At a time when a clear majority of Americans say they want Congress to enact stricter gun violence reduction measures, the ongoing inability of the narrowly divided U.S. Senate to pass even the simplest of gun violence laws leads to another mass shooting. Read more»

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has avoided public scrutiny like last year's fashions. One of her staffers will be at the Pima County supervisor's meeting Tuesday. This may be a rare chance for voters to vent to her. Read more»

U.S. Senate Democrats pledged a new vote codifying the right to an abortion after publication of a draft court ruling that showed the Supreme Court on track to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion decision. Read more»

President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address is set to focus significantly on the economy, with the former member of the U.S. Senate calling on Congress to pass much of the agenda stalled in the so-called Build Back Better bill. Read more»

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program - touted by members of Congress as a highly effective cash assistance program for low-income parents and kids - is a program distinguished by failure and no substitute for a monthly federal stipend for families with children. Read more»

Governors of both parties from throughout the United States met here over the weekend to try to speak on a unified front about what their states need from the federal government - but the waters were muddied by governors’ clearly divided political views about two major issues. Read more»

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer formally announced his retirement Thursday - and President Biden said he will make his decision by the end of February - recommitted to nominating the first Black female justice, fulfilling a promise he made repeatedly while campaigning. Read more»

Arizona is not the only state where political parties are taking their elected officials to task, a change that analysts and former lawmakers attribute to the politically polarized times and now almost a rite of passage for some prominent politicians. Read more»

A bipartisan group of senators is exploring legislation to overhaul how Congress counts Electoral College votes, but backers of stalled voting rights legislation are lukewarm on the effort as a substitute. Read more»

Arizona Democrats formally censured Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Saturday for her vote to preserve the filibuster and refusal to join her Democratic colleagues in carving out an exception to the 60-vote threshold to allow a voting rights bill to pass. Read more»

President Joe Biden said Wednesday the climate and child care provisions in his domestic spending agenda could still become law this year, even as the larger plan has stalled in the Senate over other items that Biden conceded may not pass — such as an expanded child tax credit. Read more»

The voting rights bill currently being considered by the Senate would standardize election laws across the country and restore provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But thanks to two Democratic senators, it doesn’t look like it’s going to pass. What does that mean for voting rights? Read more»

Legislation that would create new federal guidelines for mail-in and early voting and end partisan gerrymandering failed to overcome a filibuster from Republicans Wednesday night, despite a last-ditch attempt by Democrats to alter the Senate's rules to push through the legislation. Read more»

I think the real injustice is that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t survive long enough for her replacement to be someone who shares her values, and before Republicans and Donald Trump would be able to put a cult-dwelling lunatic in her seat. Read more»

Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Thursday said during a Senate floor speech that she believed any changes to the filibuster would continue to create political division, appearing to end a drive by Democrats to pass major voting rights legislation. Read more»