Author

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray

Ashley Murray covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include domestic policy and appropriations.

President Joe Biden speaks about the U.S. response to the high-altitude Chinese balloon and three other objects that were recently shot down by the U.S. military over American airspace, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex Feb. 16, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The balloon incident prompted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a planned visit to Beijing, China. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden says no evidence yet that unidentified flying objects were tied to China spying

By: - February 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — In his first address since the U.S. military shot down three unidentified flying objects last weekend, just days after taking down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon, President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the actions and said the skies above the U.S. will now be more closely scrutinized. Biden, who was under increasing pressure […]

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley arrive for a briefing in January 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

One missile fired at mystery flying object wound up in Lake Huron, officials say

By: - February 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The American public may know by week’s end the administration’s strategy on unidentified flying objects going forward, but some questions about three recent ones shot down by the U.S. military may not be answered for a long time, if ever. Debris from the three low-altitude objects downed by U.S. Air Force air-to-air missiles […]

Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon on Feb. 5, 2023, off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. U.S. fighter aircraft operating under U.S. Northern Command authority engaged and destroyed a high-altitude surveillance balloon over U.S. territorial waters at the order of US President Joe Biden. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tyler Thompson/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Midwestern, Western states in spotlight after mystery flying objects shot down by military

By: and - February 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — Military posts in Midwestern and Western states played key roles in the unprecedented downings of multiple unmanned aerial objects over the North American continent this weekend. Members of Congress and governors from the states involved and from both parties have shared information about the downings on Twitter and in statements, in some cases […]

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) questions members of a panel testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on China’s high altitude balloon surveillance efforts against the United States on Feb. 9, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Members of both houses of Congress also received closed-door briefings on the recent incident today. Also pictured are committee chairman Sen. Jon Tester (L) (D-MT) and Sen. Susan Collins (R) (R-ME). (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

China balloon’s voyage across Alaska, Montana and U.S. enrages members of U.S. Senate panel

By: - February 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators grilled Pentagon officials Thursday on why a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was permitted to fly over Alaska and across the lower 48 states before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina. The Senate Committee on Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, led by Montana Democrat Jon Tester, featured […]

Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP

By: and - February 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bixpartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]

A Chinese balloon flies above Billings, Montana, on Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Chase Doak, Special to States Newsroom)

Chinese surveillance balloon now drifting across the middle of the U.S., Pentagon confirms

By: - February 3, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will postpone his planned trip to Beijing after the U.S. detected a Chinese surveillance balloon hovering over Montana. A senior State Department official said Friday that despite the Chinese government claiming the balloon had entered U.S. airspace accidentally, its presence was a “clear violation of sovereignty.” The […]

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Washington Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, held a roundtable on Jan. 25, 2023, on the role of social media platforms in the sale of illicit drugs, specifically fentanyl-laced drugs. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media

By: - January 25, 2023

WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment.  Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up.  He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]

(Getty Images photo)

Ukrainians by the thousands arrive in states, but with a time limit

By: - January 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — As the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches next month, Ukrainians who were welcomed to the United States under a special program offering an escape from war are watching another timeline.  The temporary Uniting for Ukraine program, sometimes called U4U, offers a two-year stay in the U.S., given that individuals […]

U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) receives the gavel from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) after McCarthy was elected Speaker in the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 7, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. House GOP backs rules plan without disclosing deals made with hard-right members

By: and - January 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adopted rules for the 118th Congress on Monday, though several of the concessions Speaker Kevin McCarthy made with more conservative members of the Republican Party to secure the gavel weren’t included in the document, or publicly circulated ahead of the vote.  The 55-page rules package the House voted nearly party-line […]

U.S. House GOP backs McCarthy as speaker after tense and chaotic late-night session

By: and - January 6, 2023

This story has been updated. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House elected Kevin McCarthy speaker early Saturday after most of the chamber’s Republicans finally gathered behind him, ending a four-day stalemate that led to the most rounds of voting for a speaker since before the Civil War.  The California Republican was able to clinch the gavel […]

California Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy heads to the U.S. House chamber just after noon on Jan. 5, 2023, as the House began another day of votes on his bid to become speaker. "We're just going to keep working until we solve it," he told reporters. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

U.S. House stuck for a third day as Republicans struggle to unite around a speaker

By: and - January 5, 2023

This story has been updated. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned Thursday again without a speaker, racking up five more ballots throughout the day before members left the floor shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern, with some decamping to closed-door negotiations and others leaving the Capitol. “I am not a part of any negotiations,” Colorado’s Lauren […]

U.S. Rep.-elect Steve Scalise (R-LA) (R) talks to Rep.-elect Ken Buck (R-CO) in the House Chambers on the second day of elections for speaker of the House at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 4, 2023 in Washington, D.C. The House of Representatives is meeting to vote for the next speaker after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) failed to earn more than 218 votes on three separate Tuesday ballots, the first time in 100 years that the speaker was not elected on the first ballot. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

U.S. House paralyzed following second day of GOP failure to elect a speaker

By: and - January 4, 2023

This story has been updated. WASHINGTON — The U.S. House adjourned without a speaker for the second day in a row Wednesday as Republicans’ stalemate over who should lead the chamber for the next two years dragged on, with Kevin McCarthy failing to get the votes needed to become speaker on three more ballots. The […]