Politics of the United States

Veering away from a default crisis, the House overwhelmingly approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, sending the deal that President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated to the Senate for swift passage in a matter of days, before a fast-approaching deadline.

The reviews are starting to come in as details emerge about the debt ceiling agreement reached by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Even before seeing those details, some lawmakers were criticizing the deal as not doing enough to tackle the nation's debt, while others worried it's too austere and will harm many low-income Americans.

Ron DeSantis ' entry into the 2024 White House race against former President Donald Trump sets up a clash of the Republican Party's two leading figures as the Florida governor attempts to topple a man who has dominated the GOP for the last seven years.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 44, is entering the presidential race. His wife Casey posted a video on Twitter that launched his campaign.

DeSantis has been considered Donald Trump's main rival for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. The former president calls his running mate "Ron DeSanctimonius".

Talks to avoid a US debt default were on a knife edge Saturday as President Joe Biden warned he would not accept "extreme" Republican demands but said he remained optimistic.

"I still believe we'll be able to avoid a default and we'll get something decent done," he told reporters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Donald Trump has returned to New York City, this time to face criminal charges. It's an odd opening for the next political chapter in his life. The former president may still face charges he mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House.

A spokesman for Mike Pence said Wednesday that the former vice president will not appeal a judge's order compelling him to testify in the Justice Department's investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Donald Trump turned his head toward photographers as he sat, stone-faced with shoulders rounded, at the defense table in a downtown Manhattan courtroom. "Not guilty," he said in a firm voice during a historic appearance before a judge Tuesday. Trump became the first U.S. president — former or current — to be charged with a crime.

An extraordinary moment in U.S. history will unfold in a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday: Former President Donald Trump, who faces multiple election-related investigations, will surrender and be arraigned on criminal charges stemming from 2016 hush money payments.

Former President Donald Trump faces the most urgent legal challenge of his life this week in New York, where he's set to be arraigned Tuesday on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign.