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

Food benefits for low-income families at risk in a government shutdown, White House says

BY: - September 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — As Congress barrels toward a partial government shutdown, the White House Monday warned that a program that helps millions of low-income families afford healthy food could see substantial cuts. The White House released a state-by-state breakdown, estimating that nearly 7 million people who rely on the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, […]

Biden administration offers temporary protection to Venezuelan migrants

BY: - September 21, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced late Wednesday that the agency will expand protected status to nearly half a million Venezuelan nationals, allowing them to live and work in the United States. The move comes after multiple requests from cities that have struggled to house asylum seekers and calls from […]

U.S. House passes Wounded Knee memorial bill

BY: - September 21, 2023

The U.S. House approved by voice vote Wednesday a bill that would help protect land at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, where an estimated 350 Lakota were killed by U.S. soldiers. The site is within the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River […]

U.S. attorney general defends Hunter Biden investigation under questioning by House GOP

BY: - September 21, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. House Republicans led by Ohio’s Jim Jordan on Wednesday grilled U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland about how the Justice Department has handled its investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden on felony gun charges. The questions about the president’s son came after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week asked several committees, including the […]

A ‘disaster’ nears: Millions of federal workers’ paychecks would be on hold in a shutdown

BY: - September 20, 2023

An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated what happens to back pay for federal employees following a funding lapse. Congress approved back pay for all future partial government shutdowns in a 2019 law. WASHINGTON – More than 3.5 million federal employees and military personnel – many in the Washington, D.C., area but also scattered […]

U.S. House GOP spending bills falter as Congress struggles to avoid a shutdown

BY: and - September 20, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democrats said Tuesday they are preparing their own short-term spending bill that they believe will garner bipartisan support, a decision that could stave off a partial government shutdown – and as House Republicans failed to advance two spending bills. The Senate move would work as long as the House votes to […]

Automakers’ record profits not shared with workers, Biden says as UAW strike launches

BY: - September 15, 2023

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden dispatched two senior administration officials to Detroit on Friday after the United Auto Workers union began a historic strike against the Big Three auto companies amid a contract dispute. “Over the past decade auto companies have seen record profits, including over the last few years because of the extraordinary skill […]

U.S. Senate to examine AI’s wide-ranging impact, Schumer and Rounds say

BY: - September 15, 2023

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said Thursday they’re part of a bipartisan and private-sector consensus about the need for government oversight of artificial intelligence on a range of issues. Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Rounds held an informal bipartisan news conference Thursday to discuss […]

Menendez, other U.S. Senate Democrats vent frustrations after new ruling against DACA

BY: - September 14, 2023

WASHINGTON – A federal judge Wednesday declared illegal the Biden administration’s revised version of a program that protects hundreds of thousands of people brought into the country as children from deportation, and U.S. Senate Democrats, advocates, and the White House on Thursday decried the decision. “I think that Congress should act, but it has been […]

White House slams ‘baseless’ House GOP impeachment inquiry as ‘political stunt’

BY: - September 14, 2023

WASHINGTON – The White House is lambasting the House GOP’s decision to open an impeachment inquiry into unproven allegations that President Joe Biden profited from his son’s international business scheme during his time as vice president in the Obama administration. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday that he directed several of the chamber’s […]

Democrats push to extend child care grant program 

BY: - September 14, 2023

WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats introduced a bill Wednesday to extend funding for five years for a pandemic-era child care subsidy program set to expire at the end of the month. The legislation would extend the child care stabilization grant program, which Congress established in 2021 to help child care providers meet additional costs during the […]

Congress starts trying to figure out how to set AI ‘rules of the road’

BY: - September 13, 2023

WASHINGTON – The development of artificial intelligence presents far-reaching challenges for virtually every aspect of modern society, including campaigns, national security, and journalism, members of a U.S. Senate panel said at a Tuesday hearing. Technology experts invited to testify at a hearing of the Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security Subcommittee of the Senate […]