Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

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.

U.S. House panel grills oil executives at hearing on soaring gas prices

By: - April 7, 2022

Democrats blamed the oil industry, Republicans blamed President Joe Biden, and oil executives blamed global market forces at a U.S. House hearing Wednesday on how to reverse a dramatic increase in gas prices. Over nearly six hours, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and executives from six oil companies […]

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Jackson wins 3 GOP votes as U.S. Senate advances her Supreme Court nomination

By: - April 5, 2022

The U.S. Senate advanced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic Supreme Court nomination in a 53-47 procedural vote Monday evening, hours after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah voted with all 50 Senate Democrats on the procedural vote Monday. The […]

A man tends to marijuana plants

U.S. House votes to decriminalize marijuana in federal law

By: - April 4, 2022

The U.S. House passed legislation Friday to legalize marijuana nationally, but its future is much less clear in the Senate. The House voted, 220-204, to approve the measure, which would fix the split between federal law and 19 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Three Republicans joined all but two Democrats in approving the measure. […]

Susan Collins speaks on the phone

Ketanji Brown Jackson wins bipartisan support for U.S. Supreme Court with Collins backing

By: - March 30, 2022

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins will vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to a seat on the Supreme Court, she said Wednesday, becoming the first Republican to pledge her support for President Joe Biden’s pick to replace retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Collins, of Maine, said in a statement Jackson had “sterling” academic and professional credentials. […]

Clarence and Virginia Thomas

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas pressed to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases

By: - March 30, 2022

Two dozen congressional Democrats are calling for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, following revelations his wife communicated with the Trump White House about overturning the election. In addition, it appears likely that the U.S. House committee probing the attack will […]

U.S. Senate winds up grueling Supreme Court hearings on Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination

By: - March 24, 2022

WASHINGTON – Representatives of the American Bar Association reiterated their finding that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is well qualified to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, and law enforcement groups rebutted GOP accusations Jackson is soft on child pornographers during the final day of Jackson’s confirmation hearings Thursday. Republicans, however, called in witnesses to continue […]

woman at microphone

What senators asked Ketanji Brown Jackson on the third day of U.S. Supreme Court hearings

By: - March 23, 2022

WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee picked up Wednesday morning where they left off Tuesday evening in questioning Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson about her judicial philosophy, sentencing practices and personal background. Two senators, Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who did not question […]

Ketanji Brown Jackson seated, wearing a red blazer

Ketanji Brown Jackson defends her record under grilling from U.S. Senate Republicans

By: - March 22, 2022

WASHINGTON – Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday sharpened their criticisms of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, probing her work as a public defender on behalf of terrorism suspects, the judicial sentences she has handed down for child pornography offenses, and her views of critical race theory. Jackson defended her record […]

Ketanji Brown Jackson and Dick Durbin sitting in an office

U.S. Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to start Monday

By: - March 21, 2022

After more than two weeks of private meetings with nearly half the U.S. Senate, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee in highly anticipated public hearings that begin Monday. Members of the panel will question Jackson for two full days, following […]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a giant video screen on a stage with lawmaker seated in an auditorium

Zelenskyy reminds Congress of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in pleading for U.S. help for Ukraine

By: and - March 16, 2022

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday invoked the Pearl Harbor attacks ahead of World War II and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while urging the United States to do more to stop the Russian war against his country.  During the speech, delivered virtually to members of Congress in an auditorium on Capitol Hill, Zelenskyy […]

A stewardess wearing a mask

Republicans in Congress file suit to end mask mandate for air travel

By: - March 15, 2022

Seventeen Republican members of Congress have sued the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seeking an end to the federal rule requiring passengers on commercial flights and in airports to wear masks. The mandate illegally restricts the lawmakers’ freedom and is not backed by legal authority, they said in the suit filed Monday. They […]

Sen. Joe Manchin

Nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin for Fed seat in doubt after Manchin opposition

By: - March 14, 2022

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin III will not support one of President Joe Biden’s picks to sit on the Federal Reserve Board, Sarah Bloom Raskin of Maryland, Manchin said Monday. The announcement casts serious doubt on the chances of Senate confirmation for Raskin, who was a Fed governor from 2010 to 2014 and deputy Treasury secretary […]