DC BUREAU

Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.

STAFF

Jane Norman

DC Bureau Chief

Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories.

Jacob Fischler

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Ashley Murray

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

Jennifer Shutt

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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.

Ariana Figueroa

DC Bureau Reporter

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

STORIES

Let Kids Play Art.

Biden proposal on transgender student athletes met with praise but also questions

BY: - April 28, 2023

The proposed rule comes amid an unprecedented, coordinated attack on  transgender community members and their families.

A view of the U.S. Capitol (Capital-Star photo by Jennifer Shutt).

Revived push for Equal Rights Amendment blocked by U.S. Senate Republicans

BY: - April 27, 2023

The joint resolution aimed to codify protections from sex discrimination alongside other protected classes.

Ag leaders lobby for better risk management programs at U.S. House farm bill hearing

BY: - April 27, 2023

The farm bill’s commodity insurance programs include the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, which protect farmers from poor growing seasons and low prices, respectively.

Congressional farm leaders split over work requirements for food aid, climate funds

BY: - April 27, 2023

Thompson suggested the House Agriculture Committee could request the House Appropriations Committee reappropriate Inflation Reduction Act funds to the farm bill baseline, given the House’s jurisdiction over federal spending granted in Article I of the Constitution.

U.S. House GOP pushes through debt ceiling increase coupled with massive spending cuts

BY: and - April 26, 2023

GOP leaders passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act by a margin of 217-215 after late-night maneuvering Tuesday into early Wednesday to pacify party holdouts who demanded expedited work requirements for assistance for low-income Americans and Midwestern lawmakers who wanted ethanol tax credits restored. 

A view of the U.S. Capitol (Capital-Star photo by Jennifer Shutt)

U.S. Senate Democrats denounce post-Dobbs landscape of state abortion bans, restrictions

BY: - April 26, 2023

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said the recent Texas lawsuit challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s more than 20-year approval of mifepristone has proven that the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has “paved the way for activist judges and Republican lawmakers to try to impose their anti-choice agenda on everyone else, even in states that have protected the right to abortion.”

The U.S. Capitol. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Biden administration warns U.S. House GOP debt limit bill would slash education

BY: - April 25, 2023

The White House said in a Tuesday statement that President Joe Biden would veto the proposal, calling it “a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred.” Biden has said debt limit legislation should not be tied to spending reductions.

U.S. House GOP plan would expand work requirements for food aid for older adults

BY: - April 25, 2023

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s Limit, Save, Grow Act proposes returning discretionary spending to fiscal 2022 levels in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing limit, often called the debt ceiling, by $1.5 trillion — but only through March 31, 2024, at the latest.

Pa. Gov. Shapiro: U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortion pill is a ‘relief,’ but a ‘long road ahead’

BY: , and - April 21, 2023

'As long as I serve the people of Pennsylvania, I will always protect your freedom to choose,' Shapiro said.

Cherry blossoms outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. (Capital-Star photo by Jennifer Shutt).

U.S. House approves bill banning transgender student athletes in girls sports

BY: - April 20, 2023

The bill would amend Title IX so that 'sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.'  

U.S. House GOP unveils plan on debt ceiling, spending cuts; Biden slams ‘wacko notions’

BY: - April 19, 2023

The bill includes Republican initiatives that are unlikely to get the bipartisan support necessary to clear the divided Congress.

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

BY: - April 19, 2023

This is the second short-term stay from Alito. The first, issued on Friday, April 14, was set to expire Wednesday at midnight.