U.S. Senate

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders conducts a U.S. Senate hearing March 29, 2023, to examine charges that the Starbucks coffee chain has engaged in union-busting. (Committee video screenshot)

Bernie Sanders confronts former Starbucks CEO over union-busting allegations

BY: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday grilled the former CEO of Starbucks over allegations that the giant coffee company intimidated, harassed and fired workers who tried to form unions. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, focused on Starbucks’ […]

The sun sets on a wetland northwest of Hartford, South Dakota. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

U.S. Senate clears measure to undo Biden WOTUS rule on wetlands

BY: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — Both Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the Biden administration’s intensely contested expansion of what qualifies as wetlands that the federal government can regulate. The Senate approved a resolution, sponsored by West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito, that would revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of […]

The U.S. Capitol. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate in bipartisan vote repeals decades-old Iraq war authorizations

BY: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators revoked their approval for the Gulf and Iraq wars on Wednesday, taking a broadly bipartisan vote to repeal the Authorizations for Use of Military Force that have stayed on the books years after the two wars ended.  The 66-30 vote sends the measure to the U.S. House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy […]

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Sept. 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Alabama senator blocking military promotions over abortion policy says he’ll ‘work it out’

BY: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — Sen. Tommy Tuberville insisted he will smooth things over with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after the top Pentagon official said Tuesday that the Alabama senator’s continued hold on 160 defense nominees will affect U.S. military readiness. “We’re gonna work it out,” Tuberville told States Newsroom on his way to the Senate floor Tuesday […]

An elections worker scans mail-in ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center on Nov. 7, 2022, in Phoenix. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding

BY: - March 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election […]

A worker tells people that the Silicon Valley Bank headquarters is closed on March 10, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by California regulators and was put in control of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Members of U.S. Senate panel press financial regulators on massive bank failures

BY: - March 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — Financial regulators promised a full review of Silicon Valley Bank’s massive failure as members of a key U.S. Senate panel on Tuesday interrogated the officials about what led to the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. Members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs asked if the Federal Reserve could […]

Dustin Schmidt, a South Dakota rancher and member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, speaks to the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee on March 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot from committee video)

Native American agricultural leaders detail farm bill priorities at U.S. Senate hearing

BY: - March 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — A roundtable of Native American agricultural leaders at a recent U.S. Senate hearing lobbied for increased sovereignty and social justice in the coming farm bill by expanding tribes’ jurisdiction over U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.  It’s called “638” authority and refers to Public Law 93-638, which gives tribes the power to manage certain […]

A Feb. 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. (U.S. EPA photo)

Priorities for rail safety bill debated in U.S. Senate hearing with Norfolk Southern CEO

BY: - March 22, 2023

Members of a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday previewed what they would push for in bipartisan rail safety legislation likely to progress through Congress in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment. Democrats and Republicans on the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hinted they wanted to strengthen requirements about reporting hazardous cargo, […]

Dave Lacknauth, director of Pharmacy Services, Broward Health Medical Center, shows a bottle of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during a press conference on Dec. 23, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Moderna plan to hike COVID vaccine price to $130 a dose rebuked at U.S. Senate hearing

BY: - March 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — The CEO of Moderna on Wednesday defended the company’s decision to drastically increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccine later this year, arguing that an expected drop in demand, changes to its distribution process and the overall benefit of the vaccine warrant the higher cost.  That decision was met with bipartisan condemnation from […]

Phillip A. Washington speaks at a nomination hearing with the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Capitol Hill on March 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate committee postpones vote on Denver airport chief’s nomination to lead FAA

BY: - March 22, 2023

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee postponed a scheduled vote Wednesday on Denver International Airport CEO Phil Washington’s nomination to lead the Federal Aviation Administration. The panel’s chairwoman, Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, said the vote would be held at an unspecified future date and offered few details about why it was pushed. The […]

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, speaks at the St. Regis Hotel on March 20, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Bryan Dozier/Special to The Christian Science Monitor)

Virginia senator defends rollback of U.S. banking rules, blames managers for bank failures

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — The recent bank failures that shocked the markets and caused a speedy government bailout were “basic prudential regulation failure” by management, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Monday. The Democratic senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, told reporters he stands by his position that 2018 […]

The U.S. Capitol building is seen on Oct. 22, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate moves toward repealing authority for military force against Iraq

BY: - March 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate took a broadly bipartisan vote Thursday to advance legislation that would end the 32-year-old and the 20-year-old Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq.  The 68-27 vote moves the measure past the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster and towards a final passage vote as soon as next week. House Republican […]