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.

Diseases like measles have surged to the highest level in decades in the United States.(Photo by Getty Images Plus)
National

String of outbreaks tests US public health system amid funding cuts, vaccine resistance

Jul 30, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged during his confirmation hearing to do everything in his “power to put the health of America back on track.” Kennedy testified that when he worked as a lawyer...
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is shown on a monitor as Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
National

Fauci pleads the Fifth to COVID questions by US Sen. Rand Paul at intense hearing

Jul 29, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s most visible public health officials during the coronavirus pandemic, declined to answer questions from a U.S. Senate committee in a tense and confrontational hearing Wednesday, citing his Fifth Amendment rights. Fauci...
David Hearn, of Bethesda, Maryland, is charged with destruction of property of more than $1,000 for allegedly vandalizing the newly refinished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19, 2026. Shown is construction at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., on May 5, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

Reflecting Pool damaged before Olympian charged with felony touched it, witness says

Jul 28, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Attorneys representing the former Olympic canoeist charged with damaging part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have asked the judge in the case to release more information from the grand jury. David Hearn’s legal team wrote in a...
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as 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

Trump urges US Senate to hold off on August recess until SAVE America Act passes

Jul 27, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday called on the U.S. Senate to cancel its five-week August break, keeping lawmakers in session to advance several of his priorities, despite not having the votes. Trump wrote in a social media post...
A vote on a budget resolution in the U.S. House on July 22, 2026, sets up a confrontation between GOP lawmakers in Congress over exactly how much funding to provide for the war in Iran. Shown is the damaged B1 bridge, a day after it was destroyed by an airstrike, on April 3, 2026 west of Tehran in Karaj, Iran. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
National

US House GOP pushes through budget blueprint for Iran war funding, farm aid

Jul 22, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans in the U.S. House on Wednesday approved their outline for the third party-line budget measure of the second Trump administration, though they won’t be able to begin work on that package until they reach agreement with their...
FEMA nominee Cameron Hamilton testifies before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 17, 2026. (Screenshot from committee webcast)
National

Onetime acting FEMA chief fired by Trump now on track to be confirmed to head agency

Jul 22, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday moved one step closer to confirming the first administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency since President Donald Trump took office last year. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-4 to...
The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, just hours before a federal government shutdown. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
National

Republicans in US House approve stopgap spending bill ahead of Oct. 1 deadline

Jul 21, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a stopgap spending bill Tuesday that would keep the government up and running through the fall, sending it to the Senate, where lawmakers expect to rework the measure. Congress must pass a government funding...
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 21, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
National

'Urgent requirements’ for US military funding cited by GOP as Hegseth estimates war cost

Jul 21, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate committee in charge of funding the government spent hours in a hearing room Tuesday, trying to parse out just how much extra spending lawmakers should provide for the military amid the ongoing war in Iran...
When your local reflecting pool or pond turns green with algae nature has better solutions
National

Trump administration should preserve Reflecting Pool evidence, judge says

Jul 20, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — A D.C. Superior Court judge on Monday encouraged the Trump administration to preserve the sections of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that it says a Maryland man damaged to ensure the case moves forward. Associate Judge Todd E...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 17, 2026, it has linked an outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants. (Photo courtesy Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
National

Taco Bell removing lettuce nationwide linked to cyclosporiasis in 5 states

Jul 17, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that public health officials have linked the ongoing outbreak of cyclosporiasis in five states to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taco Bell restaurants. The fast food chain wrote in a...
A potential Republican budget reconciliation package would provide up to $60 billion for the Department of Defense. Shown is an aerial view of the Pentagon. (Photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brittany A. Chase/Department of Defense)
National

US House panel approves $95B GOP-only budget blueprint

Jul 16, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — Republicans on the U.S. House Budget Committee approved their budget resolution Thursday, marking one small step forward in the complicated process that could allow the party to enact a third party-line bill. The 20-14 vote followed hours of...
Erica Schwartz attends her confirmation hearing to become director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. Schwartz, President Trump's pick to lead the CDC, would fill the position left vacant since August 2025 when Trump ousted former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
National

CDC nominee on shaky ground following US Senate confirmation hearing

Jul 15, 2026
Jennifer Shutt
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t appear to secure the support needed to take over the public health agency during a lengthy and often tense confirmation hearing Wednesday. While Dr...