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Abby Vesoulis
Abby Vesoulis is a political reporter in TIME's Washington bureau.
Recent Articles
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
May 18, 2022
Politicians Created the Formula Shortage. Can They Fix It?
A 1989 law led to intense consolidation in the baby formula industry.
By Abby Vesoulis
May 17, 2022
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
May 11, 2022
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
May 11, 2022
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
May 10, 2022
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
May 3, 2022
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
April 28, 2022
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
April 25, 2022
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
April 15, 2022
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
April 8, 2022
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
April 7, 2022
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
April 6, 2022
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
March 26, 2022
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
March 25, 2022
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
March 16, 2022
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
March 9, 2022
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
March 7, 2022
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
March 2, 2022
How Inflation Could Affect Democrats in 2022 Midterms
Rep. Cindy Axne’s position on inflation has taken a sharp turn since ice cream season. Over the summer, when a constituent asked the Iowa District 3 Congresswoman if she was “concerned about the rising gas...
By Abby Vesoulis
February 28, 2022
Biden Nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS. What Happens Next?
In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first Black Supreme Court Justice. In 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman Supreme Court Justice. Now, Ketanji Brown Jackson is poised to become the first Black woman...
By Madeleine Carlisle and Abby Vesoulis
February 25, 2022
Meat Prices Are Going Up. Congress Is Trying to Do Something About It
Nobody was physically injured when an August 2019 fire broke out at a Tyson Foods’-owned beef packing plant in Holcomb, Kansas, but plenty of wallets were. The resulting four-month shutdown of the country’s second-largest beef...
By Abby Vesoulis
February 23, 2022
Hospitals: Nursing Agencies Are 'Exploiting'
In the 40 years that Jennie Kahn has worked as a registered nurse, the last two have been by far the most grueling. A lot of that is due to COVID-19, which transformed health care...
By Abby Vesoulis and Abigail Abrams
February 23, 2022
The NFL Fumbles and Congress Keeps Punting
Fans of the National Football League (NFL) have long complained about the organization's history of fumbling its public relations. In 2009, the organization allowed an Atlanta Falcons player, who had pleaded guilty to participating in...
By Abby Vesoulis
February 8, 2022
Marcia Fudge Is Trying to Decide Which Fire to Put Out First
If you could levitate, dronelike, above the dilapidated, 1940s-era public-housing projects in California’s Sunnydale neighborhood, you would be able to make out San Francisco’s gleaming silver skyline, just seven miles away. Here, iron-barred windows are...
By Abby Vesoulis / San Francisco
February 2, 2022
Congress Shifts Focus to Electoral Count Act Reform
Late Wednesday night, Democratic Senators suffered a stinging defeat when their months-long effort to pass sweeping voting-rights reform was torpedoed by the entire Republican caucus—with help from two of their own: Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin...
By Abby Vesoulis and Nik Popli
January 21, 2022
Democrats' Odds of Passing Voting Rights Reform Looked Bad Before Biden Went to the Hill—And Worse After He Left
Joe Biden spent more than three decades in the Senate. He understands its arcane rules. He once showed a prowess for shepherding complex legislation past obstinate Senators from both parties. But as he closes out...
By Abby Vesoulis and Brian Bennett
January 13, 2022
Most Restaurants Fail. COVID-19 Made the Odds Worse
It's easy to poke fun at terrible restaurants, like the one on Gordon Ramsay's show Kitchen Nightmares that served a mayonnaise-and-cheese sushi pizza, or the Washington D.C. Popeyes that went viral after a video revealed...
By Abby Vesoulis
December 28, 2021
Democrats Can't Win In Debate Over SALT Cap
In its edible form, salt is used to dry out meat; in its mineral form, it's used to dry out snowy highways; and in its tax form, SALT—the acronym for state and local tax deductions...
By Abby Vesoulis
December 16, 2021
Happy Holidays, Parents. The Senate's Gift to You Might Be a Missing $250 Check in January
This time of year is expensive, and especially for parents of young children. A quarter of parents withdraw from retirement accounts, dip into emergency funds, or take a payday loan to cover holiday spending, according...
By Abby Vesoulis
December 9, 2021
Why the Defense Bill's Military Justice Provision Is at Risk
The plan would mark a major shift in how the investigations are handled that advocates argue will better serve victims
By Abby Vesoulis
December 3, 2021
6 Innovative Paths to Homeownership
A dozen Grade-A eggs will run you about $0.40 more than they did a year ago, and you'll have to fork over $0.66 more for a pound of ground beef. At the gas pump, a...
By Abby Vesoulis
November 22, 2021
What Will the Senate Do with the Build Back Better Bill?
The House passed the Build Back Better bill, but it will likely be changed more during upcoming negotiations in the Senate
By Abby Vesoulis
November 19, 2021
What’s in the Build Back Better Bill
Here’s what’s included in the Build Back Better spending bill the House of Representatives just passed.
By Nik Popli and Abby Vesoulis
November 19, 2021
How Biden’s Poor Polling Threatens His Major Social Spending Bill
Joe Biden stood in front of an aging bridge in Woodstock, New Hampshire on Tuesday as some of the first winter snowflakes began to fall, and touted the $550 billion in new infrastructure spending he...
By Brian Bennett and Abby Vesoulis
November 16, 2021
General Electric's Overseas Growth Boosted by Public Funds
When Sam Bansfield first started working as a material handler at General Electric’s Lynn, Massachusetts plant in 2012, she remembers the noise—the loud clanking of her coworkers in the piece-making wing of the jet engine...
By Abby Vesoulis
November 9, 2021
Paid Family Leave Cut From Democrats' Bill
While 73% of Americans support government-mandated paid leave, the policy was competing with too many other priorities.
By Abby Vesoulis
October 27, 2021
How Unions Are Struggling to Catch Up to Worker Anger
James Geiger, a 53-year-old John Deere machinist in Waterloo, Iowa, is fed up with two things. The first is how newer workers are treated by the agricultural machinery manufacturer compared to older ones. After 19...
By Abby Vesoulis and Julia Zorthian
October 25, 2021
What the Labor Movement Needs to Keep 'Striketober' Going, According to New AFL-CIO Leader Liz Shuler
(To receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEOs and business decisionmakers, click here.) As a burgeoning labor shortage precipitated 10 million job openings and millions of Americans voluntarily leaving their jobs in...
By Abby Vesoulis
October 24, 2021
Why Workers Are Quitting Their Jobs
"Workers are burned out. They're fed up. They're fried."
By Abby Vesoulis
October 13, 2021
What Facebook’s Very Bad Week Means for Antitrust Reform
Facebook's week of bad news has brought urgency to long-running calls to update the country’s laws governing monopolies
By Abby Vesoulis
October 7, 2021
The Problem With Housing Choice Vouchers
The only thing that's clear after a week of Democratic infighting on Capitol Hill over a proposed $3.5 trillion social spending package is that lawmakers will have to trim hundreds of billions—if not trillions—from their...
By Abby Vesoulis
October 4, 2021
Dems’ Infighting Jeopardizes Housing Vouchers
As Democrats spar over a sweeping bipartisan infrastructure bill and an even bigger budget reconciliation package that includes funding for everything from universal pre-k to free community college, the fate of a historic investment in...
By Abby Vesoulis
September 30, 2021
How Texas’ Abortion Ban Will Lead to More At-Home Abortions
A new anti-abortion restriction in Texas is fueling awareness of self-managed abortions and how to access them. "The conservative legislators are actually helping us do our jobs," the co-founder of Plan C, purveyor of self-managed abortion information, tells TIME.
By Abby Vesoulis
September 21, 2021
Inside the Nation's Largest Guaranteed Income Experiment
One evening in early June, Leo and his family were able to enjoy a treat they hadn’t experienced in months: a sit-down meal at a restaurant. At a fried chicken chain in a Compton, California...
By Abby Vesoulis/Compton, CA and Abigail Abrams
September 16, 2021
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Wants to Improve Blue-Collar Work. Can He Convince Washington?
Having an exceptionally productive month at work could ruin Chloe Morgan. A single mother to four boys under the age of ten, Morgan is a saleswoman in Dayton, Ohio, with a $30,000 base salary that...
By Abby Vesoulis / Dayton, OH
September 3, 2021
U.S. Implements Largest Food Stamps Increase in History
As expanded unemployment benefits, a near-nationwide eviction moratorium, a pause on federal student loan payments and other temporary pandemic-related government benefits near their expiration dates, the Biden Administration announced on Monday that it was going...
By Abby Vesoulis
August 16, 2021
CDC Issues New Eviction Moratorium Amid Standoff Between White House and Progressive Democrats
Raven Sullivan is awake responding to emails at 2:05 a.m. She recently received notice that her landlord wants to evict her and her two toddlers from their Georgia rental home over roughly $2,600 in unpaid...
By Abby Vesoulis
August 3, 2021
Inside the Quest to Distribute Billions in Rental Assistance Before Eviction Moratoriums Expire
Katrina Dennis, 51, was so sure she would be evicted from her Phoenix, Arizona rental home that she had already started packing to move in with family. The pandemic cost Dennis her airline customer relations...
By Abby Vesoulis
July 23, 2021
How 7 Parents Will Use New Child Tax Credit
It felt like Christmas in July for more than 35 million American families this week, when they began receiving a collective $15 billion in their bank accounts in the form of expanded child tax credits....
By Abby Vesoulis
July 16, 2021
IRS Is Close to Breaking Point as Child Tax Credits Roll Out
With new responsibilities doling out COVID-19 relief and child tax credits, the understaffed, underfunded IRS is falling dangerously behind
By Abby Vesoulis
June 29, 2021
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