DC BUREAU

Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect our state.

STAFF

Jane Norman

DC Bureau Chief

As the Washington Bureau Chief of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, Jane directs national coverage, managing staff and freelance reporters in the nation’s capital and assigning and editing state-specific daily and enterprise stories. Jane is a veteran of more than three decades in journalism.

Jacob Fischler

DC Deputy Bureau Chief

Jacob covers federal policy and helps direct national coverage as deputy Washington bureau chief for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Ashley Murray

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

Jennifer Shutt

DC Bureau Senior Reporter

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

Ariana Figueroa

DC Bureau Reporter

Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

Shauneen Miranda

DC Bureau Reporter

Shauneen covers the nation’s capital for States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. An alumna of the University of Maryland, she previously covered breaking news for Axios.

STORIES

U.S. House passes $468 billion spending package that would stave off shutdown

BY: - March 6, 2024

WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers cast a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday to approve a six-bill government funding package, marking one of the few consequential votes on major legislation that chamber has taken since Republicans took the majority more than a year ago. The $468 billion package includes half of the annual spending bills for the […]

Trump, Biden close in on clinching nominations after broad Super Tuesday victories

BY: and - March 6, 2024

WASHINGTON — Despite facing 91 felony counts, hefty civil penalties and a packed 2024 legal calendar, Donald Trump emerged on Super Tuesday as the Republican Party’s presumptive choice as its presidential candidate in November. The former president has secured 995 of the necessary 1,215 GOP delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination, and likely will […]

Biden, Trump set for massive delegate hauls in 16 nominating contests

BY: - March 5, 2024

WASHINGTON — Voters in more than a dozen states will cast their choice for U.S. president Tuesday in the largest single day of nominating contests on the 2024 election calendar. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the clear Republican front-runner, are chasing more than one-third of their respective parties’ delegates during the “Super […]

Five months late, Congress is poised to pass a huge chunk of federal spending

BY: , , and - March 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve a staggering $468 billion in government spending this week, finishing part of the work it was supposed to complete by Oct. 1 — including a big boost intended to shore up the federal WIC nutrition program for women, infants and children. Other agencies will see cuts, including […]

South Dakota’s John Thune enters race to succeed McConnell as U.S. Senate GOP leader

BY: - March 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota announced Monday that he plans to run for U.S. Senate GOP leader. “I hope to be,” Thune said in an interview with KELOLAND News, a news outlet in his home state. “I’m going to do everything I can to convince my colleagues.” Currently the No. […]

Who wants the U.S. Supreme Court to limit abortion pill access? Here’s the list.

BY: - March 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion groups, attorneys general from 25 states and more than 140 members of Congress have signed on to dozens of briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court during the past two weeks, encouraging the justices to revert use and prescribing of the medication abortion pill mifepristone to what was in place prior to 2016. […]

Presidential campaign moves to the border, as Biden urges Trump to back immigration deal

BY: - February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon paid competing visits to the nation’s southern border, where Biden called on Congress to reconsider a bipartisan border security deal that Republicans tanked at Trump’s direction. Biden traveled to Brownsville, Texas, while Trump journeyed to Eagle Pass, highlighting how immigration policy has […]

A day ahead of shutdown, Congress works on advancing stopgap spending bills

BY: and - February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — Congress passed a short-term funding extension Thursday intended to give lawmakers a bit more time to wrap up work on the annual spending bills — dodging a shutdown despite election year politics and narrow margins. The stopgap spending bill, sometimes called a continuing resolution, or CR, would keep funding mostly flat for programs […]

Economic effects of state abortion bans debated by U.S. Senate panel

BY: - February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators heard detailed testimony Wednesday on the economic impacts women face and how those considerations can play into whether they seek elective abortion access. The Senate Budget Committee also heard examples of the increased pressures women who need abortions for medical reasons have experienced after more than a dozen states severely restricted […]

Biden ‘fit to successfully execute’ presidential duties, White House doctor says

BY: - February 29, 2024

President Joe Biden is physically fit to serve as president, his doctor said Wednesday in a report released by the White House after an annual physical. “President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” Dr. Kevin C. O’Connor wrote in the six-page report. […]

In clash over immigration, Biden and Trump both bound for the U.S.-Mexico border today

BY: - February 29, 2024

Surrogates for President Joe Biden dismissed former President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday as a political stunt, adding that the likely Republican presidential nominee was exploiting an issue that he has shown no desire to fix. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, both Democrats, told reporters […]

U.S. Senate Republican blocks legislation protecting in vitro fertilization

BY: and - February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — U.S. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi blocked a bill from passing Wednesday that would have preserved access to in vitro fertilization nationwide, stalling a push by Democrats following a landmark Alabama state Supreme Court decision. The court ruled earlier this month that frozen embryos counted as children under state law and parents […]