - January 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — Nearly 80 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the White House expressing their “great concern” that the Biden administration is walking back on its promise to restore migrants’ access to asylum. In the letter, they also condemned the administration’s expansion of a controversial policy that immediately turns away migrants at the […]