Author

Jacob Fischler

Jacob Fischler

Jacob covers federal policy as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Vice President Kamala Harris looks on as President Joe Biden delivers remarks about border security policies in the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Jan. 5, 2023. Biden is planning to visit the U.S.-Mexico border while on a two-day summit meeting in Mexico City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden administration to rapidly expel more migrants at the border, add legal pathways

By: and - January 5, 2023

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Thursday announced dual immigration strategies that would increase expulsions of migrants who attempt to cross the Southern border, while also expanding opportunities for migrants from several countries to legally enter the United States. But the sweeping new immigration plan brought condemnation from advocates who said he should not broaden […]

Members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol hold their last public meeting in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 19, 2022, in Washington, D.C. The voted to refer criminal charges to the Justice Department. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump fixation on Wisconsin, Ginni Thomas text regrets and more from the Jan. 6 panel

By: - January 4, 2023

In the final weeks of 2022, the Democrat-led U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, attack on the Capitol disclosed thousands of pages of transcripts of interviews the panel’s members and staff conducted with key witnesses. The transcripts were central to a committee report released in December that held Donald Trump responsible for the 2021 […]

U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability

By: and - December 23, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever again. The report caps 18 months of […]

Members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol hold their last public meeting in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 19, 2022, in Washington, D.C. The voted to refer criminal charges to the Justice Department. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. House Jan. 6 panel refers Trump for criminal charges, including inciting insurrection

By: - December 19, 2022

The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in a historic vote agreed unanimously Monday to refer former President Donald Trump and others to the Justice Department for potential criminal charges, including inciting or aiding an insurrection. Trump associates, including attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro and White House Chief […]

In this photo illustration, a mobile phone can be seen displaying the logos for Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok in front of a monitor showing the flags of the United States and China on an internet page in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate votes to bar TikTok from government devices as state bans multiply

By: - December 16, 2022

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate late Wednesday unanimously passed a bill to ban federal employees from downloading TikTok on their work phones. Critics of TikTok, a widely popular social media platform, say the app creates national security concerns because of its ability to track users’ data — and because the Chinese government can compel that […]

People visit a makeshift memorial near the Club Q nightclub on Nov. 21, 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. On Saturday evening, a 22-year-old gunman entered the LGBTQ nightclub and opened fire, killing five people and injuring 25 others before being stopped by club patrons. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Club Q survivors at U.S. House hearing denounce anti-LGBTQ rhetoric

By: - December 14, 2022

Survivors of a deadly attack at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs and other advocates told a U.S. House panel Wednesday that political rhetoric and policy fights dehumanize LGBTQ people and contribute to such violence. Democrats and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee largely sympathized with the survivors, but drew different conclusions […]

FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation

By: - December 13, 2022

Members of a U.S. House committee disagreed at a Tuesday hearing about whether more aggressive federal regulation would have protected customers from the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX and the alleged fraud of its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried. Lawmakers at the four-hour House Financial Services Committee hearing appeared to view the unfolding scandal around Bankman-Fried, arrested […]

Argonaut Wharf near Campbell River is the primary export port for the Myra Falls mine in Strathcona Provincial Park in British Columbia. (Alex Ratson via Getty Images)

Tribes seek U.S. help to curb Canadian mining threats to Northwestern states

By: - December 9, 2022

Indigenous leaders from the Northwest renewed their call this week for the federal government to pressure Canada to stop additional mining activity in British Columbia, which they say contaminates waters and threatens Native American ways of life in Alaska, Montana and Idaho. As British Columbia plans to expand its profitable coal, copper and gold mining […]

Attempt to help states ease banking for marijuana businesses stumbles in Congress

By: - December 8, 2022

The annual Defense Department policy bill members of Congress released late Tuesday did not include measures to loosen federal marijuana restrictions, to the disappointment of advocates. That leaves few avenues to pass marijuana measures seen as boons to states where the drug is legal before Congress adjourns for the year. As one of the last […]

U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky

By: - November 30, 2022

The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]

Little appetite for Manchin permitting bill in congressional lame-duck session

By: - November 23, 2022

Among the items on Congress’ lengthy to-do list by the end of the year is U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposal to speed up the federal government’s permitting process that certifies energy projects do not harm the environment. But the bill, which was a condition of the centrist West Virginia Democrat’s support for his party’s larger […]

U.S. Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) won reelection and helped clinch the U.S. House Majority for the Republican Party. In this 2020 photo he is joined by fellow House Republicans while introducing their proposed legislative agenda.(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republicans win control of the U.S. House with 218th seat

By: - November 16, 2022

Republicans clinched a majority in the U.S. House on Wednesday night after a Republican won reelection to a California seat that put the GOP over the top, according to Associated Press projections. Though not as decisive a victory as GOP leaders had hoped, Republican candidates flipped key seats in New York, Virginia, Oregon and Arizona […]