Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

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.

Long lines during Georgia's June 9 primary were in part attributed to experienced older poll workers backing out due to coronavirus worries.

National Dems give New Hampshire, Georgia more time to change 2024 primary dates

By: - January 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — New Hampshire and Georgia will have a bit longer to implement key changes to when and how they hold Democratic presidential primaries, under an extension a Democratic National Committee panel approved Wednesday. Election officials will have until June 3 to move New Hampshire’s 2024 Democratic presidential primary to Feb. 13 and Georgia’s to […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat

Biden, Democrats to U.S. House Republicans: Show us your debt limit plan

By: - January 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders huddled with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, ahead of what will be a tumultuous few months, with lawmakers sharply divided on the debt limit and short on time.  “I have no intention of letting the Republicans wreck our economy, nor does anybody around this table,” Biden said […]

Abortion and the judicial system graphic

Federal judge could decide as soon as February to yank abortion pill nationwide

By: - January 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — A Texas judge could decide as soon as next month whether to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States.  A nationwide injunction in the case, as requested by anti-abortion groups, would […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Gives Economic Address At Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center

U.S. hits debt limit and Treasury Department begins ‘extraordinary measures’

By: - January 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — The nation reached its debt limit Thursday, beginning the uncertain process known as extraordinary measures, in which the U.S. Treasury Department uses accounting maneuvers to avoid defaulting on the debt.  The often-used practice is intended to give the Republican House, Democratic Senate and Biden administration time to negotiate a bipartisan agreement to raise […]

President Biden Speaks On Preserving And Protecting Our Democracy At D.C.'s Union Station

White House defends delay in revealing classified documents at Biden private office, home

By: - January 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday defended sitting on information about Obama administration classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s private residence and a think tank, saying officials are attempting to balance working with the Justice Department and sharing information publicly.  “We understand that there’s a tension between the need to be cooperative with […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Gives Economic Address At Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center

U.S. to hit debt limit much sooner than expected, thrusting Congress into showdown

By: - January 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government will hit its borrowing limit next week, forcing the new, divided Congress into negotiations over the debt limit much sooner than expected, though a potential date for the nation to default isn’t expected until this summer. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Congress on Friday afternoon, telling leaders the United […]

U.S. President Joe Biden signs omnibus bill

U.S. attorney general names special counsel for classified docs found in Biden’s garage

By: and - January 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House revealed Thursday morning that more classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered outside of secure government facilities, this time in the garage at his Wilmington, Delaware, home.  The files have since been turned over to the U.S. Justice Department, which opened a special counsel investigation […]

Photo of the U.S. Capitol building from a distance, and photo of the Idaho State Capitol building in Boise also from a distance

Republican lawmakers in Idaho and D.C. advance anti-abortion bills

By: and - January 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday approved its first abortion-related measures under a new Republican majority, eliciting strong support from GOP members and opposition from Democrats, who rejected the legislation as misleading and incomplete.  Republicans, who secured a four-seat majority during the November midterm elections, said the bill setting medical standards on a national […]

From right to left, U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Rep.-elect Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Rep.-elect Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) talk in the House Chambe

U.S. House GOP plan calls for federal spending cuts, conditions on debt limit increase

By: - January 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republican leaders during a closed-door meeting Tuesday shared more details of the secret agreements Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with conservative lawmakers last week to secure the votes he needed to hold the gavel.  The so-called handshake deal, displayed on slides during the GOP weekly conference meeting, if adhered to could have […]

U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) receives the gavel from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries

U.S. House GOP backs rules plan without disclosing deals made with hard-right members

By: and - January 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adopted rules for the 118th Congress on Monday, though several of the concessions Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with more conservative members of the Republican Party to secure the gavel weren’t included in the document, or publicly circulated ahead of the vote.  The 55-page rules package the House voted nearly party-line […]

U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy

U.S. House GOP backs McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session

By: and - January 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War.  The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel on the 15th ballot by […]

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy

U.S. House stuck for a third day as Republicans struggle to unite around a speaker

By: and - January 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned Thursday again without a speaker, racking up five more ballots throughout the day before members left the floor shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, with some decamping to closed-door negotiations and others leaving the Capitol.  “I am not a part of any negotiations,” Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, a leading opponent of […]