In the News
Congress’s biggest mission this week, as it has been several times over the last few months, was to keep the lights on, and it did. Phew.
In addition to passing a stopgap funding bill, New Jersey’s congressional representatives proposed new steps to protect IVF, hosted top House Democratic leaders in their districts, issued calls to save the whales, and more. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s 14 members of Congress did this week.
They’re funding the government in weeklong increments now
On the sixth anniversary of the Parkland shooting, Florida Democrats in Congress are asking credit companies to flag suspicious gun purchases.
U.S. Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Maxwell Frost filed legislation clearing the way for merchant codes to allow for that. The Identify Gun Stores Act would override laws in several states, including one signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.
Two Florida Democrats introduced legislation to track suspicious gun and ammunition purchases on Wednesday, the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 14 students and three staff members dead.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who represents Parkland, unveiled the legislation along with Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), who represents Orlando, where the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting happened. Other lawmakers joined the two at a press conference to honor the victims of the 2018 shooting.
The nation's top education official last month toured the abandoned school building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to survey lessons and assess the complicated legacy of the horrific mass shooting six years ago this Wednesday, Feb. 14.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, the highest-ranking federal official to survey the scene of the carnage, said he was moved by what he saw, and by what he heard from surviving parents and spouses of the 17 students and staff members that he met with during the somber visit.
The nation's top education official and one of the highest-ranking members of Congress this week visited the scene of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and said what they saw and were told was "impactful" and "extremely emotional and powerful."
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra will be joining with Democratic lawmakers to launch a reproductive health care series this week to highlight efforts by the administration to ensure access to reproductive and contraceptive care.
The health care series will start in D.C. on Wednesday, with Becerra hosting Democratic female Congress members for a discussion on HHS’s work, The Hill can exclusively report. This series will take place ahead of the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22.
House Democratic leaders are calling on House Republicans to “do your job” and pass a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next week, as conservatives continue to hammer Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over making a deal with Senate Democrats.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday that “Republican extremists” were threatening a government shutdown that is looming in a week.
Today, after only one year in Congress, Congressman Morgan McGarvey (KY-03) announced he has been named a Senior Whip, a key position in Democratic Whip Katherine Clark’s (MA-05) whip team, to champion House Democrats’ agenda in the 118th Congress.
After the Texas Supreme Court blocked a judge's order enabling Kate Cox to terminate a pregnancy due to the fetus having a fatal condition, the 31-year-old Dallas resident has fled the state for abortion care, her lawyers announced Monday.
Since opening in early September, the La Petite Academy childcare center at Pittsburgh International Airport has received international media coverage and garnered praise from First Lady Dr. Jill Biden during a visit to the airport.
The latest kudos come from one of the nation’s leading politicians, a tireless advocate for childcare access and funding for her entire career.