Politics Election category, Page 15

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa — It is big and it is beautiful, President Donald Trump says. But for many Democratic leaders, the tax break and spending cut package passed by Trump’s Republican allies in Congress on Thursday represents the key to the Democratic Party’s resurgence. Even before the final vote, Democratic...

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent” with its policies, accusing them of “unlawfully undermining” the Trump administration’s agenda. In a letter made public Monday, the employees wrote that the agency is no longer living up to its mission...

WASHINGTON — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending...

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement agencies and associations are pushing for Congress to reject a Trump administration proposal to cut funding for a program aimed at reducing drug trafficking and illicit drug production, as well as change where it is run in the government. The Trump administration’s fiscal 2026 budget request...

Republicans in Western Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation celebrated the passage of President Trump’s domestic policy package Thursday afternoon, touting measures to extend and expand tax relief enacted in 2017, secure the nation’s southern border and expand domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas. Democratic leaders warned the package will be...

WASHINGTON — There’s no filibuster in the House, but Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries essentially conducted one anyway. Jeffries held the House floor for more than eight hours Thursday, taking his “sweet time” with a marathon floor speech that delayed passage of Republicans’ massive tax and spending cuts legislation and gave...

MOSCOW — U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Iran, Ukraine and other issues on Thursday in a “frank and constructive” phone call, the Kremlin said, in their sixth publicly disclosed chat since Trump returned to the White House. While discussing the situation around Iran and in...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final congressional passage Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline. The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with...

More than 300,000 Pennsylvanians could lose Medicaid coverage if the Senate-approved version of President Donald Trump’s domestic policy bill passes the House, while nearly 150,000 people who receive SNAP benefits could lose access to food assistance, Gov. Josh Shapiro said Wednesday. “Every member of Congress who votes for this reconciliation...

As it begins its 249th year in business as a country, the United States owes more than $36 trillion in debt and spends nearly $2 trillion more per year than it collects. Those numbers won’t be decreasing if the One Big Beautiful Bill Act becomes law. The legislation, named and...

WASHINGTON — An analysis finds a critical group of U.S. employers would face a direct cost of $82.3 billion from President Donald Trump’s current tariff plans, a sum that could potentially be managed through price hikes, layoffs, hiring freezes or lower profit margins. The analysis by the JPMorganChase Institute is...

WASHINGTON — The House sprang back to action late Wednesday after a prolonged stalemate as Republican leaders spent the afternoon and evening working furiously to convince skeptics to support President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cuts package and send it to his desk by the Fourth of July deadline. The...

CHAPIN, S.C. — Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. André Bauer is mounting a GOP primary challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham, arguing the incumbent isn’t conservative enough to represent the state. Bauer, a wealthy developer, is a longtime backer of President Donald Trump. His candidacy sets up a midterm grudge match...

WASHINGTON — The University of Pennsylvania says it will update records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by Thomas’ participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case. The U.S. Education Department and Penn announced the voluntary...

WASHINGTON — Day camp providers and schools are warning that a Trump administration funding freeze could wreck summer for low-income American families and wipe out some after-school programming next year. The administration is withholding more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult...

WASHINGTON — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts. The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision...

President Donald Trump’s domestic policy package passed the Senate by the slimmest of margins Tuesday, with Pennsylvania’s two senators voting along party lines as expected. U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, joined 49 other Republicans in supporting Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill. Three GOP senators — U.S. Sens....

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani has won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, a new vote count confirmed Tuesday, cementing his stunning upset of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and sending him to the general election. The Associated Press called the race after the results of the city’s ranked choice voting...

Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump — and seemingly any congressional Republicans who support the president’s massive tax cuts and spending package — has reignited, with the tech billionaire threatening to launch a new political party, and Trump suggesting Musk could be punished for his opposition. The dispute has...

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday stuck to his position that the central bank will keep its key rate on hold while it waits to see how President Donald Trump’s tariffs effect the economy, defying the steady stream of criticism from the White House, which wants lower...

Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla, which is headed by Elon Musk, slumped Tuesday as the war of words between billionaire and President Donald Trump over the big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts heats up again, with Musk saying he may form a new political party. Shares of...

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session. The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol,...

Elon Musk once again threatened to ramp up his political spending, this time targeting nearly every sitting Republican in Congress who has signaled support for President Donald Trump’s multitrillion-dollar tax bill. “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase...

HARRISBURG — U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans said Monday that he will not seek reelection to his Philadelphia seat, capping a career in public office that stretches back 45 years. Evans, a Democrat, said in a statement that he decided that “the time is right” to retire after his term is...

WASHINGTON — Clean energy advocates were already bracing for a Republican-led bill that would phase out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers moved to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. But a proposal...