Abby Vesoulis

Abby Vesoulis is a political reporter in TIME's Washington bureau.

Recent Articles

Gun Rights Groups Work to Defeat Gun Control Proposals

Gun rights groups are likely to take legal action if needed.

By Abby Vesoulis

Democrats Vent as Congress Remains Gridlocked on Guns After Uvalde

The sense of frustration and impotence among Democrats in the Capitol was palpable.

By Abby Vesoulis

Why Madison Cawthorn Lost His Race

About 95% of members of the U.S. House get re-elected for subsequent terms. North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn, a 26-year-old scandal-ridden Republican, became a rare exception when he lost his primary race on Tuesday. In...

By Abby Vesoulis

Politicians Created the Formula Shortage. Can They Fix It?

A 1989 law led to intense consolidation in the baby formula industry.

By Abby Vesoulis

Barista Jaz Brisack Took on Starbucks—and Won

A Rhodes scholarship to the University of Oxford can open doors to elite worlds—to a life spent in boardrooms and at gilded galas. Bill Clinton, for example, famously smoked (though “didn’t inhale”) marijuana there before...

By Abby Vesoulis

Why Utah Democrats Decided to Back Evan McMullin Over One of Their Own

"We've never seen anything like this in Utah,” says a Republican state senator.

By Abby Vesoulis

How a Digital Abortion Footprint Could Lead to Criminal Charges

Lawmakers are trying to generate new energy behind digital privacy bills in case Roe v. Wade is overturned.

By Abby Vesoulis

Democrats Can't Do Much to Protect Abortion

Democrats in Congress were in a fighting mood on Tuesday. Just hours after Politico published a draft opinion by a Supreme Court majority that would strike down Roe v. Wade, senators issued fiery promises about...

By Abby Vesoulis and Eric Cortellessa

Congress Takes on the 'Big Beef' Monopoly

Fourth-generation North Dakota cattle rancher Shelly Ziesch needed to offload some of her cattle a few weeks back. It was getting too expensive to continue feeding cows that had already reached the weights necessary to...

By Abby Vesoulis

Why Double Digit Rent Hikes Are Here to Stay

Garrett deGraffenreid, a 23-year-old New York University graduate student, knew the rent on his one-bedroom Manhattan apartment would jump when he saw a Trader Joe’s grocery store pop up down the block. “The writing was...

By Abby Vesoulis

Happy Tax Day! Your Refund Could Take Months

Identity theft and complicated pandemic-era benefits have created an IRS backlog on processing paper tax returns

By Abby Vesoulis

Congress Has Limited Means to Punish Russia

As Ukrainian military personnel, police and volunteers laid green tarps over the bodies of at least 50 people, including five children, killed by a Russian missile strike at a railway station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on...

By Abby Vesoulis

Democrats Push Biden to Fix Childcare Crisis

As a growing number of companies require employees to return full-time to the office, young parents are facing a new crisis: what to do about their not yet school-age kids when they're away at work....

By Abby Vesoulis

Inside the Fight to Extend the Free School Meal Program

Suzanne Morales, the director of nutrition services for the 30-plus schools in California's Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, usually has to abide by strict conditions when feeding her district's 24,000 students. Her schools must offer...

By Abby Vesoulis

Inside Capitol Hill Aides' Unionizing Effort

Congressional staffers spend late nights and weekends helping to broker deals and write the laws that govern the U.S. Many do so on salaries so scant they qualify for the welfare benefits they help legislate....

By Abby Vesoulis

Biden Likely to Extend Loan Repayment Pause

After more than a two-year pause on federal student loan repayments, the moratorium—which former President Donald Trump signed into law in March 2020 and has been extended several times—is slated to expire on May 1....

By Abby Vesoulis

After Zelensky's Speech, Lawmakers Weigh What to Do Next

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal to a joint session of Congress Wednesday morning, evoking the memories of the aerial attacks on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Twin Towers and Pentagon in...

By Abby Vesoulis

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on the Chip Shortage, Supply Chain Issues, and Russian Sanctions

Earlier this week, I wrote about how potato chips may be harder to come by as Russia's invasion of Ukraine hinders production of sunflower oil, a common snack food ingredient. Today, I spoke with United...

By Abby Vesoulis

How the Ukraine-Russia Conflict Will Raise the Price of Snack Foods

To keep Martin’s Snacks' 80,000-square-foot south-central Pennsylvania factory humming throughout COVID-19, CEO Butch Potter has had to shell out 20% more for potatoes than he did pre-pandemic. His packaging film expenses have increased 35%. Box...

By Abby Vesoulis

President Biden's State of the Union: 'We Are United'

Joe Biden walked into the House Chamber Tuesday night, maskless, shaking hands with lawmakers before he spoke about a new moment in the country easing its pandemic restrictions. “Last year COVID-19 kept us apart. This...

By Abby Vesoulis and Brian Bennett
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