WASHINGTON, June 19 -- Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, issued the following news release: * * * Duckworth, Warren Press RFK Jr. on "Dangerous War on Vaccines," Reckless Decision to Slash HHS Vaccine Funding * June 19, 2025 RFK Jr. cut hundreds of millions of dollars for bird flu, HIV vaccine development [WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) wrote to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pressi  more

RICHMOND, Virginia, June 21 -- The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond issued the following Regional Matters analysis by Bethany Greene: * * * Federal Government Transfers in the Rural Fifth District In previous articles, we articulated the role that cuts in federal government workforce and spending might have on the Washington, D.C., region of the Fifth Federal Reserve District. But another key piece of federal government spending that impacts our Fifth District communities is transfer payments  more

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, June 21 -- The Illinois Department of Employment Security issued the following news on June 20, 2025: * * * Illinois Payroll Jobs Hold Steady, Unemployment Rate Unchanged in May The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today nonfarm payrolls were nearly unchanged over-the-month, up +100 (0.0%) to 6,166,100 in May. Additionally, the April monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +4,100 to -2,400. The unemployment ra  more

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, issued the following news release: * * * In Peoria, Duckworth Joins Illinois Health Care Advocates and Medicaid Recipients to Condemn GOP Efforts to Gut Medicaid * June 19, 2025 [PEORIA, IL] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined Peoria-area health care advocates, Medicaid recipients and their families to call out the Trump Administration and Republican's dangerous, relentless attempts to slash Medicaid with their Big, Be  more

WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The U.S. Senate conducted eight committee hearings on June 18, 2025: * * * APPROPRIATIONS: ARMY Committee on Appropriations: Subcommittee on Department of Defense concluded a hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Army, after receiving testimony from Daniel P. Driscoll, Secretary, and General Randy A. George, Chief of Staff, both of the Army, Department of Defense. * * * DOD BUDGET Committee on Armed Services: Committee concluded op  more

WASHINGTON, June 20 -- The Federal Trade Commission issued the following news release: * * * Walmart to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Allegations it Allowed Scammers to Obtain Millions from Consumers Using Company's Wire Transfer Services * Walmart will pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it turned a blind eye to scammers who used its in-store money transfer services to take hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. consumers. "Electronic money transfers are one  more