President Donald Trump caused some confusion earlier Tuesday when he appeared to threaten SNAP benefits unless Democrats voted to reopen the government — despite court orders mandating that the administration keep the nation’s largest food program running.

Voters in Maine and Texas have considered Republican-backed proposals that proponents say would safeguard elections, but opponents believe are intended to make voting more difficult.

Election Day is Nov. 4, and Democrats and Republicans are making their last call to voters prior to Election Day in Virginia.

President Donald Trump is calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster.

The Senate is voting on legislation that would nullify U.S. tariffs on Canada.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not go out Nov. 1 as the government shutdown drags on.

Democrats in Virginia are joining the national redistricting battle over U.S. House seats.

The government shutdown has reopened debate on the future of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats have rallied against a proposed U.S. House map by North Carolina Republicans in Raleigh.

Former President Barack Obama will campaign alongside Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in the final stretch of their statewide campaigns for governor in Virginia and New Jersey.

Senate Republicans projected a unified front at the White House Rose Garden Tuesday, arriving at President Donald Trump’s invitation as they refuse to yield to Democratic demands for health care funds into the fourth week of the government shutdown.

Billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker had some extra income in 2024 — from a lucky blackjack hand in a Las Vegas casino.

Senate Democrats are rejecting for the 10th time a stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government.

Federal workers furloughed or working without pay are feeling the financial squeeze and fear being swept up in the Trump administration's layoffs.

President Donald Trump is making this government shutdown unlike any the nation has ever seen.

Airports around the country are saying they won’t play a video with a message from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in which she blames Democrats for the federal government shutdown and its impacts on operations to screen travelers.

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson predicts the federal government shutdown may become the longest in history.

President Donald Trump says he's directed the Defense Department to use “all available funds” to ensure that U.S. troops are paid on Wednesday despite the government shutdown.

House members' absence during the government shutdown is creating a political dilemma for Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and is testing his leadership.

Attorney General Pam Bondi goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning as federal agents surge into cities across the U.S. She's facing growing questions about political influence over a Justice Department that has already criminally charged one of President Donald Trump’s longtime foes and is facing intense White House pressure to prosecute others.

Attorney General Pam Bondi has repeatedly deflected questions while seeking to defend herself during a combative congressional hearing in the face of growing criticism that she's turning the law enforcement agency into a weapon to seek vengeance against President Donald Trump’s political opponents.

A Georgia special state Senate committee plans to question Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis next month.

A new poll conducted just prior to the current government shutdown showed most Americans wanted Congress to extend tax credits that could expire at the end of the year.

Speaker Johnson is canceling House votes for next week as Republicans pressure Senate to accept funding bill and end shutdown.

Shutdowns of the federal government usually don’t leave much economic damage.

The National WIC Association says there’s about one to two weeks left of funding, which a Trump administration official confirmed this afternoon.

Senate Democrats kept their promise to reject any Republican spending bill that didn’t extend or restore health care benefits, choosing instead to force a government shutdown.

President Donald Trump got a significant amount of blame during the last partial government shutdown, which took place toward the end of his first term after he forced a shutdown over border wall funding — but with Democrats embracing the shutdown fight this time, the outcome could be different.

The Trump administration is using government communications to blame Democrats for a potential U.S. government shutdown.

Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday.

President Donald Trump is blaming Democrats for a potential government shutdown.

The threat of a government shutdown has become a recurring event in Washington.

A new report finds the Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress.

A government watchdog has raised concerns about high administrative costs in Georgia's Medicaid program.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released a sexually suggestive letter to Jeffrey Epstein purportedly signed by President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump is swiftly implementing his vision of the military as an all-powerful tool for his policy goals.

Americans’ views of President Donald Trump’s job performance remain negative amid a flurry of activity from his administration on tariffs, immigration and public health, according to the latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey.

Boston voters will narrow the field of candidates for mayor in a municipal primary that pits incumbent Michelle Wu against Josh Kraft, son of billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

As Congress returns for a busy fall stretch, President Donald Trump is reaching into the affairs of the legislative branch, chiseling away at the separation of powers.

The House Oversight Committee has publicly posted the files it has received from the Justice Department on the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is not seeking reelection next year.

For the first time in over a decade, all six statewide candidates for office will stand behind the podium at the Buena Vista Labor Day Festival — taking the stage to talk to voters, and unofficially kick off campaign season.

The Democratic National Committee is seriously considering scrambling the party’s next presidential primary calendar.

The House Oversight Committee is subpoenaing the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein.

The federal budget deficits caused by President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law could trigger automatic cuts to Medicare if Congress does not act, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin says Virginia’s economy is thriving after ending its fiscal year with high revenues. He says the state netted a $572 million surplus and a $4.7 billion rainy-day fund. It's a characterization Democrats are criticizing as rose-colored in light of budgetary decisions neighboring Washington, D.C. They are particularly concerned about Medicaid after Congress passed a reconciliation bill making federal cuts to the program. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell cites an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office this year estimating that roughly 11 million Americans will lose access to Medicaid.

Republican Winsome Earle-Sears says she's running her campaign for Virginia governor like a military-style operation. And at this point, a few months away from the November election, it's looking like a campaign on the defensive. The lieutenant governor is facing a Democratic Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman who has more campaign money and a unified party behind her. Earle-Sears has replaced a pastor with little political experience who had been her campaign manager. And her team has failed to gain traction with big money donors. An Earle-Sears victory would make her the first Black woman in U.S. history to serve as a governor.

Texas Republicans have escalated the penalties against Democrats as they enter a second week camped out in states across the country to block new U.S. House maps pushed for by President Donald Trump to win more seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

At the core of the fight in Texas over redrawing the state’s congressional districts is a debate over a time-honored right spelled out in the Constitution: Every two years, “the People” get to pick someone to represent their interests in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a Republican plan for congressional redistricting are pleading for donations to help cover their costs.

Texas and California are at the center of a national political power struggle that could reshape Trump's second presidency.

Dozens of Democratic state lawmakers in Texas have scattered across the country in a last-ditch effort to prevent Republicans from adopting U.S. House maps that President Donald Trump wants in place before the 2026 midterm elections.

Texas Democrats have fled the state in an effort to keep Republicans from approving a new U.S. House map that could boost their slim congressional majority next year.

A stalemate over the pace of confirmations has delayed the Senate’s yearly August recess for now as President Donald Trump declares that his nominees “should NOT BE FORCED TO WAIT.”.

Democrats are launching a nationwide summer blitz designed to force vulnerable Republicans to defend President Donald Trump’s big tax and spending bill, especially Medicaid cuts.

The Senate has confirmed Joe Kent, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.

Democrats are again trying to revive the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A judge has ordered that eight university board members tapped by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin should be removed from their posts.

A new poll shows support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has dropped among U.S. adults, with only about one-third approving.

Senate Democrats are imploring President Donald Trump's administration to step up its role in addressing suffering and starvation in Gaza.

A key House committee is looking into the investigation of the late Jeffrey Epstein for sex trafficking crimes.

A new poll shows Americans’ views of the Supreme Court have moderated somewhat since the court’s standing dropped sharply after its ruling overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Texas Democrats on Thursday slammed the GOP's unusual push to redraw the state's House maps to win more seats ahead of the 2026 elections.

President Donald Trump has signed a bill to cancel about $9 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting and foreign aid.

Michael Whatley, chairman of the national Republican Party, plans to run for an open Senate seat in North Carolina in 2026, with the blessing of President Donald Trump, after Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara, passed on the seat.

Under intense pressure from President Donald Trump’s own supporters, his administration now is asking a federal court to unseal secret documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case.

Former Missouri congressman Billy Long was ceremonially sworn in as IRS commissioner on Friday.

House Republicans on Tuesday grilled the leaders of Georgetown University, the City University of New York and the University of California, Berkeley, in the latest hearing on antisemitism in higher education, accusing the schools of failing to respond adequately to allegations of bias or discrimination.

Senate Republicans are putting the popularity of Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts to the test this week.

Democratic President Joe Biden handed out subsidies to chipmakers and electric vehicle manufacturers.

Donald Trump has made tax cuts a central part of his political legacy.

The sprawling Republican budget bill approved by the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on solar and wind energy projects but quickly phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy.

A poll shows only 36% of Democrats say they’re “extremely” or “very” proud to be American, reflecting a dramatic decline in national pride that's also clear among young people.

The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump's tax cut and spending bill doesn't adhere to procedural rules.

Ten years after the Supreme Court ruled there's a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the split between Republicans and Democrats on the issue is wider than it’s been in decades.

The strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities received mixed responses from local lawmakers. The decision garnered criticism from Democrats such as Sen. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, but was praised by Republican representatives, as well as Gov. Youngkin.

Democrats in Virginia have built up a big fundraising advantage in this year's race for governor. It's an election seen as a bellwether for the 2026 midterms. The Democratic nominee is Abigail Spanberger, a congresswoman who is a former CIA case officer. She has a more than 2-to-1 fundraising edge over the Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Virginia and New Jersey are the two states with statewide elections this year. The Democrats’ fundraising lead may reflect Democratic enthusiasm and the party's ability to push voters to the polls.

Republicans have suffered a setback over their plans to gut the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau in President Donald Trump's big bill.

Republican senators are looking into former President Joe Biden's ability to serve in office.

The U.S. State Department says it is restarting the process for foreigners to apply for student visas but says all applicants must have their social media accounts set to ‘public’ to allow review by officials.

Here’s your one-stop shop for the three statewide races in the June 17, 2025, primary election.

Senate Democrats were shaken to the core after seeing videos of officers aggressively pushing California Sen. Alex Padilla out of a press conference with the Homeland Security secretary and eventually restraining him on the floor outside the room.

House Democrats are searching for a new leader on the powerful House Oversight Committee after the untimely passing of their previous ranking member.

David Hogg says he will not fight to hold onto his leadership role in the Democratic National Committee.

President Donald Trump is looking to cancel $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds little agreement between Republicans and Democrats in the media sources they trust.

The Senate has voted to block California’s first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

House Republicans stayed up all night to pass their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package.

Beginning next school year, the curriculum standards for Oklahoma high school students will including conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.

Tax breaks tallying more than $5 trillion.

Supporters of a measure to create a commission to study potential reparations for slavery in Maryland have rallied next to the Capitol and the governor’s residence to urge Gov. Wes Moore to sign the legislation.

Senate Democrats have blocked legislation to regulate a form of cryptocurrency after arguing that the bill needed stronger protections.

The Republican-led House has passed a bill that would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and direct federal agencies to update their documents and maps to incorporate the new name.

House Republicans appear to be backing off some, but not all, of the steep reductions to the Medicaid program as part of their big tax breaks bill.

Senate Democrats plan to force a vote in the coming weeks on a resolution to require more transparency from President Donald Trump’s administration about deportations to El Salvador.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said President Donald Trump’s 100 days in office have been an assault of Americans’ very way of life.

The Trump administration has frozen, stalled or otherwise disrupted some $430 billion in federal funds since the president took office — from federal disease research to Head Start for children to disaster aid.

President Donald Trump says he is bringing back Columbus Day.

Four House Democrats are visiting El Salvador in a bid to support Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man whom the Trump administration deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison.

Virginia Democrats are vying to shield their statehouse majority while flipping the governor’s mansion in November, and new reports show they have a cash advantage in those races against Republicans.