Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

[email protected] https://x.com/JenniferShutt https://bsky.app/profile/jennifershutt.bsky.social

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

Before joining States Newsroom, Jennifer covered Congress for CQ Roll Call for more than six years. As a budget and appropriations reporter, she tracked the annual federal funding process as well as disaster aid and COVID-19 spending.

Jennifer is originally from northern Pennsylvania and holds degrees in journalism and political science from Penn State University. After graduating, she began her journalism career as a reporter for The Daily Times in Maryland where she covered local and state government. Jennifer then moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a web producer at Politico.

Norm Eisen, an attorney with the Democracy Defenders Fund, speaks outside District of Columbia Superior Court after an arraignment hearing for David C. Hearn, center, on felony charges of destruction of property of $1,000 or more. At left is Mary C. Dohrmann, senior counsel at the Washington Litigation Group and another member of Hearn’s legal team. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

US Olympian canoeist pleads not guilty to charges of damaging Reflecting Pool

Jul 09, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The former U.S Olympian charged with damaging a section of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool pleaded not guilty during a brief court hearing Thursday and was released on his own recognizance. D.C. Superior Court Associate Judge Carmen Guerricagoitia...
Republicans in Congress are quarreling on social media and rebelling on the House floor as they try to pass legislation prior to the November midterm elections and keep their majority. In this photo, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appear at a news conference on the Upper West Terrace of U.S. Capitol Building on Oct. 1, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
National

Republicans in Congress struggle with internal squabbles as time runs out on 2026

Jul 09, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans are campaigning to keep control of Congress for another two years, but their message about being the “grown-ups” in the room keeps getting overshadowed by public feuds that have sidetracked work on major legislation. After enacting large...
A volunteer clinic escort holds a sign outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, South Carolina, on March 28, 2025. (Photo by Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
National

Medicaid again to cover non-abortion care at Planned Parenthood as GOP ban ends

Jul 02, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans celebrated last year when they barred Medicaid payments from going to Planned Parenthood for one year, predicting the financial impact would hollow out the organization. A year later, with that section of the “big, beautiful” law set...
White House budget director Russ Vought speaks with reporters inside the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

White House budget director advocates more funding for own agency, cuts for others

Jun 30, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — White House budget director Russ Vought testified before a U.S. House panel Tuesday that his agency needs lawmakers to increase its annual budget, even though he hasn’t spent much of the $100 million Republicans approved in their “big...
Ruben Gallego, AZ’s first Latino senator, says there’s room to work with Trump on border security
National

US Senate Ethics Committee dismisses complaint against Arizona’s Gallego

Jun 29, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against Sen. Ruben Gallego, writing in a letter it found no evidence the Arizona Democrat violated the chamber’s rules or federal law. Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna filed...
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., amid fog on Dec. 10, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

GOP dreams of another big budget bill dashed by Trump demands for SAVE America Act

Jun 26, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans have one more opportunity to use the complex process they relied on to enact their “big, beautiful” law and provide tens of billions in additional funding for immigration enforcement — a chance that becomes less likely the...
President Donald Trump looks on during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on May 27, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
National

Trump wants $87.6 billion to pay for his war in Iran, aid to farmers and more

Jun 24, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration sent Congress a request Wednesday for $87.6 billion in emergency funding to cover the cost of the war in Iran and other expenses. White House budget director Russ Vought wrote in a letter that in...
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as U.S. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., look on after a meeting at the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
National

Lunch with ‘mad as a murder hornet’ Trump and US Senate GOP fails to heal divisions

Jun 24, 2026
Jennifer Shutt Ariana Figueroa Shauneen Miranda
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans walked into a lunch with the president on Wednesday looking for ways to unify, but they left the closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill as fractured as ever about policy goals. President Donald Trump said after...
Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2026. The hall was set up for a ceremony in which President Donald Trump would sign into law a broadly bipartisan housing bill, but Trump abruptly canceled the event. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

Trump spikes housing bill at last minute, refusing to sign until SAVE America Act passes

Jun 24, 2026
Jacob Fischler Jennifer Shutt
President Donald Trump derailed a housing overhaul that he was set to sign into law Wednesday, canceling a signing ceremony for the broadly popular bipartisan bill until Congress passes an election security measure. Trump had been scheduled to sign the...
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
National

FEMA nominee pressed on whether Trump favors disaster funding requests from GOP states

Jun 17, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency testified before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that if confirmed he would ensure natural disaster recovery efforts are “objective” and “fair.” Cameron Hamilton, who worked as acting...
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, he’s heard the president's deal with Iran sets up a 60-day framework for negotiators to reach agreement on more specifics. In this photo, Thune speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill on Sept. 19, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
National

Republicans in US Senate left in dark by Trump on Iran deal, but want details and a vote

Jun 16, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators from both political parties said Tuesday they had yet to see the text of the deal Trump administration officials struck over the weekend to end the war in Iran, though several indicated any final agreement will...
Ships anchored on May 16, 2026 in the Strait of Hormuz near Larak Island, Iran. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
National

Ceasefire reached with Iran, ending hostilities and opening Strait of Hormuz

Jun 15, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he had signed a ceasefire with Iran, moving the two countries one step closer to ending the war that began in February. Trump, speaking from the G7 conference in Europe, said the memorandum...