• SECRET SERVICEGrassley, Cortez Masto Want Senate Confirmation of Secret Service Directors

    By Kim Jarrett, The Center Square

    Lawmakers filed a bill that would require Senate confirmation of Secret Service directors and impose a 10-year term limit. The heads of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and Customs & Border Protection are already confirmed by the Senate.

  • EXTREMISMCongress Probes Federal Funds for Antisemitic Indoctrination, Terrorism

    By Alan Wooten, The Center Square

    Congress’ probe into rising antisemitism on college campuses includes letters to the leaders of 10 prominent universities. The ten universities were advised of investigations from six House committees.

  • CHINA WATCHChina's Growing Threat to U.S. National Security in the Crosshairs of Congress

    By Casey Harper, The Center Square

    While the Chinese Communist Party’s possibly imminent invasion of Taiwan could spark a war in the region, experts and lawmakers in Congress on Thursday said that the Taiwan issue is just one part of a broader Chinese strategy countering the U.S.

  • EXTREMISMBipartisan Members of Congress, Jewish Professors Oppose Antisemitism Bill

    By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square

    A coalition of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, nearly 700 Jewish professors, and others oppose an antisemitism bill sent to the U.S. Senate arguing it’s unconstitutional and doesn’t adequately address antisemitism. Opponents argue it would criminalize Christian beliefs about Jesus.

  • CHINA WATCHSuozzi, Smith Relaunch the Congressional Uyghur Caucus

    In July 2021, Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) launched the bipartisan Congressional Uyghur Caucus to raise awareness of China’s systemic human rights violations against the Uyghur people and to support legislation aimed at addressing this coordinated human rights abuse. Suozzi decided not to run in 2022 for another term – but won the seat (NY-3) again in a special election in February this year. One of his first acts in Congress: Relaunching, with Smith, the Uyghur Caucus.

  • FOR WHOM THE TOK TIKSLawmakers: Ban TikTok to Stop Election Misinformation! Same Lawmakers: Restrict How Government Addresses Election Misinformation!

    By David Greene and Karen Gullo

    Forty-five Washington lawmakers have argued before the Supreme Court that government communications with social media sites about possible election interference misinformation are illegal. The lawmakers insisted that government agencies can’t even pass on information about websites that state election officials have identified as disinformation, even if the agencies don’t request that any action be taken. Yet just last week the vast majority of those same lawmakers said the government’s interest in removing election interference misinformation from social media justifies banning a site used by 150 million Americans.

  • FOR WHOM THE TOK TIKSU.S. Election: Turning Off TikTok Is a Big Risk for the Democrats

    By Thomas Gift

    Popular social media platform TikTok stands accused of holding US data in China, fostering censorship, and spreading disinformation. Its popularity poses a dilemma for US politicians, but especially Democrats who have heavily relied on the app to reach its core base of young voters.

  • GUNSCongress Renews Ban on Undetectable Firearms

    By Brian Freskos and Alain Stephens

    Congress has reauthorized the Undetectable Firearms Act, a decades-old law aimed at preventing people from sneaking guns through security checkpoints at schools, airports, concerts, and other public spaces. Lawmakers had been racing to extend the prohibition before it expired on March 8.

  • IMMIGRATIONImmigration Roars Back in Headlines. Time Finally Come for Reforms?

    By Liz Mineo

    A recent surge in migrants at the border coupled with the heated politics of a presidential election year have once again pushed the decades-old debate over comprehensive immigration reform to the top of the agenda in Washington. Migration law scholar looks at history, and the prospects for breaking gridlock in election year.

  • IMMIGRATIONDemocratic Governors Ask Congress for Immigration Aid to Reverse Years of “Inaction”

    By Ariana Figueroa

    Nine Democratic governors sent a letter to President Joe Biden and congressional leaders, requesting federal aid and urging changes to immigration law as their states take in an overwhelming number of asylum-seekers. The governors asked that Congress grant Biden’s request to include in a supplemental funding bill $4.4 billion for a federal migration strategy and $1.4 billion in aid to states and local governments dealing with an influx of migrants.

  • CHINA WATCHCongress Bans Pentagon from Using Chinese Port Logistics Platform

    By Jessica Stone

    The U.S. Congress has passed legislation that would ban the Pentagon from using any seaport in the world that relies on a Chinese logistics platform known as LOGINK. LOGINK, by tracking cargo and ship movements, lets Beijing monitor America’s military supply chain, which relies on commercial ports.

  • DECEPTIONSantos, Now Booted from the House, Got Elected as a Master of Duplicity – Here’s How It Worked

    By David E. Clementson

    U.S. Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York, was expelled on Dec. 1, 2023, from Congress. How could a politician engage in such large-scale deception and get elected? What could stop it from happening again, as politicians seem to be growing more unapologetically deceptive while evading voters’ scrutiny? I am a scholar of political deception. Experiments I conducted have revealed how the trustworthiness of politicians is judged almost entirely from perceptions of their demeanor, not the words they utter.

  • CHINA WATCHAnalysts: Congressional Budget Battle Gives Beijing Opening in the Pacific

    By Jessica Stone

    When Congress passed temporary funding for the U.S. government at the end of September, it left out economic assistance for two small Pacific nations that U.S. defense officials say are critical to Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy and are targets of China’s aggressive influence campaign.

  • SEDITIONProud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Seditious Conspiracy and Other Charges Related to U.S. Capitol Breach

    The former national chairman of the Proud Boys was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in jail for seditious conspiracy and other charges related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

  • MICROCHIPSBipartisan Texan Push in Congress to Boost Semiconductors, a Crucial Industry in the State

    By Matthew Choi

    Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrats like Rep. Colin Allred — opponents in the 2024 election — propose streamlining environmental reviews to promote investment and expansion by chipmakers.