Author: Alan Fram
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Shutdown avoided: Lawmakers agree on border deal
Congressional negotiators reached agreement Monday night to prevent a government shutdown and finance construction of new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, overcoming a late-stage hang-up over immigration enforcement issues that had threatened to scuttle the talks. Republicans were desperate to avoid another bruising shutdown. They tentatively agreed to far less money for President Donald Trump’s…
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s clock ticks, new hurdle emerges in border security talks
WASHINGTON • Bargainers clashed Sunday over whether to limit the number of migrants authorities can detain, tossing a new hurdle before negotiators hoping to strike a border security compromise for Congress to pass this coming week. The White House wouldn’t rule out a renewed partial government shutdown if an agreement isn’t reached. With the Friday…
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Negotiator: Trump ‘ reasonable’ on border talks
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump appears to be taking a more positive view of Capitol Hill talks on border security, according to negotiators who struck a distinctly optimistic tone after a White House meeting with Republicans on the broad parameters of a potential bipartisan agreement. Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama said Thursday’s session…
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Analysis: 1st round goes to Pelosi in shutdown fight
WASHINGTON • In the year’s first test of divided government, give round one to Nancy Pelosi. And it wasn’t really competitive. When the record 35-day partial federal shutdown began before Christmas, Pelosi had just won a vote-by-vote struggle for enough Democratic support to become House speaker. To secure that job, the 78-year-old House veteran had…
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Both parties feel urgency after Senate fails to end shutdown
WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic leaders hunted Friday for a way to halt the 35-day partial government shutdown, but remained at odds over President Donald Trump’s demand that any compromise include money for his coveted border wall. Senators were talking with increased urgency after Thursday’s defeat of competing proposals from Trump and the Democrats. The…
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Week 5: House Democrats float ’21st Century’ border security plan
WASHINGTON — House Democrats are putting forward a new proposal to end the government shutdown, aiming to lure President Donald Trump away from his demand for a border wall by offering billions of new dollars for other border security measures. The offer is a possible path toward a compromise even though it does not have…
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Threat to Pelosi: 16 Dems want ‘new leadership’
WASHINGTON • Sixteen Democrats who’ve opposed Nancy Pelosi’s quest to become speaker released a letter Monday saying they will vote for “new leadership” when the House picks its leaders in January, underscoring a significant threat to her effort to lead her party’s House majority in the next Congress. The letter’s release suggests that rather than…
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Kavanaugh sworn to high court after rancorous confirmation
WASHINGTON • Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in Saturday night as the 114th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, after a wrenching debate over sexual misconduct and judicial temperament that shattered the Senate, captivated the nation and ushered in an acrimonious new level of polarization — now encroaching on the court that the 53-year-old judge may…
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Kavanaugh confirmation all but sure after long, bitter fight
WASHINGTON • After weeks of shocking accusations, hardball politics and rowdy Capitol protests, a pair of wavering senators declared Friday that they will back Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation, all but guaranteeing the deeply divided Senate will elevate the conservative jurist to the nation’s highest court on Saturday. The announcements by Republican Susan Collins of…
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Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh clears crucial Senate hurdle
WASHINGTON — The Latest on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh (all times local): 3:58 p.m. The remaining undecided Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin, says he will support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The West Virginia senator announced his decision moments after the remaining undecided Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, said she would vote to confirm…