Emily Wilkins

Emily Wilkins

Here you can see some of my recent work, as well as best pieces. Because Bloomberg Government is subscription-based, I can't share every article on here. Follow my Twitter for the latest!

Bloomberg Government •

Jan. 6 Revolt Compels Some Democrats to Reassess Bipartisan Ties

One of the most routine and noncontroversial of all congressional votes — renaming a post office — became a point of partisan contention last week when a House Democrat briefly halted a usually unanimous move because the Republican sponsor voted against certifying the presidential election. It was the latest display of the tension that’s lingered in the Capitol since Jan. 6, when an insurrection by Donald Trump supporters was followed by 139 House Republicans supporting Trump’s call to overturn
Bloomberg Government •

Filibuster Frustrations Boil Over Among Stymied House Democrats

House Democrats, poised for a busy month passing major legislation, are expressing frustration that most of their efforts will fail over parliamentary hurdles on the other end of the Capitol despite their party’s control of Washington for the first time in a decade. The boiling tensions were triggered in part by both the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling that a minimum wage hike couldn’t be included in the coronavirus stimulus package — which Democrats must pass through reconciliation to avoid ne
Bloomberg Government •

Background Check Bill Unveiling Kicks Off Gun Control Push (1)

A background check bill Democrats pegged as their best hope to pass gun-control legislation was reintroduced Tuesday, kicking off a push to garner enough Republican support in the Senate for it to become law. The legislation being introduced in the House (H.R. 8) and Senate has few changes from when it was last introduced two years ago. It expands background checks to cover all sales, including those at gun shows and online, but it doesn’t include transfers within a family. The House passed th
Bloomberg Government •

Stimulus Package Vote Will Test Republicans’ Political Strategy

House Republicans on Friday forced a vote using a watered-down procedural motion in an effort to put Democrats in an unfavorable political light. They planned to again attempt to use the motion to recommit Friday evening to stall progress on the coronavirus stimulus package (H.R. 1319), which Democrats are pushing through with little or no Republican support. House Republicans haven’t given up on using the motion to put Democrats on the spot, and the pair of procedural votes Friday are testing
Bloomberg Government •

Reparations Get Brighter Spotlight in House After 2020 Protests

Lawmakers took the first step Wednesday in considering whether to provide reparations for Black Americans. At a subcommittee hearing on legislation first introduced decades ago that would create a commission to study the issue, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said now is the right time for Congress to move on it. “This moment of national reckoning comes at a time when our nation must find constructive ways to confront the rising tide of racial and ethnic division,” he told the
Bloomberg Government •

Georgia Democrats Amplify Quiet Support in Republican Stronghold

At first glance, Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff handing out yard signs to 100 cars on a weekday looked like run-of-the-mill, coronavirus-era campaigning — albeit in an election-year December and with the Senate majority on the line. But last week Ossoff was in Forsyth County, a large suburban area northeast of Atlanta. To Democrats, the event was revolutionary. “This turnout speaks for itself,” said Daniel Blackman, a resident of the county who’s running in a coinciding race to serve on the G
Bloomberg Government •

Republicans Bank on Trump to Motivate Doubting Georgians to Vote

Elizabeth Bradshaw is convinced the Nov. 3 election was rigged — and the Senate runoff will be too if state officials don’t act. She’s less sure whether she’ll vote again in the same system she thinks is corrupt. “I want to vote,” she said clutching a Trump flag outside the Georgia state Capitol in Atlanta on a near-freezing Thursday morning at a “Stop the Steal” event. “But do we want to vote on the same machines that we’re right here protesting against?” Top Republicans in Georgia and in Was
Bloomberg Government •

Defeated Democrats Diverge on Response to GOP’s Socialism Attack

Reps. Ben McAdams and Harley Rouda had similar profiles on Capitol Hill: They flipped seats in 2018 running as moderates, stressed the importance of bipartisanship, and cosponsored bills with Republicans. Both also narrowly lost their re-election, two of about a dozen House Democrats who were unseated last month. And when assessing their losses, Rouda and McAdams said in phone interviews that part of the reason was the successful Republican strategy of branding even the most moderate Democrats
Bloomberg Government •

Extramarital Scandal, Virus Diagnosis Jolt Tight Senate Race

Republicans seized on romantic extramarital text messages sent by North Carolina Senate candidate Cal Cunningham, quickly airing an ad highlighting the scandal in an effort to upend one of the most competitive Senate races. The Senate Leadership Fund spot, launched Tuesday morning, concludes with the line, “What else is he hiding?” Republicans called on Cunningham to release all the text messages to the California-based public affairs consultant. And the AP subsequently reported that Arlene Guz
Bloomberg Government •

GOP Women Who Scorn Trump Weigh How to Choose in House Campaigns

Katherine Amoukhteh is a registered Republican in Orange County, Calif., but President Donald Trump’s election in 2016 was “a huge wake up call” that led her to stop voting straight ticket and start paying more attention to the candidates. She found him to be unqualified and his comments toward women appalling. In 2018, she spoke at a rally for Democratic congressional candidates in Southern California and voted for Harley Rouda, the Democrat challenging Republican incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. S
Bloomberg Government •

Democrats Add Six to Program Aiding Top Challengers in GOP Seats

House Democrats added six candidates — all women — to their program to provide organizational and fundraising assistance to competitive campaigns. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue Program spotlights districts the party determines are winnable and gives candidates a boost among donors. The additions Thursday, which include several nominees who recently won hard-fought primaries, bring the total number of qualified candidates to 30. That focus on offense two years af
Bloomberg Government •

Mail-in Elections Pose Challenge to States Seeking Quick Switch

Wisconsin’s April 7 primary is serving as a warning to states under pressure to provide an alternative to in-person voting. The nearly 1.1 million absentee ballots mailed in as of a Monday update by the state Elections Commission will likely make up 80% of the total vote, according to a FiveThirtyEight estimate, far more than the state saw in 2016. Election officials and postal workers were overwhelmed with ballot requests. Some voters who asked for ballots reportedly either never got them or r
Bloomberg Government •

Mail-in Elections Pose Challenge to States Seeking Quick Switch

Wisconsin’s April 7 primary is serving as a warning to states under pressure to provide an alternative to in-person voting. The nearly 1.1 million absentee ballots mailed in as of a Monday update by the state Elections Commission will likely make up 80% of the total vote, according to a FiveThirtyEight estimate, far more than the state saw in 2016. Election officials and postal workers were overwhelmed with ballot requests. Some voters who asked for ballots reportedly either never got them or r
Bloomberg Government •

From the Hamptons to Disneyland, GOP Banks on Suburban Comeback

The 2020 elections will measure to what degree the Republican brand has crumbled in what was once the party’s bedrock — suburbia. With an impeachment vote adding a new wrinkle this week, House Democrats will both be defending newly won territory and pushing to see how much further into America’s bedroom communities the party can take advantage of a political realignment illustrated by a drumbeat of recent electoral evidence.
Bloomberg Government •

Senators Seek to Break Sexual Assault Impasse on Education Bill

A group of eight senators is working to tackle one of the most contentious issues in higher education—when and how colleges need to respond to allegations of sexual assault. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) brought the group together in a quest to resolve potentially the biggest remaining obstacle to a bipartisan reauthorization of federal higher education programs. “We’re all looking for the same thing:
Bloomberg Government •

Student Loan Caps Proposed in White House Higher Education Plan | BGOV

The White House is urging Congress to set new limits on student loan borrowing by graduate students and parents, as part of a larger package spelling out the Trump administration’s priorities for higher education legislation. The administration will present its priorities Monday afternoon as part of the agenda for the National Council for the American Worker, an advisory group tasked with ensuring future students and workers are prepared for the changes technology will bring to the workforce.
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