Author

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

U.S. House panel probes extent of fraud in federal COVID-19 relief programs

By: - February 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — From 2020 to 2022, a group of Minnesotans pretended to be serving meals to low-income children, all the while filing for reimbursement under a federal COVID-19 relief program aimed to buoy child nutrition as schools and childcare centers closed. In all, the schemers defrauded the government of $250 million, the Minnesota Reformer reported. […]

US Rep James Comer

U.S. House Oversight chair’s agenda: Hunter Biden, COVID origins, classified documents

By: - January 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer on Monday previewed his priorities for this Congress, which he says will include a heavy focus on the handling of classified documents, the origins of the COVID-19 virus, and what he described as possible “influence peddling” by Hunter Biden. The Kentucky Republican addressed reporters and […]

An individual holds a lead pipe, a steel pipe and a lead pipe treated with protective orthophosphate. The Environmental Protection Agency is only now requiring water systems to inventory their lead pipes decades after new ones were banned. (Environmental Protection Agency)

White House launches new push to help states remove lead pipes that carry drinking water

By: - January 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday announced plans to speed up the use of infrastructure law funds to replace lead pipes in underserved communities, with a focus on Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin beginning this year. The four states, each led by Democratic governors, will be part of what’s called the Lead Service […]

Lawmakers sit at a desk in a committee room

U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media

By: - January 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment.  Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up.  He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]

Classified material found in the Indiana home of former VP Mike Pence

By: - January 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Mike Pence is the latest top public official to have been discovered possessing classified material in his personal home, according to a letter his lawyer sent to the National Archives. A dozen documents with classified markings were discovered in Pence’s residence in Carmel, Indiana, in mid-January. The former vice president […]

A woman holds her passport from Ukraine

Ukrainians by the thousands arrive in states, but with a time limit

By: - January 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches next month, Ukrainians who were welcomed to the United States under a special program offering an escape from war are watching another timeline. The temporary Uniting for Ukraine program, sometimes called U4U, offers a two-year stay in the U.S., given that individuals […]

Kevin McCarthy gives a thumbs up while surrounded by colleagues on the House floor

U.S. House GOP backs McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session

By: and - January 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War. The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel on the 15th ballot by […]

U.S. House stuck for a third day as Republicans struggle to unite around a speaker

By: and - January 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned Thursday again without a speaker, racking up five more ballots throughout the day before members left the floor shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, with some decamping to closed-door negotiations and others leaving the Capitol. “I am not a part of any negotiations,” Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, a leading opponent of […]

U.S. House paralyzed following second day of GOP failure to elect a speaker

By: and - January 4, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned without a speaker for the second day in a row Wednesday as Republicans’ stalemate over who should lead the chamber for the next two years dragged on, with Kevin McCarthy failing to get the votes needed to become speaker on three more ballots. The 216-214 vote to adjourn until […]

Conservatives in U.S. House tank McCarthy bid to be speaker on multiple ballots

By: and - January 3, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republican control of the U.S. House got off to a rocky start Tuesday when the party was unable to quickly decide who should become speaker amid a sharp disagreement within the party’s more conservative faction. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy didn’t clinch the backing of the 218 lawmakers he needed to become the head […]

U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability

By: and - December 26, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever again. The report caps 18 months of work for […]

Zelenskyy pledges a fight for ‘common victory’ against Russian tyranny in visit to U.S.

By: - December 21, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy evoked images of the “great American soldiers” of World War II as he appealed to Congress Wednesday night to continue U.S. assistance in defending Ukraine from deadly Russian shelling and targeting of civilian infrastructure. The historic and surprise visit to the United States by the wartime Ukrainian leader marked his […]