Matt Laslo

Vice President Joe Biden points at President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool)

VP Biden to kick off curing cancer initiative in Philadelphia

In the State of the Union address, President Obama announced he’s putting Vice President Joe Biden in charge of an initiative to cu ...

8 years ago

Congressional Steel Caucus Chairman Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2015, during a hearing of the caucus to discuss the state of the U.S. steel industry. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

Psychologist-congressman from Pittsburgh pushing mental health approach to mass shootings

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy from suburban Pittsburgh remembers first hearing about the mass shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College ...

8 years ago

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U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania (NewsWorks file photo)

Politics & Policy

Some Dems insincere on gun law reforms, Toomey and Manchin say

In the wake of recent mass shootings, Democrats have been holding high-profile press conferences on gun control in Washington. Sen ...

8 years ago

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House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif. (left) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah (Lauren Victoria Burke and Cliff Owen/AP File Photos)

Politics & Policy

Will GOP moderates play role in House Speaker election?

Outgoing House Speaker John Boehner was once considered one of the most conservative lawmakers in Congress. But he angered the tea party ...

8 years ago

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Bassetts Ice Cream at Reading Terminal Market. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Politics & Policy

Bassetts Ice Cream sales to China could melt without Export-Import Bank

Bassetts Ice Cream is America’s oldest ice cream company. Michael Strange’s great-great-grandfather founded it, and he’ ...

8 years ago

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Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, arrives before Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew arrive to testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2015, to review the Iran nuclear agreement. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

Politics & Policy

Area legislators express skepticism, worries on Iran nuclear deal

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Secretary of State John Kerry know each other well from their days serving together as Senate De ...

8 years ago

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U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah campaigns with Barack Obama in 2008 in Philadelphia. Fattah has serious reservations about Obama's Pacific Rim trade deal. (AP file photo)

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On eve of Pacific Rim trade vote, area legislators wary of another NAFTA

It’s hard, if not impossible, to tell the true impact of trade agreements. Take NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreeme ...

8 years ago

At the podium U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey proposes legislation to ban off-shore drilling in the Atlantic at a news conference with colleagues, including U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, right. (Matt Laslo/WHYY)

Sen. Menendez of NJ not hiding while fighting indictment

For a few weeks, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, has had a federal indictment hanging over him. The Garden State’s senior sen ...

8 years ago

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This file photo shows how the home on the left in Tuckerton, N.J., emerged from Superstorm Sandy intact, while the home to the right was severely damaged. FEMA has agreed to reopen more than 140,000 claims from people who say they were drastically underpaid by the federal flood insurance program for Sandy damage. (Wayne Parry/AP Photo)

FEMA to reopen 140,000 Sandy claims as new task force presses for reforms

Lawmakers and nonprofits launched the Superstorm Sandy Task Force in Washington Tuesday as a way of pressuring the government to provide ...

8 years ago

Politics & Policy

Republicans in Congress talk about what to do if Supreme Court upends Obamacare

The last time the Supreme Court took up so called Obamacare, it surprised court watchers by ruling the individual health insurance mandat ...

8 years ago

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Members of The 113th Congress (from left) Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Jim Gerlach R-Chester County; and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick R-Bucks County

Politics & Policy

Philly delegation reflects on the do ‘next to nothing’ Congress

The 113th Congress was so unmemorable, it will likely be confined to a footnote in history books: it’s the second least produc ...

9 years ago

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Politics & Policy

Whatever happened to push to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare?

The campaign to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act helped Republicans capture control of the U.S. House in 2010 and ...

9 years ago

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