Tag: Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday introduced a bill that would ensure any climate change legislation considered by Congress prioritizes low-income and vulnerable communities. The Climate Equity Act would ensure that Congress and the White House are held accountable for putting low-income and indigenous communities and minority groups that are on the “front lines” of climate change at the core of climate proposals, such as the Green...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed any possible action by the Federal Reserve before U.S. central bank’s meeting this week, even as its rate-setting panel is expected to lower borrowing costs. “The E.U. and China will further lower interest rates and pump money into their systems, making it much easier for their manufacturers to sell product. In the meantime, and with very low inflation, our Fed does nothing - and probably will do very little by...

Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud made her engagement to the Chicago Bandits pro fastpitch player Aleshia Ocasio public on social media on Saturday. The photos posted on Instagram show the couple in a park, beginning with them snapping a picture together. Then Cloud gets down on one knee to propose to Ocasio. View this post on Instagram to being...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, a Texas Republican who strongly defended him at a recent congressional hearing, to replace Dan Coats as the U.S. spy chief. Coats, the current U.S. director of national intelligence who has clashed with Trump over assessments involving Russia, Iran and North Korea, will step down on Aug. 15, the president said as he announced his decision on Twitter. “John will lead and inspire...

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge will hear arguments on July 29 in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block a House of Representatives committee from obtaining his New York state tax returns, according to a court filing issued Sunday. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington scheduled the hearing so he could resolve an “emergency” lawsuit Trump’s personal lawyers filed last week against the Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee In that petition, Trump’s lawyers argued that a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt in a dispute over documents concerning whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. In a letter on Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said that responses Barr and Ross made in response to congressional subpoenas over...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will go to court this week to enforce a subpoena of former White House counsel Don McGahn and will also ask the court for grand jury material related to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, the panel’s chairman said on Wednesday. Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, speaking to reporters after Mueller’s testimony before his panel and the House Intelligence Committee, said the court actions could come on Thursday or...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Claiming “victory” in two high-profile hearings on Wednesday with former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives vowed to push forward with their investigations of President Donald Trump. Court action could come as soon as Thursday or Friday, with the Democrats’ determination pointing to many more months of digging by lawmakers into Trump, his presidency and private business interests. But the outlook for impeachment proceedings seemed as remote as ever even...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department told former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Monday he should limit his testimony before Congress this week to discussing his public report on the Russia probe. In a letter to Mueller, Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer said his testimony set for Wednesday before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees “must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege.”...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote within days on whether to override President Donald Trump’s vetoes of legislation to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday. McConnell said the Senate would hold the vote before Aug. 2, when lawmakers leave Washington for a five-week-long recess. The three resolutions of disapproval are not expected to garner the two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued to block the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his New York state tax returns. In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for Trump argued that a law passed by New York state passed earlier this month would violate the president’s constitutional rights. New York’s law “was enacted to retaliate against the President because of his policy positions,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Monday a two-year deal had been reached with congressional leaders to raise the Treasury Department’s borrowing authority and to set budget spending caps. “I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy - on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills,” Trump said...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is determined to interfere in U.S. elections, despite sanctions and other efforts to deter Moscow, FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday. “The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections,” through a foreign influence campaign, Wray said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Wray was testifying at an oversight hearing a day before Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, was due to testify publicly before Congress about his two-year investigation of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is suing to block the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his state tax returns, Bloomberg TV reported on Tuesday. New York passed a law earlier this month that would allow the state to give Congress access to Trump’s tax returns. Source