Politics Election category, Page 2
Congress is enacting less legislation than it has in at least a half-century, records show
Lawmakers in Washington are on pace to introduce more legislation this session than they have since the 1970s, but they’re also on pace to enact fewer bills and resolutions into law than they have in at least a half-century. A database maintained by the government transparency website GovTrack.us showed that,...
Trump’s mixed messages on Iran: ‘Winding down’ the war and easing sanctions but adding more troops
President Donald Trump frequently contradicts himself, sometimes in the same speech, social media post or even sentence. Within the space of a few hours Friday, he sent a torrent of mixed signals about the Iran war that raise more questions about the direction of the conflict and his administration’s strategy....
Senate blocks amendment on transgender athletes during weekend session on voting bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Saturday blocked an amendment that would ban transgender athletes from playing in women’s sports, rejecting one of President Donald Trump’s priorities as he pressures Congress to act on a broad voting bill. Senators were holding a rare weekend session to debate the voting legislation, which...
Fetterman hit with brutal 108-point polling swing among Pennsylvania Democrats
Sen. John Fetterman’s political future is not looking bright if he decides to stay in the Democratic Party. At least that’s what a recent Quinnipiac poll, which was highlighted by CNN data guru Harry Enten during his most recent segment, suggests. The polling showed that Fetterman was at +68 with...
Surprise, embarrassment, unease in Japan after Trump uses Pearl Harbor to defend Iran war
TOKYO — Senior U.S. and Japanese officials tend to shy away from anything but very careful public comments about Japan’s 1941 sneak attack on U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor. So there was embarrassment, confusion and unease on Saturday in Japan after President Donald Trump casually used the World War II...
Congress looks for Trump’s exit plan as the Iran war drags on
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump took the United States to war without a vote of support from Congress, but lawmakers are increasingly questioning when, how and at what cost the war with Iran will come to an end. Three weeks into the conflict, the toll is becoming apparent. At least...
Bill to fund Homeland Security fails again as concern grows about airport lines
WASHINGTON — A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance Friday in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country’s biggest airports. Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage....
Missouri judge strikes ballot summary for Trump-backed congressional redistricting plan
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — If Missouri voters get to decide whether to adopt new U.S. House districts backed by President Donald Trump, the ballot proposal presented to them won’t say a word about gerrymandering. A state judge on Friday ordered a new, toned-down description of the redistricting plan after Missouri’s...
Running New York’s ‘toughest job’ shows challenges familiar to Pittsburgh leaders
NEW YORK — Erin Dalton, the new commissioner of the New York City Department of Social Services, comes into the role confronting a daunting list of challenges. There are 85,000 people in city shelters. Many thousands of New Yorkers are likely to lose their federal benefits, including health care and...
Democrats aim to turn Trump’s tariffs against GOP in campaigns for governor
WASHINGTON — Less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul listened as one of the plaintiffs in the case recounted the financial toll of the levies on his wine importing business. “This is a heavy tax and you...
ICE detains 3 Las Palmas workers in Brookline
Three Las Palmas restaurant workers were detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Thursday morning in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood. In a Facebook post, Las Palmas Supermercados y Taquerias confirmed the detainments, which took place near Las Palmas’ location at 700 Brookline Blvd. “Good morning my people, with the bad...
Fetterman says Trump Derangement Syndrome controls Democratic Party
Sen. John Fetterman has taken yet another jab at his colleagues, saying on a podcast that Trump Derangement Syndrome controls a leaderless Democratic Party. During an appearance on the “All-In” podcast, host David Friedberg asked Fetterman to name the leader of the Democratic Party and the senator replied, “We don’t...
Trump vowed to crack down on fraudsters, but he’s pardoned dozens
Salomon Melgen was an immigrant who came to the United States and wound up committing fraud, ripping off American taxpayers by $42 million. “Melgen devised a scheme to enrich himself by defrauding Medicare to the tune of tens of millions of dollars,” an FBI official said when Melgen was sentenced...
EU leaders blast Viktor Orbán over a Ukraine loan veto, accusing him of playing election games
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders on Thursday lashed out at Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, accusing him of hijacking critical aid for Ukraine and undermining EU decision-making in an effort to win an election at home. In a rare public tirade against a member of their ranks, leaders insisted that...
A ‘freaking snake’ and no apologies: How the Mullin hearing went off the rails
WASHINGTON — The chairman opened the hearing with a provocative dare: Say it to my face. Sen. Rand Paul, the Republican from Kentucky, has made clear he has little regard for President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, fellow Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin. He says he’ll...
Ex-counterterrorism official says he wasn’t allowed to share concerns about Iran war with Trump
WASHINGTON — Joe Kent, the former counterterrorism director who resigned this week over concerns about the Iran war, said Wednesday that he and other senior officials with doubts about the airstrikes “were not allowed” to share them with President Donald Trump. Speaking on Tucker Carlson’s show, Kent said the president...
Democrats storm out of Justice Department leaders’ briefing on the Epstein files
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday stormed out of a closed-door briefing on the Jeffrey Epstein files by Justice Department leaders, and said they would push to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions under oath about the case that has plagued the Trump administration. Bondi and Deputy Attorney...
Glassport police chief confirms 17 ICE arrests
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 17 people in Glassport over the past few weeks, according to the borough’s police chief. All 17 arrests occurred within two days, Chief Shawn DeVerse told TribLive on Wednesday. “I recognize that ICE is an outside law enforcement agency,” he said. “They have...
Pa. House Republicans hold on to key seats in special elections
Pennsylvania Republicans held on to two state House seats, critical to keeping them within striking range of majority control, in special elections Tuesday. Preliminary counts showed Catherine Wallen of York Springs had prevailed over Todd Crawley in the 193rd House District, covering parts of Adams and Cumberland counties. In Blair...
Former Illinois Republican Party chairman Don Tracy wins GOP primary for U.S. Senate seat
CHICAGO — Illinois voters decided primaries Tuesday for six open U.S. House and Senate seats in contests that became a testing ground for issues shaping the Democratic Party’s future. From questions about the cryptocurrency and AI industries to immigration enforcement to fracturing U.S. support for Israel, the state’s voters confronted...
Summer Lee moves to impeach Attorney General Pam Bondi as GOP-led committee subpoenas her
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and five Democratic colleagues on Tuesday introduced articles of impeachment against Attorney General Pam Bondi over her handling of files related to the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and what the lawmakers described as the politicization of the Justice Department. Separately Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House...
Pa. Senate passes bill to protect children, others by mandating safeguards for AI ‘friend’ bots
The state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would require AI chatbot operators to implement guardrails against self-harm and sexually explicit material, putting near-unanimous bipartisan support behind an idea that has also been endorsed by Gov. Josh Shapiro. The bill comes as polls show a growing public pushback to...
Pittsburgh budget woes vindicate Controller Rachael Heisler, who issued early warnings
For two years, Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler raised one red flag after another about the city’s precarious finances. She wrote letters, held press conferences and mercilessly skewered former Mayor Ed Gainey’s final budget proposal as “not an honest document.” Few took her alerts to heart. Public officials, from the former...
Petition argues Republican state House candidate in North Hills is ineligible to run
A petition filed in Commonwealth Court says a Republican state House candidate in the North Hills is not eligible to run because he doesn’t meet the state’s residency requirement. The candidate, Ehab Akkary of McCandless, called the challenge “antidemocratic” and said it is a “frivolous and politically motivated attempt to...
Trump’s next target: ‘Taking Cuba’
NEWS ANALYSIS “I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba,” President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah,” he added when a reporter asked for clarification. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — I...
