Stephen Miller, the former Trump White House senior adviser and speechwriter from Santa Monica, has gone back to the California conservative playbook for his next act: launching a legal group that co-opts social justice strategies to fight social justice.

Miller is characterizing his group, America First Legal, as a conservative version of the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A House committee late Wednesday advanced legislation, first introduced in 1989, that would study the issue of awarding reparations to the descendants of American slaves.

The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to send a bill to the House floor for the first time to create a commission to study the legacy of ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The House will stick to its scheduled committee work week at the end of the month since “relatively few” lawmakers will be allowed to attend President Joe Biden’s April 28 joint address to Congress due to COVID-19 precautions, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters Wednesday.

“There will be limited attendance ...Read more

A pair of New York congressmen are among a group of Democrats who plan to introduce a bill that would add four seats to the Supreme Court — the opening salvo in what promises to be a brutal legislative fight with conservatives over the high bench’s political balance.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee, and ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Mere hours after he was sworn in, President Joe Biden signed an executive order committing the United States to rejoin the international accord designed to prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change — the Paris climate agreement.

That was the easy part.

Now as the White House prepares to host virtual climate talks...Read more

With Wednesday's swearing-in of a Republican congresswoman from Louisiana, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Democratic majority is now down to six.

U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow filled the seat that was originally won by her husband, Luke Letlow, who died of COVID-19 complications Dec. 29 at the age of 41, only weeks after winning a runoff election for ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is moving to usher significant federal resources to close drug treatment gaps and make medications more accessible to everyone, the top White House drug policy official told House lawmakers Wednesday as they considered 11 bills to address a worsening drug abuse health crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 ...Read more

WASHINGTON — If a series of life-threatening situations hasn’t motivated Congress to plan for the worst, what could?

Such scenarios are not abstract. A gunman opened fire at an early morning baseball practice in June 2017 targeting Republican lawmakers and severely injuring then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

The next year, a train ...Read more

WASHINGTON — First lady Jill Biden successfully underwent what the White House called a “common medical procedure” on Wednesday and is resuming her normal schedule.

President Joe Biden, who announced his plan later in the day to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, accompanied his wife to George Washington ...Read more

Iran warned the U.S. that time’s running out on its troubled bid to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, as an attack on a major Iranian atomic facility and Tehran’s subsequent vow to enrich uranium nearer to weapons grade risk plunging multilateral talks into crisis.

In a tweet, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the disruption on ...Read more

WASHINGTON — GOP Texas Rep. Kevin Brady announced Wednesday he won’t seek reelection next year.

The veteran Houston-area lawmaker currently serves as the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, with broad jurisdiction over taxes, trade, health care policy and entitlement programs generally.

“This term, my 13th, will be the last,�...Read more

WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell may have figured out the smartest response to a tantrum by former President Donald Trump: Ignore it and allow increasing exhaustion with the former president to fester among Republicans who believe unity is imperative for climbing back into the congressional majority.

McConnell and his team are bypassing a chance ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Eugenio Derbez is a Mexican actor with a skeptical view of the coronavirus vaccine and a large following on Instagram.

So, naturally, the White House couldn’t wait to set him up for an interview with Anthony Fauci.

Last month, Derbez spoke to America’s most famous pandemic doctor over the comedian’s Instagram Live about ...Read more

One of the most pressing foreign policy challenges facing President Joe Biden is restraining Iran’s nuclear program, which has accelerated since former President Donald Trump’s unwarranted withdrawal from the nuclear deal that rolled back Iran’s nuclear potential. Also growing are: Iran’s destabilizing regional activity, its support for ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has asked the Department of Education to study whether he can unilaterally forgive federally held student loan debt, raising hopes for roughly 45 million Americans who collectively owe $1.7 trillion.

But whether relief will come is still unclear.

Last year, both the Trump administration and Congress ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has invited President Joe Biden to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress on April 28.

The address will come just before his 100th day in office.

“Nearly 100 days ago, when you took the oath of office, you pledged in a spirit of great hope that ‘Help Is On The Way.’ Now, because...Read more

Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder presented himself as a force for change who can revive the fortunes of Germany’s conservatives as he made his bid to follow Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top of the bloc’s election ticket.

His rival for the candidacy in September’s federal vote, Armin Laschet, said that Soeder changes his views a little ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are negotiating a modest bill designed to help law enforcement combat the rise in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, a rare moment of potential bipartisan compromise on legislation.

The bill would designate one Justice Department official to expedite review of potential hate crimes ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Housing Secretary Marcia L. Fudge this week moved to restore two Obama-era fair housing rules that were rescinded under former President Donald Trump.

Throughout his presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden said he would combat systemic racism and discrimination as president.

In his first month, Biden issued an executive...Read more