Aides prepare Alabama’s Electoral College votes for certification during a joint session of Congress in the House chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Michigan’s attorney general has charged 16 people in a fake electors plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Here’s how the Electoral College works.
Donald Trump, left, may yet face off again in federal court against Jack Smith.
Associated Press
Before there was Jack Smith, there was the House January 6 committee. Its work and findings may provide a hint about what new charges Smith might lodge against former President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney speaks during a press conference in December 2022, calling to affirm the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
Women’s rights groups and politicians have pushed, ultimately unsuccessfully, for the Equal Rights Amendment to become part of the Constitution for the past several decades.
Richard Wainwright/AAP
The US is proposing legislation to ease restrictions on sharing US military technologies with other countries. The AUKUS agreement depends on it.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors summit in June 2023 in Philadelphia.
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Studies show, though, that voters don’t like all that nastiness.
Will the debt ceiling bill negotiated by President Joe Biden, left, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy be a lasting solution?
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Compromises, no matter how horrible, have long been used to solve seemingly intractable political problems – but at a cost.
Activists call for ethics reform in the Supreme Court at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 2, 2023.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Courts have no army or police force to enforce their decisions. Their power rests on their legitimacy in the public eye. How does scandal affect that?
The U.S. Capitol, where on May 31, 2023, the House passed a debt limit deal on a bipartisan vote.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
The news media spent a lot of time reporting on how much progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans didn’t like the debt ceiling deal. But centrists had enough votes to pass it in the House.
Business deals by foreign countries in the U.S. can be reviewed by the government for national security risks.
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President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 tightening the rules for foreign investment in the US.
IBM executive Christina Montgomery, cognitive scientist Gary Marcus and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman prepared to testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Figuring out how to regulate AI is a difficult challenge, and that’s even before tackling the problem of the small number of big companies that control the technology.
Biden speaks to reporters about the tentative accord.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
The deal would raise the ceiling for two years, cap some federal spending and impose new work requirements on certain federal benefits. It still needs the blessing of Congress.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in a wheelchair as she returns to the Senate after a more than two-month absence, May 10, 2023.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Physical ailments and deteriorated health may be the one area in which politicians can escape scrutiny.
Guthrie questioned whether politicians really cared about the public interest – such as the welfare of these veterans demonstrating in front of Congress in 1932.
Senate Historical Office
Folk singer and activist Woody Guthrie actually had thoughts about the national debt – and politicians in general. They’re remarkably apt today.
‘Default doomscrolling’ again, Mr. Powell?
Kimimasa Mayama/Pool Photo via AP
Major players in the financial system are pondering the unthinkable as the US inches closer to an unprecedented default.
With the House GOP and President Joe Biden locked in a struggle over the debt limit, it’s dark times in the U.S. Capitol.
Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
How will the House vote on the deal negotiated by the White House and GOP leaders? If they reject it, there are political as well as huge economic risks to debt standoffs in Congress.
Small-scale farmers, organic producers and local markets receive a tiny fraction of farm bill funding.
Edwin Remsberg/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Even if you don’t live near farm country, you’ve got a stake in the upcoming farm bill – including what kind of farms your tax dollars support.
Whether or not the U.S. defaults on its debt may depend on the leadership of Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy.
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
Research shows that leaders who can embrace competing demands and focus on the long term are more likely to succeed.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doesn’t want to look back in anger over a debt deadline missed.
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
If the US fails to increase its debt ceiling by June 1, it could be forced into an embarrassing – and hugely costly – default on its obligations.
These benefits make it easier for millions of Americans to buy groceries.
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A team of economists looked at what happened after Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program work requirements were reinstated in Virginia in 2013.
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Republicans and Democrats may find it harder than ever to reach an agreement on how to tackle the enormous national debt before July.