Politics
Progressives try to persuade Biden to use the 14th Amendment to resolve debt crisis
WASHINGTON — Progressives are pushing hard for President Joe Biden to take the unprecedented step of invoking the 14th Amendment as a way to avoid financial calamity if the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy do not strike a deal on the debt ceiling in the coming days. The lawmakers and legal scholars argue […]
Senate Republicans willing to return the last day of session as walkout persists
Oregon Senate Republicans on Tuesday declared they’re willing to return to the floor to pass bipartisan legislation and budget bills on June 25, the final day of the session. Senators continued to participate in the GOP-led walkout on Tuesday, boycotting the floor session for the 15th day and preventing the Senate from reaching the two-thirds […]
Biden and McCarthy strike positive tone after debt limit talks, but no deal yet
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 […]
Attorney General Rosenblum recuses herself from investigation into Oregon Democratic Party’s cryptocurrency donor
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat, has recused herself from a criminal investigation into the cryptocurrency executive who gave the Democratic Party of Oregon $500,000 under a false name. Rosenblum’s communications director, Roy Kaufmann, told the Capital Chronicle in an email that Deputy Attorney General Lisa Udland will oversee the department’s investigation into Nishad Singh, […]
Gov. Kotek calls Senate Republicans ‘disrespectful’ after closed-door meetings
Gov. Tina Kotek spent about two hours listening to Republican and Democratic senators in separate closed-door meetings in the Capitol building on Monday as the GOP-led walkout that started May 3 continued to stall the Senate. Kotek entered the Senate majority office to visit with Democrats at noon, on the heels of a meeting she […]
Oregon food workers union targets Rep. Paul Holvey for recall
This article was updated at 9:45 a.m. May 23 with comments from Rep. Paul Holvey. Oregon’s largest private sector union is targeting one of the Legislature’s top-ranking Democrats for recall. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 has long had a close relationship with Democratic politicians, spending tens of thousands on recent legislative campaigns and […]
Here’s what Oregon’s controversial abortion, gender-affirming care bill would do
Senate Republicans are more than two weeks into a quorum-denying walkout that’s partially intended to block a vote on a Democratic bill over abortion and transgender health care. The 46-page House Bill 2002 is an omnibus measure with dozens of provisions related to reproductive and transgender health care, including protecting doctors from prosecution, mandating insurance […]
Biden says he’s offered $1 trillion in spending cuts but GOP won’t budge on debt limit
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 […]
A default on the U.S. debt would be far worse than a government shutdown. Here’s how.
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 […]
WA passes climate goals for crypto and data centers while OR’s effort fails
Proposals in Oregon and Washington to regulate carbon emissions tied to crypto mining and data centers took opposite paths during the 2023 legislative session. In Washington, House Bill 1416 sailed through the House and Senate with relative ease and was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee earlier this month. The new law mandates that customers of […]
Election officials fine Oregon Democratic Party, seek criminal investigation into cryptocurrency executive
Oregon election officials will fine the Democratic Party of Oregon $15,000 and ask the state attorney general to investigate the cryptocurrency executive who gave the party $500,000 last year under a false name. Thursday’s announcement from the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office followed a seven-month investigation into the $500,000 contribution made by […]
Appeals court judges embrace anti-abortion speculation
America’s major medical institutions and drug policy scholars have roundly denounced as “pseudoscience” many of the claims brought by anti-abortion groups in a high-profile federal lawsuit asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one half of a two-drug regimen that has become the most common form of pregnancy termination […]