Politics

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the United States Postal Service, with mail volume down by nearly a third already compared to same time last year and dropping quickly, as businesses drastically cut back on solicitations, advertisements and all kinds of letters that make up the bulk of mail service’s bottom line. The falloff […]

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services’ preparedness and response division is confronting the deadliest pandemic in a century, and its leaders want to know how America is feeling. In a series of slides dated Monday and obtained by The New York Times, the department’s assistant secretary for preparedness and response presented a

WASHINGTON — A Trump administration request for Congress to quickly approve $250 billion in additional loans to help distressed small businesses weather the coronavirus crisis stalled in the Senate on Thursday, after Republicans and Democrats clashed over what should be included in the latest round of government relief. The dispute was a prelude to what

Good morning and welcome to On Politics, a daily political analysis of the 2020 elections based on reporting by New York Times journalists. Sign up here to get On Politics in your inbox every weekday. Where things stand in the race Bernie Sanders has ended his presidential campaign, acknowledging in a video address to supporters

The news media tends to focus on the Bernie or Bust types, supporters of Mr. Sanders who have vowed not to vote for any other Democrat in November; last weekend, the well-known comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan, who had endorsed Mr. Sanders in January, said that he would probably support Mr. Trump over Mr.

“How well did the president respond to a new and totally surprising set of circumstances and did he keep Americans safe? That’s the question,” said Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, who reluctantly supported Mr. Trump in 2016. Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump are facing a combination of conventional and wildly atypical challenges as

“Election fraud in the United States is very rare, but the most common type of such fraud in the United States involves absentee ballots,” Mr. Hasen said. “Sensible rules for handling of absentee ballots make sense, not only to minimize the risk of ballot tampering but to ensure that voters cast valid ballots.” States that

WASHINGTON — A showdown is taking shape in Congress over how far Washington should go in expanding voting access to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, with Democrats pressing to add new options for voters and President Trump and Republicans resisting changes they say could harm their election prospects in November. Democrats are determined to add

For much of 2019, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was a steady and certain presence near the front of the Democratic presidential race. No amount of speed bumps — verbal gaffes, criticism of his long record as a Washington politician, even attacks from Republicans over his son’s dealings in Ukraine — could dislodge

WASHINGTON — Seeking to move past allegations that she has tried to profit from the coronavirus crisis, Senator Kelly Loeffler, Republican of Georgia, announced on Wednesday that she and her husband would divest from all individual stocks and move their money into mutual and exchange-traded funds. Ms. Loeffler, a freshman senator who was already in