Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department to announce the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents held by President Joe Biden at an office and his home on Jan. 12, 2023, in Washington, D.C. Garland announced that former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert Hur was appointed as special counsel for the investigation. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. attorney general names special counsel for classified docs found in Biden’s garage

By: and - January 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The White House revealed Thursday morning that more classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president were discovered outside of secure government facilities, this time in the garage at his Wilmington, Delaware, home.  The files have since been turned over to the U.S. Justice Department, which opened a special counsel investigation […]

A gas pump is seen situated while pumping gas at a Shell gas station on April 1, 2022, in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

U.S. House passes legislation barring sales of strategic reserve oil to China

By: - January 12, 2023

U.S. House Republicans wrapped up their first week in the majority Thursday by passing with bipartisan support a bill to prohibit the Energy Department from selling the nation’s stockpile of crude oil to China or affiliated entities. The bill, written by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, would prevent […]

An aerial view of the American flags flying over an international bridge as immigrants line up next to the U.S.-Mexico border fence to seek asylum on Dec. 22, 2022, in El Paso, Texas. A spike in the number of migrants seeking asylum in the United States has challenged local, state and federal authorities. The numbers are expected to increase as the fate of the Title 42 authority to expel migrants remains in limbo pending a Supreme Court decision expected after Christmas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Biden administration to rapidly expel more migrants at the border, add legal pathways

By: and - January 5, 2023

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border, while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from advocates who said he should not broaden […]

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 28: Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on June 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. The bipartisan committee, which has been gathering evidence for almost a year related to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, is presenting its findings in a series of televised hearings. On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building during an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for President Joe Biden. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Trump fixation on Wisconsin, Ginni Thomas text regrets and more from the Jan. 6 panel

By: - January 5, 2023

In the final weeks of 2022, the Democrat-led U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol disclosed thousands of pages of transcripts of interviews the panel’s members and staff conducted with key witnesses. The transcripts were central to a committee report released in December that held Donald Trump responsible for the 2021 […]

A pro-Trump mob breaks into the U.S. Capitol on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability

By: and - December 23, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever again. The report caps 18 months of […]

(Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

TikTok ban for federal workers close to becoming law, following flurry of state bans

By: - December 21, 2022

A ban on federal employees using TikTok on their government-issued phones is on track to become law after Congress included the provision in the year-end government funding bill released early Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s legislation barring the popular social media platform from federal devices was one of several bills attached to the spending measure, the […]

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: Members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol hold its last public meeting in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee is expected to approve its final report and vote on referring charges to the Justice Department. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. House Jan. 6 panel refers Trump for criminal charges, including inciting insurrection

By: - December 19, 2022

The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in a historic vote agreed unanimously Monday to refer former President Donald Trump and others to the Justice Department for potential criminal charges, including inciting or aiding an insurrection. Trump associates, including attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro and White House Chief […]

John J. Ray III, CEO of FTX Group, testifies during the House Financial Services Committee hearing titled Investigating the Collapse of FTX Part I, on Dec. 13, 2022, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Ray took over the FTX after the resignation of Sam Bankman-Fried. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation

By: - December 13, 2022

Members of a U.S. House committee disagreed at a Tuesday hearing about whether more aggressive federal regulation would have protected customers from the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX and the alleged fraud of its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried. Lawmakers at the four-hour House Financial Services Committee hearing appeared to view the unfolding scandal around Bankman-Fried, arrested […]

Argonaut Wharf near Campbell River, British Columbia, is the primary export port for the Myra Falls mine in Strathcona Provincial Park, on Oct. 31, 2021. Myra Falls primarily mines minerals such as zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold which after being processed is exported from Canada to Asia via freighter ship. (Photo by Alex Ratson via Getty Images)

Tribes seek U.S. help to curb Canadian mining threats to Northwestern states

By: - December 9, 2022

Indigenous leaders from the Northwest renewed their call this week for the federal government to pressure Canada to stop additional mining activity in British Columbia, which they say contaminates waters and threatens Native American ways of life in Alaska, Montana and Idaho. As British Columbia plans to expand its profitable coal, copper and gold mining […]

A marijuana activist holds a flag during a march on Independence Day on July 4, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Attempt to help states ease banking for marijuana businesses stumbles in Congress

By: - December 8, 2022

The annual Defense Department policy bill members of Congress released late Tuesday did not include measures to loosen federal marijuana restrictions, to the disappointment of advocates. That leaves few avenues to pass marijuana measures seen as boons to states where the drug is legal before Congress adjourns for the year. As one of the last […]

CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill Dec. 8, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Despite FTX fallout, some U.S. House members still skeptical about crypto regulation

By: - December 3, 2022

Nearly nine months after a bipartisan group of U.S. House members sent a letter questioning the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation into cryptocurrencies, including the failed FTX exchange, the lawmakers are maintaining their position that the agency’s approach to regulating crypto is deeply flawed. In public comments since FTX’s collapse last month, the congressmen, led […]

In an aerial view, freight rail cars sit in a rail yard near shipping containers on Nov. 22, 2022, in Wilmington, California. A national rail strike could occur as soon as Dec. 5 after the nation’s largest freight rail union, SMART Transportation Division, voted to reject the Biden administration’s contract deal. About 30% of the nation’s freight is moved by rail with the Association of American Railroads estimating that a nationwide shutdown could cause $2 billion a day in economic losses. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky

By: - November 30, 2022

The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]