Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

Gov. Laura Kelly is seen inside a voting booth from a distance

More than 42 million Americans already have voted in the midterms

By: - November 7, 2022

WASHINGTON — More than 42 million Americans by mid-afternoon on Monday had gotten a jump start on Tuesday’s midterm elections, casting their votes through mail-in ballots or by heading to in-person early voting centers. The United States Election Project’s data showed a significant number of voters continue to prefer voting ahead of Election Day, possibly […]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell talks to reporters

Mitch McConnell-aligned super PAC pours record advertising cash into U.S. Senate races

By: - November 3, 2022

WASHINGTON — The super PAC aligned with U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has spent a record amount advertising for GOP Senate candidates this cycle, according to AdImpact. The Senate Leadership Fund has “become the highest-spending advertiser” AdImpact, started in 2014, has ever reported on, according to data it released Thursday. The […]

Election worker Virginia Engroff watches voters fill out advanced ballots

Control of U.S. Senate still a guess ahead of midterm elections

By: - November 1, 2022

WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans have just a handful of frantic days left to convince voters who should control Congress before voting in the Nov. 8 midterm elections ends. The two political parties are spending millions on campaign ads and mailers in the dozens of toss-up races that will determine control of Congress, while President […]

U.S. Capitol building

A GOP showdown over the debt limit could grip Congress and the nation next year

By: - October 28, 2022

WASHINGTON — Republicans are eyeing the debt limit and government funding deadlines as a way to force Democrats to the negotiating table for spending cuts, should the GOP regain control of Congress following the midterm elections. Republicans unhappy about government spending could move to shut down the government, a tactic unsuccessful for the GOP in […]

More than 9 million voters already have cast their ballots in November elections

By: - October 25, 2022

WASHINGTON — Roughly 9.4 million Americans have already voted in the midterm elections, casting a combination of in-person early votes and mail-in ballots, according to data compiled by the United States Elections Project. Florida as well as Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania are among the top states in terms of early voting so far.  The initiative, […]

Health workers sit at a table at a pop-up monkeypox vaccination clinic on Aug. 3, 2022, at the West Hollywood, California, Library. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Monkeypox cases are in sharp decline. Could the outbreak be over?

By: - October 22, 2022

WASHINGTON — New monkeypox cases have been trending downward nationwide for more than two months, giving some hope the decades-old virus that had its first major outbreak in the United States this year is nearly under control, or even on its way out. However, experts caution that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data broken […]

Registered nurse Lindsay Waldman, left, prepares to administer a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to a 5-year-old at a Denver hospital as the girl’s father comforts her. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

FDA, CDC greenlight updated COVID-19 booster for kids 5 to 11

By: - October 12, 2022

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Wednesday recommended an updated COVID-19 booster for kids between 5 and 11, expanding use of the new bivalent shots beyond people 12 and older. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized the updated vaccines use in the morning before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended them […]

President Joe Biden signs an executive order banning the import of Russian oil on March 8, 2022, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House photo by Cameron Smith)

11 states to share in $1 billion in funding for small businesses, entrepreneurs

By: - October 11, 2022

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced Tuesday that an additional 11 states will receive up to $1 billion to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. Funding for the programs will come from the State Small Business Credit Initiative that Democrats reauthorized and expanded in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan. […]

The battle for control of Congress: Abortion, inflation, crime and Biden

By: , and - October 9, 2022

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are fanning out to every district in the country, leaving the wonky floor debates on Capitol Hill behind for the campaign trail in advance of the crucial Nov. 8 midterm elections. Democrats are fighting to hold their razor-thin majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, citing two years of […]

President Joe Biden kicks off the general election campaign season with a speech Aug. 25, 2022, at a Democratic National Committee rally in Maryland. (Danielle E. Gaines/Maryland Matters)

Biden to pardon all federal offenses for simple marijuana possession, review criminalization

By: , and - October 6, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced executive actions that would pardon thousands of people with prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession. Biden then called on governors to follow suit with state offenses for simple marijuana possession, saying that “just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the […]

Women could claim the most governors’ seats in U.S. history in November

By: - October 4, 2022

WASHINGTON — Women running in governors’ races throughout the country are potentially set to break records if elected this November. In total there are 25 women governor candidates nominated by the two major political parties this election cycle, sharply up from 16 in 2018. Democrats hold 16 of those nominations, with nine GOP women candidates […]

Hours ahead of shutdown deadline, U.S. House sends Biden stopgap spending bill

By: - September 30, 2022

WASHINGTON — U.S. House members, mostly along party lines, cleared a spending package Friday that would bolster funding for natural disaster response, though with Hurricane Ian still battering the Southeast, lawmakers will likely need to approve another aid bill later this year. The measure would provide $2.5 billion in assistance for the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon […]