SHEILA JACKSON LEE

A new bipartisan caucus in Congress is condemning the Iranian government over the recent poisoning of school girls in the country, amplifying the growing criticism in Washington against the Islamic Republic and its disregard for human rights.

For many progressives, the past decade has been littered with disappointments.

After being held in detention in Texas for months during his legal fight to remain in the U.S., Afghan soldier Abdul Wasi Safi is now a free man as he works to secure asylum in America.

A ban on certain semi-automatic weapons is moving forward in the House.

Civil rights leader and trailblazing educator Mary McLeod Bethune has became the first Black person elevated by a state for recognition in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall.

The House Judiciary Committee has advanced legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21.

Lawmakers erupted in cheers after Vice President Kamala Harris announced the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Moments before the Senate began Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation vote to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, the chamber filled with the swell of history.

California took a big step this week toward becoming the first U.S. state to make some form of restitution a reality by tackling the divisive issue of which Black residents should be eligible to receive reparations for the atrocity and injustices of slavery and racism.

Eight House Democrats are demanding the Bureau of Prisons make public an audit of sexual assault reports at a federal women's prison in California where inmates say they were subjected to rampant abuse.

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy seized control of the House floor for more than eight hours overnight, preempting passage of President Joe Biden’s big domestic policy bill with a rambling speech full of vitriol.

Texas Republicans have approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and could decrease political representation for growing minority communities in the nation’s largest red state.

Texas lawmakers are on the brink of finishing redrawn U.S. House maps that would shore up their eroding dominance as voters peel away from the GOP in the state’s booming suburbs.

Thousands of voting rights advocates are rallying across the country Saturday to call for sweeping protections against a further erosion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In the nation’s capital on Saturday, multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders are convening rallies and marches to urge passage of federal voter protections that have been eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In a story June 18, 2021, story about companies facing pressure to offer a paid day off for Juneteenth, The Associated Press erroneously reported the name of the CEO of Ichor Strategies.

Black Americans are rejoicing after President Joe Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

The United States will soon have a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president.

Lawmakers from both parties say once-stalled legislation on Capitol Hill that would change the nation's policing laws is now closer than ever to consensus.

Bolstered with new momentum, Congress is ready to try again to change the nation’s policing laws.

A House panel has advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves, approving legislation Wednesday night that would create a commission to study the issue.

The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act passed 244-172 with 29 Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the legislation. The White House announced its support earlier Wednesday for reauthorizing VAWA, which aims to reduce domestic and sexual violence and improve the response to it through a variety of grant programs. AdPresident Joe Biden introduced the original Violence Against Women Act in June 1990 when serving as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A subsequent version was eventually included in a sweeping crime bill that President Bill Clinton would sign into law four years later. Congress has reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act three times since.

A coalition of 150 organizations nationwide is opposing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The Movement for Black Lives argues the bill is entrenched in strategies that have historically failed to address police violence across the country and fails to meet the moment." The bill, designed by the Movement for Black Lives’ Electoral Justice Project, would also redirect funding toward communities to address the nation’s systemic racial injustices. “It’s not just about after the fact accountability,” said Gina Clayton-Johnson, the lead BREATHE Act architect and leadership team member of the Movement for Black Lives’ Policy Table. AdBut the movement faces a significant uphill battle in securing needed political support from lawmakers who will be key in pushing forward the BREATHE Act or revamping the Justice in Policing Act.

Houston and several surrounding cities are under a boil water notice as many residents are still without running water in their homes. But the crisis was far from over in parts of the South, where many people still lacked safe drinking water. The next phase of the state’s disaster response will be to test drinking water from systems knocked offline by the cold. Power was cut to a New Orleans facility that pumps drinking water from the Mississippi River and generators were used until electricity was restored. Drinking water was made available at fire stations throughout Jackson and officials also planned to set up bottled water pickup sites.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with labor leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington. Biden backs the idea of studying the issue, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, though she stopped short of saying he would sign the bill if it clears Congress. Even with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House, passing a reparations bill could prove difficult. Most Black Americans favored reparations, 74%, compared with 15% of white Americans. AdRep. Burgess Owens, a first-term Republican from Utah, argued against a reparations commission.

The date - June 19th - is not a federal holiday, and many non-black Americans have only recently become of aware of the day. Several of her employees are spending the day volunteering for the Juneteenth Freedom Phonebank, an initiative encouraging Census participation. Declaring the date a federal holiday would add considerable momentum, and there is growing support for the idea. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, introduced legislation Thursday to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. In contrast, 93% of employers close on Independence day, with similar rates for Labor Day, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving.