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.

(Getty Images photo)

Social Security trustees predict benefit cuts in 2033 without congressional action

By: - March 31, 2023

WASHINGTON — Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits in 2033, a year earlier than previously expected, according to a report released Friday.  The updated projections, in the annual trustee report, mean that without action to stabilize the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, Social Security would have enough money to […]

U.S. Capitol is seen in an undated photo. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

U.S. Senate in bipartisan vote repeals decades-old Iraq war authorizations

By: - March 29, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators revoked their approval for the Gulf and Iraq wars on Wednesday, taking a broadly bipartisan vote to repeal the Authorizations for Use of Military Force that have stayed on the books years after the two wars ended.  The 66-30 vote sends the measure to the U.S. House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy […]

Baby formula is offered for sale at a big box store on January 13, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Baby formula has been is short supply in many stores around the country for several months. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Infant formula crisis could recur, former FDA official tells Congress

By: - March 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday debated if enough has changed to prevent a repeat of the infant formula shortage, more than a year after a nationwide crisis began.  The U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services heard from two experts that while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration […]

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisconsin, speaks about the economic impacts of a possible debt default by the federal government during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, March 23, 2023. L-R, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York (behind Moor), Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota and Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

Democratic report on U.S. debt default predicts disrupted benefits for seniors, veterans

By: - March 23, 2023

WASHINGTON — Congress’ Joint Economic Committee released a report Thursday detailing the economic repercussions of defaulting on the nation’s debt, adding fuel to the fire as Democrats pressed Republicans to address the nation’s borrowing limit without tying action to spending cuts. The report, from Democratic staff on the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee, says that a […]

A vaccine dose is prepared at a mass vaccination site in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, in 2021. (Maryland Executive Office of the Governor photo)

Moderna plan to hike COVID vaccine price to $130 a dose rebuked at U.S. Senate hearing

By: - March 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — The CEO of Moderna on Wednesday defended the company’s decision to drastically increase the price of its COVID-19 vaccine later this year, arguing that an expected drop in demand, changes to its distribution process and the overall benefit of the vaccine warrant the higher cost.  That decision was met with bipartisan condemnation from […]

U.S. Capitol (Photo by Russ Rohde/Getty Images)

Biden administration details potential cuts in education, food aid and more under GOP plan

By: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management.  The series of letters from across the federal government released Monday detail exactly how plans to cut at least $130 billion in domestic spending during […]

U.S. Senate moves toward repealing authority for military force against Iraq

By: - March 17, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate took a broadly bipartisan vote Thursday to advance legislation that would end the 32-year-old and the 20-year-old Authorizations for Use of Military Force against Iraq.  The 68-27 vote moves the measure past the chamber’s 60-vote legislative filibuster and towards a final passage vote as soon as next week. House Republican […]

Marines refuel an MV-22B Osprey at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, after completing an exercise flight, Jan. 28, 2021. (Photo by Senior Airman Andrew Bertain/U.S. Space Force)

Pentagon to halt use of firefighting foam that contains PFAS as cleanup costs mount

By: and - March 16, 2023

WASHINGTON — Battered by years of criticism from U.S. lawmakers and environmental advocates, the Department of Defense will stop purchasing PFAS-containing firefighting foam later this year and phase it out entirely in 2024.  The replacement for Aqueous Film Forming Foam has yet to be determined, and advocates are frustrated it’s taken so long to halt […]

A view of the Treasury Department building in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 2022. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)

Economist warns that ‘heightened dysfunction’ in Congress raises risk of debt default

By: - March 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Economists on Tuesday urged Congress to address the debt limit quickly, cautioning that simply because U.S. lawmakers have successfully brokered deals before doesn’t mean they will be able to this year. “There is a temptation to brush off the developing debt limit drama, thinking it will end the same way as the others […]

People protest in response to the Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Court's decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health overturns the landmark 50-year-old Roe v Wade case and erases a federal right to an abortion. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

How the judge who could ban the abortion pill won confirmation in the U.S. Senate

By: - February 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. District Court judge who could end more than two decades of legal access to medication abortion underwent extensive questioning about LGBTQ equality at his December 2017 confirmation hearing — and very little about his views on abortion. Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump earlier in 2017, spent much […]

The U.S. Capitol Building is seen on October 22, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Bipartisan group predicts U.S. debt default as soon as summer, depending on tax receipts

By: - February 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan think tank expects that the United States will default on its debt in the summer or early fall, if Congress doesn’t take action to address the debt limit before then.  The timeline is similar to one the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released last week, saying lawmakers have until sometime between July […]

U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, is shown here with his family in a photo released by the Iowa Air National Guard in 2020. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Michael J. Kelly/Iowa Air National Guard)

Military records for Iowa, Nebraska congressmen incorrectly released by Air Force

By: - February 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force unintentionally released military personnel records of at least two members of Congress — Republican Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska and Zach Nunn of Iowa — eliciting frustration and concerns for veterans’ privacy.  “The recent targeting of Members of Congress’s personnel military records, the breach of sensitive data, and the […]