JEFF MERKLEY

Voters in four states have approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime.

A tropic storm and absences of VIP guests are casting a shadow over a financial conference meant to help Hong Kong restore its image as a financial hub and destination for business travel.

In a surprise victory for Republicans, the Senate on Thursday voted to overturn a Biden administration rule requiring rigorous environmental review of major infrastructure projects such as highways, pipelines and oil wells — a victory enabled in part by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

President Joe Biden is hailing a nascent Democratic package of climate, health care and tax initiatives as a giant step forward for the country.

President Joe Biden is promising “strong executive action” to combat climate change, despite setbacks that have restricted his ability to regulate carbon emissions and boost clean energy such as wind and solar power.

Questions posed about the safety of tear gas remain unanswered, even after more than a dozen U.S. senators asked a congressional watchdog to look into the issue.

The Interior Department says it will phase out sales of plastic water bottles and other single-use products at national parks and on other public lands over the next decade, targeting a major source of U.S. pollution.

A federal judge has scheduled a trial for a far-right internet troll who balked at pleading guilty to a criminal charge stemming from the U.S. Capitol riot.

Proposals to ban stock trading by lawmakers are gaining ground in Congress and on the campaign trail.

Home-district projects for members of Congress are back, sprinkled across the government-wide $1.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden signed recently.

U_S_ officials say the Biden administration intends to declare that Myanmar's years-long repression of the Rohingya Muslim population is a “genocide.”.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added a contaminated island on the Columbia River to the Superfund list of toxic waste sites.

The arrest of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández and the images of a leader shackled and paraded before cameras like a common criminal are a stunning reversal for a man who for years seemed impervious to growing allegations of corruption.

The Senate has confirmed more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden administration nominees after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

For many rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, self-incriminating messages, photos and videos that they broadcast on social media before, during and after the riot are influencing even the sentences in their criminal cases.

Two Senate Democrats said Friday they oppose the reappointment of Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, as President Joe Biden is expected to announce within days who he will pick for the nation’s most powerful economic position.

At least five people charged in the riot at the U.S. Capitol have chosen to defend themselves in court.

U.S. envoy John Kerry is on a diplomatic quest to stave off the worst scenarios of global warming, but he's running into resistance from China, the world’s biggest climate polluter.

After the success that Democrats in Georgia had in 2020, the Deep South battleground is working with other Southern states to help expand Democrats' national footprint.

Texas Republicans have again authorized using law enforcement to find Democrats who are still refusing to come back to the state Capitol in a bid to stop new voting restrictions.

Texas Democrats are still refusing to return to the state Capitol.

Top congressional Democrats huddled with President Joe Biden, looking to salvage their push to enact voting rights legislation.

Environmental groups hailed a sweeping $3.5 trillion domestic spending plan announced by Democrats, saying it would make “transformational investments” in clean energy and put the nation on a path to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 50% by 2030.

Six decades after University of California forestry professor Harold Biswell experimented with prescribed burns and was treated with ridicule, he is seen as someone whose ideas could save the U.S. West’s forests and ease wildfire dangers.

The Democrats' sweeping attempt to rewrite U.S. election and voting law has suffered a major setback in the U.S. Senate.

As the nation this week made Juneteenth a federal holiday, lawmakers are reviving calls to end a loophole in the Constitution that has allowed another form of slavery to endure.

A Chicago police officer has been charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol and entering a senator’s office during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has fresh options for advancing President Joe Biden’s priorities over Republican obstruction in the 50-50 split Senate.

With a powerful new tool, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has fresh options for advancing President Joe Biden’s priorities over Republican obstruction in the 50-50 split Senate.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)TEGUCIGALPÁ – TEGUCIGALPÁHonduran President Juan Orlando Hernández says that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false testimony” accusing him of cooperating with traffickers. Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors filed documents in an upcoming trial suggesting the president himself was under investigation. One of his numerous brothers, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was convicted in New York of a drug conspiracy in 2019.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)TEGUCIGALPÁ – TEGUCIGALPÁHonduran President Juan Orlando Hernández warned Wednesday that antinarcotics cooperation with the United States could “collapse” if U.S. authorities believe “false testimony” in U.S. courts accusing him of cooperating with traffickers. He suggested that traffickers were trying to manipulate U.S. authorities into helping them take vengeance on the Honduran officials pursuing them. One of his numerous brothers, Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández, was convicted in New York of a drug conspiracy in 2019.

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2019 file photo, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez speaks to the reporters as he leaves a meeting at the Organization of American States, in Washington. Newly proposed U.S. legislation introduced Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, targets Orlando Hernandez as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)MEXICO CITY – Newly proposed U.S. legislation targets Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow. As the administration of President Joe Biden seeks to return the issues of corruption and human rights to relations with Honduras and other Central American countries, a group of Democratic senators says the U.S. government’s relationship with Honduras must change. Under the administration of President Donald Trump, immigration overshadowed everything else in the relationship.

A week after President Joe Biden signed executive orders intended to combat the worst effects of global warming, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers urged him to go even further and declare a national emergency on climate change. “If there ever was an emergency, climate is one,'' the New York Democrat told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow last week, adding that an emergency declaration would give Biden “more flexibility.'' The sweeping plan is aimed at staving off the worst of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels. Sanders said the climate emergency has long been clear. But Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy panel, said declaring a climate emergency would effectively “muzzle Congress.''

This was a big day, especially for the House and Senate leadership lane, one of my specialties. Smith Goes to Washington” you've seen my work area since a press gallery scene from the movie was filmed there more than 70 years ago. (The Senate chamber, however, was a soundstage). The mob was out of the building by then and, strangely, it almost seemed boring, waiting for the Capitol to be declared safe. The Daily Press Gallery where I work had not been breached.

Violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Wednesday, disrupting the process. One Republican lawmaker publicly called for invoking the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office before Biden is inaugurated. The support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices. The Pentagon said about 1,100 District of Columbia National Guard members were being mobilized to help support law enforcement at the Capitol.

FILE - This Nov. 29, 2011, file photo shows the signature of president Abraham Lincoln on a rare, restored copy of the 13th Amendment that ended slavery, in Chicago. As ratified, the original amendment has permitted exploitation of labor by convicted felons for over 155 years since the abolition of slavery. Constitutional amendments are rare and require approval by two-thirds of the House and Senate, as well as ratification by three-quarters of state legislatures. In Merkley’s Oregon, voters in 2002 approved the elimination of constitutional language that prohibited Black Americans from living in the state unless they were enslaved. The prevalence of prison labor has been largely accepted as a means for promoting rehabilitation, teaching trade skills and reducing idleness among prisoners.

The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018. Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

(AP Photo/Noah Berger)The Portland Police Bureau declared an unlawful assembly Saturday night when people gathered outside a police precinct in Oregon's largest city and threw bottles toward officers, police said. Speakers included activists as well as Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. For the first time since the presence of federal agents in Portland diminished law enforcement and protesters noticeably clashed Saturday night. Just before 10 p.m., Portland police declared an unlawful assembly and told people to disperse or they may be subject to use of force or be arrested. In early July, President Donald Trump sent more federal agents to the city to protect the federal courthouse, but local officials said their presence made things worse.

At a time of unprecedented gridlock, even some fellow Democrats warn Biden's lengthy to-do list faces long odds in Congress. If Democrats win the White House, they would need to pick up three seats in the Senate to retake the majority. As a 36-year veteran of the Senate, Biden has been reluctant to end its traditions. More fundamentally, Biden would face resistance from most Republicans and some Democrats because of the steep cost of his proposals. The one thing I know about Joe Biden, hes always been willing to sit down and negotiate, Manchin said.

State leaders are imploring federal forces to leave the progressive city, saying they're escalating a volatile situation. Parker was charged with pointing a semi-automatic rifle at armed federal agents but ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Kate Brown has compared the presence of federal agents at the Portland protests to pouring gasoline on a fire. The idea that now federal agents are storm-troopers of death I find quite hypocritical." They surrendered as federal agents moved in Feb. 10.

WASHINGTON The Senate on Thursday joined the House in defying a veto threat from President Donald Trump to approve defense legislation that would remove the names of Confederate officers from American military bases such as Fort Bragg and Fort Benning. The Senate approved the annual policy measure, 86-14, a margin that suggests more than enough support to override a potential Trump veto. The White House said in a statement this week that it supports the overall spending figure but expressed serious concerns about the House bill, including the mandate on base renaming. President Trump is deploying dangerous authoritarian tactics on our streets as a twisted campaign strategy,'' Merkley said in a statement explaining his vote against the defense bill. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., called Merkley's proposal nothing more than "political messaging ... designed to exploit violence in the streets for political gain and defeat President Trump.''

Federal officers deployed tear gas and fired less-lethal rounds into a crowd of protesters late Thursday. The actions came just hours after the head of the Department of Homeland Security called the protesters violent anarchists. Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and some wearing dark Homeland Security uniforms, used tear gas at least twice to break up crowds late Friday night, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said Friday night she was also suing Homeland Security and the Marshals Service. Federal officers deployed tear gas again just before midnight after a few protesters placed dismantled fencing in front of plywood doors covering the entrance of the federal courthouse.

John Moore/Getty Images(CNN) - Senate Democrats urged President Donald Trump to revise the proposed refugee ceiling of 18,000, a figure which would be a historic low, in a letter addressed to the president Friday. Under Trump, the administration has slowly chipped away at the refugee cap. The State Department announced the proposed refugee ceiling Thursday as part of a larger number of combined refugee and asylum claims expected for the next fiscal year. Acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli defended the cap Friday and the proposed categories. The administration is required to consult with Congress on the ceiling, although the President makes the final determination.

Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON (CNN) - The House will vote later this month on a bipartisan bill that will allow cannabis businesses access to the federal banking system. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer intends to bring the SAFE Banking Act to the House floor for a vote this month, his office confirmed to CNN. A companion bill in the Senate, introduced by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, has yet to be voted out of the Senate Banking Committee. The committee, however, held a hearing in late July on the challenges faced by the cannabis industry in banking, and considered the SAFE Banking Act. Committee Chair Mike Crapo, who does not support the federal legalization of marijuana, told Politico he would hold a vote on cannabis banking legislation, but he left open whether he would work off the SAFE Banking Act.