WASHINGTON — One day after its historic impeachment votes, the Democratic-led House gave President Donald Trump an overwhelming bipartisan victory Thursday on a renegotiated trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. By a 385-41 vote, the House approved a bill that puts in place terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The legislation passed...
McConnell Blasts House Impeachment, Pledges Senate Action
WASHINGTON — The top Senate Republican on Thursday denounced the "most unfair" House impeachment of President Donald Trump and reassured Trump and his supporters that "moments like this are why the United States Senate exists.” Signaling in the strongest terms yet that the GOP-controlled Senate will acquit Trump, Majority Leader...
House Sets Vote on $1.4 Trillion Federal Spending Bill
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House is voting Tuesday on a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package with an unusually large load of unrelated provisions on the must-do legislation. The package, some 2,313 pages long, was unveiled Monday as lawmakers prepared to wrap up reams of unfinished work against a backdrop of...
Trump Conservative Critics Launch PAC to Fight Reelection
NEW YORK — A small group of President Donald Trump's fiercest conservative critics, including the husband of the president's own chief adviser, is launching a super PAC designed to fight Trump's reelection and punish congressional Republicans deemed his “enablers." The new organization, known as the Lincoln Project, represents a formal...
Impeachment Trial: Trump Wants Drama, but GOP Wants It Over
Washington — Donald Trump wants more than acquittal. He wants vindication. With impeachment by the House appearing certain, the president has made clear that he views the next step, a trial in the GOP-controlled Senate, as his focus. The president sees the senators not just as a jury deciding his...
GOP's Cookingham Likes His Chances in Valley's Blue CA-16
Many Republicans have tried to knock off Jim Costa since the congressman representing Fresno and the Central Valley first won federal office in 2004. Some have come close, like Johnny Tacherra in 2014 — to the point he attended freshman orientation in Washington, D.C. — before Costa was declared the...
Walters: The GOP's Decline and Fall in California
The very rapid decline of California’s Republican Party — from near-dominance in the 1980s and early 1990s to its current irrelevance — has been one of the state’s most dramatic political events. Thirty years ago, in 1989, Republicans were on a roll in California, to wit: —GOP candidates dominated the...
Elections in 4 States Offer Tests of 2020 Voter Enthusiasm
Gubernatorial and legislative elections in four states Tuesday will test voter enthusiasm and party organization amid impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump and a fevered Democratic presidential primary scramble. Results in Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia won't necessarily predict whether Trump will be reelected or which party will control...
Trump: Whistleblower 'Must Be Brought Forward to Testify'
WASHINGTON — The whistleblower who raised alarms about President Donald Trump's dealings with Ukraine and touched off the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the person's lawyer says. But President Donald says that's not good enough. Trump himself refused to provide anything but written answers...
California Rep. Katie Hill Resigns Amid Ethics Investigation
WASHINGTON — Freshman Rep. Katie Hill, a rising Democratic star in the House, announced her resignation amid an ethics probe, saying explicit private photos of her with a campaign staffer had been "weaponized" by her husband and political operatives. The California Democrat, 32, had been hand-picked for a coveted leadership seat. But...