The Senate has passed a defense bill that authorizes significant pay raises for junior enlisted service members and boosts overall military spending to $895 billion.

Senate Democrats reelected Chuck Schumer as party leader on Tuesday as the party moves into a deeply uncertain time, with no real consensus on a strategy as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.

The outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman is downplaying his party’s November loss to President-elect Donald Trump and arguing Democrats avoided even greater losses that parties in power have faced around the world.

Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, says he's joined the race to lead the national party after an election that swept Donald Trump and Republicans to power in Washington.

Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde has conceded defeat in the race narrowly won by Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, saying he will not pursue a recount.

Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin won Michigan’s shotgun-tight race for U.S. Senate, defeating former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in a battle of attrition.

The Associated Press declared that Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin won reelection to the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin after it determined that Republican Eric Hovde wouldn’t be able to take the lead once the remaining untabulated ballots were counted.

Wisconsin is no stranger to close presidential elections.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde have repeatedly accused each other of lying during an often testy and confrontational debate.

Republicans are sensing an opportunity in Wisconsin’s closely watched Senate race.

President Joe Biden has made a rare jump into the 2024 battleground political fray since ending his reelection bid.

The fourth and final night of the Democratic National Convention is underway, culminating with Vice President Kamala Harris accepting her party’s nomination for president.

Republican millionaire businessman Eric Hovde and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin are wasting no time going after one another.

Voters in Wisconsin will select candidates Tuesday who will compete in some of the fall’s most closely watched races.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ first campaign stop in Wisconsin with her new running mate this week put her in a critical part of a swing state.

Vice President Kamala Harris has declared herself and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “joyful warriors” as they spent their first full day as running mates rallying Democrats across the Midwest.

A roaring crowd of battleground state voters greeted Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin as she opened her Democratic political case against Republican former President Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden's debate performance spurred anxiety and silence among some Democrats running in competitive races across the country.

Many Democrats campaigning for the Senate this year say they support suspending the filibuster rule to pass nationwide abortion protections.

The Wisconsin Senate race between Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Eric Hovde is setting up to be one of the most competitive and expensive Senate races in the country.

Wisconsin’s presidential primary this Tuesday will clear the way for a general election campaign that Democrats see as an opportunity unlike any in recent state history.

A group of Democratic and independent senators are pushing legislation that focuses on immigrants — with permanent legal status or without — who are charged with or convicted of violent crimes.

Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice.

The U.S. Coast Guard is apologizing for not taking “appropriate action” years ago when it failed to adequately handle cases of sexual assault and harassment at the service’s Connecticut academy.

Wisconsin Republicans still reeling from an April election that saw conservatives lose majority control of the state Supreme Court hope to use their upcoming state convention to unify and refocus on the looming presidential race in which Wisconsin will once again be a battleground.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is seeking a third term in battleground Wisconsin.

A conservative tilt on the Wisconsin Supreme Court has given Republicans victories in high-stakes cases in recent years, from voting restrictions to gerrymandered legislative districts.

Passing legislation to protect same-sex marriages in the Senate was a monthslong effort, building on a decadeslong push.

The House has given final approval to protections for same-sex marriages.

Legislation that ensures same-sex and interracial marriages are recognized as legal unions appears headed for final approval and President Joe Biden’s signature.

The Senate has passed landmark bipartisan legislation to protect same-sex marriages.

Democrats celebrating a successful effort to keep control of the U.S. Senate this year will soon confront a 2024 campaign that could prove more challenging.

Legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriages has crossed a major Senate hurdle, putting Congress on track to take the historic step of ensuring that such unions are enshrined in federal law.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is leaning into controversy as he runs for his third term.

Democrats are punting a vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriages until after the November midterm elections, pulling back just days after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to put the Senate on the record on the issue “in the coming weeks.”.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says the Senate will vote on legislation to protect same-sex marriage “in the coming weeks” as a bipartisan group backing the bill is tweaking it to gain Republican support.

The Respect for Marriage Act would ensure that same-sex marriages are recognized nationwide.

As the Senate contemplates legislation to protect same-sex marriages, there has been a sharp shift in Republican support for the issue.

Wisconsin Democrats gathering for their annual state convention this weekend are focused on reelecting Gov. Tony Evers and defeating Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

Republican former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson announced Monday that he won't run again in a bid to take on the Democratic incumbent in the battleground state.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing Ketanji Brown Jackson closer to confirmation, setting up a vote next week to recommend her nomination to the full Senate and seat her as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's opposition to President Joe Biden's judicial nominee in Wisconsin has surprised Democrats and is providing the latest test to the Senate tradition of letting home state senators block district court judges from advancing.

The Democrats’ fragile hold on the Senate majority has become vividly apparent with the sudden illness of of New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján.

Democrats are fretting about how they’d divide a shrinking pie amid signs that negotiations over President Joe Biden’s massive domestic policy bill could yield a smaller serving of health care spending.

Three Democratic U.S. senators from states that have refused to expand Medicaid want the federal government to set up a mirror plan to provide health insurance coverage to people in those states.

Ten liberal senators are urging President Joe Biden to back India and South Africa’s appeal to the World Trade Organization to temporarily relax intellectual property rules so coronavirus vaccines can be manufactured by nations that are struggling to inoculate their populations.

The U.S. is scrambling to expand DNA mapping of coronavirus samples to identify potentially deadlier mutations starting to spread around the country. But the more significant action is on Capitol Hill, where a House bill headed for floor debate would provide $1.75 billion for genomic sequencing. The U.S. now maps only the genetic makeup of a minuscule fraction of positive virus samples, a situation some experts liken to flying blind. Baldwin says the U.S. should be analyzing at least 15% of positive virus samples. “Genomic sequencing testing is how we will spot variants early before they spread,” said White House COVID response coordinator Jeff Zients.

“People are confused by this whole witness requirement,” said Barbara Beckert, an advocate for Disability Rights Wisconsin, which was part of a lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the witness mandate. To get it right, you have to follow a lot of very specific rules.”There are early signs that voters are struggling to follow those rules. In North Carolina, over 200,000 ballots have been returned and processed since early voting began almost three weeks ago. “This agreement is a victory for all eligible older voters in North Carolina,” said Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, whose North Carolina affiliate sued over the rules. ___AP’s Advance Voting guide brings you the facts about voting early, by mail or absentee from each state: https://interactives.ap.org/advance-voting-2020/

(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)LAS VEGAS Democratic Party luminaries, rising stars, former presidents and presidential contenders have been making a pitch for Joe Biden over three days of an atypical convention. Biden will speak Thursday night from Wilmington, Delaware, as he closes out the fourth night of the all-virtual Democratic National Convention, starting at 9 p.m. The 78-year-old moderate and former Republican being given a spot to help to close out the Democratic convention is striking. The convention is also available to watch on Twitch, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV. A celebrity-studded afterparty hosted by Andy Cohen is scheduled to be shown immediately after Bidens speech on the official livestream.

In a report issued Wednesday, the State Department called out Bosnia, Belarus, Ukraine and particularly Poland for not having acted on restitution claims. Croatia, Latvia and Russia were also taken to task in the report, which is likely to draw angry responses from the governments identified. The report noted that Poland, which had the largest Jewish community in Europe before the outbreak of World War II, has not yet enacted comprehensive legislation on national property restitution or compensation covering Holocaust confiscations. Only about half of 5,500 claims for Jewish communal property have been adjudicated and half of those were rejected, it said. As the JUST Act report makes clear, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities continue to wait for justice for property that was wrongfully taken from them, said Gideon Taylor, operations chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization.

Wisconsin, where Trump won by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, joins newly emerging battleground Arizona as the first two states where Biden has named his campaign team. Two veterans of Sen. Tammy Baldwins successful 2018 reelection campaign will run Bidens Wisconsin operation. Shirley Ellis, a longtime adviser to U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, will join Biden team as a strategic adviser focused on Milwaukee. She will join Bidens campaign formally after the August convention, according to the campaign. The Wisconsin team, especially, is intended to show that the Biden campaigns talk of a wide map isnt at the exclusion of traditional battlegrounds.

Instead of an emergency standard, the agency has relied on voluntary guidance that recommends companies erect physical barriers, enforce social distancing and install more hand-sanitizing stations, among other steps. More than 80,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among health care workers, meatpacking employees and prison staff, including at least 372 deaths, Adams said. OSHA quickly pivoted to focus intensely on giving employers and workers the guidance they need to work safely in this rapidly changing situation. A group of Senate Democrats asked the Labor Departments inspector general to investigate OSHAs inspections and citations related to COVID-19. The lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also want the watchdog to investigate OSHAs decision not to put in place a temporary emergency standard to deal with the virus.