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No climate deal for Biden as he joins global allies at critical UN conference
President Joe Biden arrived at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, without new federal programs in hand to fight climate change, after Democrats in Congress failed to reach an agreement to pass his revised $1.75 trillion spending plan. But environmental advocates say they haven’t given up and praised the new proposal for […]
Congress clears temporary extension of federal transportation programs
The U.S. House on Thursday night approved another short-term patch for funding of federal transportation programs, essential for keeping roads money flowing to states despite an impasse in Congress. The bill, passed 358-59, would keep programs running at funding levels first approved in 2015 as lawmakers and the White House seek a bargain to pass […]
Biden’s new public lands chief faced with building bridges after confirmation battle
Before she inspired partisan theatrics in the U.S. Senate as the Bureau of Land Management nominee, Tracy Stone-Manning built a reputation in Montana — her home for more than 30 years — as a consensus-builder. Stone-Manning stood out as an expert at bridging divides between conservationists and loggers, miners and recreational land users, in a […]
National parks nominee pledges to ramp up workforce, improve staff morale
President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the National Park Service told a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday he would work to rebuild the agency’s workforce, which has shrunk even as park attendance hits new records. Charles F. Sams III, of Oregon, would be the first enrolled tribal member to lead the National Park Service. He is […]
‘Climate change is fundamentally altering the Colorado River’
States in the Colorado River Basin are adjusting to the reality that their rights outstrip the available water by nearly one-third, state and tribal leaders told a congressional panel Friday. The situation is likely only to worsen as the climate changes, leaving states and tribes in competition for their most vital resource. Representatives from the […]
Report: U.S. attorney in Georgia quit under pressure from Trump to reject election results
Former President Donald Trump forced a top federal prosecutor in Atlanta to step down because he wouldn’t help Trump overturn his loss of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, a U.S. Senate report released Thursday said. The report, written by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, found that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, […]
U.S. House plan for new mining royalties draws objections from Western senators
U.S. senators of both parties at a hearing Tuesday rejected House Democrats’ plans to impose billions of dollars in royalties and other fees on companies that mine for gold, copper, lithium and other minerals, largely in Southwestern states. Among the opponents was Nevada Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, who said she objected to the House proposal […]
Why there’s such an impasse in Congress: Some questions and answers
WASHINGTON — Congress may have kept the federal government operating with an 11th-hour flurry of votes on Thursday, but several key pieces of the Democratic agenda remain in limbo. Here are some questions and answers on where negotiations stand with two massive Democratic-drafted bills — and the status of other looming challenges for federal lawmakers: What […]
U.S. Senate confirms Stone-Manning as public lands chief, overcoming months of GOP attacks
The U.S. Senate voted along party lines Thursday night to make Tracy Stone-Manning the first confirmed director of the Bureau of Land Management since the Obama administration. The vote, 50-45, ended a contentious confirmation process for Stone-Manning, a senior adviser for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation who served as chief of staff to […]
U.S. Senate to vote on Montana’s Tracy Stone-Manning as public lands chief
The U.S. Senate is set to vote as soon as Thursday on the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning, a conservation advocate and former top aide to Montana Democrats, to lead the Bureau of Land Management, putting the end to her contentious confirmation process in sight. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Stone-Manning’s nomination, setting […]
Huge uptick in pandemic ‘air rage’ hits flight attendants
Flight attendants have been subject to unprecedented harassment over masks and more during the pandemic, and a U.S. House panel on Thursday heard the raw details of those “air rage” incidents. While there’s no hard data, the leader of the flight attendants’ union said the most aggression appears to occur in Southern states where there’s […]
House reconciliation bill targets four local plans for oil and gas leasing, mining
Proposals targeting specific areas for conservation in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and federal waters off Louisiana’s coast made their way into the gigantic budget reconciliation bill that Democrats are moving through Congress. The portion of the $3.5 trillion package approved on a party-line vote by the House Natural Resources Committee last week includes nationwide measures […]