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.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday

By: - April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]

Anti-abortion organizations urge U.S. Supreme Court to keep limits on abortion pill

By: - April 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion medical organizations on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain a lower court ruling that would push prescribing and administration of the abortion pill back to pre-2016 instructions, ending mail orders, while an ongoing legal case works through the appeals process. Meanwhile, more members of Congress lined up on either side […]

U.S. House speaker vows vote soon on spending cuts coupled with debt limit increase

By: - April 17, 2023

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to press for the Republican approach to raising the nation’s debt limit in front of a new audience, calling on Democrats to agree to future spending cuts without any tax increases. McCarthy repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and blamed him for […]

DOJ warns Supreme Court of ‘significant chaos’ in health care if abortion pill rulings stand

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration and a company that manufactures the abortion pill on Friday both called on the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve access to mifepristone while a closely watched lawsuit works its way through the appeals process. The U.S. solicitor general wrote in the Department of Justice appeal that allowing? lower courts’ rulings […]

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight. The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]

U.S. Justice Department to ask Supreme Court to reject limits on access to abortion pill

By: and - April 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it will ask the Supreme Court on an emergency basis to keep access to the abortion medication mifepristone exactly as it is now, amid the appeals process in a much-watched case out of Texas. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the department “strongly disagrees” with […]

abortion, amendment 2

Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services. The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]

U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling

By: - April 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]

Biden after Texas ruling vows he will fight to ensure access to abortion pill

By: - April 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden pledged to defend access to medication abortion and the Food and Drug Administration’s authority to approve pharmaceuticals after a federal judge in Texas on Friday ruled the abortion pill should be pulled from the market. Biden also keyed in on the 2024 elections in his response, saying “the only way […]

Biden administration appeals judge’s ruling ordering abortion pill off U.S. market

By: - April 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice launched an appeals process Friday that will likely put a landmark decision about access to medication abortion in front of the Supreme Court. The notice of appeal was filed less than three hours after a federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval […]

IRS slated to hire thousands of workers, boost audits of wealthy taxpayers

By: - April 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday detailed its plan to spend $80 billion in additional funding that Democrats approved last year as part of their climate change and health care package. The plan says the agency will boost tax enforcement by increasing its “focus on segments of taxpayers with complex issues and complex […]

As future of abortion pill is weighed, Democrats in Congress see little they can do

By: - April 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats appear lukewarm about pursuing reproductive rights legislation in a divided Congress, even as a federal judge in Texas considers overturning access to abortion pills nationwide. Interviews by States Newsroom with Democrats who control the Senate by a narrow margin found little optimism they could counter a ruling that could potentially […]