The Latest Breaking News from McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Ever since the assassination of Haiti’s president last summer, the Biden administration has been planning for the possibility of the country’s potential collapse. The Department of Homeland Security has quietly readied for an unprecedented flow of refugees across the Florida Straits. And the Pentagon has gamed out what…

WASHINGTON — A watchdog group with the U.S. Treasury Department plans to examine whether Florida’s state government properly used federal pandemic recovery money in connection to last month’s efforts to relocate migrants, a top official with the agency told the Massachusetts congressional delegation last week.

WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell has purposefully steered clear of previewing what policies a Republican-led Senate would prioritize if his party recaptures the chamber in a month.

U.S. Senate candidates Ted Budd and Cheri Beasley met on the debate stage for the first time Friday and discussed the former and current presidents, where they stand on policy issues and who was actually elected to the White House in 2020.

WASHINGTON — Val Demings has repeatedly criticized Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for failing to vote last week on a broad spending bill that would have allocated additional billions of dollars for natural-disaster relief, accusing her foe in this year’s election of letting down Florida residents after Hurricane Ian.

Online lender Kabbage was one of the biggest lenders in the first year of the Paycheck Protection Program, processing more than $7 billion in loans.

WASHINGTON — California gasoline prices are soaring again — up more than a dollar over the last month — and the latest big congressional idea for relief involves creating an emergency oil supply that Washington would tap when prices soar.

WASHINGTON — Hurricane Ian is “likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history” and is posing a crisis to the nation, President Joe Biden said on Friday, addressing the powerful storm that devastated Florida this week and reconstituted Friday in the Atlantic for a second U.S. landfall in…

WASHINGTON — Hurricane Ian is “likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history” and is posing a crisis to the nation, President Joe Biden said Friday, addressing the powerful storm that devastated Florida this week and reconstituted Friday in the Atlantic for a second U.S. landfall in South…