Author
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.
Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
U.S. attorney general says DOJ asked for public release of search warrant for Trump estate
By: Jennifer Shutt - August 11, 2022
WASHINGTON — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice has moved to release the search warrant a federal judge issued earlier this week that allowed federal agents to enter former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. DOJ, Garland said, filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida […]
Biden signs bill aiding veterans exposed to toxic substances overseas
By: Jennifer Shutt - August 10, 2022
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed legislation into law Wednesday that will provide health care and benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq, achieving a long-term, personal goal. “I was in and out of Iraq over 20 times,” Biden said of prior trips to the war zone he took as both […]
Biden administration proposes changing how monkeypox vaccine is administered
By: Jennifer Shutt - August 9, 2022
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration began encouraging health care providers Tuesday to change the way they’re administering vaccines to protect against monkeypox, in an attempt to stretch out doses fivefold. The latest shift in strategy comes as the administration races to curtail the spread of the virus, which jumped from 778 cases one month ago […]
Four members of U.S. Senate unveil bipartisan bill ensuring nationwide abortion rights
By: Jennifer Shutt - August 1, 2022
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators released legislation Monday that would codify Roe v. Wade, ensuring pregnant patients throughout the country once again have the right to an abortion. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said the measure, called […]
‘These people don’t care’: U.S. Senate GOP stalls bill for veterans exposed to burn pits
By: Jennifer Shutt - July 29, 2022
WASHINGTON — Veterans and their advocates gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday for what was supposed to be a celebration, one day after a crucial Senate vote on bipartisan legislation that would expand health care and benefits to 3.5 million veterans exposed to burn pits during their deployments. The gathering instead became a forum […]
Manchin and Senate Democrats strike a deal on health, climate, tax package
By: Jacob Fischler and Jennifer Shutt - July 28, 2022
WASHINGTON — West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer struck an agreement Wednesday for a Democrats-only reconciliation package that would allow negotiations on some Medicare prescription drugs, end corporate tax loopholes and address climate change as well as invest in energy projects. President Joe Biden in a statement on […]
GOP support for same-sex marriage protections builds in U.S. Senate
By: Jennifer Shutt - July 26, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate appears on track to send President Joe Biden a bill in the coming weeks that would guarantee same-sex and interracial couples can marry, even if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark cases that enshrined those rights. “I think we’re very close,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday of efforts […]
House passes bill guaranteeing contraception access
By: Jennifer Shutt - July 21, 2022
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted mostly along party lines Thursday to send the Senate legislation that would guarantee people the right to use contraception without government interference. The legislation from North Carolina Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning, approved 228-195, is part of the Democrats’ response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the constitutional right to an […]
Biden tests positive for COVID-19
By: Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa - July 21, 2022
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the White House announced Thursday morning. Biden, 79, is fully vaccinated against the virus and has twice received booster doses, according to the statement. He is taking Paxlovid, an antiviral prescription medication that is meant to reduce the severity of […]
U.S. Senate bills would ban fake electors, clear up Electoral College procedures
By: Jennifer Shutt and Hugh Jackson - July 20, 2022
WASHINGTON — In December 2020, Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald and five other party officials and activists gathered in Carson City and signed a phony election certificate that attempted to grant Nevada’s six electoral college votes to Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden beat Trump in Nevada. Their action got two of them – […]
U.S. House on bipartisan vote passes bill protecting right to same-sex marriage
By: Jennifer Shutt - July 19, 2022
WASHINGTON — Both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House voted Tuesday to enshrine the right to same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law, though the bill’s path forward in the Senate is unclear. The 267-157 bipartisan vote stemmed from concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn the constitutional right to an […]
Members of Congress arrested after protest for abortion rights in front of Supreme Court
By: Jennifer Shutt - July 19, 2022
WASHINGTON — More than a dozen members of Congress were arrested Tuesday alongside abortion rights activists after they sat down and blocked an intersection between the U.S. Capitol building and the Supreme Court to protest conservative justices’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The act of civil disobedience came as backers of abortion rights urge more […]