Tag: Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chants of “send her back” by supporters of President Donald Trump, attacking Somali-born U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, triggered a wave of concern among congressional Republicans on Thursday, while Omar said Trump was “spewing fascist ideology.” Alarmed that the inflammatory chant might become a theme of the 2020 election campaign, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives discussed the potential political risks at a breakfast with Vice President Mike Pence, according to Representative Mark Walker of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday she would like to have a proposal on raising the U.S. debt ceiling on the House floor by July 25. For that to happen, there needs to be an agreement on the debt limit with the administration by Friday, Pelosi told reporters. U.S. borrowing authority could be exhausted sometime in September, according to the latest administration estimates, rather than in October or November, as had earlier...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by October 2025, a big win for workers and labor groups, even as it remained unlikely the bill would pass a Republican-controlled Senate. The move comes at a time when the $15 minimum wage fight, first started by fast-food workers in New York in 2012, has been gaining momentum around the country with several states and large...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills on Tuesday to keep tight restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, amid concern about President Donald Trump’s easing of curbs on the Chinese firm. The legislation would among other things bar the removal of the massive telecommunications equipment firm from a Commerce Department trade blacklist without House and Senate approval, and let Congress disallow waivers granted to U.S. companies doing business with the company. The...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to sideline an impeachment resolution against President Donald Trump, effectively killing the measure for now but not burying the issue that has divided Democrats. The resolution’s sponsor, Democratic Representative Al Green, was seeking to capitalize on growing criticism of Trump after the president’s recent attacks on minority congresswomen. The House voted 332 to 95 to set aside the measure. “Impeachment of your President...., is now OVER. This should never...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives backed resolutions on Wednesday to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sending them to the White House, where President Donald Trump has promised a veto. Nearly a month after the Senate supported 22 resolutions disapproving of Trump’s plan for billions of dollars in weapons sales despite Congress’ objections, the House passed three of the 22, two on a vote of 238-190 and the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for defying congressional subpoenas related to the U.S. Census. The measure, which passed 230-198, was a response to the Trump cabinet members’ failure to produce documents requested by House Democrats as part of an investigation into whether the administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census that would discriminate against racial...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt for defying congressional subpoenas related to the U.S. census. The measure, which passed 230-198, was a response to the cabinet members’ failure to produce documents requested by House Democrats as part of an investigation into whether the Trump administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census that would discriminate against racial...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump for “racist comments” against four minority Democratic congresswomen, a symbolic vote aimed at shaming Trump and his fellow Republicans who stood by him. Tempers flared in the hours leading up to the vote that mainly split along party lines, the culmination of three days of outrage sparked by a Trump tweetstorm that diverted attention from all other business in Washington. Trump had...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc faces more questioning by U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday over its planned cryptocurrency, after a bruising first bout when senators from both parties condemned the project, saying the company had not shown it could be trusted. The social media company is fighting to get Washington on its side after it shocked regulators and lawmakers with its announcement on June 18 that it was hoping to launch a new digital coin called Libra in 2020. Since...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump planned to present a bill to his Cabinet on Tuesday aimed at boosting border security and overhauling the current immigration system to make it more merit-based, a senior administration official said. With U.S. lawmakers’ August recess looming, the official did not give a timetable for introducing the bill to Congress, but described it as laying out the president’s vision and unifying Republicans around a detailed proposal. The bill has 10 Republican...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers quizzed Facebook on Wednesday over its planned cryptocurrency, after a bruising first bout a day earlier when senators from both parties condemned the project, saying the company had not shown it could be trusted. The social media company is fighting to get Washington on its side after it shocked regulators and lawmakers with its announcement on June 18 that it was hoping to launch a new digital coin called Libra in 2020. It has...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced bills on Tuesday to keep tight restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, amid concern about President Donald Trump’s easing of curbs on the Chinese firm. The legislation would among other things bar the removal of the massive telecommunications equipment firm from a Commerce Department trade blacklist without House and Senate approval, and let Congress disallow waivers granted to U.S. companies doing business with the company. The...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pressured fellow Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to stand with him and vote against a symbolic measure condemning his racially charged attacks on four Democratic congresswomen. Democrats, who have a majority in the House, were expected to pass the symbolic resolution of condemnation on Tuesday evening. But it is Republican lawmakers who will be in the spotlight as they will be forced to either vote against their party’s leader,...