ROSA DELAURO

It's the first time in history that the four leaders of the two congressional spending committees are women.

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, remembers that men would avoid asking her questions, addressing other men in the room instead. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., recalls being seated on the far edge of the committee dais, with the more senior men making the decisions in the middle. Granger is chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, while DeLauro is the top Democrat; Murray is Senate Appropriations chairwoman and Collins is the top Republican. When they were elected, Collins says, men were automatically accepted once they came to Congress but women still had to prove themselves. As one of the only women in the Senate, Murray immediately won the coveted seat.

It’s the first time the four leaders of the two congressional spending committees are women.

The nearly $2 trillion omnibus package making its way through Congress devotes tens of billions of dollars for climate and environmental equity programs.

The bill stands at 4,155 pages.

Congressional lawmakers approved a short-term funding bill in a 224-201 vote, allowing an additional week to work on on a $1.7 trillion spending bill.

Congress faces a midnight Friday deadline to pass a spending bill to prevent a partial government shutdown.

Congress is also expected to pass a short-term funding extension in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Lawmakers leading the negotiations on a bill to fund the federal government for the current fiscal year say they’ve reached agreement on a “framework” that should allow them to complete work on the bill over the next week and avoid a government shutdown.

Seasoned pollster Stan Greenberg warned that Democratic messaging is off ahead of the midterm elections in an interview with Politico.

Some Democrats and Republicans are pushing for legislation that would increase access to information on mammograms and their data in the fight against breast cancer.

President Joe Biden has signed into law a bill that finances the federal government through mid-December and provides another infusion of military and economic aid to Ukraine.

A short-term funding measure unveiled by Democrats would keep federal agencies operating through mid-December.

Sen. Joe Manchin has abandoned his push to speed up the permitting process for energy projects.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration is asking for a review of the agency’s food and tobacco programs.

The Department of Health and Human Services wants to know if the FDA followed its rules and procedures in investigating the contamination of baby formula and recalling it.

But Abbott has said that, after production resumes, it could take about two months before new formula begins arriving in stores. The company's factory has been closed due to contamination problems.

The FDA closed the plant in February — after four infants who drank formula produced there contracted bacterial infections, two of whom died.

Baby Formula Shortage FILE - Infant formula is stacked on a table during a baby formula drive to help with the shortage May 14, 2022, in Houston. President Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and has authorized flights to import supply from overseas. The company shut its Michigan plant in February after FDA inspectors began investigating four bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the plant. The baby formula shortage is the first major crisis for Califf since returning to the FDA in February. On Wednesday evening, House Democrats passed a $28 million spending bill that would boost FDA funding to inspect domestic and international formula producers.

The Food and Drug Administration's commissioner says a shuttered baby formula factory could be up and running by next week.

The House is expected to take up the emergency spending measure later this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said indictments may be filed over a shortage of infant formula, during a news conference Tuesday

The House will hold hearings on the U.S. baby formula shortage after the closure of an Abbott Nutrition plant sent parents scrambling.

Baby Formula Shortage An employee walks near empty shelves where baby formula would normally be located at a CVS in New Orleans on Monday, May 16, 2022. President Joe Biden's administration has announced new steps to ease the national shortage of baby formula, including allowing more imports from overseas. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP) (Chris Granger)WASHINGTON — (AP) — House Democrats unveiled a $28 million emergency spending bill Tuesday to address the shortage of infant formula in the United States. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the bill would help the Food and Drug Administration take important steps to restore the formula supply in a safe and secure manner. Lawmakers are expected to focus much of the discussion on the formula shortage.

"Time is of the essence — and we cannot afford to wait," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

The bill passed 368 to 57.

Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently.

The House has approved a massive spending bill anchored by $13.6 billion for battered Ukraine and its European allies.

Three Democrats are hoping to provide a legislative lifeline to tenants facing eviction. But the bill faces some steep hurdles in Congress.

House and Senate bargainers did not reveal details of their accord. The announcement suggests the two sides are on their way to writing bills that will let them build new programs into agency budgets. Since October, the government has been financed by a series of temporary bills that have continued spending decisions made more than a year ago. Lawmakers say they are aiming to complete the 12 new bills by March 11, when the latest stopgap measure expires. House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said budget writers will now work “with great intensity" to finish the bills by March 11.

Top lawmakers say Democrats and Republicans have finally agreed on a framework for overall defense and domestic spending for this year.

This is the third stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government afloat since October.

Biden Child Tax Credit Joining President Joe Biden's efforts on the expanded child tax credit, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the House Appropriations Committee chair, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., right, speak about the tax credit during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. In addition, a portion of the 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure bill — about $14 billion this year — can't be committed to projects until Congress approves a spending bill formally providing the money. It's been many years since Congress has finished all its budget bills by Oct. 1 because of partisan fights over priorities. “No one wins" when Congress has to rely on short-term legislation to finance agencies piecemeal, said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. The top Republican on that panel, Rep. Kay Granger, said that while no one wants another stopgap bill, “the alternative is much worse" — a reference to a federal shutdown.

Congress Spending FILE - Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., speaks Jan. 6, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. DeLauro unveiled compromise legislation that would keep the government functioning through March 11 and avert a federal shutdown later this month. DeLauro introduced the bill on Feb. 7, and her chamber is expected to approve it Tuesday. In addition, a portion of the 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure bill — about $14 billion this year — can't be committed to projects until Congress approves a spending bill formally providing the money. It's been many years since Congress has finished all its budget bills by Oct. 1 because of partisan fights over priorities.

The House has approved legislation financing federal agencies for another month.

DeLauro introduced the bill on Feb. 7, and her chamber is expected to approve it Tuesday. "But we will need additional time to complete the legislation in full.”The short-term bill would continue last year's spending levels. With none of the 12 annual spending bills completed, the government is now in its fifth month of running at spending levels approved during President Donald Trump's last months in office. Negotiators have been trying to work out overall spending levels for defense and domestic programs so they can begin writing detailed spending bills. Lawmakers are trying to finish the latest stop-gap bill early because the House leaves later this week for a recess of more than two weeks.

A top Democrat has unveiled compromise legislation that would keep the government functioning through March 11 and avert a federal shutdown later this month.

The unofficial House Grandma Caucus is pushing hard to continue monthly child tax credit payments to families, which were part of this year's Covid relief bill.

The Senate has passed a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates.

President Joe Biden has signed into law the stopgap spending bill that will keep the federal government running through Feb. 18.

he Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18.

The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18.

Some GOP senators said they would not support an expedited vote on the spending measure without also taking up a vote that would prevent funding for enforcement of a vaccine mandate for large employers. The Republican leadership urged members to vote no; the lone GOP vote for the bill came from Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Before the House acted, Biden said he had spoken with Senate leaders and he played down fears of a shutdown. The House vote sent the measure to the Senate. Separately, some health care providers protested the stopgap spending measure.

The House passed a bill Thursday that funds the government through Feb. 18 and avoids a short-term shutdown after midnight Friday.

The House passed a bill Thursday that funds the government through Feb. 18 and avoids a short-term shutdown after midnight Friday.

The Republican leadership urged members to vote no; the lone GOP vote for the bill came from Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger. “Make no mistake, a vote against this continuing resolution is a vote to shut government down," DeLauro said during the House debate. Before the House acted, President Joe Biden said he had spoken with Senate leaders and he played down fears of a shutdown. “Let's be clear, if there is a shutdown, it will be a Republican, anti-vaccine shutdown," Schumer said. For some Republicans, the court cases and lawmakers' fears about a potentially disruptive shutdown are factors against engaging in a high-stakes shutdown.

The measure now heads to the Senate, where prospects for quick passage are in doubt ahead of a Friday deadline. A few Republicans have said they'd object to fast-tracking the bill.

President Joe Biden said he has spoken with Senate leaders and he played down fears of a shutdown. “There is a plan in place unless somebody decides to be totally erratic, and I don’t think that will happen," Biden said. Political backlash over the administration's vaccine mandates has been building for months. The administration has also put in place policies requiring millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military troops, to be fully vaccinated. Separately, some health care providers are protesting the stopgap spending measure.

The bill funds the government through February 18, and includes $7 billion to held resettle Afghan refugees.

The House Appropriations Committee reached agreement on the spending bill, but some hurdles remain.

The House Appropriations Committee reached agreement on the spending bill, but some hurdles remain.

It would extend spending to Feb. 18, keeping it at current levels, though $7 billion is included to support Afghanistan evacuees. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are prepared to support the funding bill and urged Republicans not to engage in shutdown politics. Political backlash over the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccine mandates has been building for months. Courts have been knocking back the Biden administration's vaccine mandates — including a ruling this week blocking enforcement of a requirement for some health care workers. On Wednesday, one Republican, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, made the case to his colleagues to link the effort to halt the vaccine mandates to the spending bill during a private lunch meeting at the Capitol.

The House struck a deal to prevent a government shutdown, but the funding bill could face opposition in the Senate.

Women — and some men — in Congress have been fighting for government child care assistance for almost 80 years.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who was elected in 1992 as a self described “mom in tennis shoes,” has been fighting for paid family and medical leave for decades.

Child Tax Credit FILE - Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., holds a news conference to talk about the benefits of the Child Tax Credit, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, July 15, 2021. President Joe Biden and leading Democratic lawmakers have been fighting to make permanent a child tax credit that would give families at least $300 a month per child. The steady evolution of the child tax credit reflects a fundamental split on how lawmakers think about human nature. The convergence ultimately led to the 1997 overhaul of welfare that established a $500 tax credit for children. Researchers at Columbia University have found that the expanded child tax credit payments that began in July had no impact on labor and that models claiming otherwise are overly simplified.

President Joe Biden and leading Democratic lawmakers, including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, have been fighting to make permanent a child tax credit that would give families at least $300 a month per child.

This month, the Treasury Department distributed more than $15 billion in payments to families of 61 million children.

The president floated a briefer extension of child tax credits, but some senior Democrats are calling it a "missed opportunity" to support families.

Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON — (AP) —The House overwhelming passed a bill Thursday to provide $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system as Democrats moved to quash criticism from Republicans that their party is wavering in support of Israel. Democrats initially sought to put the Iron Dome funding in legislation this week to fund the government past Sept. 30, but removed it after some members of the caucus objected. The U.S. began financially supporting Israel’s development of the Iron Dome system about a decade ago and has provided about $1.6 billion for its production and maintenance, according to the Congressional Research Service. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets fired into Israel. She said the money represented an “absurd and unjustifiable” increase in funding for the Iron Dome.

The House has overwhelming passed legislation to provide funding for Israel’s missile defense system.

Rushing to prevent that dire outcome, the Democratic-led House passed the measure Tuesday night by a party-line vote of 220-211. Backed by the White House, the Democratic leaders pushed the package to approval at a time of great uncertainty in Congress. There has been a flurry of outreach from the White House to Democrats on Capitol Hill, and Biden himself was given a call sheet of lawmakers to cajole. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., according to a White House official familiar with the calls and granted anonymity to discuss them. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised a Sept. 27 vote on the companion $1 trillion bill of public works projects that has already passed the Senate.

President Joe Biden has met with Democrats from the House and Senate as Congress works to bridge party divisions over his big $3.5 trillion “build back better” agenda.

The federal government faces a shutdown if funding stops on Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, midnight next Thursday. Backed by the White House, Democratic congressional leaders pushed ahead at a time of great uncertainty in Congress. He said since Democrats control the White House and Congress, it's their problem to find the votes. “The debt ceiling will be raised as it always should be, but it will be raised by the Democrats,” McConnell said. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., two key centrist votes, according to a White House official familiar with the calls and granted anonymity to discuss them.

The federal government faces a shutdown if funding stops at the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, midnight next Thursday. At the same time, the U.S. risks defaulting on its accumulated debt load if its borrowing limits are not waived or adjusted. “Since Democrats decided to go it alone, they will not get Senate Republicans’ help with raising the debt limit. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implored colleagues in a letter late Monday to move swiftly toward reconciling differences, ahead of deadlines to vote on the package. And centrists won't vote for the broader package unless they are assured the bipartisan bill will also be included.

The government faces a shutdown if it can't pass more funding by the end of the month.

At the same time, the U.S. risks defaulting on its accumulated debt load if the borrowing limits are not waived or adjusted. The temporary spending bill unveiled Tuesday would fund the government through Dec. 3. “Since Democrats decided to go it alone, they will not get Senate Republicans’ help with raising the debt limit. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi implored colleagues in a letter late Monday to move swiftly toward reconciling differences, ahead of deadlines to vote on the package. But centrists won't vote for the broader package unless they are assured the bipartisan bill will also be included.

The House has approved legislation to fund the government, suspend its borrowing limit and provide federal disaster and refugee aid.

A bipartisan proposal in the U.S. House would ban the farming of mink fur in the United States in an effort to stem possible mutations of the coronavirus.

Dan Riffle's tweet was in response to a letter, led by Ocasio-Cortez, calling for a budget increase among House offices in order to pay staffers more.

Earmarks were banished from Congress over a decade ago, but the funding for lawmakers' pet projects is marking a sudden return.

The House has narrowly approved $1.9 billion to fortify the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The House has voted to create an independent commission on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, sending the legislation to an uncertain future in the Senate as Republican leaders work to stop a bipartisan investigation that is opposed by former President Donald Trump.

The Capitol Police force was hurt by inadequate intelligence gathering ahead of the January 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol.

President Joe Biden couldn’t get everything he wanted into his own $1.8 trillion families plan.

House Republicans narrowly voted Wednesday, March 17, to allow their members to seek earmarks under certain conditions, making a clean break from a decade-long ban against seeking money for specific projects back home. Scott Applewhite, File)WASHINGTON – House Republicans narrowly voted Wednesday to allow their members to seek earmarks under certain conditions, making a clean break from a decade-long ban against seeking money for specific projects back home. The 102-84 vote changes the party's internal rules and allows Republicans to join the Democratic House majority as it puts in place a new process for earmarks in spending and transportation bills. “I think members here know what’s most important about what’s going on in their district, not Biden,” McCarthy said. Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said that even if Republicans and Democrats start requesting earmarks for local projects in future bills, he will not participate.

A dirty word for many Republicans is making the rounds on Capitol Hill -- earmarks. It's a question that's vexing Republicans as they consider whether to join a Democratic push to revive earmarks, the much-maligned practice where lawmakers direct federal spending to a specific project or institution back home. Democratic appropriators in the House see a solution and are proposing a revamped process allowing lawmakers to submit public requests for “community project funding” in federal spending bills. The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, said earmarks would not increase the amount of money spent in a bill. “That’s something I feel pretty strongly about.”Norman worries that earmarks would be used to entice Republicans to vote for bills with expensive price tags.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The massive coronavirus relief plan making its way to President Joe Biden’s desk includes a plan to temporarily raise the child tax credit that could end up permanently changing the way the country deals with child poverty. The American Rescue Plan, expected to receive final approval this week, temporarily raises the child tax credit, now at a maximum of $2,000, to as much as $3,600 per child annually. Indeed, Biden himself told House Democrats during a private call last week that he supports legislation that would permanently increase the child tax credit to $3,000 per child. That's the case made by some Republican lawmakers in offering an alternative to the Biden proposal. Because the benefit currently expires after a year, the Biden plan essentially creates a potential fiscal cliff for child poverty.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The massive coronavirus relief plan making its way to President Joe Biden’s desk includes a plan to temporarily raise the child tax credit that could end up permanently changing the way the country deals with child poverty. The American Rescue Plan, expected to receive final approval this week, temporarily raises the child tax credit, now at a maximum of $2,000, to as much as $3,600 per child annually. Indeed, Biden himself told House Democrats during a private call last week that he supports legislation that would permanently increase the child tax credit to $3,000 per child. That's the case made by some Republican lawmakers in offering an alternative to the Biden proposal. Because the benefit currently expires after a year, the Biden plan essentially creates a potential fiscal cliff for child poverty.

Less than three weeks into his presidency, Biden has declared that vanquishing the virus and resuscitating the economy are his top priorities. AdHouse Education and Labor Committee Democrats also previewed their plans Monday. Couples who make up to $150,000 would be entitled to $2,800 relief payments, which would gradually diminish and fully disappear for those earning $200,000. Biden has said he will not allow the per-person payments to fall below $1,400 but has indicated flexibility on the income thresholds. A federal law known as COBRA already allows them to temporarily keep their old employer’s health plan, but they typically have to pay prohibitively high premiums.

Officer Brian Sicknick died as a result of his injuries sustained while engaging rioters at the CapitolWASHINGTON – The police were badly outnumbered. One Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died Thursday night from injuries suffered during the riot. Another disturbing video shows a bloodied police officer screaming for help as he’s crushed by protesters inside the Capitol building. In one stunning video, a lone police officer tries to hold off a mob of demonstrators from cracking into the lobby. Still, the riot — and Sicknick's death — focused renewed attention on Capitol Police, a force of more than 2,300 officers and civilian employees that protects the Capitol, lawmakers, staff and visitors.