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.

Tennessee State University President Glenda Glover and Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris smile at each other during TSU's commencement in May 2022. (Photo: John Partipilo)

States urged by Biden administration to rectify underfunding of land-grant HBCUs 

By: - September 19, 2023

States engaged in decades of underfunding of land-grant Historically Black Colleges and Universities, leading to a more than $12 billion disparity with comparable white institutions, leaders of the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday. “Unacceptable funding inequities have forced many of our nation’s distinguished Historically Black Colleges and Universities […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, in the U.S. Capitol. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

U.S. House Speaker McCarthy tells committees to launch Biden impeachment probe   

By: - September 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday announced that he has directed several House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into unproven GOP allegations that President Joe Biden profited from his son’s business dealings when he was vice president in the Obama administration. “These allegations paint a picture, a picture of corruption,” […]

(Getty Images)

Millions enrolled in new student loan repayment program

By: - September 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — More than 4 million federal student loan borrowers are enrolled in the Biden administration’s new repayment program, according to figures released Tuesday by the Department of Education. With the pause of more than three years on federal student loan repayments coming to an end in October, and the Supreme Court’s summer decision to […]

An aerial shot of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Getty Images).

Biden administration provides guidance on diversity in college admissions

By: - August 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice and Department of Education jointly released guidance on Monday to colleges and universities about how to consider race in admissions decisions, following the Supreme Court’s summer decision that struck down affirmative action in higher education. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, on a call with reporters, said higher education institutions can […]

Migrants wait throughout the night on May 10, 2023, in a dust storm at Gate 42, on land between the Rio Grande and the border wall, hoping they will be processed by immigration authorities before the expiration of Title 42. (Photo by Corrie Boudreaux for Source NM)

Court allows Biden rule limiting asylum at the border to be kept in place for now

By: - August 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court on Thursday decided to allow the Biden administration to keep in place a temporary two-year rule that restricts asylum at the U.S. border, while the legal challenges to a lower court’s ruling play out. The decision from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals aids the Biden administration, which […]

Protesters hold a rally against gun violence in Times Square in response to recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on August 4, 2019 in New York City. (Go Nakamura/Getty Images)

More than 100 advocacy groups urge Congress to denounce anti-immigrant rhetoric

By: - August 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas in which 23 people were murdered, more than 160 religious, civil rights and immigrant advocacy groups called on congressional leaders to denounce lawmakers who use white supremacist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, arguing that it can lead to violence for marginalized […]

A voter shows identification to an election judge during primary voting on May 3, 2022 in Lordstown, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

National bill on voting standards pushed anew by Democrats in Congress

By: - July 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Tuesday said they plan to again introduce a bill to set national voting standards in response to state legislatures passing strict voting laws. The bill, known in a previous Congress as the Freedom to Vote Act, would establish national standards for early voting, mail-in ballots and protection of poll workers […]

A U.S. House committee led by Republicans on Thursday night passed an overhaul of U.S. voting laws. (Getty Images)

U.S. House Republicans pass overhaul of federal elections system out of committee

By: - July 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — On a party-line vote, the U.S. Committee on House Administration on Thursday night passed a bill that would enact strict new voting laws for states, such as requiring copies of IDs for voting by mail, and set penalties for states that allow voting by noncitizens in local elections. The 224-page bill, H.R. 4563, […]

An aerial shot of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Getty Images).

US Supreme Court strikes down use of affirmative action in college admissions

By: and - June 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that two prominent universities’ consideration of race in acceptances violated the U.S. Constitution, effectively reshaping the role of affirmative action in the college admissions process throughout higher education. In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, wrote that the admissions processes at […]

Hundreds of people gathered at Washington Square Park in New Orleans on March 31, 2023, for a march to mark Transgender Day of Visibility. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

U.S. House Republicans spar with HHS secretary over transgender youth, child labor

By: - June 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Department of Health and Human Services SecretaryU.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Tuesday defended access to health care for transgender people, as well as his agency’s actions in connection with unaccompanied migrant children. Republicans at a U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing grilled Becerra about […]

U.S. Capitol (Photo: Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

U.S. House committee approves bills on whole milk, condemns sheltering migrants in schools 

By: - June 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee on Tuesday passed several bills that are a rebuke of not only the Biden administration’s policies on immigration, child nutrition and healthcare, but regulations from the Obama era. The committee passed a resolution that condemns the use of public schools to shelter undocumented people, a bill […]

The U.S. Senate has voted to overturn the Biden administration's student debt relief program. (Photo by Catherine Lane/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate votes to block student loan relief, White House will veto

By: - June 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to overturn the Biden administration’s one-time student debt relief plan that is on hold due to a pending Supreme Court decision. President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the resolution, but the 52-46 vote forced vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2024 to take a public […]