Although progress has been made toward increasing the representation of people with disabilities in the federal workforce, more work needs to be done to achieve parity, NPR reports.
Between the lines: Despite the federal government setting a benchmark in 2017 calling for every agency to have at least 12% of its employees be comprised of people with disabilities, tracking progress has been inconsistent.
White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthyand Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm celebrated progress on President Biden's infrastructure package by taking a spin in a Kenworth fuel-cell, zero-emissions Class A truck.
What they're saying: "We have a deal, a Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework deal," Granholm said. McCarthy responded: "it's big and it's beautiful."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian leaders all of next week, the State Department announced on Saturday.
State of play: Blinken will meet with ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as attend other separate meetings. U.S. officials have not always been present in ASEAN meetings, they "have sometimes sent more junior officials to the region's summits," Reuters writes.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) slept outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday night to urge her Democratic colleagues to return to Washington and vote to expand the eviction moratorium, which expires Saturday at midnight.
Driving the news: "Many of my Democratic colleagues chose to go on vacation early today rather than staying to vote to keep people in their homes," Bush tweeted Friday. "I'll be sleeping outside the Capitol tonight. We've still got work to do."
The Russian hackers behind the massive SolarWinds cyber-espionage campaign broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent federal prosecutors' offices around the country last year, the Justice Department announced.
State of play: DOJsaid 80% of Microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York were breached.
The Biden administration's handling of the Delta surge has left Americans confused and frustrated, fueling media overreaction and political manipulation.
Why it matters: The past year and a half have left Americans cynical about the government's COVID response, and — in many cases — misinformed or uninformed. We're getting fog and reversals when steady, clear-eyed, factual information is needed more than ever.
Why it matters: The findings in the poll, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of a group of reproductive justice organizations, appear to confirm the highly-motivated voting bloc's emerging power.
Three U.S. agencies have extended federal foreclosure-related eviction moratoria in an effort to protect renters after the House failed to pass legislation that would extend the ban.
Driving the news: House Democratic leaders did not secure enough votes to pass the legislation on Friday, adjourning the chamber for a six-week recess the day before the ban is set to expire. As many as 15 million people could face evictions, per estimates from the Aspen Institute.
The Senate confirmed Ur Jaddou as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Friday.
Why it matters: The agency has not had a Senate-confirmed leader in over two years despite the critical role it plays in the immigration system, per BuzzFeed. Jaddou will be the first woman and first person of Arab and Mexican descent to step into the position.
The Biden administration on Friday resumed fast-track deportation flights to Central America, the Department of Homeland Security announced.
The big picture: Officials said Monday that they were planning to resume "expedited removal flights" following an increase in the number of migrants crossing into the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, the Washington Post reports.
President Biden announced Friday that he will appoint Gold Star father Khizr Khan, who famously criticized former President Trump during the 2016 campaign, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Why it matters: Khan's son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, was killed on the battlefield in Iraq in 2004. Khizr Khan made waves during the 2016 Democratic National Convention when he called out Trump for his disparaging rhetoric about Muslim Americans.
DNC Chair Jaime Harrison is delivering a letter to over 20 U.S. cities today, inviting them to apply to host the 2024 convention, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The letter kicks off the DNC's convention planning in earnest. For a city, hosting a political convention is akin to a hosting the Olympics, albeit on a smaller scale.
The United States recorded more than half a million new COVID-19 vaccine shots on Friday, the highest number since July 1, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Why it matters: The Delta variant is continuing to spread across the United States and it now comprises over 80% of the coronavirus cases in the country, Jean-Pierre said. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that "vaccination is the most important strategy to prevent severe illness and death."
President Biden will announce sanctions against one entity and two Cuban individuals this afternoon and provide details on his administration's efforts to improve internet connectivity in Cuba, a senior administration official said Friday.
Why it matters: After initially hoping to place the issue on the back burner, the White House has recently ramped up its focus on Cuba amid protests on the island and in the United States, congressional backlash and political pressure from the South Florida Cuban community.
The Treasury Department "must" release former President Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, the Department of Justice said in a memo Friday.
The big picture: The DOJ memo comes after a long dispute between the committee, which first sought to obtain the former president's returns two years ago, and Trump, who fought to keep his finances private.
Then-President Trump pressed top Justice Department officials in a December phone call to "just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me" and Republican congressmen, according to handwritten notes of the call released by the House Oversight Committee on Friday.
Why it matters: It’s the latest example of how aggressively Trump publicly and privately pressured the Justice Department to overturn the results of the election, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urged President Biden on Friday to name Obama-era Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to a special role focused on dealing with migration at the border.
Why it matters: Republicans have seized on the spike in border crossings as one of their most consistent criticisms of the Biden administration. Vice President Kamala Harris had previously been tasked with addressing the migrant surge and its root causes.
Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Singapore and Vietnam next month for her second foreign trip since taking office, her spokesperson confirmed Friday.
Why it matters: Harris will become the first vice president to ever visit Vietnam, and the highest-ranking Biden official to travel to Asia as the administration looks to rally an international coalition to curb China's influence.
The new White House strategy for improving conditions in Central America to slow migration includes helping to build resilience to climate change.
Why it matters: Climate change is increasingly understood as one of many drivers of human displacement, both within and across borders, due to flooding and other extreme weather, effects on food security and more.
The Senate's on the cusp of debating a big energy and climate package that says plenty about today's political and scientific moment.
Catch up fast: Text of the bipartisan infrastructure plan isn't out yet, but a summary in circulation and releases from lawmakers and the White House offer contours of the proposal.
In a sequelto his bestselling "Front Row at the Trump Show," ABC News' Jonathan Karl will be out Nov. 16 with "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show." You're seeing the cover here for the first time.
Driving the news: The publisher says Karl"tells the story of Trump’s downfall, complete with riveting behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the darkest days in the history of the American presidency," and on-record interviews "with central figures ... telling their stories for the first time."
About two dozen Democratic lawmakers are sending letters to the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Nextdoor requesting details about what resources the social networks are putting toward rooting out misinformation in Spanish and other non-English content in the U.S.
Why it matters: The letters follow the introduction last week of the Health Misinformation Act, which seeks to hold social media companies more accountable for misinformation on their sites.
Nearly 100 members of Congress are urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the Justice Department's alleged racial profiling of Asians, according to a letter shared with Axios.
Why it matters: The case of Anming Hu, a scientist who was baselessly targeted in an espionage probe, has renewed scrutiny of the DOJ after an FBI agent admitted to falsely implicating the Chinese Canadian.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they'd support federal, state or local governments requiring everyone to get a coronavirus vaccine, according to a new survey conducted by The COVID States Project.
Why it matters: This kind of blanket mandate hasn't even been proposed, at any level of government. But more piecemeal requirements are rapidly becoming more popular, and the survey suggests Americans are fine with that.
Bugs, birds, fish and plants with names linked to white supremacists may be renamed, as science confronts its own ties to systemic racism.
Why it matters: The national reckoning was inevitably going to pass this way. The sciences have long underrepresented and erected barriers of entry to people of color and there’s a concerted effort for a reset under way in academia, research and hiring.
The first plane with more than 200 Afghans who served as interpreters, contractors or other ally roles for the U.S. military has arrived in the U.S. — the first of many such flights as troops are withdrawn from the region.
Why it matters: More than 700 Afghan allies and their families are preparing to be brought into the U.S. in the coming days on special immigrant visas. More than 70,000 Afghans have received those since 2008.
Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) died Thursday, his family and the Levin Center at Wayne Law — which bore his name — confirmed. He was 87.
Why it matters: The Detroit native served for 36 years in the U.S. Senate, serving twice as chairman of the Armed Services Committee and is credited with helping overturn the military's “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” rule.
First lady Jill Biden underwent a successful medical procedure Thursday evening to remove an object lodged in her left foot, according to her office.
Driving the news: FLOTUS stepped on the object while walking on a beach in Hawaii last week, an official visit she conducted after attending the Tokyo Games, per the Associated Press.
Members of the military will be required to get vaccinations or face regular testing, social distancing, mask mandates and restrictions on travel for work, the the Pentagon said on Thursday evening.
Why it matters: The policy was announced for federal workers and onsite contractors earlier on Thursday, part of several new Biden initiativesto get more Americans vaccinated and slow the spread of the Delta variant.
Republican critics of Donald Trump have raked in campaign cash this year as their votes to impeach the former president and investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack have put them in the crosshairs of Trump and his allies.
Why it matters: The 2022 midterms won't just determine which party controls Congress. They're also shaping up to be a test of Trump's continued hold on the GOP. The few remaining Republican dissenters in Washington need to put up big fundraising numbers if they hope to stave off a purge.
Republicans have expressed selective rage amid the rise of the Delta variant: They rail against the return of indoor masking but are far less vocal about vaccine requirements.
Why it matters: Masking may help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, but the real solution to the pandemic is getting more Americans vaccinated. Increased support for that — including the use of heavier-handed methods like mandates — will only increase its chance of succeeding.
Like their Senate colleagues, House members are spending more days in session than past congresses — but far fewer hours per day on average, according to data from the Brookings Institution and the U.S. Senate.
Why it matters: The Senate may have come to an agreement on the bipartisan infrastructure package on Wednesday, but it still faces chaos in the House — and threatens to cut short representatives’ August recess late next month.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging his fellow Republicans to buck up Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona — a Democrat, sources familiar with the conversations tell Axios.
Why it matters: Republicans view Sinema and her moderate Democratic colleague Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia as their last line of defense against sweeping progressive laws — ranging from a $3.5 trillion social welfare bill to potentially irreversible structural changes like eliminating the filibuster and adding new states to the union.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's (D-Ariz.) warning that she’s opposed to a budget reconciliation bill costing $3.5 trillion will force Senate Democrats and the White House to either trim the proposals in it or tinker with how many years they'll run.
Why it matters: Such gamesmanship will be necessary if lawmakers and the Biden administration want to keep the support of progressives and centrists. But it will lead to a bill with costs and durations as uneven as the Manhattan skyline.
