Orion Donovan Smith

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has made it clear his top legislative priority is the “SAVE America Act,” a bill that would impose new restrictions on the way Americans vote this November.

WASHINGTON – Wednesday’s theme at the Great American State Fair was “faith, values and inspiration.”

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that virtually all people born in the United States are American citizens, striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship.

In interviews at the Capitol on Thursday, three Republicans who represent the Inland Northwest in the House voiced mixed feelings about the deal, which Trump signed at the Palace of Versailles in France on June 17. The agreement paves the way for negotiations over Iran's nuclear program while suspending U.S. sanctions on Iran and ending a U.S. blockade on Iranian oil tankers.

In a 6-3 decision, the court's Republican-appointed justices overrode lower courts to let the Department of Homeland Security end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for the roughly 330,000 Haitians and 3,800 Syrians who have been allowed to live and work in the United States under the program. Democrats denounced the decision while Republicans largely supported it, although some said they hope President Donald Trump will use his discretion and not deport all the affected people.

Even if the high court doesn't strike down a Mississippi law and others like it that allow late-arriving ballots to be counted, Sen. Maria Cantwell warned Tuesday that Washington voters could see their ballots rejected this fall because of a U.S. Postal Service policy change that took effect in December. Under the new rule, mail is postmarked when it reaches a regional processing center, not when it is first received at a post office.

MOSES LAKE – For the first time in a dozen years, Rep. Dan Newhouse won’t be on the ballot when voters in central Washington cast their votes in November to choose who will represent the state’s 4th Congressional District.

WASHINGTON – With Congress out of session for the week of Memorial Day, Rep. Michael Baumgartner traveled to Vietnam and Singapore at a time when the United States and China are competing for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.