Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol following passage of the GOP debt ceiling and spending cut legislation on April 26, 2023. Ashley Murray/States Newsroom

Bipartisan group projects U.S. default as soon as early June, citing ‘quite low’ cash flows

By: - May 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government could default as soon as next month if Congress and the Biden administration can’t reach a debt limit agreement before then, according to a new analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center.  The updated guidance, which puts the default window between early June and early August, adds pressure to President Joe […]

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

U.S. Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill as lawsuit continues

By: and - April 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday. The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing lower court rulings about when and how the abortion medication should be […]

The FDA approved mifepristone under the brand-name Mifeprex in 2000, and an abortion-drug regimen that has seen few deaths and a low rate of adverse events in more than two decades of use. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight.  The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]

The FDA approved mifepristone under the brand-name Mifeprex in 2000, and an abortion-drug regimen that has seen few deaths and a low rate of adverse events in more than two decades of use. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]

Several New Mexico towns are using an 1873 federal law to push back against a new state law to protect abortion access. (Getty Images)

Democratic leaders warn abortion pill ruling could endanger other FDA-approved drugs

By: - April 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democratic leaders vowed to defend reproductive rights and abortion access Saturday, less than a day after a federal judge in Texas ruled the federal government needs to pull the abortion pill off the market within a week.  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, and Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the […]

Medication abortion, a two-step regimen, is used in more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States. Phil Walter/Getty Images

Biden administration appeals judge’s ruling ordering abortion pill off U.S. market

By: - April 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice launched an appeals process Friday that will likely put a landmark decision about access to medication abortion in front of the Supreme Court.  The notice of appeal was filed less than three hours after a federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval […]

Denied Social Security disability application (Getty Images)

Social Security trustees predict benefit cuts in 2033 without congressional action

By: - April 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits in 2033, a year earlier than previously expected, according to a report released Friday.  The updated projections, in the annual trustee report, mean that without action to stabilize the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, Social Security would have enough money to […]

(Photo: Marissa Demarco, Source NM)

Bipartisan former members of Congress call for boost in funding to secure elections

By: - March 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of former U.S. lawmakers on the National Council on Election Integrity called on Congress Friday to spend $400 million on election integrity to insulate the system from foreign interference.  “The Department of Homeland Security designated our election system as critical infrastructure in 2017,” the four wrote in a letter. “However, […]

The CEO of Moderna defended raising the price of the COVID vaccine from less than $30 to $130 a dose. (Getty Images)

Moderna plan to hike COVID vaccine price to $130 a dose rebuked at U.S. Senate hearing

By: - March 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — The CEO of Moderna on Wednesday defended the company’s decision to drastically increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccine later this year, arguing that an expected drop in demand, changes to its distribution process and the overall benefit of the vaccine warrant the higher cost.  That decision was met with bipartisan condemnation from […]

President Joe Biden. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Biden signs bill declassifying information on the origin of COVID-19

By: - March 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. director of national intelligence has three months to declassify information on potential links between China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19, after President Joe Biden signed legislation Monday. The bill was one of the first Biden has signed since a 118th Congress split between the two parties began […]

The rule would apply to any land owned by the federal government, almost all of which is in 11 Western states and Alaska. In practice, it would likely be pertinent mostly to undeveloped tracts. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images)

Economist warns that ‘heightened dysfunction’ in Congress raises risk of debt default

By: - March 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — Economists on Tuesday urged Congress to address the debt limit quickly, cautioning that simply because U.S. lawmakers have successfully brokered deals before doesn’t mean they will be able to this year. “There is a temptation to brush off the developing debt limit drama, thinking it will end the same way as the others […]

The FDA approved mifepristone under the brand-name Mifeprex in 2000, and an abortion-drug regimen that has seen few deaths and a low rate of adverse events in more than two decades of use. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

How the judge who could ban the abortion pill won confirmation in the U.S. Senate

By: - March 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. District Court judge who could end more than two decades of legal access to medication abortion underwent extensive questioning about LGBTQ equality at his December 2017 confirmation hearing — and very little about his views on abortion. Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump earlier in 2017, spent much […]