Former President Donald Trump is set to make his first 2024 campaign stop in Iowa Monday. This comes just a few days after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited the Hawkeye state for his book tour, ahead of his own expected campaign launch. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden will be fundraising on the West Coast this week ahead of an expected campaign launch. While the presidential campaign is starting to get very active, it may not be as crowded as in recent years.2024 WILL BE DIFFERENT In 2020, around 30 Democrats sought the nomination. The field was so big many debates had to be split up.In 2016, 1 ..read more

President Joe Biden is set to reveal his budget proposal in Philadelphia on Thursday. He is expected to call on Congress to adopt his plan which reduces the deficit by $3 trillion dollars over 10 years while increasing spending on issues like crime prevention and the salaries of federal workers. The president is also expected to call for new taxes on some of the wealthiest Americans.While presidents can only propose budgets — with Congress having the ultimate say — the budget reveal is reigniting a familiar debate over the debt limit. WHAT IS IT? As a reminder, the debt ceiling, or debt limit ..read more

Ben Savage is probably best remembered playing the role of Cory Matthews on the hit 90s sitcom "Boy Meets World," but he could soon be known as congressman.Savage announced this week he is vying for a congressional seat in California's 30th House district. He will run as a Democrat."I firmly believe in standing up for what is right, ensuring equality and expanding opportunities for all," Savage said. "I’m running for Congress because it’s time to restore faith in government by offering reasonable, innovative and compassionate solutions to our country’s most pressing issues."The district is hea ..read more

Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump.Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump's critics from both parties and attacked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is challenging her onetime boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.When it came to Ron DeSantis, the bots aggressively suggested that the Florida governor couldn't beat Trump, but would be a great running mat ..read more

Outside the Lincoln memorial, families gather. They have been through loss and mental hardship on a level that no parent should ever experience."You have children who are in many cases, very well adjusted kids who unbeknownst to their parents become exposed to suicidal content online and in many cases, take their lives or develop eating disorders or anxiety or are sexually abused," said Matthew Bergman, the founding attorney at Social Media Victims Law Center. Bergman says he and his team represent 1,500 families who claim social media algorithms have harmed their children. Alexis Spence, 20 ..read more

Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson will meet in a runoff to be the next mayor of Chicago after voters on Tuesday denied incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term, issuing a rebuke to a leader who made history as head of the nation’s third-largest city.Vallas, a former schools CEO backed by the police union, and Johnson, a Cook County commissioner endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, advanced to the April 4 runoff after none of the nine candidates was able to secure over 50% of the vote to win outright.Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to lead the city, won her first ter ..read more

California Congresswoman Katie Porter has announced her appointment to the Joint Economic Committee in a press release on Wednesday. Porter is the only representative from California currently on the committee.According to her press release, Porter brings her experience as a consumer protection advocate to the JEC. Many people are familiar with her whiteboard on the House floor as she confronts industry representatives with the nature of their business and the impact it has on ordinary Americans.Porter, a longtime commercial law professor and single mother of three, says she knows how difficul ..read more

A delegation of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday met with Taiwan's president, who promised to deepen military cooperation between the two sides despite objections from China, which claims the island as its own territory.The group was one of many U.S. delegations President Tsai Ing-wen has welcomed in recent years even as Beijing has stepped up diplomatic and military harassment of Taiwan.China responded to foreign visits by holding large-scale military exercises seen by some as a rehearsal for a blockade or invasion. Beijing has not ruled out use of force to reunite Taiwan with mainland China, althou ..read more

Senator John Fetterman’s candid approach to his struggles with mental health is unusual on Capitol Hill, where issues with members’ health are frequently kept hidden from the public.But Fetterman’s openness has led to praise from mental health advocates, fellow members of Congress, and President Joe Biden, who said in a tweet, "We’re grateful to you for leading by example." Such mental health struggles in politics are not new — but they’re not mentioned often. In 1972, U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton was forced to bow out as the vice presidential pick for Democratic nominee George McGovern after his ..read more

Republican Nikki Haley launched her 2024 presidential campaign on Wednesday, betting that her boundary-breaking career as a woman and person of color who governed in the heart of the South before representing the U.S. on the world stage can overcome entrenched support for her onetime boss, former President Donald Trump.Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, made her first appearance in public as a White House hopeful in the historic coastal city of Charleston, casting herself as a figure for generational change who can help the party win the White House again.“I ..read more