David Sherfinski
Articles by David Sherfinski
Debt ceiling deadline now in first half of March: CBO
The U.S. Treasury Department will exhaust the special powers it's using to avert a debt ceiling breach in the first half of March if Congress does not raise the country's borrowing limit by then, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. Published January 31, 2018
Train carrying Republican lawmakers collides with truck
The train carrying Republican lawmakers to a multiday policy retreat crashed into a truck en route Wednesday, resulting in at least one fatality of someone in the truck. Published January 31, 2018
Steven Mnuchin: Trump open to national internet sales tax
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled Tuesday that President Trump is open to an across-the-board internet sales tax -- an issue that has bedeviled lawmakers for years and one that's tied to a key case to be heard soon by the U.S. Supreme Court. Published January 30, 2018
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says new Russia-related sanctions forthcoming
Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin on Tuesday said new Russia-related sanctions will be coming in the near future, amid criticism from lawmakers that the Trump administration blew past Monday's congressionally-mandated deadline to announce them. Published January 30, 2018
Rodney Frelinghuysen, appropriations committee chairman, won’t seek re-election
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, announced Monday he won't seek re-election, boosting the chances for another Democratic pick-up opportunity ahead of the 2018 midterms. Published January 29, 2018
Donald Trump: Democrats obstruct Dreamers’ amnesty for politics
President Trump said this weekend that he offered a "wonderful deal" to protect illegal immigrant Dreamers and that resistance among Democrats suggests the party would rather have a political issue than a solution. Published January 28, 2018
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont independent: Shutting down government ‘the right thing to do’
Sen. Bernard Sanders said shutting down the government was "the right thing to do" to take a stand on "Dreamers" in the immigration debate. Published January 28, 2018
Sen. Lindsey Graham: We’re not going to build a 1,900-mile border wall
Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that the $25 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall and other infrastructure in President Trump's immigration proposal can be spent wisely. Published January 28, 2018
Kevin McCarthy, House majority leader: Trump’s immigration plan has ‘a lot of merit’
Rep. Kevin McCarthy said Sunday President Trump's recently proposed immigration framework has "a lot of merit." Published January 28, 2018
Marc Short, White House official: White House is ‘anxious to get a deal’ on immigration
The White House's chief liaison to Capitol Hill says President Trump is anxious to get a deal on immigration but it's really up to Democrats as to whether they can rein in their base and get something done. Published January 28, 2018
Marc Short, White House official: SOTU will touch on how America is ‘back,’ ‘open for business’
President Trump will talk about how America is "back" and "open for business" Tuesday in his first State of the Union Address, top administration official Marc Short said Sunday. Published January 28, 2018
Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat: Trump’s immigration proposal ‘a good starting point’
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said President Trump's recent immigration proposal is a "good starting point." Published January 28, 2018
Marco Rubio, Florida Republican senator, fires chief of staff after ‘improper conduct’ claims
Sen. Marco Rubio has fired his chief of staff after Mr. Rubio and his general counsel investigated allegations of "improper conduct" against the staffer. Published January 28, 2018
Defense hawks push for $150 billion increase to defense spending
Defense hawks on Capitol Hill are eyeing a massive boost in defense spending, but even they are beginning to embrace what's long been a mantra for deficit hawks: There's fat to trim at the Pentagon. Published January 25, 2018
Congressional Budget Office grilled over botched Obamacare forecasts
Congress' chief scorekeeper said Wednesday it botched some of its original Obamacare estimates, and its employees have to make "trade-offs" as they confront the heavy workload from lawmakers. Published January 24, 2018
Centrist senators form Common Sense Caucus
Centrist senators, emboldened by this week's success in brokering a deal to end Democrats' shutdown filibuster, are now eyeing even bigger goals, such as limiting the damage filibusters can do to the Senate schedule, and finding ways to force the annual spending bills to get votes on the floor. Published January 23, 2018
‘Common Sense Coalition’ sets centrist Senate tone
Senators in the 25-member Common Sense Coalition on Monday said their work in developing a deal to help end the government shutdown shows the road to getting big-ticket items passed in the future needs to run through the middle of both parties, rather than the extremes. Published January 22, 2018
Congress fights over who gets to be in immigration meetings
Sen. James Lankford was one of the Republicans seeking a middle-ground deal on immigration last year, joining a series of bipartisan meetings where they tried to figure out how to legalize "Dreamers." Published January 22, 2018
Schumer says talking to Trump is ‘negotiating with Jell-O’
As the shutdown clock ran deeper, Democrats defended their blockade of government funding, saying they tried to strike a deal but found an impossible partner in President Trump. Published January 20, 2018
House GOP: No immigration negotiations until government is open again
House Republican leaders emerged from a GOP conference meeting on Saturday morning to say that talks on a bipartisan immigration fix should halt until the federal government is open again. Published January 20, 2018