The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago but the disaster unleashed by American use of Agent Orange continues unabated.

A multi-year cleanup at a former U.S. air base in Vietnam was abruptly halted when the Trump administration cut funding, leaving tons of dioxin-contaminated soil exposed.

A multi-year cleanup at a former U.S. air base in Vietnam was abruptly halted when the Trump administration cut funding, leaving tons of dioxin-contaminated soil exposed.

A lawsuit by a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives accuses the State Department of giving Israel a pass when it comes to a U.S. law meant to limit military aid over human rights abuses.

The Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind verdict on whether Israel's conduct of its war in Gaza complies with international and U.S. laws.

Israel expects its top ally, the United States, to announce that it’s blocking military aid to an Israeli army unit over gross human rights abuses in the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the war in Gaza began six months ago.

Washington Democrat Patty Murray has become the first female president pro tempore of the Senate.

The Senate has passed a $1.7 trillion bill to finance federal agencies through September, aid Ukraine and provide assistance to communities recovering from hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters.

Congressional leaders have unveiled a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the government.

The Biden administration has reversed a decades-old decision to revoke the security clearance of Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist called the father of the atomic bomb for his leading role in World War II’s Manhattan Project.

Organic dairy and other livestock farmers are calling for emergency federal aid as they grapple with skyrocketing organic feed costs in part from the war in Ukraine and steep fuel and utility expenses.

The Democratic-led House has passed a short-term spending bill to keep government agencies funded at current levels through Dec. 23.

Congress will likely have to fund the government for one week to avoid a partial government shutdown.

A top ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding fresh answers from the U.S. Capitol Police about security failures that led to a brutal attack on Pelosi’s husband last week.

Vermont’s lone member of the U.S. House for the past 16 years has always embraced his role as a liberal Democrat.

Democrat Becca Balint could be on the verge of being elected the first woman and first openly gay person to represent Vermont in Congress.

Families are looking forward with dread as winter approaches with high energy costs and tight fuel supplies.

A veteran senator's objections over Egypt's human rights record have trimmed a symbolically significant $75 million off annual U.S. military aid to that country.

The office of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says he is out of the hospital and he's planning to return to Vermont for a full schedule of planned events.

Vermont's 82-year-old Sen. Patrick Leahy has been hospitalized after he felt unwell at his McLean, Virginia, home.

Sen. Joe Manchin has abandoned his push to speed up the permitting process for energy projects.

Security-sealed rooms and lock bags are some of the ways Capitol Hill keeps classified documents secured.

The leader of the Vermont state Senate Becca Balint could become the first woman and the first openly gay person to represent the state in Congress.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota won a closer-than-expected Democratic primary race against a centrist challenger who questioned Omar's support for the “defund the police” movement.

Businessman Tim Michels has won Wisconsin's Republican nomination to take on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

The Republican matchup in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race in Tuesday's primary elections features competing candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump and his estranged vice president, Mike Pence.

Vermont Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint are the leading candidates in a Democratic U.S. House primary that could make either of them the first female member of the state's congressional delegation.

In a surprise victory for Republicans, the Senate on Thursday voted to overturn a Biden administration rule requiring rigorous environmental review of major infrastructure projects such as highways, pipelines and oil wells — a victory enabled in part by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

It’s been more than a year in the making and has seen plenty of ups and downs.

Sen. Joe Manchin has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont underwent surgery Thursday after he broke his hip in a fall at his home.

Vermont appears poised to lose its distinction of being the only state in the country that has never sent a woman to Congress.

Less than a day after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas, a Wednesday Senate hearing for President Joe Biden’s pick to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reflected the deep political divisions over guns.

Lawmakers are working toward a compromise on President Joe Biden’s $33 billion Ukraine aid request that they hope to have ready as soon as next week.

Lawmakers erupted in cheers after Vice President Kamala Harris announced the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Democrats in Congress are sounding the alarm over what they claim is mounting evidence that Mexico’s chief prosecutor is assailing the nation’s independent judiciary and selectively targeting for prosecution opponents of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson forcefully defended her record as a federal judge Tuesday, pushing back on Republican assertions that she would be soft on crime and declaring she would rule as an “independent jurist” if confirmed as the first Black woman on the high court.

Dozens of the nation’s top law enforcement officials have signed a letter urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Police have arrested former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a step toward fulfilling a request by the United States government for his extradition on drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Top lawmakers say Democrats and Republicans have finally agreed on a framework for overall defense and domestic spending for this year.

More than 600 sitting senators have died or resigned since the first Congress met in 1789.

Democrats are mounting an impassioned bid to overhaul Senate rules that stand in the way of their sweeping voting legislation.

President Joe Biden only rarely talks about last January's violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the conspiratorial lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

U.S. leaders and military veterans are mourning the loss of former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, a World War II veteran and former Republican presidential candidate who served in Congress for 36 years.

Vermont’s sole congressman, Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, says he'll run for Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Senate seat next year.

Democrat Patrick Leahy’s announcement that he will retire after eight terms in the Senate has set off a scramble in Vermont over the rare opening in the state’s tiny congressional delegation.

A day after announcing he will not seek reelection, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont has told his colleagues in an emotional speech on the Senate floor that the chamber has become a family to him over the last nearly 47 years.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont says he won’t seek reelection next year to the seat he's held since 1975.

Senate Democrats forced another test vote on voting rights legislation.

Senate Democrats are proposing $3.7 billion in emergency spending to secure the Capitol, repay outstanding debts from the Jan. 6 insurrection and help the federal government defray costs from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's high summer along the border between the United States and Canada and people on both sides are wondering when the two governments will ease border-crossing restrictions imposed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's Cabinet chief and other allies have been included in a list of senior officials in Central America deemed corrupt by the U.S. State Department.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats have sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden complaining of a woeful environmental track record by his Brazilian counterpart and urging him to condition any support for Amazon preservation on significant progress reducing deforestation.

Three of the picks are Black women whom Biden wants for the federal courts of appeals, often a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. Circuit, in particular, is a place where presidents have searched for Supreme Court justices. Some liberal Democrats have urged Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is 82, to retire to allow Biden to choose a possible replacement. Other Black women who would be front-runners if a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court were to open are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs. Ad“This trailblazing slate of nominees draws from the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession," Biden, a former Senate Judiciary Committee chair, said in a statement.

Claver-Carone was elected as the new president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the fall of 2020. (AP Photo/Juan Karita, File)MIAMI – The cyberattack crested just as finance officials from across Latin America were descending on Washington to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Inter-American Development Bank. On Sept. 24, 2019, requests from more than 15,000 internet addresses throughout China flooded the bank’s website, knocking part of it intermittently offline. Details of the attack, which has not been previously reported, are contained in an IDB internal document reviewed by The Associated Press. But membership has been a cheap way for China to expand its reach in Latin America.

A dirty word for many Republicans is making the rounds on Capitol Hill -- earmarks. It's a question that's vexing Republicans as they consider whether to join a Democratic push to revive earmarks, the much-maligned practice where lawmakers direct federal spending to a specific project or institution back home. Democratic appropriators in the House see a solution and are proposing a revamped process allowing lawmakers to submit public requests for “community project funding” in federal spending bills. The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, said earmarks would not increase the amount of money spent in a bill. “That’s something I feel pretty strongly about.”Norman worries that earmarks would be used to entice Republicans to vote for bills with expensive price tags.

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2020, file photo, Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez arrives for the swearing-in ceremony for Guatemala's new President Alejandro Giammattei at the National Theater in Guatemala City. AdThe accusation came in the third day of testimony in the trial of alleged drug trafficker Geovanny Fuentes Ramírez. U.S. prosecutors have made it clear that allegations against President Hernández would arise during the trial, though he has not been charged. During that trial, the president was accused of accepting more than $1 million from Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Alvarez said that he had never taken money from Rivera Maradiaga, who called the politicians he allegedly bribed “narco-politicians.”Ad“I don’t have anything to hide,” Alvarez wrote.

AdBecause health insurance is so complicated, consumers are going to have to do their homework to figure out if there's something in the bill for them. And health care benefits are not like stimulus checks that can be blasted out. Her organization advocates on behalf of low-income people and was an early supporter of the health care law. AdThe bill would change the formulas for health insurance tax credits to make them more generous for most people, and also allow a wider number of individuals to qualify. Republicans cite the health insurance provisions as an example of coronavirus overreach by Democrats.

AdBecause health insurance is so complicated, consumers are going to have to do their homework to figure out if there's something in the bill for them. And health care benefits are not like stimulus checks that can be blasted out. Her organization advocates on behalf of low-income people and was an early supporter of the health care law. AdThe bill would change the formulas for health insurance tax credits to make them more generous for most people, and also allow a wider number of individuals to qualify. Republicans cite the health insurance provisions as an example of coronavirus overreach by Democrats.

MORE CHECKSThe legislation provides a direct payment of $1,400 for a single taxpayer, or $2,800 for a married couple that files jointly, plus $1,400 per dependent. The bill also provides $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, a tiny fraction of what was allocated in previous legislation. BIGGER TAX BREAKS FOR HOUSEHOLDS WITH AND WITHOUT KIDSUnder current law, most taxpayers can reduce their federal income tax bill by up to $2,000 per child. The bill also significantly expands the Earned Income Tax Credit for 2021 by making it available to people without children. RENTAL AND HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCEThe bill provides about $30 billion to help low-income households and the unemployed afford rent and utilities, and to assist the homeless with vouchers and other support.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)TEGUCIGALPÁ – TEGUCIGALPÁHonduran President Juan Orlando Hernández says that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false testimony” accusing him of cooperating with traffickers. Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors filed documents in an upcoming trial suggesting the president himself was under investigation. One of his numerous brothers, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was convicted in New York of a drug conspiracy in 2019.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)TEGUCIGALPÁ – TEGUCIGALPÁHonduran President Juan Orlando Hernández warned Wednesday that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false testimony” in U.S. courts accusing him of cooperating with traffickers. He suggested that traffickers were trying to manipulate U.S. authorities into helping them take vengeance on the Honduran officials pursuing them. One of his numerous brothers, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was convicted in New York of a drug conspiracy in 2019.

It may not be definitive — majority Democrats might try overriding an opinion they don't like. The House plans to vote Friday on its version of the relief bill, which includes the minimum wage increase. She listens to all the evidence,” Sanders, the independent Vermont senator and chief sponsor of the minimum wage proposal, said in a recent interview. AdIf MacDonough decides the minimum wage hike should remain in the bill, it would likely survive because GOP opponents would need an unachievable 60 votes to remove it. But they might choose the rarely utilized, hardball tactic of having the presiding officer, presumably Harris, ignore her and announce that the minimum wage language meets the test to stay in the overall legislation.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)MEXICO CITY – Newly proposed U.S. legislation targets Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. As the administration of President Joe Biden seeks to return the issues of corruption and human rights to relations with Honduras and other Central American countries, a group of Democratic senators says the U.S. government’s relationship with Honduras must change. Under the administration of President Donald Trump, immigration overshadowed everything else in the relationship.

“The failure to convict Donald Trump will live as a vote of infamy," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. Months before the election, Trump repeated ad nauseam a false claim that he could only lose through widespread voter fraud. "Kevin, they’re not my people,” Trump told McCarthy, she said. ___IRATE ATTORNEYMichael van der Veen, Trump's primary defense attorney, was visibly agitated. “I don’t know why you are laughing,” van der Veer said with scorn.

The House appointed nine impeachment managers who will present the case against Trump on the Senate floor. Trump’s first impeachment trial, in which he was acquitted on charges that he abused power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate now-President Joe Biden, lasted almost three weeks. The fresh memories of Jan. 6 could make it easier for the House impeachment managers to make their case, but it doesn’t mean the outcome will be any different. While the House impeachment managers say Trump is “singularly” responsible for the attack on the Capitol, Trump’s lawyers say the rioters acted on their own accord. The brief goes after the impeachment managers personally, charging that the Democrats have “Trump derangement syndrome,” are “selfish” and are only trying to impeach Trump for political gain.

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial for incitement of insurrection begins on Tuesday. After the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6, the House impeached Trump on Jan. 13 and the Senate’s impeachment trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday with a debate about its constitutionality. Republicans hold 53 seats, Democrats hold 48 and Independents hold two. There were 48 Republicans in support of Sen. Rand Paul’s Jan. 26 measure to drop the impeachment trial. The five Republicans who supported the impeachment trial were Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Pat Toomey and Ben Sasse.

AdThe House appointed nine impeachment managers who will present the case against Trump on the Senate floor. Trump’s first impeachment trial, in which he was acquitted on charges that he abused power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate now-President Joe Biden, lasted almost three weeks. The fresh memories of Jan. 6 could make it easier for the House impeachment managers to make their case, but it doesn’t mean the outcome will be any different. While the House impeachment managers say Trump is “singularly” responsible for the attack on the Capitol, Trump’s lawyers say the rioters acted on their own accord. The brief goes after the impeachment managers personally, charging that the Democrats have “Trump derangement syndrome,” are “selfish” and are only trying to impeach Trump for political gain.

AdMany senators including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell immediately denounced the violence and pointed a finger of blame at Trump. Those partisan divisions appear to be hardening ahead of Trump’s trial, a sign of his continuing grip on the GOP. On Sunday, Wicker described Trump's impeachment trial as a “meaningless messaging partisan exercise." Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont will preside over the trial as Senate president pro tempore. Forty-four Republican senators sided with Paul and voted to oppose holding an impeachment trial at all.

A look at the basics of the upcoming impeachment trial:HOW DOES THE TRIAL WORK? AdTrump's first impeachment trial, in which he was acquitted on charges that he abused power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate now-President Joe Biden, lasted almost three weeks. “If we were not to follow up with this, we might as well remove any penalty from the Constitution of impeachment.”AdHOW IS THIS TRIAL DIFFERENT FROM TRUMP’S FIRST TRIAL? Beyond the constitutionality of the trial, Trump’s lawyers say that he did not incite his supporters to violence and that he did nothing wrong. “It is denied that President Trump ever endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” they wrote in a brief for 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.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The legal sparring around Donald Trump's impeachment trial is underway, with briefs filed this week laying out radically different positions ahead of next week's Senate trial. “Some Members called loved ones for fear that they would not survive the assault by President Trump’s insurrectionist mob,” the impeachment managers wrote. Trump’s team denies that the impeachment trial can be held because he is no longer in office. Ad“It is denied that President Trump ever endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” they wrote. AdIt is true that no president has faced impeachment proceedings after leaving office, but House managers say there's ample precedent.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The legal sparring around Donald Trump's impeachment trial is underway, with briefs filed this week laying out radically different positions ahead of next week's Senate trial. “Some Members called loved ones for fear that they would not survive the assault by President Trump’s insurrectionist mob,” the impeachment managers wrote. Trump’s team denies that the impeachment trial can be held because he is no longer in office. Ad“It is denied that President Trump ever endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” they wrote. AdIt is true that no president has faced impeachment proceedings after leaving office, but House managers say there's ample precedent.

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.

(Senate Television via AP)COLUMBIA, S.C. – Donald Trump has added two more former federal prosecutors from South Carolina to his impeachment legal team, according to one of the lawyers. Harris and Gasser join a team that includes Butch Bowers, a noted South Carolina ethics and elections lawyer called an “anchor tenant” of the team by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. It's in part on the advice of Graham that Trump is turning to the South Carolina team after other legal allies passed on the case. It’s a notable departure from his 2020 impeachment trial, when Trump had a stable of nationally known attorneys, including Alan Dershowitz, Jay Sekulow and Kenneth Starr. Bowers has years of experience representing elected officials and political candidates, including former South Carolina Gov.

The Senate's longest-serving member, 80-year-old Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening for observation after not feeling well, a spokesman said. Now, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont is stepping into one of his most visible and physically grueling roles: presiding over former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial. “I had some muscle spasms," Leahy, 80, told reporters the morning after feeling ill in his Capitol office. Carle, Leahy's spokesperson, said Senate leaders have been discussing the trial process, and it is “likely to be limited in duration.” Trump's first impeachment trial lasted almost three weeks. Leahy will preside as Senate president pro tempore, a largely ceremonial post that usually goes to the majority party's longest-serving member.

In this Jan. 27, 2021, photo, President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. Democrats in the House and Senate are operating as though they know they are borrowed time. Schumer said he drew from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's advice to “act big” to weather the COVID-19 economic crisis. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a former White House budget director under George W. Bush, wants a deeper accounting of what funds remain from the $900 billion coronavirus aid package from December. “The risks of going too small dramatically outweigh the risks of going too big,” said Gene Sperling, a former director of the White House National Economic Council, who signed the letter.

The Senate's longest-serving member, 80-year-old Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening for observation after not feeling well, a spokesman said. Now, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont is stepping into one of his most visible and physically grueling roles: presiding over former President Donald Trump's second Senate impeachment trial. “I had some muscle spasms," Leahy, 80, told reporters the morning after feeling ill in his Capitol office. Carle, Leahy's spokesperson, said Senate leaders have been discussing the trial process, and it is “likely to be limited in duration.” Trump's first impeachment trial lasted almost three weeks. Leahy will preside as Senate president pro tempore, a largely ceremonial post that usually goes to the majority party's longest-serving member.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., walks with reporters, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, as he leaves the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON – Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening after not feeling well and later sent home after tests, a spokesman said, hours after the 80-year-old Democrat began presiding over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Leahy had commenced his role of overseeing Trump's latest impeachment trial by swearing in his fellow lawmakers. Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump's first impeachment trial a year ago when Trump was still president. The Senate president pro tempore job normally goes to the longest-serving member of the Senate's majority party.

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/Gerald Herbert)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump might argue the calendar is his friend when it comes to a second impeachment trial. In 2019, the last time Trump found himself impeached by the House, he had nearly a year left in his presidency. But on Wednesday, with the inauguration of Joe Biden, Trump will be out of office by the time any Senate trial gets started. On Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she doesn’t think a post-presidency impeachment trial is constitutional. The consequence the Constitution sets up for a president who is impeached and convicted is removal from office.

(Senate Television via AP)WASHINGTON – The Constitution says the chief justice is to preside at the impeachment trial of a president. If President Donald Trump’s trial begins after Jan. 20, it’s not clear whether Chief Justice John Roberts would make his way to the Senate chamber as he did last year for Trump’s first trial. But if the stakes are changed and the sitting vice president no longer stands to get the top job, why not have Harris, who by then will have taken over for Mike Pence, preside? The House on Wednesday impeached the president, not the former president, Vladeck wrote on Twitter. “Indeed, if Trump resigned (or his term ended) mid-trial, it would be more than a little odd for the Chief Justice to give way to the Vice President.

When Biden takes office later this month, his biggest challenge may be navigating a deeply divided country past the turmoil of the Trump era. Biden essentially framed his presidential campaign as a response to Trump, pledging to “restore the soul” of America. He has said he decided to seek the White House after watching Trump say there were “very fine people on both sides” of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “Biden has to be very conscious of dealing with President Trump," Updegrove continued. But the senator said the inauguration itself may offer the most important opportunity for Biden to set a forward-looking tone.

WASHINGTON – California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Monday she will step down from her role as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving up the powerful spot after public criticism of her bipartisan outreach and her handling of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings. Feinstein, 87, said in a statement that she would not seek the position in the next Congress. 2 Democrat, said he will seek to replace Feinstein as the committee's top Democrat. He led daily news conferences during breaks in the hearings with the other Democrats on the panel while Feinstein usually did not appear. “It’s time for Sen. Feinstein to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee,” said Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice, which opposes conservative nominees to the courts.

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)WASHINGTON – Republicans controlling the Senate unveiled a government-wide, $1.4 trillion spending bill on Tuesday, a largely bipartisan measure that faces uncertain odds during this period of post-election tumult in Washington. Success depends on getting the signature of Trump, however, whose unpredictability and toxic relationships with Democrats threaten to doom the effort. The recent history of lame-duck sessions conducted as the White House is turning over has been that unfinished spending bills get kicked into the next year, with existing funding simply left on auto-pilot. At issue is the roughly one-third of the federal budget that is written annually by Congress under a time-tested bipartisan process. “By and large, these bills are the product of bipartisan cooperation among members of the committee," Shelby said in a statement.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Washington. President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, accused Pelosi of slow-walking the talks. Pelosi remains optimistic, even after Washington was blanketed with media reports that McConnell, R-Ky., has warned the White House against sealing a $2 trillion or so relief deal with Pelosi before the election. “We haven’t seen a lot of action from Speaker Pelosi,” Meadows said. Lame-duck sessions during White House changeovers in 2008 and 2016 didn't deliver much.

A former Notre Dame Law School professor, Barrett would be the only one of her Supreme Court colleagues not groomed in the Ivy League. But Barrett is the most open opponent of abortion nominated to the Supreme Court in decades. She refused to say whether the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights was correctly decided, though she has signed two ads against it. Others testifying Thursday included Laura Wolk, the first blind woman to be a law clerk for the Supreme Court, who told senators that Barrett’s encouragement and support were life-changing. “Her brilliance is matched only by her compassion,” said Wolk, who also spent a year as a law clerk for Barrett.

Barrett told senators she is not “hostile” to the law and promised to consider all arguments. “This hearing has been more about Obamacare than it has you,'' the committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Barrett. "And if we act, (voters) don’t have to worry about you doing away with preexisting conditions in some future case down the road,'' he told Barrett. Barrett told Coons she was referring in the interview to Garland’s judicial approach, not his more liberal views. On that point, “You have a right to remain silent,'' Blumenthal told Barrett.

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett listens during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Barrett also said she could not answer whether Trump has the power to delay the general election, an idea the president floated earlier this year. Democrats say they have no interest in revisiting that issue during this confirmation process. This time, Democrats have focused on the effects on “real people” if the Affordable Care Act is overturned by the high court. AN “EXCRUCIATING” PROCESSBarrett said she accepted Trump’s nomination because she is “committed to the rule of law” and the role of the Supreme Court.

Citizenship and Immigration Services canceled more than 13,000 employee furloughs Tuesday, averting a catastrophe for the cash-strapped agency that oversees the nation's legal immigration system. A return to normal operating procedures requires congressional intervention to sustain the agency through fiscal year 2021.The agency had warned that without $1.2 billion in emergency funding from Congress, it would have been forced to furlough roughly 70% of its workforce starting Sunday, drastically curbing operations. Starting Oct. 2, the agency will increase its fees by roughly 20% on average and scrap fee waivers, including for asylum-seekers. Danielle Spooner, head of the union representing agency employees, said she was grateful to hear the decision, but there were no guarantees. The citizenship agency employs about 1,700 employees in the state, most of whom had received furlough notices.

A Consolidated Communications technician works on a line used to provide broadband internet service in a rural area on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Stowe, Vt. Vermont officials are working to expand internet service using federal pandemic relief funds. To comply with the current CARES Act rules, states must have the broadband projects, which can typically take months if not years of planning and construction, up and running by Dec. 30. That work is still ongoing.New Hampshire is planning to spend $50 million to expand broadband into underserved parts of the state. The goal of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, passed by Congress in March was to help states cope with the coronavirus pandemic quickly. It's unclear what Vermont would do if Congress were to give the state more time to act on CARES Act projects.

WASHINGTON Seven U.S. senators, including two strong allies of President Donald Trump, harshly criticized Trump's new chief of U.S.-funded global media on Wednesday for firing the heads of several international broadcasters without consulting Congress. Wednesday's letter was notable in that it was signed by the two powerful Trump allies who are particularly close to the president. The director and deputy director of VOA resigned just days before the firings, which also included the dismissal of each of their governing boards. Conservatives have in particular assailed the firings of former Rubio staffer Jamie Fly as head of RFE/RL and former U.S. diplomat Alberto Fernandez as head of MBN. "We urge you to respect the unique independence that enable USAGM's outlets and grantees to help cultivate a free and open world," the wrote.

WASHINGTON The day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, President Donald Trump made a cryptic offhand remark. That prompted 10 senators to look into how sweeping Trump believes his emergency powers are. They have asked to see this administration's Presidential Emergency Action Documents, or PEADs. The senators think the documents would provide them a window into how this White House interprets presidential emergency powers. The most publicized example was Trumps decision last year to declare the security situation along the U.S.-Mexico border a national emergency.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former national security adviser John Bolton took center stage at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial even though he was nowhere near the Capitol. Trump's legal team has repeatedly insisted there was no linkage, and Trump tweeted on Monday that he never told Bolton such a thing. Bolton writes that Trump told him he wanted to withhold security aid from Ukraine until it helped him with investigations into Biden. “I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens," Trump wrote. The Harvard Law professor acknowledged his own changed views of impeachment law, and that he voted for Hillary Clinton.