New Jersey

Sources close to Capitol Hill and within the foreign aid community say that Trump administration officials are preparing a potential foreign aid “rescission” package that could cut between $2 billion and $4 billion in fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018 funds from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development.

Some $200 million intended to benefit Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is thought to be on the chopping block as part of the request, sources said.

Senators didn’t exactly extend themselves with the floor schedule for their first week back in session in August, though they did confirm another pair of President Donald Trump’s nominees to be judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. and Julius Ness Richardson. 

Quattlebaum was confirmed Thursday on a 62-28 vote, while Richardson got by on an 81-8 vote. 

Vulnerable red-state Democrats are highlighting their work to address the opioid crisis in an effort to hold on to their congressional seats, even as it remains unclear whether the Senate will take key action before the midterm elections.

While the opioid epidemic is a priority for much of Congress, candidates in especially hard-hit states, such as West Virginia, have made it a core issue in their re-election bids.

A year has passed since President Donald Trump was accused of racism after he failed to quickly and unequivocally condemn racially motivated violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. But recent claims made by and against his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman have given new life to those accusations. 

On Saturday, the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville violence, Trump tweeted that the riots “resulted in senseless death and division” and called for the nation to come together.

A new poll in New Jersey’s 3rd District shows Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur in a near-tie with Democratic challenger Andy Kim.

The Monmouth University survey found MacArthur, a two-term congressman, leading Kim, who served in national security and counterterrorism roles in the Obama administration, 41 percent to 40 percent among all potential voters. Fifteen percent of respondents were undecided. Under a likely voter model based on historical midterms, the result was essentially unchanged, with Kim up a point, 45 percent to 44 percent. 

A Democratic “wave” this November, should one materialize, could result in the departure of as many as five senior House Republican appropriators, which would mark the biggest wipeout of major players from one side of the dais in 26 years.

Three subcommittee “cardinals” are facing tough re-election fights this November: Commerce-Justice-Science Chairman John Culberson and Military Construction-VA Chairman John Carter, both of Texas, and Homeland Security Chairman Kevin Yoder of Kansas.

In 1982, as a young opposition researcher at the National Republican Congressional Committee, one of “my candidates” was an equally young John Kasich running in Ohio’s 12th District.

He was the only GOP challenger to win in that first off-year election of the Reagan presidency, and Republicans have held the seat ever since. With my background in the district, I had more than a passing interest in the outcome of Tuesday’s special election there.

President Donald Trump declared Chicago “an absolute and total disaster” and vowed to discuss crime in the Midwestern hub with governors and other state officials he hosted Thursday at his New Jersey golf resort to talk about a prison policy overhaul.

There was one catch: He did not invite any Chicago or Illinois officials.

Democrats working to regain control in Congress this fall are making the cost of prescription drugs a centerpiece of the party’s message. The path to a majority, however, runs through some places where the pharmaceutical industry employs a lot of potential voters.

Southern California, New Jersey, and the Philadelphia suburbs are among the areas where Democrats have the strongest chances to turn red House seats blue. Yet since these states are some of the biggest pharmaceutical hubs in the United States — the industry estimates it directly employs 44,000 people in Pennsylvania, 65,000 people in New Jersey, and 131,000 in California — candidates there tread a little more cautiously on the issue of drug prices.

Is the Oval Office under construction or not?

The White House said yes Monday, only to send out a list of West Wing and East Wing renovations a day later that did not mention the world’s most famous office.