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.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds talks to reporters

Bipartisan group predicts U.S. debt default as soon as summer, depending on tax receipts

By: - February 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan think tank expects that the United States will default on its debt in the summer or early fall, if Congress doesn’t take action to address the debt limit before then. The timeline is similar to one the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released last week, saying lawmakers have until sometime between July and September […]

President Biden Delivers State Of The Union Address

Biden’s annual physical shows he is ‘a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male’

By: - February 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden received a mostly positive review of his health from doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday after undergoing his annual physical. The official evaluation of Biden’s health comes as the former vice president and longtime U.S. senator from Delaware weighs whether to run for reelection in 2024. […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

U.S. likely to default on debt between July and September unless Congress acts, CBO says

By: - February 15, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congress has until at least July to broker a bipartisan debt agreement if lawmakers want to avoid a first-ever default, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The nonpartisan scorekeeper, which typically details how much legislation would cost, released a report Wednesday saying that U.S. lawmakers and the Biden administration have until sometime between […]

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach encouraged lawmakers to pass legislation blocking foreign entities from buying Kansas agricultural land during a Thursday news conference. (Rachel Mipro/Kansas Reflector)

Attorneys general from 23 GOP-led states back suit seeking to block abortion pill

By: - February 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — Attorneys general representing nearly two dozen Republican states are backing a lawsuit that would remove the abortion pill from throughout the United States after more than two decades, eliminating the option even in states where abortion access remains legal. The state of Missouri filed its own brief in the case Friday while Mississippi […]

President Joe Biden stands next to a banner reading "Building a Better America"

Biden meets with governors, urges them to implement laws allocating billions to states

By: - February 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — Governors from throughout the country, including Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, met with President Joe Biden on Friday at the White House to hash out the best way to implement the billions of federal dollars flowing to their states from both bipartisan and Democratic legislation. Biden, who typically meets with the governors when they […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters

U.S. House speaker calls for ‘responsible’ debt limit legislation, shares few details

By: - February 6, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday said the greatest threat to the nation’s future is the rising national debt, though he gave few specifics for how he planned to lower deficit spending or avoid a first-ever default on the debt this year. The California Republican, in a 10-minute address from the U.S. […]

U.S. Capitol building

U.S. House agrees on something: Lawmakers condemn ‘the horrors of socialism’

By: - February 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House held a strongly bipartisan vote Thursday, condemning socialism and former socialist leaders, though Democrats rebuked majority Republicans for spending time on a “political stunt” and refusing to allow debate on an amendment that would have clarified Social Security and Medicare are not socialist programs. Maryland Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer said […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters

Biden, McCarthy hold ‘productive’ and ‘frank’ debt limit talks as fiscal cliffs loom

By: - February 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy huddled behind closed doors at the White House on Wednesday in the first of what will likely be several conversations as the country approaches two fiscal cliffs this year amid divided government. The top issue at the moment is when and how to address […]

U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, the 2nd District Republican, joined U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall in demanding thorough vetting of Afghan refugees before any were relocated to Kansas. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Of more than 7,500 threats against members of Congress in 2022, just 22 prosecuted

By: - January 31, 2023

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress receive thousands of threats a year, though just a fraction of the people who call, mail or email will ever be prosecuted — a situation that’s of great concern to the police who guard members. Just 22 of the 7,501 threats lobbed at members during 2022 led to prosecution, the […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Biden, Democrats to U.S. House Republicans: Show us your debt limit plan

By: - January 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders huddled with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday, ahead of what will be a tumultuous few months, with lawmakers sharply divided on the debt limit and short on time. “I have no intention of letting the Republicans wreck our economy, nor does anybody around this table,” Biden said […]

A glass of water next to pills and the box they came in

Federal judge could decide as soon as February to yank abortion pill nationwide

By: - January 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — A Texas judge could decide as soon as next month whether to force the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pull its two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the United States. A nationwide injunction in the case, as requested by anti-abortion groups, would […]

The U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington, D.C.

U.S. hits debt limit and Treasury Department begins ‘extraordinary measures’

By: - January 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — The nation reached its debt limit Thursday, beginning the uncertain process known as extraordinary measures, in which the U.S. Treasury Department uses accounting maneuvers to avoid defaulting on the debt. The often-used practice is intended to give the Republican House, Democratic Senate and Biden administration time to negotiate a bipartisan agreement to raise […]