Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., leads the Senate in naming post offices this Congress. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
In recent years, about a fifth of the enacted laws did little more than designate names for federal property.
Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar leads members of the House with six bills to name federal buildings. He has proposed naming five post offices for veteran communities and a courthouse after George P. Kazen, a district court judge who retired after serving 40 years on the bench.
POLITICALTHEATER-crop
The spectacle of politics and how it fits, or doesn’t, into the nation’s culture. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
If you’re confused about what comes next in Pennsylvania, even after this week’s primary elections set the midterm slate, don’t worry. That just means you’re paying attention.
Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., is seeking a retraction and compensatory and punitive damages in his suit against a woman and her son he says slurred him. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A woman named in a lawsuit by Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino has apologized for inferring he was a drug pusher and alleging ties to organized crime.
Marlene Steele, who is 80 years old, was sued by the Republican after she sent an email saying “Tom Marino has a big hand in spreading these [opioid] drugs,” PennLive reported.
Under the new lines, Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s district shifted from one carried narrowly by President Donald Trump to one carried narrowly by Hillary Clinton. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
If you’ve been wondering what political handicapping is like in a redistricting cycle — or it’s been long enough for you to forget — the Pennsylvania Supreme Court offered a good reminder.
With newly drawn districts, misplaced incumbents and new district numbers, confusion is inevitable. But the bottom line for Pennsylvania is that Democrats had a half-dozen takeover opportunities with the old map and they have a half-dozen takeover opportunities with the new map, although they have a distinctly better chance at gaining those seats.
The Senate Banking Committee has rejected former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., as President Donald Trump's nominee to be president of the Export-Import Bank. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
In another example of the increased scrutiny President Donald Trump’s nominees are facing, the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday rejected the nomination of former Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., to lead the Export-Import Bank, with Republicans Tim Scott of South Carolina and Mike Rounds of South Dakota joining Democrats to vote him down.
Garrett was a vocal opponent of the bank when he was in Congress, and his nomination was in trouble from the start. But it follows a pattern of other nominees running into headwinds in the Republican-controlled Senate.
President Donald Trump said addressing the opioids crisis “will require all of our effort.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Updated 5:30 p.m. | President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the nations’s opioid crisis a “national health emergency,” saying the country would fight the drug epidemic as a “national family.”
“This is a worldwide problem,” he said, flanked by public health officials, families with small children and first lady Melania Trump in the East Room of the White House. “It’s just been so long in making. Addressing it will require all of our effort.”
President Donald Trump’s declaration will make the opioid crisis the number one priority for federal agencies, senior administration officials said. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images file photo)
President Donald Trump will declare the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency on Thursday, according to senior administration officials.
The declaration would direct all federal agencies to make the crisis their number one priority. It would include awareness and prevention programs and allow the federal government to work with states to redistribute already-available grants that support substance abuse efforts.
Sens. Charles E. Grassley and Richard J. Durbin sponsored a bipartisan bill that would reduce mandatory sentences for low-level drug offenders. (Bill Clark/Roll Call)
The kiss-and-make-up press conference with President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the most awkward dates in the history of, well, dates, as my Roll Call colleague Walter Shapiro pointed out. They need each other, sure, but will tax cuts be the glue to hold intermittent and shaky truces together for any length of time?
Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky looked to stay on Trump’s good side over genial rounds of golf, but they’d better not relax. All it takes is a bit of criticism, and the president shows that the loyalty he demands goes only one way. They need not reach all the way back to the personal insults of last year’s GOP primary race for proof.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican, has emerged as an unlikely champion of medical marijuana. (Bill Clark/Roll Call)
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch is an unlikely advocate for a medical marijuana bill.
An 83-year-old Utah Republican and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hatch says he is staunchly against recreational drug use. But as the opioid epidemic continues to ravage states across the country, the Senate’s president pro tempore sees an opportunity in advancing the use of cannabis for pain management.
Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., seated at center, withdrew from drug czar consideration, Trump tweeted. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Rep. Tom Marino, the Pennsylvania Republican tapped by President Donald Trump as the administration’s “drug czar,” withdrew his name from consideration, Trump said in a Twitter message Tuesday.
“Rep. Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!” Trump said in the tweet.
Save for later