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    Laura Barrón-López

    Laura Barrón-López

    Congressional Reporter, HuffPost

  • Michigan Democrats Plead For Vote On Flint Aid Bill

    The measure would help other cities with poisoned water supplies, too.

  • Ted Cruz Drops His Hold On Flint Water Deal

    But other senators could still be holding up the legislation.

  • Dems Warn Puerto Rico Default Would Trigger Humanitarian Crisis

    If Congress doesn’t give Puerto Rico the power to restructure its stifling $73 billion in debt soon, a default could trigger a humanitarian crisis on the island, two Senate Democrats warned on Wednesday. The 3.5 million American citizens who call Puerto Rico home could see a complete shutdown of their government, said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "The fact of the matter is the $73 billion in debt that Puerto Rico can’t resolve could lead to a humanitarian crisis unlike any Puerto Rico has ever seen," Schumer told reporters.

  • Senate GOP Keeps Eye On Long-Term Highway Bill As Clock Winds Down

    Senate Republicans on Tuesday remained adamant that in the coming weeks, they will act on a long-term fix for the federal fund that pays for the nation’s transportation system. Despite the looming July 31 deadline, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said there is support in both parties to reach a deal by the end of the month on a multiyear bill to pay for the Highway Trust Fund. “There is bipartisan enthusiasm for a multiyear highway bill,” McConnell told reporters after meeting with his conference.

  • Hillary Clinton Serves Up Her Policy Pitch To Hill Dems

    Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton trekked to Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with Democrats in both chambers and pitch her policy stances four months into her 2016 campaign. Clinton met with Senate Democrats during their weekly party lunches, and was warmly welcomed by the party's leaders. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised the presentation Clinton gave to the conference.

  • GOP Congresswoman: Republican Men Will 'Fail' If They Paint Hillary Clinton As 'Stupid'

    Speaking at a women's empowerment event hosted by Google and National Review on Tuesday, Wagner advised the Republican men running for president in 2016 to steer clear of criticizing Clinton too much. “Women and men believe that Hillary Rodham Clinton is strong and she is intelligent. Wagner, who advises the Republican National Committee, said the party needs women at the table to “remind” them of the words to use and not use.

  • Democrats Happy To Exploit Embarrassing GOP Fight Over Confederate Flag

    House Speaker John Boehner's day went from bad to worse Thursday as his efforts to quietly ease a fight over the Confederate flag blew up. Democrats seized the opportunity to denounce Republicans as defenders of a painful symbol of racism. Democrats have been fuming since Wednesday night, when Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) put forward a vaguely worded amendment to attach to an annual spending bill that would allow the Confederate flag to be displayed in national cemeteries.

  • Nancy Pelosi: Time To ‘Put Away' Confederate Flag

    It is time for the U.S. to “put away” the Confederate battle flag, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Thursday, as a fight over the symbol reached fever pitch on Capitol Hill. The House had planned to vote Thursday on an amendment to an Interior Department spending bill that would have reversed previously passed measures banning the display of the Confederate flag on graves on federal land and the sale of the flag by the National Park Service. House GOP leadership pulled the spending bill from the floor, however, amid an escalating fight surrounding the Confederate flag language.

  • Battle Over Confederate Flag Engulfs Congress

    A bill to fund the Department of the Interior stalled Thursday after Republicans tried to add an amendment that would protect the Confederate flag in national cemeteries. The measure had immediately sparked Democratic ire Wednesday night when it was added unexpectedly by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.). A swarm of lawmakers took to the House floor in the morning to condemn the move.

  • House GOP Seeks To Turn Back Time On Confederate Flag

    House Republicans want to turn back the clock and void measures passed earlier this week that restrict the display of the Confederate flag on federal land. On Tuesday night, the House passed two measures by voice vote that would stop the display of Confederate flags on gravesites on federal land, and make permanent the National Park Service's policy to pull Confederate flag merchandise from its stores in the aftermath of shootings last month at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Thursday's vote on an amendment offered by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) could change all of that.

  • Lawmakers Discuss Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, Reach No Consensus

    Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee made little headway Wednesday when discussing possible solutions to the $73 billion debt crisis facing over 3 million American citizens in Puerto Rico. While the Puerto Rican government did meet the July 1 deadline for its first $400 million electric utility payment, there are more payments due in the coming months. Market watchers are turning their eyes to Congress as concerns grow over Puerto Rico’s debt. The White House is also pressuring Congress to take action.

  • Families of Charleston Victims 'Sick And Tired' Of Waiting For Congress To Act

    Family members of the nine people killed in last month's shooting in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, traveled to the nation's capital Wednesday to turn their grief into action. The families, accompanied by Charleston community leaders and advocates for more stringent gun laws, called on lawmakers in Congress to push for a vote on legislation that would expand background checks for gun sales. “I’m a firm believer that our Congress is full of good men and women who felt the pain on June 17 of the murders of the Emanuel nine, but they haven’t allowed that pain to translate into doing something about it,” Pastor Thomas Dixon, a community activist in South Carolina, said in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

  • Hillary Clinton To Meet With Congressional Black Caucus

    Hillary Clinton will make a trip to Capitol Hill next week to visit with the Congressional Black Caucus. The Democratic presidential front-runner and former secretary of state will be on the Hill July 14 to meet privately with the CBC, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post. Clinton will discuss "pressing foreign and domestic policy issues impacting the African American Community" with the caucus, the memo said.

  • Puerto Rico's Dance With Default Embraces A Fickle Partner: Wall Street

    Puerto Rico may stave off default by making a last-minute payment to creditors on July 1, but the island’s economic future rests on the whims of Wall Street. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla threw investors and market-watchers for a loop Sunday when he deemed Puerto Rico “unable” to pay its debts of more than $70 billion. “One of the real issues there, and this is going to be the crux of the problem, are not only the [bond] insurers, but also some of the hedge funds that got involved," said Jon Mousseau, executive vice president at Cumberland Advisors, who spoke in Washington on Tuesday during a panel discussion about economic hardships facing Greece and Puerto Rico.

  • The Curious Case of Puerto Rico, And Why Default Poses A Risk To The U.S.

    U.S. lawmakers have no firm plan to help more than 3 million American citizens living 1,000 miles off the coast of Florida under a government staring down the barrel of a $73 billion debt crisis. Thousands of them are fleeing each month to the U.S. mainland in the search of economic opportunity, compounding the island’s financial crisis. Garcia Padilla’s comments come days before Puerto Rico’s government-run electric utility, known as PREPA, must make a $400 million debt payment.

  • Republicans Secretly Relieved At Obamacare Ruling, Have No Plan Forward

    Republicans were publicly outraged the Supreme Court again found the Affordable Care Act constitutional, but there was also a deep sense of relief that they wouldn't have to deal with twin problems of ending health care for millions in red states or coming up with a replacement. "I was just up on the floor and I saw Paul Ryan," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), referring the the GOP chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Indeed, if the court had thrown out a key part of the law, Republicans who control Congress would have been faced with figuring out how to replace or fix a law that is providing subsidies for some 7 million Americans and benefitting many millions more.

  • Senate Grants Obama Fast-Track Trade Authority After Contentious Battle

    The Senate made it official on Wednesday, granting President Barack Obama the power to streamline passage of major trade pacts with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union by a vote of 60 to 38. The approval of Trade Promotion Authority doesn't guarantee the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal Obama is currently negotiating with 11 other nations, but does make the agreement's path forward far easier by barring Congress from filibustering or amending whatever deal Obama reaches. The fast-track bill, which was approved by the House last week, will now head to President Barack Obama's desk to be signed into law.

  • Pelosi Stands Down, Supports Passage Of Key Trade Measure

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) waved the white flag on Wednesday, telling her caucus she would support passage of a key measure tethered to President Barack Obama's broader trade agenda. Pelosi and House Democrats were the last obstacle against Republican and pro-trade Democrats' efforts to grant Obama so-called "fast-track" authority to clear major trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, through Congress with ease. House Democrats succeeded in blocking fast-track nearly two weeks ago when they defeated Trade Adjustment Assistance, which was tied to the fast-track legislation.

  • Senators Unveil 6-Year Highway Bill As Deadline Looms

    A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a six-year transportation funding bill on Tuesday that would pump nearly $300 billion into the nation’s freeways, bridges, roads and mass transit systems and replenish a transportation trust fund set to go broke next month. The six-year bill would increase funding for transportation infrastructure 3 percent a year from the last multi-year Highway Trust Fund measure. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), David Vitter (R-La.), and Tom Carper (D-Del.) -- announced the measure on Tuesday, touting its focus on bridges, interstate highways, and freight transit.

  • Mitch McConnell Calls On Kentucky To Move Jefferson Davis Statue

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) called on his home state of Kentucky to consider moving its statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from the prominent perch it now commands at the state legislature to a Kentucky history museum. McConnell's advice Tuesday came in response to a question about the significant number of leaders of the southern rebellion against the United States who are honored with statues and portraits in the U.S. Capitol. Davis' statue sits in the Kentucky Capitol, McConnell pointed out, despite the fact that Kentucky was not actually part of the Confederacy.