Raja Krishnamoorthi

For decades, at the end of a long day, it wasn’t unusual for Republican and Democratic congressional staffers to leave their differences at the negotiating table and head to the bar to hang out.

But as the pre-2016 crowd moves into more senior positions — or says “See ya” to the Hill for gigs on K Street — many veteran staffers fret that the 20-somethings taking their places are not making as many strong friendships across the aisle.

As lawmakers look to reshape the federal loan process in the upcoming reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, a cohort knows firsthand the pain of rising college costs — 68 members, or 13 percent of Congress, reported that either they or their family members are mired in student debt.

Collectively, the 44 Democrats and 24 Republicans have higher education liabilities of $2.5 million, according to recent financial disclosures. The median student loan debt is $15,000, while average debt is $37,000.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used her first marquee hearing appearance to help Democrats lay down legal ground work to pursue President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

The New York Democrat grilled the president’s former personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, on Wednesday on how Trump simultaneously inflated the value of his assets on financial statements in order to apply for substantial bank loans and deflated the value of those same assets in order to receive tax breaks.

This is a developing story. Follow this page for updates on the latest from the Cohen hearing.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, said Wednesday that Trump’s business operation is being investigated for illegal acts that haven’t yet been publicly disclosed.

Lawmakers commemorated the victims of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Thursday, one year to the date of the tragedy.

Seventeen people were killed and 14  wounded in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 last year. 

We’re all over Capitol Hill and its surrounding haunts looking for good stories. Some of the best are ones we come across while reporting the big stories.

There is life beyond legislating, and this is the place for it. We look, but we don’t find everything. We want to know what you see, too.

Updated 9:12 a.m. | With his White House again embroiled in a crisis and President Donald Trump wondering who he can trust, he touted the support of a new friend: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

The New York Times on Wednesday afternoon published an op-ed by an anonymous “senior official in the Trump administration” that said Trump is “facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader” in the form of officials across the government “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”

We’re all over Capitol Hill and its surrounding haunts looking for good stories. Some of the best are ones we come across while reporting the big stories.

There is life beyond legislating, and this is the place for those stories. We look for them, but we don’t find them all. We want to know what you see, too.