By Clare Foran Divisions among House Democrats over how to enact President Joe Biden’s sweeping infrastructure agenda are poised to come to a head when lawmakers return to Washington this week, beginning with a key budget vote. The House is expected to vote as soon as Tuesday on a budget resolution for the President’s spending package after
More
By Hollie Silverman As Americans face a daunting surge of Covid-19 hospitalizations — with the rates for children and adults under 50 hitting their highest levels yet — officials are hoping full approval of the vaccines could encourage more people to get vaccinated. Full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is “imminent,” a senior federal
More
Analysis by Brandon Tensley US politicians have a fondness for endorsing easy, cultural displays of solidarity. In a recent move that seemed to go largely unnoticed, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating August 11, 2021, as Hip-Hop Celebration Day, August 2021 as Hip-Hop Recognition Month and November 2021 as Hip-Hop History Month. It was a peculiar
More
By Pete Muntean and Gregory Wallace, Federal authorities are proposing more than a half-million dollars in new fines against commercial airline passengers they say refused to wear masks, hit flight attendants and even threw luggage across the cabin. The Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement Thursday of $531,545 in fines against 34 passengers accused of being unruly
More
By Dianne Gallagher Texas House Democrats’ historic quorum break unexpectedly ended Thursday evening when at least three new Democrats returned to the floor, paving the way for state Republicans to pass restrictive voting legislation. The surprise turn of events quickly led to public accusations of betrayal among Democrats, as the House now has the required two-thirds of
More
By Simon Osuji Chanice McClover-Lee, a 19-year old Black woman who is a student at Howard University, has opened her own vegan bakery called Baked by Chanice in Washington, DC that offers gourmet vegan treats such as cookies and custom cakes. Chanice, a Howard University student, started baking last year as a pastime during the
More
By Paul LeBlanc The US Education Department announced Thursday it will cancel $5.8 billion in outstanding student loans for borrowers who are unable to work because of permanent disabilities. More than 320,000 “total and permanent disability” borrowers will benefit from the move, the agency said in a press release, and hurdles for relief will become automatic for
More
By Jasmine Wright and Arlette Saenz Vice President Kamala Harris faces a steep challenge next week when she travels to Singapore and Vietnam, as a once-low-risk trip to friendly nations comes at the same time as a bungled US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Harris will have dual responsibilities largely unfamiliar to her in the seven months she’s been in office: Deliver
More
By Priscilla Alvarez and Geneva Sands The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to process the influx of Afghans rushing to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban overtakes the country. In recent days, administration officials worked overtime to pull lists of names of special immigrant visa applicants to push through systems and get security checks cleared,
More
By Tami Luhby Nearly 107 million US households — about 61% — owed no federal income tax in 2020, a huge spike from pre-pandemic times. But that increase should be short-lived. The coronavirus-fueled upheaval in the economy, which cost more than 20 million jobs in April 2020, and the sweeping federal relief packages drove up the share
More