Orion Donovan Smith

WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans from the Inland Northwest have largely stood by the Trump administration this week amid bipartisan scrutiny of U.S. military strikes on small boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean, after the Pentagon acknowledged launching a second missile to kill two survivors of an attack in September.

WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump on Tuesday touted progress in talks to end the nearly four-year war in Ukraine, an Eastern Washington lawmaker said any peace deal must protect U.S. interests in the region and include the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia.

WASHINGTON – When the Senate Finance Committee met Wednesday for a hearing on the rising cost of health care in the United States, Republicans and Democrats agreed the problem has become a national crisis, but it didn’t take long for the parties to demonstrate why they’ve had such a hard time working together to solve it.

WASHINGTON – Hours after the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to direct the Justice Department to release all of its investigative files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, senators unanimously sent the measure to the desk of President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives voted largely along party lines Wednesday night to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with Northwest Republicans voting to fund most of the federal government through January while all but one Democrat from the region opposed the bill because it did not address expiring health insurance subsidies.

WASHINGTON – After eight members of the Senate Democratic Caucus broke ranks and voted with Republicans to end the government shutdown, Washington state Democrats on Monday criticized the deal for not addressing their party’s demand to extend insurance subsidies whose expiration would raise health care costs for millions of Americans.

WASHINGTON – As the government shutdown reached its record-breaking 36th day on Wednesday, most employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs have kept working. But VA policy limits their communication with Congress, making it harder for House and Senate offices to solve problems for former servicemembers.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney died on Tuesday at the age of 84. A proponent of aggressive U.S. foreign policy, the former Wyoming congressman and defense secretary emphasized military power in three visits to Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.