Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended a more than 12% proposed cut to his department's budget and dodged arrows from angry Democrats as he kicked off an expected sprint of seven hearings in Congress over the next seven days.

Republican lawmakers are blaming Canada for not preventing and containing wildfires, whose smoke has fouled the air in several states this year.

The only Black, all-female unit to serve in Europe during World War II, known as the “Six Triple Eight,” has been presented with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Democrats are quick to say that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are horrible, awful, terrible.

The Congressional Black Caucus has become a bedrock of support for President Joe Biden as he faces calls from congressional Democrats to stand down as the party's presidential nominee in November.

Scorching weather hitting nearly 100 million people across a huge swath of the U.S. has killed a child left in a hot van and is sending schools and outdoor workers scrambling to adjust.

In Wisconsin's tight U.S. Senate race, Democrat Mandela Barnes' chances to unseat two-term Sen. Ron Johnson may rest with how well he turns out Black voters who don't always show up in big numbers.

The House has voted to award the only all-female, Black unit to serve in Europe during World War II with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reporters have been given a glimpse of life on a Wisconsin Army post for newly arrived Afghan refugees.

Sen. Ron Johnson is in an uncomfortable class of his own.

Republicans are attacking the Democrats $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package as too costly, economically damaging and overtly partisan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – Democrats pushed half of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan through a House committee Thursday, advancing $1,400 payments for millions of Americans and other initiatives that Republicans call too costly, economically damaging and brazenly partisan. Democratic leaders hope for House passage later this month, with Senate approval and a bill on Biden’s desk by mid-March. Republicans’ amendments spotlighted what they see as political soft spots they can exploit. And while the GOP amendments were beaten back, they forced Democrats to take positions that could tee up GOP campaign ads for the 2022 elections.

State health officials said Tuesday that the variant was found in a man in his 20s who is in isolation southeast of Denver and has no travel history. Health officials have said the vaccines being given now are thought to be effective against the variant. — A former Louisiana state lawmaker and his wife died from COVID-19 on the same day. ___OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City fire department says a firefighter, whose nephew became the first department employee to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, died of the virus after being infected while responding to a call. In the Upstate area of the state, COVID-19 infection rates continue to outpace every other part of South Carolina.

There, Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr., gave an impassioned call for changing a system he described as fostering police brutality and racial inequities. ... Hell yeah, Im mad," said Blake Sr. Blake Sr. told reporters on Saturday that his son is heavily sedated, but he has regained consciousness. Protesters have marched in Kenosha every night since Blake's shooting, with some protests devolving into unrest with damage to buildings and vehicles. But, she said, Blake's shooting shows it can happen anywhere.Will Turner, who is Black, said he brought his two children from Madison for the march to show them the power of peaceful protesting.Investigators have said little about what led to Blake's shooting.

Wisconsin, where Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, joins newly emerging battleground Arizona as the first two states where Biden has named his campaign team. Two veterans of Sen. Tammy Baldwins successful 2018 reelection campaign will run Bidens Wisconsin operation. Shirley Ellis, a longtime adviser to U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, will join Biden team as a strategic adviser focused on Milwaukee. She will join Bidens campaign formally after the August convention, according to the campaign. The Wisconsin team, especially, is intended to show that the Biden campaigns talk of a wide map isnt at the exclusion of traditional battlegrounds.