Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell outside the White House following a meeting on the debt limit with President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional leaders on May 9, 2023.

Biden and congressional leaders fail to reach a debt limit deal, but will meet again Friday

By: and - May 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders were unable to reach a bipartisan debt limit agreement during a closed-door meeting Tuesday, leaving the dispute unresolved as the country moves closer to a default predicted as soon as early June.  White House staff and aides to the four congressional leaders, however, will meet throughout […]

100 US dollars. Macro photo of banknotes of money in the US currency one hundred dollars.

Bipartisan group projects U.S. default as soon as early June, citing ‘quite low’ cash flows

By: - May 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government could default as soon as next month if Congress and the Biden administration can’t reach a debt limit agreement before then, according to a new analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Center.  The updated guidance, which puts the default window between early June and early August, adds pressure to President Joe […]

U.S. Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill as lawsuit continues

By: and - April 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday. The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing lower court rulings about when and how the abortion medication should be […]

U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday

By: - April 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]

U.S. House speaker vows vote soon on spending cuts coupled with debt limit increase

By: - April 18, 2023

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to press for the Republican approach to raising the nation’s debt limit in front of a new audience, calling on Democrats to agree to future spending cuts without any tax increases.  McCarthy repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and blamed him for […]

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access

By: - April 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight.  The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]

Appeals court rules that abortion pill can stay on the market, but limits access

By: and - April 13, 2023

An appeals court in New Orleans late Wednesday partly blocked a judge’s order that would have overturned federal approval of the abortion pill — which means the pill remains available across the nation for now. But the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals also let part of the Texas judge’s order stand. The effect of the […]

A protester holds a sign that reads, "Abortion is Health Care"

Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions

By: - April 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services. The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]

Democratic attorneys general urge appeals court to keep abortion pill available

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia weighed in with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday supporting access to the abortion medication mifepristone. “The availability of mifepristone has been particularly critical in providing access to abortion in low-income, underserved, and rural communities where a nonmedication abortion procedure […]

U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling

By: - April 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has said a state cannot bar a resident from traveling to another state to obtain an abortion because there is a constitutional right to interstate travel. (Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images)

Democratic leaders warn abortion pill ruling could endanger other FDA-approved drugs

By: - April 10, 2023

The Texas judge’s ruling to suspend FDA approval of mifepristone throughout the country pending that appeal is in conflict with a separate ruling by a federal judge in Washington state on Friday that the FDA cannot alter mifepristone access in 17 states and Washington, D.C. (Photo by Astrid Riecken / Getty Images)

Federal judge orders abortion pill off U.S. market but immediate appeal expected

By: - April 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill Friday, though he gave the federal government seven days to appeal the case. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk’s opinion in the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, can […]