CHRISTOPHER COONS

Nearly 10 years ago, the mass shooting of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School looked like it might lead to a breakthrough in the political stalemate on guns in the United States.

Final congressional approval of a $40 billion Ukraine aid bill seems certain within days.

The House has emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package that beefs up President Joe Biden’s initial request.

The Senate has passed legislation to beef up security for Supreme Court justices.

The number of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border has surged in recent weeks as the U.S. prepares for even larger numbers with the expected lifting of a pandemic-era order that turned away asylum seekers.

Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney say they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic nomination to the Supreme Court, giving President Joe Biden’s nominee a new burst of bipartisan support to become the first Black woman on the high court.

Just two years ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was at the center of impeachment proceedings that deeply fractured Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

As lawmakers gather for President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address, they are finding common ground in support of Ukraine.

The Biden administration wants Congress to provide $6.4 billion for an initial U.S. response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Federal judges would have to publicly disclose more information about their own finances under a bill approved by the Senate this week.

The Supreme Court’s decision to halt efforts to create a second mostly Black congressional district in Alabama for the 2022 election has sparked fresh warnings that the court is eroding the Voting Rights Act and reviving the need for Congress to intervene.

The Senate has confirmed two prominent anti-Trump Republicans to serve in the Biden administration.

For weeks, the Afghanistan national girls soccer team had been waiting for word they could leave.

An Afghan national police officer who narrowly escaped being captured by the Taliban has started a new life in the United States.

American friends of a high-profile national police officer in Afghanistan are trying to help him and his family escape almost certain death at the hands of the Taliban.

Looming over the Senate Democrats this year is a decision that could fundamentally change Congress as it has operated for decades.

Congressional Democrats are eyeing a $6 trillion infrastructure package that goes far beyond roads and bridges.

A bipartisan senators’ group working on a $1 trillion infrastructure compromise has now doubled in size, expanding to 21 members.

The self-ruled island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure the injections amid an outbreak.

Three senators visiting Taiwan say the U.S. will give the self-ruled island 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, part of President Joe Biden’s move to share tens of millions of jabs globally.

A flurry of diplomatic activity and reports of major progress suggest that indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran may be nearing a conclusion.

Top Biden administration officials and U.S. senators have crisscrossed the Middle East, seeking to assuage growing unease among key Gulf Arab partners over America’s rapprochement with Iran and other policy shifts.

Top executives from social media giants were questioned Tuesday by senators about how they choose to promote content — and were confronted by one of the industry’s chief critics.

President Joe Biden’s grandkids say anyone who wants to take a crack at their “Pop” has to go through them first.

The Senate filibuster is coming under fresh scrutiny.

Senate passage sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can send it to President Joe Biden for his signature. Scott Applewhite)President Joe Biden is dispatching Sen. Chris Coons to Ethiopia t o meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to express the administration’s “grave concerns” about the growing humanitarian crisis and human rights abuses in the Tigray region and the risk of broader instability in the Horn of Africa. White House officials and Coons' office did not immediately provide further details of Coons’ travel to Addis Ababa. Ad“The United States is gravely concerned by the deteriorating situation in the Tigray, which threatens the peace and stability of the Horn of Africa region,” Coons said in a statement. The United States has provided a total of nearly $153 million in humanitarian assistance since the crisis began.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., leaves the chamber just after the Senate narrowly approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Saturday, March 6, 2021. Senate passage sets up final congressional approval by the House next week so lawmakers can send it to President Joe Biden for his signature. Ad“Lessons learned: If we have unity, we can do big things,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview after the vote. The outcome “gives us optimism about doing more big things in the future — because it worked,” he said. He and Schumer spoke often as the Senate leader steered the pandemic aid to approval.

But to ensure Republican support, Pelosi said Democrats sent the proposal to GOP leaders “to see what suggestions they may have because, for this to work, it really has to be strongly bipartisan." It is an open question whether the commission will be authorized to investigate Trump's actions. Still, some Republicans have said they think such a commission is necessary alongside other congressional efforts to investigate the attack. “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “Our country has been wounded,” the former 9/11 commission chairmen said.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Congress will establish an independent, Sept. 11-style commission to look into the deadly insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol. In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. After former President Donald Trump’s acquittal at his second Senate impeachment trial, bipartisan support appeared to be growing for an independent commission to examine the deadly insurrection. AdInvestigations into the riot were already planned, with Senate hearings scheduled later this month in the Senate Rules Committee. An independent commission along the lines of the one that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks would probably require legislation to create.

Reporters vie for a response from Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, as Senators take a dinner break while arguments continue in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – For 90 tense minutes, members of the Senate relived the horror. The rioters were “58 steps” from senators at one point, impeachment manager Eric Swalwell told them. Senators were silent afterward, some sitting quietly and alone, as if to process it all. He walked out of the room in the middle of the presentation, as impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett detailed the threats to Pence’s life.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)WASHINGTON – House Democrats asked Donald Trump to testify under oath for his Senate impeachment trial, challenging him to respond to their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol. Hours after the Democrats' Thursday request was revealed, Trump adviser Jason Miller dismissed the trial as “an unconstitutional proceeding” and said the former president would not testify. Separately, Trump’s lawyers denounced the request as a “public relations stunt.”AdThe impeachment trial starts Feb. 9. He asked that Trump provide testimony about his conduct “either before or during the Senate impeachment trial,” and under cross-examination, as early as Monday, Feb. 8, and not later than Thursday, Feb. 11. The Senate could vote to subpoena Trump, or any other witnesses, on a simple majority vote during the trial.

We need to act fast.”On the direct payments, Biden said he doesn’t want to budge from the $1,400 promised to Americans. But he said he is willing to “target” the aid, which would mean lowering the income threshold to qualify. Biden spoke with House Democrats and followed with a meeting of top Senate Democrats at the White House, deepening his public engagement with lawmakers on his American Rescue Plan. “I think we’ll get some Republicans,” Biden said. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell criticized the Democrats for pressing ahead largely on their own as the GOP senators try to provide bipartisan alternatives.

Biden is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning. The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year's installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Ad“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks.

In this image from video, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the president pro tempore of the Senate, who is presiding over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, swears in members of the Senate for the impeachment trial at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. Late Tuesday, the presiding officer at the trial, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was taken to the hospital for observation after not feeling well at his office, spokesman David Carle said in a statement. The vote means the trial on Trump's impeachment will begin as scheduled the week of Feb. 8. “You’re asking me to vote in a trial that by itself on its own is not constitutionally allowed?” he asked. Instead, Leahy, who serves in the largely ceremonial role of Senate president pro tempore, was sworn in on Tuesday.

Leahy will preside over former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. Republican senators are balancing the demands of deep-pocketed donors who are distancing themselves from Trump and voters who demand loyalty to him. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D- Vt., who serves in the largely ceremonial role of Senate president pro tempore, is set to preside. A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump. If not, what is?” Romney was the only Republican senator to vote for conviction when the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial.

(AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)WASHINGTON – A growing number of Republican senators say they oppose holding an impeachment trial, a sign of the dimming chances that former President Donald Trump will be convicted on the charge that he incited a siege of the U.S. Capitol. “I think the trial is stupid, I think it’s counterproductive,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.. Arguments in the Senate trial will begin the week of Feb. 8. A few GOP senators have agreed with Democrats, though not close to the number that will be needed to convict Trump. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he believes there is a “preponderance of opinion” that an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON – Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump over the Capitol riot will begin the week of Feb. 8, the first time a former president will face such charges after leaving office. Trump's impeachment trial would be the first of a U.S. president no longer in office, an undertaking that his Senate Republican allies argue is pointless, and potentially even unconstitutional. "That goal has been achieved.”Pelosi said Friday the nine House impeachment managers, or prosecutors, are "ready to begin to make their case” against Trump. Trump’s team will have had the same amount of time since the House impeachment vote to prepare, Pelosi said. A handful of Senate Republicans have indicated they are open — but not committed — to conviction.

___HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN’S INAUGURATION:President-elect Joe Biden appeared at a memorial for COVID-19 victims at the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday evening. ___4:45 p.m.President Donald Trump does not mention his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, by name in his farewell address. A person familiar with Pence’s schedule cited “logistical challenges” in getting from the air base to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremonies on Wednesday. The information was passed from the National Guard Bureau to the D.C. National Guard. ___10:45 a.m.Three new Democratic senators are set to be sworn into office after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration Wednesday.

Many Democrats have pushed for an immediate impeachment trial to hold Trump accountable and prevent him from holding future office, and the proceedings could still begin by Inauguration Day. Psaki noted that during Trump's first impeachment trial last year, the Senate continued to hold hearings each day. Pelosi told reporters on Friday that the nine House impeachment managers, who act as the prosecutors for the House, are working on taking the case to trial. McConnell is open to considering impeachment, having told associates he is done with Trump, but he has not signaled how he would vote. No president has ever been convicted in the Senate, and it would take a two-thirds vote against Trump, an extremely high hurdle.

In this Jan. 12, 2021, photo, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters during a news conference in New York. It's far easier, though often unsatisfying, to be a minority leader equipped with the tools of obstruction than it is to be a majority leader armed mostly with persuasion. Our capable majority leader!" Meanwhile, the prospect of an impeachment trial in the opening days of Biden's term adds a huge degree of uncertainty. The events of the past week, as damaging and unsettling as they were for the country, seem likely to assist Biden and Schumer.

That could lead to battles with progressive Democrats who want to push the new administration further left than it likes. She acknowledged, however, that she does not think major change is "going to be a cakewalk” for Biden. In introducing Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his choice for labor secretary, Biden noted that he gave “serious consideration” to progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Progressives also have clamored for Democrats to scrap the Senate filibuster rule, which would make things even easier for Biden’s legislative agenda. But Biden has opposed doing that, and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, poised to become the new majority leader, was noncommittal this past week.

McConnell is playing a strong hand in the lame-duck session and is pressuring Democrats to drop a much-sought $160 billion state and local government aid package. McConnell says he'll drop a demand for provisions shielding businesses from COVID-19-related lawsuits, a key priority, if Democrats agree to drop the $160 billion state and local aid package. “We’ve got to get people a lifeline.”Manchin is an architect of a bipartisan $748 billion aid package that is aimed at serving as a template for the leadership talks. A state and local aid package was part of the almost $2 trillion CARES Act that passed the Senate unanimously in March. The $150 billion aid package to states and large cities evoked little controversy then, but many Republicans are adamantly against the idea now, though any additional aid would also go to smaller municipalities left out of the prior round.

The picks include former Secretary of State John Kerry to take the lead on combating climate change. “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is,” Kerry said. At 43, he will be one of the youngest national security advisers in history. Blinken, 58, served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration and has close ties with Biden. Blinken recently participated in a national security briefing with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and weighed in publicly just last week on notable foreign policy issues in Egypt and Ethiopia.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is moving quickly to fill out his administration and could name top leaders for his Cabinet as early as next week. The Cabinet announcements could be released in tranches, with groups of nominees focused on a specific top area, like the economy, national security or public health, being announced at once. At this point, Biden is deeply involved in choosing his Cabinet, a process described by one person as similar to fitting puzzle pieces together. In putting together the 15-person team, Biden is facing demands from multiple, competing interests, as well as the political realities of navigating a closely divided Senate. The lack of ascertainment is also putting somewhat of a cash crunch on the Biden team.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is moving quickly to fill out his administration and could name top leaders for his Cabinet as early as next week. The Cabinet announcements could be released in tranches, with groups of nominees focused on a specific top area, like the economy, national security or public health, being announced at once. At this point, Biden is deeply involved in choosing his Cabinet, a process described by one person as similar to fitting puzzle pieces together. In putting together the 15-person team, Biden is facing demands from multiple, competing interests, as well as the political realities of navigating a closely divided Senate. The lack of ascertainment is also putting somewhat of a cash crunch on the Biden team.

"No decisions, from personnel to policy, will be made until after the election,” Biden transition spokesman Cameron French said Wednesday. Those roles include leaders of the treasury and health and human services departments and the director of the National Economic Council. One person familiar with the transition planning said Buttigieg could also be an ambassador to the United Nations. If Biden wins, it's unclear how closely Trump administration officials would work with the incoming team. “Is it going to mean the Biden campaign’s not going to be able to conduct the transition?

It cannot, and it must not.”The approach, Biden aides say, is more than lofty presidential rhetoric; it’s necessary groundwork for governing. Being a steady alternative to Trump, the ex-reality television star Biden describes as “erratic” and “dangerous,” may be enough to win in November, they argue. People realize what’s at stake here,” Biden said Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania, repeating what has become a go-to line in nearly every campaign setting. Biden described his Gettysburg speech as “dramatic” in a preview to donors hours before he delivered it. In a Sept. 22 fundraiser, a top Biden supporter recalled urging the former vice president to run against Trump.

Hearings before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee will begin Monday, Oct. 12, for President Donald Trumps Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, D-CALIF.Harris, Joe Biden's running mate in the presidential election, will again be in the spotlight as Democrats question a Trump nominee for the Supreme Court. Harris and other key Democrats said the hearings should not move forward without plans to test people attending, including senators, for coronavirus. In a sign of the heightened scrutiny, Vice President Mike Pence tried to get Harris to reveal whether she and Biden support expanding the Supreme Court, as many liberals advocate. In just three years on the 7th Circuit, Barrett has twice argued for approval of abortion restrictions that violated Supreme Court precedent, Hirono said.

Democrats are treading carefully on religious faith as they prepare to question President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee. “I don’t intend to question her about her personal views or private religious faith or views,” Coons, a key Biden ally, said this past week. Fearful of losing the high court for a generation, the left is demanding that Democrats resist Barrett's nomination with everything they have. Republicans have preemptively declared any discussion of Barrett’s faith out of bounds. But specifics about Barrett’s faith, such as broaching People of Praise, would have “a bad odor,” Franke said.

Barrett tells the Senate Judiciary Committee that the White House initially contacted her Sept. 19, the day after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, creating the court vacancy. Trump made the offer when she visited the White House on Monday, Sept. 21, “and I accepted,” she wrote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was “even more convinced” of Barrett after their brief meeting. The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold hearings Oct. 12. At the Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence said Barrett “represents the best of America.” The White House formally submitted the nomination Tuesday.

The court will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care law just after the election, adding to the urgency of the issue. Asked about Feinstein's earlier comments, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, another committee member, said “religious faith should not be at issue here.” He then pivoted to health care. On Monday, Harris told voters in North Carolina that without the health care law, birth control coverage could be eliminated and pregnancy could be considered a preexisting condition. In focusing on health care, Democrats would be taking a different posture than in the last Supreme Court confirmation fight, when they argued that then-nominee Brett Kavanaugh was not fit to be a justice. They will also tie the health care issue to the pandemic and to abortion rights, the aides said.

ATLANTA – Joe Biden is resisting calls from President Donald Trump and even some fellow Democrats to release his list of potential Supreme Court picks seven months after he pledged to name the first Black female justice. A Supreme Court nomination is certain to amplify those dynamics. He’s since nominated Justices Neil Gorsuch, who appeared on a preelection list in 2016, and Brett Kavanaugh, who appeared on a post-election list. There is some irony in Supreme Court politics being such a potentially prominent variable in Biden’s presidential hopes. Even a 5-4 Supreme Court majority deciding the 2000 presidential election in favor of Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore did little to shift campaign dynamics concerning the court.