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.

Debt limit deal hits turbulence in Congress as leaders prep for vote

By: and - May 31, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congress began moving the bipartisan debt limit package forward Tuesday, though frustrations with provisions in the bill could make for narrow passage in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats both aired their disappointment with the agreement forged over the weekend, but only GOP lawmakers are looking to possibly […]

Treasury secretary pinpoints June 5 as earliest date for U.S. debt default

By: - May 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress and the Biden administration have until at least June 5 to broker and enact a debt limit bill under new estimates from the Treasury Department, giving negotiators a few more days before the country would default. “Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have […]

After years of bipartisan spending boosts, U.S. House GOP won’t lift debt ceiling without cuts

By: - May 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress together brokered dozens of debt limit agreements, including several during the past decade, marked by a desire in both political parties to increase federal spending. But U.S. House Republicans now are pushing for the federal government to spend less next year than it will this year in order […]

Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet

By: and - May 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy left their closely watched meeting Monday without an agreement on government spending or the debt limit, prolonging a stalemate that could soon disrupt Americans’ everyday lives as well as the global economy.  Both struck a positive tone Monday, though neither divulged details about what remains unresolved […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listen on Feb. 7, 2023, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Biden says he’s offered $1 trillion in spending cuts but GOP won’t budge on debt limit

By: - May 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday his administration has offered $1 trillion in spending cuts as part of the ongoing talks with Republicans around a budget agreement, but he said no deal has yet been reached.  Biden, speaking from Japan during a press conference following the G7 summit, said his administration wants House Speaker […]

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)

Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers

By: - May 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger the Federal […]

Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case

By: and - May 18, 2023

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]

Arguments on landmark abortion pill case to be heard Wednesday in appeals court

By: - May 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — The lawsuit over access to the abortion pill goes before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday, the next step on a path that will likely end at the U.S. Supreme Court.  The three-judge panel will decide whether to keep, overturn, or alter a ruling from U.S. District Court […]

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress as Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy listen on Feb. 7, 2023, in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Some movement reported in debt limit talks as Biden cuts short overseas trip

By: and - May 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and congressional leaders struggled to find common ground on the debt ceiling during a Tuesday meeting, though lawmakers said afterward there was some progress toward a deal. Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will become the two primary negotiators on a bipartisan debt limit bill that could include other […]

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

U.S. risks debt default in early June, congressional budget office agrees

By: - May 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government could default on its debt during the first two weeks of June without action on bipartisan legislation, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  The nonpartisan budget scorekeeper issued an updated report Friday, warning that “if the debt limit remains unchanged, there is a significant risk that at some point in […]

A yellow sign with black and turquoise lettering describes COVID mask requirements on the Navajo Nation.

As the COVID public health emergency ends, prepping for a new pandemic is next

By: - May 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — After more than three years and 1.1 million deaths, the United States on Thursday will end the public health emergency for COVID-19 — and Congress is attempting to better prepare for a possible resurgence of that virus or another. The expiration of the designation, originally put in place in January 2020, means alterations […]

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 […]