GARY PETERS

Primary elections in Ohio have set the stage for a more competitive phase of the midterm primary season, with closely watched races in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia scheduled for later this month.

The Biden administration has announced $3.1 billion in funding to U.S. companies that make and recycle lithium-ion batteries.

Voters across a dozen states are set to decide primary elections this month that will determine the people and priorities leading the GOP into the fall midterms and beyond.

Some key Senate Democrats and candidates have come out this week and expressed reservations about the Biden administration's decision to lift Title 42 by May 23.

President Joe Biden has signed into law plans for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service.

Companies critical to U.S. national interests will have to report when they’re hacked or they pay ransomware.

The Senate on Tuesday approved a $107 billion financial overhaul of the long-beleaguered U.S. Postal Service. It now goes to President Biden.

President Biden is expected to sign the Postal Service Reform Act, which is a cornerstone of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s controversial 10-year postal restructuring plan.

Congress has passed legislation that would shore up the U.S. Postal Service.

Gary Peters spent seven years camping outside a Denver golf course to avoid sleeping in a public shelter until last summer when he moved into a new homeless community where he's been given his own ice-fishing tent featuring electrical outlets, a cot and a zero-degree rated sleeping bag. The 75-year-old is among the benefactors of Denver’s nearly $4 million investment aimed at providing homeless people with “safe outdoor spaces” as an alternative to public shelters, which many have chosen to avoid due to safety concerns or restrictive rules — including curfews and bans on pets. The need for alternatives to shelters increased during the pandemic as more people moved outdoors due to concerns over the risk of COVID-19 transmission in such indoor facilities.

The legislation would clear $57 billion of that amount and save the agency another $50 billion over the next decade. Postal Service save money, balance its budget, and improve service. The legislation would clear $57 billion of that amount and save the agency another $50 billion over the next decade. “Millions of Americans rely on the Postal Service to correspond, to operate their small businesses, and to vote. The measure also requires the Postal Service to deliver mail and packages at least six days per week across an integrated network.

Two widely supported bills are encountering delays in the Senate.

Michigan businessman, military veteran and two-time Republican Senate candidate John James says he will run for an open House seat in the Detroit area.

The Biden administration's new infrastructure package will pump more funding into two high-profile Great Lakes projects.

Legislative efforts to overturn the government's employer mandate are likely doomed, but a broader legal and political fight is set to rage on.

Democrats in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, felt the Republican wave building over the summer when frustrated parents filled school board meetings to complain about masking requirements and an academic theory on systemic racism that wasn’t even taught in local schools.

A group of Democratic lawmakers is urging the Biden administration to enact emergency protections for gray wolves in the U.S. West.

After much delay, senators have unveiled their $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The Senate has advanced a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan with a bipartisan group of senators helping it clear one more hurdle on Friday.

President Biden visited a fruit farm with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters.

President Joe Biden stayed mum on policy during a Saturday trip to Michigan, focusing instead on cherries and on voters who were mask-free amid eased coronavirus restrictions.

Scott McIntyreAs their marquee bill to overhaul U.S. elections met the buzzsaw that is the U.S. Senate, Democrats were beginning to grapple with one possible silver lining of this expected failure: turning it into a political weapon.On Tuesday, all 50 Senate Democrats voted to begin debate on the For The People Act, perhaps better known by its bill number, S.1. But all 50 Senate Republicans voted to block it. And with 60 votes needed to move to the bill under current Senate rules, the bill Democ

A bipartisan Senate report released last week details security failures surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and recommends how to fix them.

A bipartisan Senate report released last week details security failures surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and recommends how to fix them. The report, which detailed broad failures across government and law enforcement, was narrowly focused and did not examine the broader motivations of the rioters or Trump’s role as he spread lies about his election defeat. The joint investigation by two Senate committees was finished quickly to ensure that the necessary security improvements could be made, and some government agencies didn't fully cooperate.

Senate releases bipartisan Capitol insurrection report identifying big problems, 20 solutions, no blame for Trump

A Senate investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has found a broad intelligence breakdown across multiple agencies, along with widespread law enforcement and military failures.

Two Senate committees have found that U.S. Capitol Police and other authorities were in possession of more alarming intelligence clues ahead of the Jan. 6 attack than previously documented.

The bipartisan Senate report doesn’t include an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.

The bipartisan Senate report doesn’t include an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.

The bipartisan Senate report doesn’t include an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6.

Senators are laboring to find a path forward for legislation creating a commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Republicans are poised to block legislation that would create a commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The horror of Jan. 6 has been reduced from a stunning assault on American democracy to another political fight.

Families who’ve fought for recognition for soldiers who died while traveling to Vietnam for a secret mission have something to celebrate.

Key lawmakers say they’re concerned they’ve been kept in the dark about what suspected Russian hackers stole from the federal government and they pressed Biden administration officials for more details about the scope of what’s known as the SolarWinds hack.

National Guard troops were delayed in getting to the building as the rioters beat up police officers and smashed through windows and doors to get in. On Thursday, seven House committees asked 10 federal agencies for documents and communications from the government as part of a wide-ranging investigation. The Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Rules Committee have already held two hearings with security officials about what went wrong. The security officials described violent attacks on overwhelmed police officers and desperate pleas for backup. As the committees investigate, Capitol officials are improving the building's physical security, including reinforcing the House doors that the rioters attempted to breach.

United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speaks during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on "Legislative Proposals to Put the Postal Service on Sustainable Financial Footing" on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021, in Washington. United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is left. Postal Service over persistent delivery delays under DeJoy, a major GOP donor who took over the agency last summer. He announced the plans at a webinar with other postal service officials. And those concerns remain.”DeJoy, a former supply-chain CEO who took over the Postal Service last June, has been mired in controversy since taking over the agency.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border Friday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers as an influx of migrants seek asylum, creating a backlog of unaccompanied minors in U.S. custody. Roughly 4,500 unaccompanied migrant children were being held in short-term Custom and Border Protection (CBP) facilities along the southern border as of Thursday, according to a Biden administration official. The backlog of migrant children in Border Patrol custody has steadily increased over the past week. The number of unaccompanied migrant children housed by the U.S. As of Wednesday, more than 9,500 unaccompanied children remained in shelters and emergency housing facilities overseen by the refugee agency.

As a result, he said, the 983 members of the state's National Guard still protecting the Capitol were often forced to purchase food with their own money. "Since January 6, there have been no National Guard members hospitalized because of illness from food. "The National Guard continues to closely monitor the quality and safety of meals provided to its personnel." Approximately one-fifth of the National Guard troops still working within the Capitol perimeter are from Michigan, CBS affiliate WUSA9 reported. All National Guard troops will leave Capitol grounds by March 12, the outlet said.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testifies before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, to examine the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Sund said he hadn’t seen an FBI field office report that warned of potential violence citing online posts about a “war." Sund said he did see an intelligence report created within his own department warning that Congress could be targeted on Jan. 6. ”Sund and Irving disagreed on when the National Guard was called and on requests for the guard beforehand. A House subcommittee will examine damage to the Capitol on Wednesday and will hear testimony from current security officials, including Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, on Thursday.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund appears before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules and Administration joint hearing on Capitol Hill, Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, to examine the January 6th attack on the Capitol. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)WASHINGTON – Security officials testifying at Congress' first hearing on the deadly siege of the Capitol cast blame and pointed fingers on Tuesday but also acknowledged they were woefully unprepared for the violence. The security officials lost their jobs, and Trump was impeached by the House on a charge of inciting the insurrection, the deadliest attack on Congress in 200 years. But then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund testified that he only learned about it the day before Tuesday's hearing. But in closing, Klobuchar restated the testimony: “There was clear agreement this was a planned insurrection.”ONE OFFICER'S PERSONAL STORYThe hearing opened with Capitol Police Capt.

It was an attack on our republic itself," Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Rules Committee chairwoman, said to open the hearing. How to watch the Senate hearing today on the Capitol attackWhat: The Senate Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hold a hearing on security failures during the January 6 attack on the CapitolThe Senate Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hold a hearing on security failures during the January 6 attack on the Capitol Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021Tuesday, February 23, 2021 Time: 10 a.m. Sund and Irving differed in their accounts of when Sund first requested National Guard reinforcements to support the police as the riot unfolded. "Certain media reports have stated that 'optics' determined my judgment about using those National Guard troops," said Irving. Lawmakers zeroed in on the byzantine process for requesting the assistance of the D.C. National Guard, which is controlled by the Pentagon, not the mayor of the District of Columbia.

Two Senate committees have summoned top security officials to testify, the beginning of a comprehensive look at what went wrong. In her letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said the House will also put forth supplemental spending to boost security at the Capitol. The hearing will begin a broad examination of the security failures that led to the breach. The security breakdown on Jan. 6, as the House and Senate met for a joint session to count electoral votes, was severe. With the diminished security presence, the rioters not only breached the Capitol but entered the Senate chamber minutes after senators had fled.

Vice President Kamala Harris, right, ceremonially swears in Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, accompanied by his wife Tanya Mayorkas, Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Complex in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday as President Joe Biden's homeland security secretary, the first Latino to fill a post that will have a central role in the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, a sweeping Russia-linked cyber hack and domestic extremism. His nomination was stalled in the Senate by Republicans who wanted to question him further on Biden's plans for immigration policy. Mayorkas is uniquely qualified to make sure the Department of Homeland Security is working to protect people from all backgrounds, all communities and all walks of life,” Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat and chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said from the Senate floor. “He has nominated a very good secretary for DHS, a secretary that understands that policies affect border security,” he said.

Scott Applewhite)LANSING, Mich. – Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, who won a tough reelection race in the fall, will lead Democrats' efforts in 2022 to expand their current razor-thin Senate majority. Next year, Democrats will have chances to pick up seats in states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Wisconsin. In November, Peters withstood a stiff challenge from top Republican recruit John James, winning by 1.7 percentage points in a state that Joe Biden reclaimed after Donald Trump won it four years earlier. He said while Democrats could benefit from “disarray” within the GOP, it is up to Republicans to determine Trump's influence. Peters pointed to his own electoral victories — such as the 2014 midterm, when he won an open seat as Republicans swept other top statewide offices.

Michigan Senator Gary Peters, who was just reelected to his second term in the Senate, has been named the new chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the party's Senate campaign arm. As DSCC chair, Peters will be responsible for helping recruit candidates for Senate races and leading fundraising efforts. His top task is to build upon the slim majority Democrats currently hold in the Senate. James outraised Peters in the first two quarters of 2020, and many of the Senate Democratic candidates running against Republican incumbents raised significantly more money than Peters. But while his fundraising wasn't as strong as that of other Senate Democrats, Peters' supporters point to a key attribute: he won his race.

Gavin Newsom speaks at a COVID-19 testing facility in Valencia, Calif. As California Gov. Gavin Newsom's shoulders as he considers his pick to serve out the rest of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' Senate term through 2022. The South saw its highest number of Black Senate candidates ever this year, but none won races outright. Labor icon Dolores Huerta and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice want Newsom to appoint a Black woman. De Leon won the endorsement of the California Democratic Party and prominent labor unions, in part because of his support for immigrant rights and aggressive policies to curb climate change.

Christopher Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, testifies before a Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing to discuss election security and the 2020 election process on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Republican senators on Wednesday further perpetuated President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, two days after Democrat Joe Biden’s victory was sealed by the Electoral College. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the committee chairman and one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, said his goal was to have a bipartisan hearing to examine the election. But he repeated Trump’s assertions without evidence and focused heavily on the claims being made by the president's team. There was no testimony from state or local election officials who conducted extensive checks to ensure the accuracy of the election before certifying the results.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

The call came hours after NBC projected that former Vice President Joe Biden would win the state's 16 electoral votes in the race for the White House against President Donald Trump . Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan is projected to win reelection, according to NBC News . The tight race between Peters, the first-term incumbent, and his Republican challenger John James, a businessman and veteran, had been the most expensive Senate contest in Michigan history. As of Oct. 14, the campaigns had raised a combined total of nearly $80 million, according to data gathered by Open Secrets, making it the fifth highest-raising Senate race in the U.S. in the 2020 cycle. "It's an honor to serve you for another six years in the U.S. Senate," Peters said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. By evening, Pelosi had all but declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress” on party priorities — lowering health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others. “I know folks are anxious,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told followers on a live Twitter video. McConnell also warned of the continued problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters turn away from the GOP. “It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor who unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that state election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has struggled against Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev.

He ran by emphasizing his bipartisan work and by criticizing James’ support for President Donald Trump. States still up for grabs include Nevada (6 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) and Georgia (16 electoral votes). Nevada, which has six electoral votes, is among the states Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016 that hasn’t yet been called. Nebraska, one of two states that divides its electoral votes, has five total electoral votes up for grabs. Trump won Texas by 9 percentage points in 2016 and all but took a win here for granted.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Republican senators are fighting to save their majority against an onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats that are now hotbeds of the backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors.

Less than two weeks from an Election Day that will determine Senate control, each party is throwing late money at an up-for-grabs Democratic seat in Michigan. The Senate Majority PAC, a political committee aligned with the chamber's Democratic leaders, has canceled its remaining $1.2 million in spending against GOP Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado, sensing victory. He's getting outspent 3-1,” said GOP Sen. Pat Roberts, whose retirement is making the seat available. Besides Alabama, Michigan is the GOP's best chance at gaining a seat and thwarting Democrats' drive to a Senate majority. “It matters," agreed Poersch of Democrats' Senate Majority PAC, citing a shift in voters' sentiment over the final weeks of the 2016 campaign that helped Trump edge to victory.

Postal Service records show delivery delays have persisted across the country as millions of Americans began voting by mail, raising the possibility of ballots being rejected because they arrive too late. Postal Service records show delivery delays have persisted across the country as millions of Americans are voting by mail, raising the possibility of ballots being rejected because they arrive too late. The agency also announced it will treat election mail as first-class, which had previously been an informal policy. Other battleground areas also showed problems in early October, with delivery rates of first-class mail below the national average. Postal delays also could compound existing issues that have cropped up in recent weeks as election officials manage the unpreceded surge in mail voting with deadlines looming.

Former President Barack Obama speaks at Citizens Bank Park as he campaigns for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Philadelphia. The president on Wednesday was in Erie, one of a handful of Pennsylvania counties that Obama won twice before it flipped to Trump. Obama paid heed especially to disillusioned voters, including Black men and progressives wary of Biden. With his reprisal for Biden, Obama reminded voters of 2016, when Trump upset Clinton narrowly in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to forge an Electoral College majority despite losing the popular vote nationally. Not this election.”The roundtable was a personalized version of the same message, with the nation's first Black president urging Black men not to give into apathy.

Peters was the only non-incumbent Democrat to win a Senate election in 2014, when he prevailed easily despite the GOP’s successes nationally and in Michigan. All largely back both Biden and Peters, but a bigger percentage remain undecided in the Senate race, according to some polls. He said he ranks as one of the most bipartisan Senate Democrats and, despite being a freshman in the minority, has written and passed more of his bills than any other senator. Before winning promotion to the Senate, Peters was a congressman, lottery commissioner and state senator and served in the Navy Reserve. Stu Sandler, a consultant for James' campaign, said support for Peters is “soft all around.

(Democratic National Convention via AP)SACRAMENTO, Calif. A Montana cattle range, a California beach, a historic bridge in Alabama. These were the sometimes kitschy, sometimes poignant scenes from the first-ever virtual roll call vote at the Democratic National Convention. Fred Guttenberg spoke about Biden's compassion following the murder of his daughter at the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Each state also cast some votes for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the last Democrat in the race to challenge Biden. Following tradition, Delaware, Biden's home state, was the final state to announce its support for Biden, with Gov.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)WASHINGTON Backlash mounting, President Donald Trump's embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will appear Friday before the Senate to testify on mail delivery delays and service changes that lawmakers and others are warning could imperil the November election. The top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel seeking DeJoy's testimony called the Postal Service a lifeline to Americans. The package will also include $25 billion to shore up the Postal Service, which faces continued financial losses. The Postal Service said it has stopped removing mailboxes and mail-sorting machines following complaints from lawmakers and customers. Meanwhile, the Postal Service is seeking a short-term rate increase that would raise prices on commercial domestic competitive parcels, including Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, first-class package service, Parcel Select and Parcel Return Service.

WASHINGTON Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is calling the House back into session over the crisis at the U.S. In a time of a pandemic, the Postal Service is Election Central," Pelosi wrote Sunday in a letter to colleagues, who had been expected to be out of session until September. The House Oversight and Reform Committee said it wants to hear from DeJoy and from the chair of the Postal Service board of governors, Robert Mike Duncan. With heightened scrutiny of its operations, the Postal Service is now requesting a temporary preelection rate increase, from mid-October through Christmas, although not for first-class letters. "Given the recent customer concerns the Postal Service will postpone removing boxes for a period of 90 days while we evaluate our customers concerns,'' Postal Service spokeswoman Kimberly Frum said.

FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2020, file photo Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, left, is escorted to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)BEDMINSTER, N.J. The Democratic-run House on Sunday demanded that leaders of the U.S. Postal Service testify at an emergency oversight hearing Aug. 24 on mail delays as concerns grow that the Trump White House is trying to undermine the agency during the coronavirus pandemic while states expand mail-in voting options for the November presidential election. The House Oversight and Reform Committee said it wants to hear from new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and from the chair of the Postal Service board of governors, Robert Duncan. On Saturday, Trump tried to massage his message, saying he supports increasing money for the Postal Service.

Postal Service facility in McLean, Va. Postal Service. Postal Service are taking a toll on military veterans, who are reporting much longer wait times to receive mail-order prescription drugs, according to Democratic senators. The lawmakers called on DeJoy to reassess the impact of the postal changes on veterans and urged him to work with VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to reduce delays. Those who gave so much to serve this country should be able to count on the nations Postal Service to deliver their medications in a timely manner, the lawmakers wrote Friday.

But the stark warning that Russia is working to denigrate the Democratic presidential candidate adds to questions about the probe by Johnson's Senate committee and whether it is mimicking, even indirectly, Russian efforts and amplifying its propaganda. Evanina said Russia disapproved of Biden because of his role in shaping Obama administration policies supporting Ukraine and opposing Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In May, the committee authorized a subpoena for Blue Star Strategies, a lobbying firm that was a consultant to Burisma. Johnson, meanwhile, announced this week a subpoena for the FBI for documents in its investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has for months scrutinized the Russia investigation.

Postal Service that are causing delays in mail deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting. Trump, a vocal critic of the Postal Service, contended Wednesday that "the Post Office doesnt have enough time to handle a significant increase in mail-in ballots. Democrats are calling for the Postal Service to rescind the restrictions on overtime and other operational changes, and they have pushed for $10 billion for the Postal Service in talks with Republicans on a huge COVID-19 response bill. David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, declined to comment on DeJoys meeting with Democrats. Partenheimer disputed reports that the Postal Service is slowing down election mail or any other mail.

Postal Service that are causing delays in mail deliveries across the country. The Postal Service and Treasury Department announced an agreement in principle on loan terms last week, with a formal agreement expected in the next few weeks. If postal distribution centers are running late, they will keep the mail for the next day, Postal Service leaders say in a document obtained by The Associated Press. Democratic lawmakers have demanded answers from DeJoy following complaints from constituents about mail service delays and other problems. Under new social distancing mandates, the Postal Service has become even more essential in keeping rural communities connected and economically viable.''

The head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the lead federal agency on nursing homes, defended the administration's record. Statistics reported by nursing homes to the federal government as of June 14 show nearly 30,800 residents have died, according to an AP analysis. An AP count that includes nursing homes and other long-term care facilities finds nearly 52,500 deaths, combining residents and staff. Verma said CMS tried to help by changing its rules to allow labs to go into nursing homes and collect samples. CMS has impaneled a 25-member commission to analyze what happened in nursing homes and make recommendations to better protect elderly and frail residents.

Sen. Rand Paul wants to stop sending surplus U.S. military equipment to local law enforcement. And GOP Sen. Mitt Romney is trying to assemble a bipartisan package of bills in response to police violence. I think we should all be optimistic right now," Scott, the only black GOP senator, told reporters at the Capitol. Lawmakers are watching as demonstrations erupt in all corners of the country, from the biggest cities to the smallest towns, and acknowledging the arrival of a mass movement for law enforcement changes as politically impossible to ignore. Obviously this is a national awakening, GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said Tuesday on CNBC.

"A bipartisan group of committee members recommended that we subpoena Blue Star Strategies, which makes Ranking Member Peters' decision to force a vote on the subpoena surprising," Altenberg said in a statement to CNBC. The majority's statement said that Blue Star had not "fully responded" to prior requests for information. It is unclear why anyone would want to help Blue Star Strategies continue to hide what happened here." Peters' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the majority's claim that he forced the subpoena vote. Efforts by congressional Republicans to investigate Hunter Biden appeared to lose much of their steam after Trump's acquittal.

Graphics by CNBC's Nate RattnerAlabama, Democratic Sen. Doug Jones:Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) speaks during a news conference on healthcare April 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The former House member lost a Senate race only last year to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. James, a businessman and veteran, lost to Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow by more than 6 percentage points last year. Former state Sen. Cal Cunningham edged Tillis out, taking in about $766,000 during the period. Texas, Republican Sen. John Cornyn:Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is seen after the Senate Policy luncheons in the Capitol on Tuesday, June 11, 2019.

"At that hearing, I asked you specifically if Facebook uses audio obtained from mobile devices to enrich personal information about its users. During the testimony, Zuckerberg appeared to be referencing a long-standing theory that Facebook records audio to target users with ads. But Facebook had not told users that their audio could be reviewed by third parties, according to Bloomberg. Facebook confirmed the audio transcription to CNBC following the initial report on Tuesday, but said it recently discontinued the program. The Irish Data Protection Commission confirmed to CNBC that it is looking into Facebook's audio collection processes as well.

Open: This is Face the Nation, November 30 The latest on the reaction to protests in Ferguson, Missouri and a look at the incoming Congress with Benjamin Crump, Dr. James Peterson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senators-elect Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and others.

November 30: Crump, Peterson, and Cupich The latest on the reaction to protests in Ferguson, Missouri and a look at the incoming Congress with Benjamin Crump, Dr. James Peterson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Senators-elect Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, and Gary Peters, D-Michigan, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and others.