Author: Ariana Figueroa
Ariana covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance. Before joining States Newsroom, Ariana covered public health and chemical policy on Capitol Hill for E&E News. As a Florida native, she's worked for the Miami Herald and her hometown paper, the Tampa Bay Times. Her work has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and NPR. She is a graduate of the University of Florida.
The U.S. House on a nearly party-line vote passed President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package early Saturday, in a rush to both boost COVID-19 vaccine funding and get legislation to the president’s desk before unemployment benefits expire in mid-March. The package, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, passed 219-212. It includes a gradual increase…
Democrats who control Congress by narrow margins and the White House are making a fresh attempt to move forward a massive package that tackles dark money in campaigns, voter suppression and election security. The architect of the bill, Rep. John Sarbanes, said in an interview that the tumultuous 2020 election was a perfect example of…
President Joe Biden signed a host of executive orders on climate Wednesday that put a hold on new oil and gas leases on federal property, placed environmental justice in the center of climate reform and set goals of conserving nearly a third of the nation’s land and water. “Our plans are ambitious, but we are…
Lauren McCauley contributed reporting to this piece. More than a dozen U.S. House and Senate members are pushing for a bipartisan coronavirus relief package to aid struggling states and local governments and fund programs such as unemployment and rental assistance that are set to expire later this month. In a Tuesday press conference, lawmakers including…
Democratic incumbent Rep. Jared Golden of Maine is hoping to push through campaign finance reform if he’s re-elected, a priority for Democrats if they take the White House and Senate and keep the House after the November elections. Golden flipped Maine’s 2nd District seat in 2018 and was initially predicted to have a tough re-election…