WASHINGTON - Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate on Thursday unveiled their plan to overhaul President Obama's 2010 health care law. Within hours, Texas' two Republican senators took opposite positions on the measure.
Senate Republicans unveiled their long-awaited health care overhaul proposal on Thursday. The Senate bill, called the "Better Care Reconciliation Act," would repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The broad outlines of it look a lot like the House bill, the American Health Care Act, which was passed in May.
Although President Trump has had a troubled relationship with big commercial lenders over the years, financial disclosure forms filed recently suggest he's still able to borrow money when he needs it.
While Trump's debts appear to be easily outweighed by his assets, government ethics experts say any sizable debt represents a potential conflict of interest for a president.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian meddling in the presidential election.
Former FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier today. Comey's testimony addressed his firing at the hands of President Trump and shed light on their relationship in his last days as the chief of the FBI.
Comey accused the White House of "lies, plain and simple" and expressed concern about Trump's attempts to sway the FBI's investigations into the administration's potential Russian ties.
Now, Trump's personal attorney is responding to the testimony. Watch a livestream of his comments above.
Former FBI Director James Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning. Comey was fired on May 9, after leading the FBI's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible ties between Russian intelligence and associates of President Donald Trump.
Gov. Greg Abbott has called for a special session of the Texas Legislature to begin July 18.
"Considering all the successes of the 85th legislative session, we should not be where we are today," he said. "A special session was entirely avoidable, and there was plenty of time for the Legislature to forge compromises to avoid the time and taxpayer expense of a special session."
Democratic House Rep. Dawnna Dukes of Austin was already in hot water at the start of the legislative session. She had walked back a promise to resign and, soon after, was indicted.
But members of the Travis County Democratic Party say she then failed to do a major part of her job: show up.
Last week, Texas made national news when state lawmakers got into a shouting match that escalated into shoving and even death threats.
But anger among politicians working at the Texas Capitol had been growing for weeks, and some lay blame for that at the feet of a small group of extremely conservative lawmakers. They call themselves the Texas Freedom Caucus.
The past several months have been chaos for groups that help resettle families in the U.S. As a result, Texas has resettled drastically fewer refugees this year than it has in previous years.
Gov. Greg Abbott's announcement on whether he will call a special session is not expected to happen before next week.
On Monday, Abbott said he would share his verdict "later this week." On Friday, his office said he would not make the announcement Friday or over the weekend.
State Rep. Matt Rinaldi's scuffle Monday with Hispanic lawmakers is already putting a bright spotlight on his House district — and whether he can hold on to it in 2018.
A bill was sent to Gov. Greg Abbott last week that would eliminate straight-ticket voting in Texas. But opponents say the legislation could be headed to court.
Both chambers of the Texas Legislature voted Saturday evening to approve a $217 billion, two-year budget that would boost funding for the state's beleaguered child welfare agency, increase the number of state troopers on the Texas-Mexico border and avoid serious reforms to the state's much-criticized school finance system.
The Texas Legislature appears to be at a stalemate on a “bathroom bill” that could push the legislative session into overtime.
Refusing to go any further to regulate bathroom use for transgender Texans, House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday that the Senate can take or leave a proposed compromise it passed on Sunday — to which Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick later responded with a resounding no.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday visited a shooting range to sign a bill into law that significantly reduces the cost to get a license to carry a handgun, making Texas one of the states with the lowest fee in the nation.
After several failed attempts and compromises during the legislative session — and a heated debate with members of the House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday — Rep. Helen Giddings succeeded in getting the House to pass a measure that targets "lunch shaming" in schools.
With just days left in the Texas 2017 regular legislative session, the fate of a so-called “bathroom bill” is still uncertain.
Just after 1 a.m., state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) attached an amendment to a House bill in an effort to extend the life of the Senate’s controversial proposal.
The legislative wrangling over where transgender Texans can use the bathroom isn’t over yet.
State Sen. Larry Taylor said he will reject the House's proposed compromise on the "bathroom bill," an amendment to Senate Bill 2078 that required school districts to provide single-occupancy bathrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities for students who don’t want to use the ones associated with their “biological sex.”
