Legislative Branch

Not yet 100 days into the new Congress, the legislative branch has become an increasingly unsettled place.
The critical coronavirus relief bill got closer to passage after Senate leaders and key moderate Sen. Joe Manchin struck a deal on jobless benefits.
President Joe Biden's pick to lead the White House budget office has run into a series of troubles since her nomination was announced.
Earmarks have a long and fraught history in Washington and were banned in 2011 after several high-profile corruption scandals.
It is officially budget reconciliation season, as Senate Democrats look to pass another coronavirus relief bill.
Democrats, asserting constitutional authority to set the time, place and manner of federal elections, want national rules they say would make voting more fair.
The Senate's voted 84-10 to confirm Avril Haines as the president's director of national intelligence, after having three Democratic senators sworn into office.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint Democrat Alex Padilla to fill the vacancy.
The Republican leader has rejected a Democratic push for him to call the Senate into an emergency session.
With tight runoffs in Georgia, the party is poised to win control of the Senate, but by the thinnest of margins.