Author: Emily Jacobs, Washington Examiner

The Senate overwhelmingly approved its annual defense bill on Wednesday, just days before lawmakers head home for the Christmas recess. The 3,000-page, $886 billion legislation, which sets the Pentagon’s spending priorities for the fiscal year, includes a 5.2% pay raise for troops, $11.5 billion for China deterrence efforts, and $800 million in Ukraine military assistance.…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly appealed to senators for continued U.S. assistance on Tuesday as the Senate trudges on with talks on a border security deal that is critical to passing a larger bill that funds the war. A bipartisan working group of senators has made next to no progress in weeks on a border…

Senate Democrats are threatening to stay in Washington, D.C., over the Christmas recess if bipartisan border talks fail to produce a deal that could pass the chamber by week’s end. A bipartisan working group of senators has made next to no progress in weeks on a border security deal, which would be added to a…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will return to the U.S. Capitol this week as the Senate hustles to finish and pass a bipartisan package funding the war. A bipartisan working group of senators has made next to no progress in weeks on a border security deal, which would be added to a defense spending package that…

A proposed state constitutional amendment on abortion access could boost Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) reelection chances in Montana if added to next year’s ballot. Favorable results for abortion rights activists in off-year ballot initiatives in Ohio and Kansas have prompted some Democratically-aligned groups to push for similar questions to be posed to voters in Montana,…

Democrats spent years bemoaning how then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) turned the upper chamber into a “legislative graveyard” for House-passed priorities. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) described McConnell in 2019 as the “grim reaper” for refusing to pass the nearly 400 partisan bills she had sent him, and McConnell even acknowledged the dig at…

Republicans scored wins and losses in the final version of Congress’s must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. The House and Senate Armed Services committees released their final draft on Thursday of the NDAA, which sets the Pentagon’s spending priorities for the fiscal year. The 3,000-page bill, which has an $886 billion price tag, is expected to…

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Wednesday to advance President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel amid GOP concerns over the person’s connections to Hunter Biden. The committee voted 6-4 to advance Hampton Dellinger’s nomination to serve as OSC’s special counsel, with several members absent from the vote. All Democrats in…

The Senate voted Wednesday against advancing Sen. Chuck Schumer‘s (D-NY) request for $111 billion in foreign spending amid a standoff over a border deal that is critical for the bill’s passage. The vote was 49-51, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward on the aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan requested…

Tensions are high in the U.S. Senate as negotiations falter on a border deal that is necessary to pass President Joe Biden’s $106 billion defense spending legislation. Negotiators on both sides say they have not made progress in a week on the talks, which have centered on possible changes to federal asylum policy and how…