DC BUREAU

Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.

STAFF

Jane Norman

DC Bureau Chief

Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories.

Jacob Fischler

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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.

Ashley Murray

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

Jennifer Shutt

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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.

Ariana Figueroa

DC Bureau Reporter

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

STORIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. — People protest in response to the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate Republicans shy away from proposed 15-week national abortion ban

BY: - September 14, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans are skeptical about a 15-week nationwide abortion ban that GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced Tuesday, with some saying they want to leave the issue to state lawmakers instead of taking it up in Congress.  “I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at […]

U.S. Capitol. Photo by Russ Rohde/Getty Images

A third of U.S. House Democrats oppose Manchin permitting deal in stopgap spending bill

BY: - September 13, 2022

WASHINGTON – The group of U.S. House Democrats asking the chamber’s leaders not to include environmental permitting changes in a stopgap spending deal this month comprises 77 members, including senior leaders of budget and spending committees and factions across the caucus’ ideological spectrum. The 77 signers on a letter sent late last week and updated […]

Rev. Dr. K. Andre Brooks leads a ceremony honoring Ida B. Wells in Memphis Tennessee on July 15, 2021. The group as at the grave of People's Grocery owner Thomas Moss, who was ynched alongside two of his workers, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart, by a white mob in the 1890's. (Photo by Karen Pulfer Focht)

Confronting history, Congress studies addition of lynching sites to national park system

BY: - September 12, 2022

 The U.S. House is considering a bill that would put lynching sites in western Tennessee on track to become part of the National Park Service, part of a trend this year of Congress using the agency to advance discussions of the nation’s troubled and often violent racial history. A bill from U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, […]

As rural homelessness increases, HUD aims money at helping people without access to shelters

BY: - September 12, 2022

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has opened up millions of dollars in funding for groups serving unhoused people in rural areas — an unprecedented move by the agency, say housing advocates. People living in cars, parks, and on the street at night, which the agency labels unsheltered homelessness, has increased across the nation, […]

New fight opens in Congress over VA policy that sidesteps state abortion bans

BY: - September 12, 2022

WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. Senate are confident the Department of Veterans Affairs can implement a new policy that allows its doctors to provide abortions when the pregnancy threatens the patient’s life or health, or when it’s the result of rape or incest.  The VA announced the new policy last week to cheers from […]

U.S. Justice Department to appeal Trump special master order

BY: - September 9, 2022

The U.S. Justice Department will appeal a Florida federal judge’s ruling this week appointing an independent arbiter to review thousands of sensitive materials the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach residence, the department notified the court Thursday. Government prosecutors are also asking U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon not to force them […]

Congressional panel debates federal role in preventing youth incarceration

BY: - September 9, 2022

WASHINGTON — Members of a U.S. House Education and Labor Committee panel on Thursday questioned experts and leaders of youth rehabilitation programs about how the federal government could invest in programs to prevent kids from becoming incarcerated. “Although the juvenile justice system is intended to rehabilitate—not punish—young offenders, data shows that the more a young […]

U.S. House members raise doubts about Manchin environmental permitting deal

BY: - September 8, 2022

More than 50 U.S. House members are objecting to a push to revise federal environmental permitting requirements for energy projects — part of a deal Democratic leaders struck with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin III to win passage of their climate, health and taxes bill that passed last month. The House members signed onto a letter […]

Bill codifying same-sex marriage nears critical vote in U.S. Senate

BY: - September 8, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate is on track to vote on a bill codifying marriage equality as soon as next week with negotiators increasingly confident it could become law.  Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday they’re close to getting at least 10 Republicans to back the same-sex marriage […]

Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine at Nashville's Casa Azafran in March. (Photo: John Partipilo)

COVID-19 vaccine may become annual, like flu shot

BY: - September 8, 2022

WASHINGTON — COVID-19 boosters shots are on track to become as frequent as the annual flu shot, though high-risk people may need more than one dose per year, Biden administration officials said Tuesday.  “For a large majority of Americans, we are moving to a point where a single annual COVID shot should provide a high […]

U.S. education secretary urges boost in teacher pay, touts college debt relief

BY: - September 8, 2022

WASHINGTON — Amid K-12 teacher shortages, book bans and attacks over critical race theory, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at a meeting with reporters on Wednesday stressed the need for higher salaries to attract prospective educators to the profession. Cardona also touted the Biden administration’s recent student debt relief announcement in late August. The White […]

KYIV, UKRAINE - FEBRUARY 25: A residential building damaged by a missile on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Yesterday, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine, with Russian troops invading the country from the north, east and south, accompanied by air strikes and shelling. The Ukrainian president said that at least 137 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by the end of the first day. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

White House requests $47 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, vaccines and more

BY: - September 4, 2022

The Biden administration is asking Congress for emergency funding to support Ukraine’s military, national COVID and monkeypox responses and to help communities affected by natural disasters. The current fiscal year ends Sept. 30 and Congress has not passed a funding measure for next year, so a short-term bill would be needed to keep the government […]