Orion Donovan Smith

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News >  Federal Government

Trump looms large as 11 candidates vie to replace Dan Newhouse in central WA’s 4th Congressional District

UPDATED: Mon., June 8, 2026

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.

News >  Nation/World

Michael Baumgartner visits Vietnam, Singapore amid U.S.-China competition for influence in Asia

UPDATED: Thu., June 4, 2026

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.

News >  Federal Government

House votes to end Iran war as Northwest Republicans oppose measure

UPDATED: Wed., June 3, 2026

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives on Wednesday voted for the first time to end the increasingly unpopular U.S. conflict with Iran as four Republicans sided with Democrats, but every GOP lawmaker from the Northwest opposed the measure.

News >  ID Government

Kootenai County GOP elects former Post Falls mayor as chairman, ending Brent Regan’s tenure in effort to halt infighting

UPDATED: Fri., May 29, 2026

COEUR D’ALENE – The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to elect Ron Jacobson as its new chairman, after the retired banker and former mayor of Post Falls called for unity between the party’s moderate and hard-line factions.

News >  Federal Government

Maria Cantwell, Ted Cruz strike deal to ‘protect college sports’ by regulating pay, transfers and more

UPDATED: Wed., May 27, 2026

Sen. Maria Cantwell on Wednesday unveiled a bipartisan bill she negotiated with Sen. Ted Cruz that proposes a sweeping set of regulations for college sports that address athlete pay, transfers between schools and more.

News >  Federal Government

Patty Murray rages against $1.8 billion ‘slush fund’ to pay Trump allies, while Washington Republicans voice cautious support

UPDATED: Tue., May 19, 2026

WASHINGTON – Sen. Patty Murray expressed outrage Tuesday after President Donald Trump sued the government he runs, then settled the lawsuit with his own Justice Department and created a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who say they were mistreated by the federal government.

News >  Federal Government

New USDA conditions are hampering state and local wildfire services. Northwest fire officials warn of dire consequences

UPDATED: Mon., May 18, 2026

A devastating wildfire will happen again, Ken Johnson said. “It’s just a matter of time."

News >  Federal Government

Trump arrives in Beijing for high-stakes summit, days after Maria Cantwell returns from her own trip to China

UPDATED: Wed., May 13, 2026

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump landed in China with a coterie of American business executives on Wednesday, ahead of two days of meetings with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders that are expected to focus on trade amid rising tension between two global superpowers.

News >  Federal Government

With wealth inequality in spotlight, Patty Murray targets tax-dodging trusts over $50 million with new bill

Sun., May 3, 2026

WASHINGTON – New legislation from Sen. Patty Murray targets a legal loophole that lets the wealthiest Americans avoid paying taxes on money they pass down to their heirs, at a time when wealth inequality is at its highest point in decades and the federal budget deficit is nearly $2 trillion a year.

News >  Federal Government

Northwest Republicans back Trump’s calls to finish White House ballroom after attempted shooting at gala

UPDATED: Thu., April 30, 2026

WASHINGTON – Northwest Republicans in Congress threw their support behind President Donald Trump’s effort to build a ballroom at the White House after an attempted shooting at a gala attended by the president on Saturday, but GOP lawmakers are split over whether taxpayers should pay for the costly construction project.

News >  Military

‘The wall is closure’: Vietnam veterans from Inland Northwest reflect, heal in Honor Flight trip to D.C.

UPDATED: Wed., April 29, 2026

WASHINGTON – On the National Mall, where monuments to America’s past rise high above the reflecting pool, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands in dramatic contrast, a black granite wall cut into the earth that bears the names of more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives in Vietnam between 1959 and 1975.

News >  Federal Government

Northwest lawmakers welcome King Charles to Capitol as British monarch touts U.S.-U.K. alliance

UPDATED: Tue., April 28, 2026

“I pray with all my heart that our alliance will continue to defend our shared values, with our partners in Europe and the Commonwealth, and across the world," the king said, "and that we ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking.”

News >  Federal Government

Cantwell warns RFK Jr. his agency’s AI program is delaying, denying Medicare for seniors in Washington state

UPDATED: Wed., April 22, 2026

WASHINGTON – A federal pilot program that uses artificial intelligence to crack down on “wasteful” medical procedures is slowing and denying health care for senior citizens in Washington state who rely on Medicare, a Democratic senator told Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday.

News >  Federal Government

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ boosts tax refunds, but tariffs and Iran war mute its impact

Wed., April 22, 2026

WASHINGTON – When Republicans in Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July, they hoped Americans would feel the effects of the sweeping tax-and-spending legislation by the time Tax Day rolled around on April 15.

News >  Federal Government

Some NW Republicans oppose Trump administration move to erase convictions of Jan. 6 riot leaders, while others stay silent

Sun., April 19, 2026

WASHINGTON – On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump wasted no time in fulfilling a signature campaign promise when he pardoned more than 1,500 people who had been charged or convicted for their roles in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

News >  Federal Government

House Energy and Commerce Committee honors Cathy McMorris Rodgers with portrait at U.S. Capitol

UPDATED: Fri., April 17, 2026

WASHINGTON – The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unveiled a portrait honoring the Eastern Washington Republican who ascended to become the first woman to lead the influential panel before she left Congress in 2024.

News >  Nation/World

Michael Baumgartner calls Christ-like image of Trump ‘inappropriate,’ says president was wrong to criticize Pope Leo

UPDATED: Tue., April 14, 2026

WASHINGTON – As lawmakers returned to the Capitol from a two-week recess on Tuesday, the Catholic congressman who represents Eastern Washington said President Donald Trump was wrong to criticize Pope Leo XIV and to post an image of himself as a Jesus-like figure over the weekend.

News >  Religion

Northwest Christians react after Trump attacks Pope Leo and posts image appearing to show himself as Jesus

UPDATED: Tue., April 14, 2026

President Donald Trump drew criticism from Christians in the Northwest and across the country Monday after he posted an image that appeared to depict himself as Jesus Christ and attacked Pope Leo XIV, apparently in response to the leader of the world’s Catholics holding a prayer vigil for peace amid war in the Middle East.

News >  Federal Government

Despite national debt concerns, Baumgartner backs Trump’s call for more military spending and cuts to welfare programs

UPDATED: Fri., April 10, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When lawmakers return to the Capitol from a two-week recess on Monday, one of their first orders of business will be supplementing the budget of the U.S. military, which has depleted its stockpiles of missiles and other materiel during five weeks of war with Iran.

News >  Nation/World

As shaky U.S.-Iran ceasefire begins, Crocker calls Trump’s threats ‘beyond extreme’ while Baumgartner defends them as ‘Machiavellian’

UPDATED: Thu., April 9, 2026

WASHINGTON – As renewed threats and conflicting claims tested the first day of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to destroy Iranian civilization, a decorated American diplomat said the truce could leave Iran’s government in a stronger position than when the United States and Israel launched the war five weeks earlier.

News >  Federal Government

Trump wants Congress to slash social services and give him $1.5 trillion for the military, but Patty Murray stands in his way

Sun., April 5, 2026

WASHINGTON – In a speech at a private lunch Wednesday billed as a celebration of Easter, President Donald Trump told the White House budget chief he wants the federal government to spend money on the military, not social services like child care and health care, which he said states should pay for by raising taxes.

News >  Federal Government

With Trump in attendance, Supreme Court justices voice skepticism of his attempt to end birthright citizenship

UPDATED: Wed., April 1, 2026

WASHINGTON – In an unprecedented scene at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, President Donald Trump sat in the audience while the nine justices considered his administration’s attempt to overturn the constitutional right to citizenship for children born in the United States.

News >  Agriculture

Inland Northwest farmers face rising fertilizer, diesel costs from Iran war

Sun., March 29, 2026

WASHINGTON – A month after the United States and Israel launched a war with Iran that has sent the price of fertilizer and other agricultural input costs skyrocketing, President Donald Trump told hundreds of farmers gathered outside the White House on Friday that he had their backs.

News >  Federal Government

Official who oversaw VA computer system that caused havoc in Spokane charged with accepting gifts from government contractors

Fri., March 27, 2026

WASHINGTON – A former top official at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who oversaw the purchase and deployment of a flawed computer system that led to patient harm after it was launched in Spokane, was charged on Wednesday with hiding thousands of dollars in cash and other gifts he received from government contractors.

News >  Washington

Chewelah mayor travels to D.C., seeks nearly $1 million to upgrade rural town’s 50-year-old water system

Thu., March 26, 2026

WASHINGTON – Two years after his town lost funding to upgrade its aging water infrastructure, the mayor of Chewelah flew more than 2,000 miles to the nation’s capital to ask members of Congress for another shot.