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.

Members of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division Division returning to Ft. Campbell after a deployment to the Middle East. (Photo: U.S. Army Ft. Campbell)

U.S. Senate fails to advance burn pits bill for veterans in dispute over spending

By: - July 28, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate came up short Wednesday in trying to move ahead on legislation that would provide health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits overseas. The bill, from Montana Democratic Sen. John Tester and Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, has been bogged down for nearly two months as U.S. lawmakers […]

U.S. House debate on a contraception access bill Thursday fell along party lines, with Democrats arguing it’s necessary to ensure Americans won’t lose another constitutional right at the hands of conservative Supreme Court justices. (Photo: Getty Images)

U.S. House passes bill guaranteeing contraception access, with eight GOP votes

By: - July 21, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted mostly along party lines Thursday to send the Senate legislation that would guarantee people the right to use contraception without government interference.  The legislation from North Carolina Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning, approved 228-195, is part of the Democrats’ response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional […]

The White House confirmed Thursday that President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19.(Drew Angerer/Getty Image)

Biden tests positive for COVID-19

By: and - July 21, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House announced Thursday morning.  Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated against the virus and has twice received booster doses, according to the statement. He is taking Paxlovid, an antiviral prescription medication that is meant to reduce the severity of […]

Nashville's Mario Oranday and Andrew Baumgarten, recently engaged, fear same-sex marriage will be the next right to fall following the U.S. Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade. (Photo: John Partipilo)

U.S. House on bipartisan vote passes bill protecting right to same-sex marriage

By: - July 20, 2022

WASHINGTON — Both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House voted Tuesday to enshrine the right to same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law, though the bill’s path forward in the Senate is unclear.  The 267-157 bipartisan vote stemmed from concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn the constitutional right to […]

Members of Congress participating in a July 19 abortion rights protest between Capitol Hill and the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo: Jennifer Shutt)

Members of Congress arrested after protest for abortion rights in front of Supreme Court

By: - July 19, 2022

WASHINGTON — More than a dozen members of Congress were arrested Tuesday alongside abortion rights activists after they sat down and blocked an intersection between the U.S. Capitol building and the Supreme Court to protest conservative justices’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.  The act of civil disobedience came as backers of abortion rights urge […]

An abortion rally in downtown Nashville took protesters on a route to the state Capitol and the federal courthouse. Photo: John Partipilo

As abortion crisis engulfs red states, advocates press White House for a bolder plan

By: - July 9, 2022

WASHINGTON — Frustrated abortion rights advocates are imploring President Joe Biden to make sweeping moves to protect abortion access, saying now is the time for Democrats to be bold as Republican-led states rapidly implement restrictions and outright bans.  Stymied in the U.S. Senate by the filibuster, congressional Democrats are highly unlikely to approve legislation that […]

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 02: U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order that could preserve access to abortion in some states. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden unveils executive order on abortion access, cites case of 10-year-old Ohio rape survivor

By: - July 8, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly been criticized as slow to respond to a widely expected U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended the nationwide right to an abortion, signed an executive order Friday that could preserve some access to abortion in states where the procedure remains legal.  Biden in a White House speech […]

Protesters supporting “Medicare for All” hold a rally outside PhRMA headquarters April 29, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Medicare prescription drug negotiation plan advanced by U.S. Senate Democrats

By: - July 6, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats have reached a tentative agreement to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs in the Medicare program, the first step in passing a long-stalled package that’s expected to include tax and climate change provisions as well.  The deal, brokered between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin […]

The opinion by six of the Court’s nine justices will allow each state to set its own abortion laws, leading to a patchwork of access throughout the country. Photo from U.S. Supreme Court website

UPDATED U.S. Supreme Court overturns right to abortion in landmark decision

By: - June 24, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established abortion as a constitutional right.  The decision by six of the Court’s nine justices will allow each state to set its own abortion laws, leading to a patchwork of access throughout the country. The result is expected to […]

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Access to abortion for members of the military expanded in Pentagon spending bill

By: - June 23, 2022

WASHINGTON — Democrats in Congress are pushing to increase access to abortion for members of the military, concerned a U.S. Supreme Court decision that could end the constitutional right will harm troops.  The U.S. House’s annual funding bill for the Defense Department would require the Pentagon to provide leave to troops and civilian employees seeking […]

Filling up. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Biden pitches a summer gas tax holiday as price hovers around $5 a gallon

By: - June 22, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called on Congress and state legislatures to provide a temporary reprieve from gas taxes —but members of his own party and Republicans appeared opposed, making it look likely on the federal level. In addition, many state legislatures are out of session for the year and aren’t expected to […]

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 8: Miah Cerrillo, a survivor of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas testifies remotely during the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing with victims' family members and survivors of the Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas massacres on June 8, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jason Andrew-Pool/Getty Images)

Fourth grade survivor of Uvalde shooting tells Congress: ‘I don’t want it to happen again’

By: and - June 9, 2022

Content Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions related to gun violence.  WASHINGTON — A fourth grader who survived the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting where 19 students and two teachers were murdered told lawmakers Wednesday that she is afraid to go back to school. “I don’t want it to happen again,” 11-year-old Miah Cerrillo said in […]