Patty Murray

The parents claim their son was subjected to racist taunts and demanded that the school board take action to combat racism in schools.

Senate Democrats say they will not vote for the House-passed six-month government funding package, which would boost defense spending and cut nondefense programs, unless they first get a vote on a 30-day funding stopgap to give bipartisan negotiators more time to reach a deal on the annual appropriations bills. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) [...]

Senate Democrats are considering the path forward after the House narrowly approved a stopgap measure to keep the government funded.

Senate Democrats say the six-month government funding resolution that passed the House Tuesday is a “horrible” bill, but there’s growing sentiment within the Senate Democratic conference that it would be too risky to block the legislation and risk a government shutdown that could drag on for weeks. Senate Democrats battled behind closed doors Tuesday over [...]

Congress has until midnight on March 14 to avoid a partial government shutdown.

The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming nondefense programs below 2024 budget year levels.

President Donald Trump will stand before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to give an accounting of his turbulent first weeks in office as a divided nation struggles to keep pace, with some Americans fearing for the country's future while others are cheering him on.

At least 11 senators and House members are skipping Tuesday night’s joint session of Congress, where Donald Trump will deliver his first speech to both chambers since starting his second term as president. Instead of listening to Trump’s grim vision for America, the lawmakers are opting to spend time with voters or provide a response to the speech while away from Capitol Hill.Sen. Patty Murray of Washington announced in a press release on Monday that she will be meeting with constituents negatively impacted by the Trump administration.“I will not be attending President Trump’s address to Congress,” said Murray. “The state of the union is that the President is spitting in the face of the law and he is letting an unelected billionaire fire cancer researchers and wreck federal agencies like the Social Security Administration at will.”Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also shared on Tuesday that she won’t be there to watch Trump’s speech either. “I’m not going to the Joint Address,” she said in a Bluesky post. “I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead. Then going on IG Live after.”xI’m not going to the Joint Address. I will be live posting and chatting with you all here instead. Then going on IG Live after.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 10:08 AMSen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut announced he’s boycotting the event to provide real-time analysis with progressive activist group MoveOn. He’ll be joined by fellow senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, and Ed Markey of Massachusetts.“[W]e won’t waste a second in responding to Trump’s stream of lies at the State of the Union. I’m not attending in person. Instead I’m partnering w @moveon.org to provide live real time response. Join us to learn the truth about the billionaire seizure of our government,” Murphy posted on Bluesky. xNext Tuesday, we won’t waste a second in responding to Trump’s steam of lies at the State of the Union. I’m not attending in person. Instead I’m partnering w @moveon.org to provide live real time response. Join us to learn the truth about the billionaire seizure of our government.[image or embed]— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 12:31 PMDemocrats have railed against Trump and his administration since he kicked off his second term by swiftly and recklessly gutting federal agencies, watchdogs, and employees; allowing billionaire Elon Musk’s unvetted underlings to access Americans’ sensitive data; and issuing sweeping executive orders at breakneck speed, even though they often appeared unconstitutional.Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont announced on Tuesday she’ll join MoveOn and skip the speech as well.“I attended the inauguration because I believe in the peaceful transfer of power, but Trump spewed lies, stoked division and fear and made no effort to unify our country,” said Balint in a press release. “There is no doubt tonight’s presidential address will be more of the same.”Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia told his Bluesky followers he would not be in attendance in a video announcement on Tuesday.“When he looks at Congress Trump only sees supplicants or enemies who write the laws he refuses to follow,” Beyer said. “In his speech he will preen and gloat about his return to power and his abuses of that power ... I’m spending this week rallying with my constituents.”xTonight Trump will address a coequal branch of government for which he has shown total contempt.Meanwhile my constituents are seeing their livelihoods destroyed by illegal actions.What he is doing is not normal, it is not acceptable, and I won't be attending.www.youtube.com/shorts/MlTIB...[image or embed]— Congressman Don Beyer (@beyer.house.gov) March 4, 2025 at 6:46 AMFirst-term Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan is tapped to give the Democratic rebuttal after Trump’s speech. In his announcement on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that as “nothing short of a rising star in our party, Elissa has proven she can get things done.” The White House kicked off its smear campaign against her in a press release on Tuesday, calling Slotkin “just another out-of-touch politician that wants to hollow out American manufacturing and let criminals flood into our communities.”The Working Families Party chose Rep. Lateefah Simon of California to deliver a progressive rebuttal to Trump’s speech.“Working people are looking for leaders who will fight for them, and Rep. Lateefah Simon was born to lead in this moment,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. “As a working mom who has struggled with the crushing weight of medical debt, Rep. Simon understands what Trump’s attacks on Medicare and Medicaid will mean to millions of families in our country.”Other Democrats who are skipping the speech include Reps. Gerry Connolly of Virginia and Kweise Mfume of Maryland. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico is also bowing out of Trump’s big moment, and said, “I’ll start attending when he starts following the law.”xI’m not going to President Trump's Joint Address tonight. I'll start attending when he starts following the law.— Senator Martin Heinrich (@senatorheinrich.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 8:01 AMMeanwhile, some Democrats who are attending have invited fired federal employees as their guests. They are among the thousands of government workers who have lost their jobs thanks to reckless cuts by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, led by co-President Musk.This Democratic boycott highlights deep divisions in Washington as Trump readies to outline his plans for the country. With competing rebuttals from Democratic Party leaders, the response to his speech is likely to be as telling as the address itself.Campaign Action

President Donald Trump touted his newly imposed tariffs and basked in Republican applause for his administration’s swift early actions, while drawing a wave of protests from Democrats as he spoke to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.Leaning into culture wars, Trump inveighed against transgender rights, “they/them” pronouns, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He celebrated his crackdown on migration. He repeatedly taunted his predecessor, Joe Biden, saying the former president imposed “insane and very dangerous open border policies.” “Wokeness is bad,” Trump said. “It’s gone.”Trump was heckled and disrupted by congressional Democrats in the room, who shouted at him not to cut Medicaid, waved an eclectic mix of signs to protest him and periodically shouted antagonistically at the president.Here are five takeaways from the speech — and how it sets up the rest of Trump’s 2025.Trump defends his tariffsTrump defended the sweeping 25% tariffs he imposed Tuesday on products from Canada and Mexico, saying “now it’s our turn” after other countries have levied them against the U.S.“It’s very unfair,” Trump said as scores of Republicans stood up to applaud his tariffs, with the president saying they “are about protecting the soul of our country.”It’s a sign of how Trump has transformed the traditionally pro-free trade GOP, though there is some unease in the party about the tariffs’ effects on prices and the broader economy.“There’ll be a little disturbance,” Trump added. “But we’re OK with that. It won’t be much,” the president added.The tariffs sent stocks tumbling Tuesday, and some Democrats shouted “stock market!” as Trump spoke.Trump also promised an economic revival and blamed ongoing problems like inflation and egg prices on Biden.Trump outlines his policy agendaTrump spent significant time on issues ranging from transgender athletes to the work of the Department of Government Efficiency. But the biggest thing Congress may work on this year will be a massive tax and spending bill, and Trump outlined his priorities.Trump reiterated his calls for cutting taxes and including several campaign-trail tax promises in a bill later this year — specifically nixing taxes on tips and overtime. Congressional Republicans are wrestling with the feasibility of those proposals as they seek to pass a big party-line bill advancing core pieces of Trump’s agenda. They are still seeking to find room for the trillions of dollars in tax breaks that Trump has called for.The president also called for repealing the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law that passed the Senate 64-33 and was signed by Biden in 2022.“We should get rid of the Chip Act,” Trump said, referring to the law that invests in domestic research and semiconductor manufacturing.Democrats heckle, wave signs and interruptWithin minutes of Trump’s speech beginning, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, interrupted and heckled him, yelling, “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.” He was escorted out after refusing to stop shouting. There were other unintelligible shouts from Democrats during the speech. At another point in Trump’s speech, several Democratic members walked out of the chamber in protest.A group of House Democrats waved signs that read “MUSK STEALS,” “SAVE MEDICAID,” and “PROTECT VETERANS.” Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., brought a whiteboard and wrote different messages on it through Trump’s speech, including “NO KING” and “LIES.”Some Democrats laughed out loud when Trump said the era of rule by “unelected bureaucrats” is over, and pointed at Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who sat in the gallery and watched.Other Democrats skipped Trump’s speech entirely, including Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who wants to lead his party’s strategy, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee and the recent former Senate president pro tempore.The top three Democratic leaders in each chamber attended. They, like most others in the party, sat quietly and listened without disrupting the president’s remarks, as Democrats work through their loss in 2024 and how best to advance their agenda and oppose Trump’s in 2025 and beyond.Trump soaks in GOP adulationIt’s been months since Trump played to the crowd at one of his signature political rallies. But he got a hero’s welcome and a standing ovation from Republicans in the Capitol, who regularly leapt to their feet to applaud him.As Trump said he’s waging the “most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history,” and touted actions he has taken, the GOP side of the aisle erupted into chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump.”Trump had no olive branch to offer his opponents, instead needling Democrats at the beginning of his speech, saying there was nothing he could say that would make them clap or smile — and later blasting “radical left lunatics” who he called weak on crime. In response, some Democrats yelled, “January 6th!” referring to Trump’s pardons of rioters who stormed the Capitol, some of whom attacked police officers.Biden offered during his first address to Congress to team up on “bipartisan” goals — a term he used multiple times in 2021 — like infrastructure, cancer research and access to education.Trump, meanwhile, chided Democrats early in his speech for refusing to give him enough. He set the tone early by calling Biden “the worst president in American history” and played to a longtime presidential tradition: blaming his predecessor for problems facing the country.“Everybody here — even this side — I appreciate you,” Trump quipped, drawing laughter from the GOP side of the aisle.Ukraine, Panama Canal and GreenlandTrump lamented the billions of dollars that the U.S. has spent to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s incursion, drawing ironic and extended applause from Democrats who support the military and economic assistance.“You want to keep it going for another five years?” Trump asked.“Pocahontas says yes,” he said, using a derisive nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., which prompted numerous Democrats to walk out of the chamber.Trump also kept up his calls for bringing the Panama Canal and Greenland into U.S. control.“We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama. We’re taking it back,” Trump said of the Panama Canal.“We need Greenland for national security and international security,” the president continued, while calling it a “very, very large piece of land.”“I think we’re going to get it. One way or the other we’re going to get it,” he said, as Republicans applauded and laughed.This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:Judge blocks Trump order threatening funding for institutions that provide gender-affirming care for youthsTrump adviser Alina Habba says veterans fired by DOGE are perhaps ‘not fit to have a job at this moment’Trump could scale back Canada, Mexico tariffs Wednesday, Lutnick says

Plus, how to watch and who will be there.

Plus, how to watch and who will be there.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will stand before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday to give an accounting of his turbulent first weeks in office as a divided nation struggles to keep pace, with some Americans fearing for the country’s future while others are cheering him on.

The government will shut down on March 14 if Congress doesn’t approve a new spending plan before then.

President Donald Trump's budget plan is making its way through Capitol Hill.

"This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk - except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has teed up a vote on a budget plan designed to give President Donald Trump an early policy win.

Here's a look at some of the broad and specific ways federal agencies and employees are being affected by the administration's reductions so far.

The nominee was pressed on her legislative record and loyalty to the Constitution.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, nominee to be secretary of Labor, testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday.

Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of Trump’s administration.

WASHINGTON – About 75,000 civilian federal workers took President Donald Trump’s “buy out” offer to resign — far fewer than hoped.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he’s pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.

Lawmakers here and in Washington have long debated ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year.

President Donald Trump’s most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, has made a rare public appearance at the White House to defend the swift and extensive cuts he’s pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there may be mistakes. He appeared in...

Talks on a spending bill for the current budget year have bogged down in the wake of President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash federal spending and its workforce. Republican leaders say Democrats have walked away from negotiations. Not so, say...

Standing before a mourning nation following a tragic commercial airline crash that killed nearly 70 people in Washington, D.C., President Trump offered his somber condolences and said everyone was “searching for answers.”

The National Institutes of Health sent shockwaves through academic research circles late Friday, saying it will dramatically cut the rate it pays for universities' administration and overhead costs to save the government more than $4 billion.Why it matters: The reductions will particularly hit elite institutions including Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins and fulfill a long-sought conservative goal that was included in the Project 2025 blueprint.Trump proposed a similar change during his first term, but Congress didn't act. Project 2025 says the reimbursements "cross-subsidize leftist agendas" and that universities use the funds to pay for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Driving the news: NIH, as of Monday, will cap the indirect cost rate on all new and current grants at 15% of the total cost. It said the reimbursements have averaged between 27% and 28%, with some institutions receiving more than 50%. It noted Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins each received more than 60%.The agency said in a post on X that $9 billion of the $35 billion that it granted for research in fiscal 2023 was used for administrative overhead, as opposed to direct research. The reimbursements can be used to cover the cost of lab space, data processing, safety measures for human subjects and to pay support staff, per the Association of American Universities.What they're saying: "The United States should have the best medical research in the world. It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead," the agency said in announcing the change.But academic research interests predicted the cuts will slow medical breakthroughs, including treatments for cancer and chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.The reductions "represent the federal government stepping back from commitments it has made to world-leading researchers," said Mark Becker, president of the American Public and Land-Grant Universities. "This action will slow advances for millions of patients who desperately need critical breakthroughs and imperil the U.S.'s position as the world leader in biomedical innovation," he said.A senior Democrat in Congress, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), said the move was illegal because annual spending bills prohibit modifications to NIH's indirect costs.She said the move would shift costs to states that can't afford to pay the difference.Context: President Trump's early actions on federal health agencies included temporarily freezing NIH grant reviews and rescinding job offers.NIH has become a frequent target of conservatives, with lawmakers proposing a major overhaul that would include new oversight of research and additional reviews of the process for awarding grants to universities.

All administrations set their own rules for which transportation projects to prioritize. But some of Sean Duffy's directives were received as highly unusual.

A group of unions representing federal employees filed a lawsuit on Monday against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, alleging that he illegally allowed billionaire Elon Musk and his army of unqualified Department of Government Efficiency bros to access sensitive personal information in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974.The lawsuit is in response to a Washington Post report, which said that Musk forced out the top career Treasury official in charge of overseeing trillions of dollars of government payments so that DOGE aides could access the payment systems. Those systems are responsible for handling trillions of dollars of tax revenue, as well as disbursing payments for Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, government grants, and more.The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance for Retired Americans, the American Federation of Government Employees, and the Service Employees International Union, seeks to halt Musk and DOGE's reported access to that sensitive Treasury Department data, saying that “[t]he Privacy Act prohibits Defendants from disclosing records on individuals to Mr. Musk, other individuals associated with DOGE, or any other person without the individual’s consent except in specified circumstances.”The lawsuit alleges that "Bessent’s action granting DOGE-affiliated individuals full, continuous, and ongoing access to that information for an unspecified period of time means that retirees, taxpayers, federal employees, companies, and other individuals from all walks of life have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords. And because Defendants’ actions and decisions are shrouded in secrecy, individuals will not have even basic information about what personal or financial information that Defendants are sharing with outside parties or how their information is being used."Aside from this lawsuit, Senate Democrats on Monday said they will introduce a bill to block Musk and DOGE's access to the Treasury Department data.“Let’s not mince words here,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a news conference. “An unelected, unaccountable billionaire—with expansive conflicts of interest, deep ties to China, and an indiscreet axe to grind against perceived enemies—is hijacking our nation’s most sensitive financial data systems and its checkbook so that he can illegally block funds to our constituents, based on the slightest whim or wildest conspiracy. Funds—mind you—that Congress passed on a bipartisan basis.”xYouTube VideoHouse Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also said on Monday that House Democrats will introduce similar legislation.“[A]t my direction, legislation will be introduced shortly to prevent unlawful access to the Department of Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service payment system that contains highly confidential and personal information related to Social Security and Medicare recipients, taxpayers, households, nonprofits, businesses and federal contractors,” Jeffries said in a letter to House Democrats.Of course, any legislation would require Republican support since the GOP controls both the House and the Senate. And Republicans have shown zero desire to stop Trump and Musk from carrying out actions that will clearly cause harm for millions of Americans, whether it be freezing all federal funds, shutting down federal agencies, or confirming unqualified radical lunatics to Trump’s Cabinet.With Republicans in charge, the last hope we have is the court system. And given that the courts have been filled with radical MAGA judges, and the Supreme Court has been compromised by three Trump appointees, along with right-wing Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, we may not be able to trust that branch of government either. Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.

It was a blockbuster showing like nothing the Senate has seen in modern memory.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has admitted to the US Senate that he has reached at least one settlement agreement in which he was accused of misconduct or inappropriate behavior. After the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday completed its confirmation hearing for Kennedy’s appointment to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Democrats on the [...]

WASHINGTON — Democratic and independent U.S. senators introduced a resolution Monday to condemn President Donald Trump’s clemency for the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, injuring numerous law enforcement officers and sending lawmakers into hiding as they tried to certify the 2020 presidential election results.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York along with Sens. Patty Murray of Washington, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Andy Kim of New Jersey are leading all Democrat and independent senators who signed the resolution that “disapproves of any pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting Capitol Police officers.” An initial press release did not include Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as a co-sponsor, but reports on social media indicated he signed on. Fetterman’s office did not immediately confirm.ALSO READ: Top GOPer's ‘most immediate’ priority for new committee includes probing a MAGA conspiracyMurray will seek unanimous consent on the floor to pass the resolution. Only one senator needs to object to stop it from being adopted.Murray said in a statement Monday that she refuses to “allow President Trump to rewrite what happened on January 6th— armed insurrectionists, incited by Trump himself, broke into the U.S. Capitol and violently assaulted Capitol Police officers in their attempt to overthrow a free and fair election.”Condemning the pardons and commutations for those who caused cracked ribs, crushed spinal disks and other injuries, “should be the easiest thing in the world,” Murray said.“I hope and expect my Republican colleagues will allow this very simple resolution to pass as a show of support for the officers who put their lives on the line to keep senators safe,” Murray said.Republicans quiet about Jan. 6 pardonsStates Newsroom asked 22 Republican senators how they felt about the pardons and commutations the day after Trump signed the order. Barring a few exceptions, most either refused to answer, said they hadn’t seen Trump’s high-profile order, or spoke only on pardons issued by former President Joe Biden in the hours before he left office.GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” on Sunday that the president’s pardons of violent Jan. 6 defendants were “a mistake because it seems to suggest that’s an OK thing to do.”Trump commuted the prison sentences of 14 of the attack’s ringleaders and members of the paramilitary groups the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. The president granted a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to all others charged with crimes after the attack.Among the approximately 1,572 defendants, 608 were charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement, including 174 charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. Of those charged, 172 pleaded guilty to assaulting police — 69 of them pleading guilty to assaulting the officers with some sort of weapon.Investigators found that the rioters brought and improvised numerous types of weapons, including firearms, chemical sprays, tasers, knives, flagpoles and broken furniture.Violent offendersMurray, Schumer, Murphy and Kim highlighted several specific cases of violent offenders pardoned by Trump. Here are a few:Christopher Quaglin, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for spraying bear spray directly in the faces of officers, stealing riot shields and striking the officers, grabbing an officer’s neck and tackling him to the ground, and numerous other assaults on law enforcement that day.Tyler Bradley Dykes, of Bluffton, South Carolina, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for stealing a police riot shield and using it to obstruct and assault officers at multiple locations in the Capitol.Robert Sanford Jr., of Chester, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to just over four years in prison for hitting three officers in the head with a fire extinguisher, among other actions.Robert Scott Palmer, of Largo, Florida, was sentenced to just over five years in prison for throwing a wooden plank at officers and spraying the entire contents of a fire extinguisher at them before throwing it in an attempt to strike them.Prior to leaving office Jan. 20, Biden preemptively pardoned all members of the congressional committee that investigated the attack as well as four police officers who testified before the panel. Trump is on record as recently as December saying the committee members “should go to jail.”

The new president is taking statutes passed by Congress seriously, not literally.

TACOMA — Washington became the 42nd state in 1889. Now, both of its U.S. senators want to see the other Washington — D.C., that is — get granted statehood, too.

In one of President Trump's first executive actions, he pardoned roughly 1,500 people charged​ in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

Senate Budget Committee concentrates on the power of the purpose during second confirmation hearing.

Welcome to At the Races! Each week we bring you news and analysis from the CQ Roll Call campaign team. Know someone who’d like to get this newsletter? They can subscribe here. The Senate this week took up a bill that could punish physicians who fail to resuscitate infants born during an abortion. That in itself [...]The post At the Races: March for Life brings abortion votes appeared first on Roll Call.

President Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget faced a tough grilling from Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

The 50th annual March for Life makes its way down Constitution Avenue in Washington on Jan. 20, 2023.

Russell Vought, likely to return as director of the Office of Management and Budget, echoed the former House speaker's criticism of the social safety net.

Democrats on Wednesday grilled Office of Management and Budget (OMB) nominee Russell Vought over recent executive orders made by President Trump they say “illegally” target funding authorized by former President Biden. As Vought testified before the Senate Budget Committee, Democrats pressed him about orders announced earlier this week that “pause the disbursement of funds” appropriated [...]

Walla Walla County was awarded the largest award to date from a federal grant program that focuses on infrastructure in rural areas to put toward the final section of the four-lane highway on U.S. 12 between Walla Walla and Tri-Cities.

WASHINGTON — The House and Senate met in a joint session of Congress on Monday and certified the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was among many Democrats marking Jan. 6 on social media by noting that at least their party believes in democracy.

Several senators join the Appropriations, Judiciary, Finance, Foreign Relations, and Commerce Committees, where they will gain new influence over policy.

The messy government shutdown fight this month foreshadows some of the challenges House Republicans could face next year, as a major test on funding awaits the incoming GOP “trifecta.” Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown last week – but not without a bit of drama. GOP leadership struggled to meet tough demands from President-elect Trump, [...]

On the first day of the new Congress, representatives will vote for the speaker of the House as Mike Johnson fights to keep the job.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will unveil on Wednesday his list of Senate Democrats who get top committee positions, Axios has learned.Why it matters: These Senate Democrats will Schumer's top lieutenants to fight against Republican nominees and legislative priorities starting next year.The assignments:Sen. Amy Klobuchar, AgricultureSen. Patty Murray, AppropriationsSen. Jack Reed, Armed ServicesSen. Elizabeth Warren, BankingSen. Maria Cantwell, CommerceSen. Martin Heinrich, EnergySen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Environments and Public WorksSen. Ron Wyden, FinanceSen. Jeanne Shaheen, Foreign RelationsSen. Bernie Sanders, Health, Education, Labor and PensionsSen. Gary Peters, Homeland SecuritySen. Mark Warner, IntelligenceSen. Dick Durbin, JudiciarySen. Kirsten Gillibrand, AgingSen. Jeff Merkley, BudgetSen. Maggie Hassan, Joint EconomicSen. Alex Padilla, RulesSen. Ed Markey, Small BusinessSen. Richard Blumenthal, Veterans' AffairsSen. Chris Coons, EthicsSen. Brian Schatz, Indian Affairs

Gov. Jay Inslee recently released an executive order that reemphasizes his administration’s support for the state’s salmon recovery efforts as his term enters its final days.