The latest Congress news from The Texas Tribune.
An event organized by Houston-area high schoolers and aimed at promoting bipartisanship drew some of the state's most well-known partisans, including Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Democrat, and the chairs of both state parties. Full Story
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"We funded the initial down payment of $1.6 billion," Trump said of border wall funding Friday. "We’re going to be starting work – literally – on Monday on not only some new wall ... but also fixing existing walls.” Full Story
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President Donald Trump reversed course hours after threatening to veto a must-pass spending bill because it did nothing to address the fate of young undocumented immigrants and did not fully fund his border wall. Full Story
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The massive spending bill Congress passed Thursday includes $1.6 billion allocated for a border wall but fell far short of the Trump administration's demands, and Democrats were able to exact significant restrictions on the wall's construction. Full Story
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Leaders in the U.S. Senate, including one of the two senators from Texas, have spent the past two days issuing a warning to President Donald Trump: Do not fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Full Story
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U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, previously announced his retirement in December following renewed sexual harassment accusations against his office. Full Story
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President Donald Trump has asked former national campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson to rejoin the Trump Campaign as a senior adviser. Before joining Trump's orbit in 2015, Pierson had been a fixture in Texas Tea Party politics. Full Story
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Cornyn had been pushing the bill since the Sutherland Springs shooting last year. He now has enough co-sponsors to avoid a filibuster. Full Story
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a Thursday interview he thought it was "outrageous" that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee came out against Moser before the primary. Full Story
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El Paso Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke was the heavy favorite to win this week's Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. So why did he lose some border counties to a relative unknown? Full Story
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If no candidate in a primary election receives a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters go head-to-head in a runoff. Here's everything you need to know about how they work and how to vote. Full Story
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Texas women candidates won or made it to runoffs in more than 50 primary races statewide amid a surge in interest in running for office among women around the country. Full Story
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Vote counts Tuesday night once again showed how Texas is a red state. Despite an apparent early rush to the polls for Democrats, Republicans ended up casting more ballots in the 2018 primaries. Full Story
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Houston Democrat Sylvia Garcia hasn't yet stepped down from her Texas Senate seat after winning her congressional primary Tuesday, but Houston state Reps. Ana Hernandez and Carol Alvarado have already said they plan to run for it. Full Story
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We livestreamed a special edition of our weekly podcast the day after Tuesday's primaries. Full Story
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In the final hours before polls closed Tuesday in the Texas primaries, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz kickstarted the general election with a barrage of criticism of his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of El Paso. Full Story
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Two Democratic Hispanic women – former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar and state Sen. Sylvia Garcia of Houston – just declared victory in open congressional races and are widely expected to win the seats outright in November. Full Story
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Despite his Democratic primary victory, and his aggressive campaigning and fundraising, Beto O'Rourke's share of the vote was surprisingly low. In some border counties, he was losing to primary rival Sema Hernandez. Full Story
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While state Sen. Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar secured the Democratic nominations for their congressional races, state Sen. Van Taylor won the GOP nod for his North Texas race. Other Texas congressional races will head runoffs. Full Story
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Activist and journalist Laura Moser secured a spot in the party's primary runoff to take on Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson in the fall, despite national Democrats taking the rare step of releasing opposition research on her last month. Full Story
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