Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - NOVEMBER 21: A makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub continues to grow on November 21, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Club Q survivors at U.S. House hearing denounce anti-LGBTQ rhetoric

By: - December 15, 2022

Survivors of a deadly attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and other advocates told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that political rhetoric and policy fights dehumanize LGBTQ people and contribute to such violence. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee largely sympathized with the survivors, but drew different conclusions […]

Photo: U.S. Department of Transportation.

U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky

By: - November 30, 2022

The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]

Little appetite for Manchin permitting bill in congressional lame-duck session

By: - November 28, 2022

Among the items on Congress’ lengthy to-do list by the end of the year is U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposal to speed up the federal government’s permitting process that certifies energy projects do not harm the environment. But the bill, which was a condition of the centrist West Virginia Democrat’s support for his party’s larger […]

(Photo: Marissa Demarco, Source NM)

Republicans win control of the U.S. House with 218th seat

By: - November 16, 2022

Republicans clinched a majority in the U.S. House on Wednesday night after a Republican won reelection to a California seat that put the GOP over the top, according to Associated Press projections. Though not as decisive a victory as GOP leaders had hoped, Republican candidates flipped key seats in New York, Virginia, Oregon and Arizona […]

Former President Donald Trump at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority event on June 17. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Trump announces a third bid for the presidency, even as GOP reels from midterm setback

By: - November 15, 2022

Former President Donald Trump, whose lies about his reelection loss in 2020 precipitated an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Tuesday he will make another run for the White House in 2024. His announcement came only a week after a disappointing showing by Republicans — especially those who endorsed his false claims about 2020 […]

Kelli Ward at a 2022 Republican rally in Prescott on Nov. 7, 2022. Photo by Gage Skidmore (modified) | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

U.S. Supreme Court denies attempt by Arizona GOP chair to block Jan. 6 panel subpoena

By: - November 14, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, denying a request from Arizona Republican Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her husband to block the panel from obtaining their cellphone records. The court’s two-paragraph order ends Kelli and Michael Ward’s federal suit to block the […]

Democrats projected to retain U.S. Senate control after winning Nevada seat

By: - November 12, 2022

Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada will win reelection, according to Associated Press projections late Saturday, ensuring Democrats will remain in the majority next year no matter what happens in a runoff election in Georgia next month.  After days of vote counting, U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cortez Masto were both […]

(Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Which party controls Congress? It could be days or weeks before we know

By: and - November 10, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Democrats exulted Wednesday in outperforming expectations in the midterm elections, even as vote-counting was still in progress and control of both chambers of Congress remained unknown. The U.S. Senate will go to the winner of two of the last three races where party control is still in doubt in […]

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 18: The U.S Capitol Building is prepared for the inaugural ceremonies for President-elect Joe Biden as American flags are placed in the ground on the National Mall on January 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. The approximately 191,500 U.S. flags will cover part of the National Mall and will represent the American people who are unable to travel to Washington, DC for the inauguration. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate control too close to call as multiple states grapple with tight vote counts

By: , and - November 9, 2022

WASHINGTON —  Control of the U.S. Senate remained unclear early Wednesday as races in a handful of swing states in the midterm elections were still too close to call, and it appeared it might be days — or even weeks — before a final result was known. But Democrats flipped the open Pennsylvania Senate seat, […]

The U.S. Capitol. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

No GOP ‘wave,’ but Republicans could still gain control of U.S. House

By: , and - November 9, 2022

WASHINGTON — Republicans fell short of their greatest ambitions for major gains in the U.S. House, with control of the chamber still in doubt early Wednesday.  Republicans are still likely to narrowly win control of the U.S. House, based on expert projections. But of 20 races rated by elections forecaster Inside Elections as true toss-ups, […]

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 2: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on preserving and protecting Democracy at Union Station on November 2, 2022 in Washington, DC. Biden addressed the threat of election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in voting in the upcoming midterm elections. (Photo by Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

With ‘democracy itself’ on the ballot, Biden warns of ‘path to chaos’ by election deniers

By: - November 2, 2022

President Joe Biden asked voters Wednesday night to focus on the threats candidates aligned with his predecessor pose to the foundation of U.S. democracy in the midterm elections. In a 20-minute speech at Washington, D.C.’s  Union Station, before a Democratic audience, Biden decried a rise in political violence, and blamed former President Donald Trump for […]

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears on a video screen above members of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the seventh hearing on the January 6th investigation in the Cannon House Office Building on July 12, 2022. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images)

Four things to watch for at the upcoming Jan. 6 hearing

By: - October 13, 2022

The U.S. House committee investigating a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is back. It will hold its first hearing in nearly three months Thursday—and potentially its last. In a break from most of the panel’s previous eight hearings in June and July, Thursday’s meeting will not drill down into one […]