First Run News

Democratic senators seen as possible contenders for the White House in 2020 are all taking positions in strong support of an assault weapons ban, pressuring their colleagues up for reelection this year. Though the positioning may not effect the prospects of legislation, its support by all of the 2020 would-be candidates puts lawmakers like Sen. MORE (N.D.) in a tough spot months before the November midterm elections.  “This is where the real conflict is,” one top Democratic strategist concluded.

Republican lawmakers are waiting out MORE in the gun-control debate, counting on him to change his mind or lose interest in the ambitious proposals he endorsed Wednesday that have little support in the Senate and House GOP conferences. Unlike during the recent tax and immigration debates, Republicans say they need to find consensus among themselves about what to do on gun violence, leaving Trump largely out of the equation.  Senate GOP leaders are questioning the need to vote on a proposal to require background checks for firearms sold at gun shows and online.

The oil industry has been put on the defensive in the fight over the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling.  The backlash against Interior Secretary MORE’s decision to consider oil and natural gas drilling nearly everywhere along the nation’s coasts has been fierce and bipartisan. Drilling opponents have dominated the public conversation since the plan was released in January.

Senate Majority Leader on Tuesday that he will give an immigration bill a vote, but it won't be attached to a spending deal. "It is still my view that I will call up a DACA related immigration bill that ... the president will sign and that it will not be a part of any overall spending agreement," McConnell told reporters, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Congress has less than two weeks to meet a Jan.

After studying thousands of couples, the psychologist Eli Finkel has an explanation for the decline in people’s satisfaction with their marriages over the past four decades: It’s a matter of emotional supply and demand. Many people are looking to their partners to replace the companionship and emotional support once provided by extended families and local institutions like churches, bowling leagues, bridge groups, fraternal lodges and garden clubs.

After studying thousands of couples, the psychologist Eli Finkel has an explanation for the decline in people’s satisfaction with their marriages over the past four decades: It’s a matter of emotional supply and demand. Many people are looking to their partners to replace the companionship and emotional support once provided by extended families and local institutions like churches, bowling leagues, bridge groups, fraternal lodges and garden clubs.

The former chief of staff to President Donald Trump said the president sees Attorney General Carter Page.

More than four months after declaring a public health emergency over the Donald Trump made a surprise appearance at a White House summit Thursday where he suggested the U.S. should tackle the epidemic by instituting “the ultimate punishment” for drug dealers. “You know, if you shoot one person, they give you life, they give you the death penalty," Trump said. "These people can kill 2,000, 3,000 people and nothing happens to them. Some countries have a very, very tough penalty -- the ultimate penalty.

For the first time since he was fired by President Trump, Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

They spent their first year in Washington as an untouchable White House power couple, commanding expansive portfolios, outlasting rivals and enjoying unmatched access to the president. But Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have undergone a swift and stunning reckoning of late, their powers restricted, their enemies emboldened and their future in the West Wing uncertain. Kushner, long the second-most powerful man in the West Wing, is under siege. President Donald Trump's son-in-law has lost influential White House allies.