Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has announced he's ready to start the process of considering a Republican-led spending bill to prevent a midnight Friday government shutdown.

The Senate has confirmed fossil fuel executive Chris Wright to serve as energy secretary, a key post to promote President Donald Trump’s efforts to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary, told senators during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would promote all sources of American energy, while also acknowledging the burning of fossil fuels causes climate change.

A prosecutor in London says an American woman accused of killing her two youngest children in Colorado last December told her 11-year-old daughter who survived the attack that God was making her do it.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators have sent a letter to the leader of the World Anti-Doping Agency asking for answers about the case in which 23 Chinese swimmers were cleared to compete at the Tokyo Olympics despite positive tests for a banned drug.

Despite weeks of negotiations, the White House and House Republicans were unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to overhaul environmental regulations and streamline federal permitting as part of their budget deal.

Initial results show two of the more moderate Denver mayoral candidates in the unusually large and divergent field of 16 contestants have pulled far ahead.

With drought, climate change and overuse of the Colorado River leading to increasingly dire conditions in the West, the federal Bureau of Reclamation is looking at fallowing as a way to cut water use.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee is facing backlash from Japanese Americans and conservation groups after blocking a proposal to create a national historic site at a former internment camp in rural Colorado.

More than 600 sitting senators have died or resigned since the first Congress met in 1789.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is moving the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management back to the nation’s capital after two years in Colorado.

Three senators say they have tested positive for COVID-19 despite being vaccinated.

Congressional Democrats are eyeing a $6 trillion infrastructure package that goes far beyond roads and bridges.

A bipartisan senators’ group working on a $1 trillion infrastructure compromise has now doubled in size, expanding to 21 members.

President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee vast expanses of public land in the U.S. West is being criticized by Republicans because of her involvement in partisan politics as a longtime Democratic aide and environmentalist.

Several families and survivors of those killed in March's mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket are demanding the appointment of a special master to help distribute public donations for victims to a centralized account.

A group working to elect candidates with science, technology, engineering and math backgrounds plans to spend $50 million in the 2022 midterm elections.

On Wednesday, Reinfeld was reeling from the latest mass shooting even closer to home, after authorities say a 21-year-old gunned down shoppers at a local grocery store. “I could see at some point leaving because of all this,” said Reinfeld, a gun control activist. But it's also been haunted by shootings that have helped define the nation's decades-long struggle with mass violence. The Aurora shooting brought that terror from schools to a movie theater. After each of Colorado's biggest massacres, the local gun control movement has gained heartbroken new recruits.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)DENVER – The Department of Defense's inspector general announced Friday that it was reviewing the Trump administration's last-minute decision to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. “Moving Space Command will disrupt the mission while risking our national security and economic vitality,” the senators said in a joint statement. We fully support the investigation.”Among other duties, the Space Command enables satellite-based navigation and troop communication and provides warning of missile launches. The Space Command differs from the U.S. Space Force, launched in December 2019 as the first new military service since the Air Force was created in 1947. The Space Command is not an individual military service but a central command for militarywide space operations.

From left are Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., Schumer, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., rear, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – Opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial for Donald Trump on the charge of incitement of insurrection for the Capitol riot will begin the week of Feb. 8. Under the timeline, the House will transmit the impeachment article against Trump late Monday, with initial proceedings Tuesday. A handful of Senate Republicans have indicated they are open — but not committed — to conviction. McConnell, who said this week that Trump “provoked” his supporters before the riot, has not said how he will vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. By evening, Pelosi had all but declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress” on party priorities — lowering health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others. “I know folks are anxious,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told followers on a live Twitter video. McConnell also warned of the continued problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters turn away from the GOP. “It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor who unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. By evening, Pelosi had all but declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress” on party priorities — lowering health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others. “I know folks are anxious,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told followers on a live Twitter video. McConnell also warned of the continued problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters turn away from the GOP. “It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor who unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that state election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has struggled against Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev.

The former astronaut defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat after McCain’s death in 2018. Daines’ first election in 2014 broke a Democratic lock on the Senate seat that had lasted more than 100 years. The six-term congressman from northern New Mexico defeated Republican Mark Ronchetti, a former television meteorologist, and Libertarian Bob Walsh. Reed cruised to victory over Waters, an investment consultant who mounted earlier unsuccessful campaigns for state Senate and U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade in a low-key race in which the incumbent had a massive cash advantage.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Republican senators are fighting to save their majority against an onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats that are now hotbeds of the backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors.

The two contests are crucial in the fight for control of the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 majority. “You can’t just be a supporter of public lands for four months before the election,” Montana Gov. Democrats have gained traction on a Bullock lawsuit against a senior Trump administration official with a history as an anti-public lands firebrand, Wyoming attorney William Perry Pendley. The Trump administration installed Perry as the nation’s lead public lands steward, acting head of the Bureau of Land Management, only to have a court side with Bullock and remove Pendley from the post. The court also struck down plans approved under Pendley that would have opened public lands in Montana to more oil and gas development.

DENVER – A major Democratic group on Friday pulled its last remaining ads from Colorado's closely watched U.S. Senate race, a sign that the party thinks its nominee has the crucial race in the bag. Senate Majority PAC said it will cancel $1.2 million in television ads and spend the money elsewhere as Democrats press a newly expanded Senate map, which Republicans on the run in GOP strongholds such as Alaska and South Carolina. Hickenlooper is in good shape heading into the final stretch,” Senate Majority PAC spokeswoman Rachel Irwin said. This week, Gardner reported raising $7 million in the prior quarter compared with Hickenlooper's $22.6 million — part of an overwhelming Democratic fundraising advantage that has become a staple of virtually every Senate race. Last week the Republican counterpart to Senate Majority PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, added another $1 million to its spending in Colorado as part of a $22 million blitz to defend seats around the country.

– Political groups fighting for control of the U.S. Senate have poured more than $118 million into the contest between Montana's Democratic Gov. And the Montana political ad spending is almost 10 times as much per voter being spent on ads in Colorado's Senate contest between former Democratic Gov. But the main driver is the race's competitive nature and the high stakes in the Senate. “These groups that are spending, they're spending big," Bullock told The AP. The Annenberg center's Jamieson, whose grandmother homesteaded in Montana, noted that political ads have a long history in the state.

Standing behind Trump are Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., from left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. So far, voters are signaling they want to finish the job they started in 2018 by installing Democrats for House majority control. In battleground Arizona, Republican Sen. Martha McSally is trailing Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut. Gonzales said after GOP losses in 2018 there was an expectation that Trump atop the ticket would bring back Republican voters in 2020. But President Trump continues to drive Democratic energy and turnout, he said.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON A small but singularly influential group is a driving force for an agreement on a stalled coronavirus relief bill: Endangered Senate GOP incumbents who need to win this fall if Republicans are going to retain control of the majority. Several of them are refusing to allow the Senate to adjourn until Washington delivers a deal to their desperate constituents. And Sen. Susan Collins is in overdrive, backing help for cash-starved states and local governments and Maine's shipbuilding industry. GOP Senate candidates need a deal, a good deal ... so they can get home and campaign on helping small businesses get up and moving again, said Scott Reed, the chief political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Cornyn helped start a bandwagon of senators who are demanding the Senate stay at work in Washington until a coronavirus bill is passed.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON A small but singularly influential group is a driving force for an agreement on a stalled coronavirus relief bill: Endangered Senate GOP incumbents who need to win this fall if Republicans are going to retain control of the majority. Confronted with a poisonous political environment, vulnerable Senate Republicans are rushing to endorse generous jobless benefits, child care grants, and more than $100 billion to help schools reopen. Several of them are refusing to allow the Senate to adjourn until Washington delivers a deal to their desperate constituents. And Sen. Susan Collins is in overdrive, backing help for cash-starved states and local governments and Maine's shipbuilding industry. GOP Senate candidates need a deal, a good deal ... so they can get home and campaign on helping small businesses get up and moving again, said Scott Reed, the chief political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

John Hickenlooper's Senate campaign reports a $5.2 million fundraising haul over the past three months, calling it a record for any Senate candidate in state history. Hickenlooper's haul is significant, though it comes as his fellow Democratic hopefuls have been shattering Senate fundraising records nationally. The Democratic campaign on Wednesday reported raising the $5.2 million between April 1 and June 30. The period includes the weeks running up to Colorado's June 30 Democratic primary, which Hickenlooper won handily despite a series of gaffes. Gardner and other Republicans began a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against Hickenlooper before the primary concluded, and Hickenlooper's allies have hit back.

Hickenlooper was supposed to be Democrats' worry-free solution to the Colorado Senate race, but he's stumbled badly in the weeks leading up to the party's June 30 primary. John Hickenlooper's standing in the Colorado Democratic Senate primary, a new political group is spending at least $1 million on a scathing attack ad against Hickenlooper's rival in the race. Romanoff is the underdog in the June 30 primary, running as a populist insurgent against the establishment's choice, Hickenlooper, who has raised significantly more money. Privately, Colorado Democrats have been concerned about how Hickenlooper will perform in the primary. Hours later, the attack ad against Romanoff, which Let's Turn Colorado Blue described as a seven-figure buy, began to circulate.

Hickenlooper defied a subpoena from the Colorado Ethics Commission, only testifying after the nonpartisan panel found him in contempt. Then the commission found he'd violated state ethics laws by accepting free travel while governor. This guy they put on a pedestal, he's a hot mess, said Democratic former state Rep. Joe Salazar, who often clashed with Hickenlooper in the statehouse. On Tuesday, both Gardner and the National Republican Senatorial Committee released ads bashing Hickenlooper, an unusual move during a Democratic primary. Then Senate Democrats, alarmed at an unwieldy primary for the party's nomination to challenge Gardner, recruited Hickenlooper to run for the Senate instead.

The video shows a silhouetted Hickenlooper speaking at some sort of gathering with a microphone in his hand about political schedulers. Imagine an ancient slave ship, he tells the audience. We elected officials are the ones rowing, Hickenlooper said. Anderson has endorsed Hickenloopers rival, former Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. The winner of Colorado's Democratic Senate primary will face Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, widely seen as the most vulnerable GOP senator this year.

Mark Grueskin, an attorney for Hickenlooper, logged onto the remote hearing 15 minutes after it started, citing problems with his internet connection. He told commissioners that Hickenlooper's legal team had appealed to an appellate court a Wednesday night court order for Hickenlooper to appear. No immediate ruling is expected but Hickenlooper could be fined if the commission rules against him. The Public Trust Institute, a conservative group led by Frank McNulty, a former Republican speaker of the Colorado House, has alleged that Hickenlooper violated Colorado's ethics law by taking free flights on private jets as governor. Hickenlooper, who was governor from 2011 to 2019, has denied the accusations as politically motivated.

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has already narrowed the field by saying he will pick a woman. Gretchen Whitmer, other names that have been part of the speculation are Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Abrams. On Thursday, Abrams announced that she was backing Democratic candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. For Arizona, Abrams said former astronaut Mark Kelly has a proven record of service to our country. John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor and 2020 presidential candidate, is the one to help us cross the finish line for a Democratic Senate majority, Abrams said.

DENVER - John Hickenlooper will formally announce his Senate candidacy on Thursday, a friend of the former Colorado governor told CNN, a decision that comes a week after dropping out of the presidential race. Hickenlooper's Senate website has already been posted, with the homepage reading: "I'm running to give Colorado's priorities and values a voice in Washington." This is a breaking news story and will be updated. CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi and Nicolas Neville contributed to this report. The-CNN-Wire & 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaks while former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) listen during the Democratic Presidential Debate at the Fox Theatre July 31, 2019, in Detroit. Hide Caption