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.

Social media, trauma, hate speech add to youth mental health crisis, U.S. Senate panel told 

By: - June 8, 2023

U.S. senators agreed during a hearing Thursday the country’s children are going through a youth mental health crisis, though some of the committee’s members disagreed about what role Congress has to play. Senators detailed a complicated patchwork of issues that contribute to youth mental health challenges, including violence and trauma within schools and their communities, […]

The U.S. Capitol is seen on March 21, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

U.S. House approves debt limit package, sending it to Senate days before default deadline

By: - May 31, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House took a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday night on the debt limit package, sending it to the U.S. Senate where lawmakers are expected to vote quickly to clear the measure. The bill would suspend the nation’s borrowing limit through Jan. 1, 2025, and set caps on discretionary spending for two years. […]

The U.S. Capitol is seen on Sept. 14, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)

Debt limit deal hits turbulence in Congress as leaders prep for vote

By: and - May 30, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congress began moving the bipartisan debt limit package forward Tuesday, though frustrations with provisions in the bill could make for narrow passage in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats both aired their disappointment with the agreement forged over the weekend, but only GOP lawmakers are looking to possibly […]

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gives a speech on the economy at Fords Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on Sept. 8, 2022, in Dearborn, Michigan. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

Treasury secretary pinpoints June 5 as earliest date for U.S. debt default

By: - May 26, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress and the Biden administration have until at least June 5 to broker and enact a debt limit bill under new estimates from the Treasury Department, giving negotiators a few more days before the country would default. “Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, holds a press conference inside the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall on the debt limit and government spending negotiations on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

After years of bipartisan spending boosts, U.S. House GOP won’t lift debt ceiling without cuts

By: - May 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats in Congress together brokered dozens of debt limit agreements, including several during the past decade, marked by a desire in both political parties to increase federal spending. But U.S. House Republicans now are pushing for the federal government to spend less next year than it will this year in order […]

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks outside the White House following a meeting on the debt limit with President Joe Biden, on May 22, 2023. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet

By: and - May 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy left their closely watched meeting Monday without an agreement on government spending or the debt limit, prolonging a stalemate that could soon disrupt Americans’ everyday lives as well as the global economy.  Both struck a positive tone Monday, though neither divulged details about what remains unresolved […]

President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference following the Group of Seven (G-7) leaders summit on May 21, 2023, in Hiroshima, Japan. President Biden called Republican demands for sharp spending cuts unacceptable and said he'll talk with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about debt-ceiling and budget negotiations on his flight back from Japan. The G7 summit was held in Hiroshima from May 19-22. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota-Pool/Getty Images)

Biden says he’s offered $1 trillion in spending cuts but GOP won’t budge on debt limit

By: - May 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday his administration has offered $1 trillion in spending cuts as part of the ongoing talks with Republicans around a budget agreement, but he said no deal has yet been reached.  Biden, speaking from Japan during a press conference following the G7 summit, said his administration wants House Speaker […]

(Getty Images)

A default on the U.S. debt would be far worse than a government shutdown. Here’s how.

By: , , and - May 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — A U.S. default on its debt would have a significantly broader impact on federal operations, financial markets and the global economy than recent government shutdowns that have left ordinary Americans largely untouched. While the two have been confused frequently during debate over the debt limit, the federal government has had considerable practice with […]

The U.S. Capitol (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers

By: - May 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger the Federal […]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans is seen on May 17, 2023. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case

By: and - May 17, 2023

NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]

A patient receives her booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine during an Oakland County Health Department vaccination clinic at the Southfield Pavilion on August 24, 2021, in Southfield, Michigan.(Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images)

As the COVID public health emergency ends, prepping for a new pandemic is next

By: - May 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — After more than three years and 1.1 million deaths, the United States on Thursday will end the public health emergency for COVID-19 — and Congress is attempting to better prepare for a possible resurgence of that virus or another. The expiration of the designation, originally put in place in January 2020, means alterations […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speak outside the White House following a meeting on the debt limit with President Joe Biden and Democratic congressional leaders on May 9, 2023. McCarthy and McConnell are the Republican leaders of each chamber. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Biden and congressional leaders fail to reach a debt limit deal, but will meet again Friday

By: and - May 9, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and top congressional leaders were unable to reach a bipartisan debt limit agreement during a closed-door meeting Tuesday, leaving the dispute unresolved as the country moves closer to a default predicted as soon as early June.  White House staff and aides to the four congressional leaders, however, will meet throughout […]