The latest Congress news from The Texas Tribune.
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, says he raked in over $6.7 million for his U.S. Senate bid in the first quarter of 2018. It's an eye-popping number that poses a new category of threat to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/02/25/Beto_Burleson_RH_1_TT.jpg)
As a longtime aide to Greg Abbott, Andrew Oldham has helped Texas fight the federal government. If he's confirmed to the federal bench, he could rule on the same type of cases. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/623229a0ca67fbef940e26775882e45a/Andrew_Oldham_TT.jpg)
Five months after a gunman opened fire in a Sutherland Springs church, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn came to speak to the community about a new law he says might have averted the tragedy. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7ddadd39923aca19da47c0875240189c/Cornyn_NICS_BD_TT.jpg)
Susan Combs, a former Texas legislator and statewide official, will be named acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/16293b964688c486c41bbc4b5ad65f1f/Susan_Combs_REUTERS_TT.jpg)
The announcement comes after weeks of speculation that another Texan — Energy Secretary Rick Perry — might land the post. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f80392c72453bd38e3323820f821a00d/Ronny_L._Jackson_TT.jpg)
Republican congressional candidate Chip Roy joins the TribCast crew to discuss his upcoming runoff. Plus, we tackle the 2020 census, the March for Our Lives protests and whether Rex Tillerson could be the University of Texas System's next chancellor. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/11/22/TTE-tribcast_leadart.png)
Another prominent Democrat has announced plans to run for Senate District 19, a San Antonio-based seat currently held by a longtime state lawmaker recently convicted of 11 felonies. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/11/09/ShelbyKnowles-November_08_2016-4.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/f529f2387ae248bfbf19e77b02ef127f/DAYOFUNITY_Joaquin_Castro_MS_TT.jpg)
"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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/10/26/Border_Wall_prototypes_TT.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/02/28/Trump_addresses_Congress_2_TT.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/01/30/Trump_SOTU_2018.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/10/09/Mueller_protest_Burgess_TT.jpg)
U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, previously announced his retirement in December following renewed sexual harassment accusations against his office. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/7bb2b4388be7d7f2a310943612968069/BD%20INC%20Farenthold%2007%202011)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/08/14/Pierson_Trump_2.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/02/25/CornynTT.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/03/06/PRIMARYHOUSTON9480A.JPG)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2017/04/01/Beto_announce_IPA_2_TT.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/02/27/Valdez_White.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/03/03/Garcia_and_Green_3_AL_TT.jpg)
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
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2018/03/06/Long_Dem_line_HOU_MS_TT.jpg)