Welcome to Monday, November 25th, stars and stripes...

Going through impeachment-hearings withdrawal?

Just hold out a little longer. Now that the House Intelligence Committee has wrapped up its public phase of the probe, Democrats in the lower chamber are planning the next steps in their impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump.

The Intelligence Committee has begun preparing a report with its findings and recommendations based on the closed-door depositions and public impeachment hearings it conducted in recent weeks. Democratic committee members say they expect the report to be completed in early December after lawmakers return from Thanksgiving recess.

Once finalized, the report will be sent over to the House Judiciary Committee under the process formalized in H.Res. 660, the resolution that tasked six committees with continuing investigations into whether sufficient grounds exist to impeach the president.

Should the House vote on articles of impeachment?

On the Radar

Wondering How to Vote On the Above?

A lot happened in the past two weeks. Need a refresher? Click on over here for the main takeaways from each hearing, including such hits as:

• Nov. 19, a.m.: Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House investigators last month that she felt “threatened" and “concerned,” after learning that Trump singled her out during a phone call with Ukranian President Vladomyr Zelensky. Just as Yovanovitch was testifying, the president tweeted: "Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors."
• Nov. 20, a.m: Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland testified that Trump conditioned a meeting with Zelensky on "a public statement from President Zelensky committing to investigations of Burisma and the 2016 election."
• Nov. 21 a.m.: Fiona Hill, former senior director for Europe and Russia at the NSC, criticized Republican lawmakers on Thursday for spreading a "fictional narrative" that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that meddled in the 2016 presidential elections.

Click the image below to talk to Congress:

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Under the Radar

Funding Childcare

The availability and affordability of childcare plays a significant role in the U.S. economy: 39% of families report difficulties finding childcare according to the Dept. of Education, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates as many as 5 million more workers could be in the labor force if there were more incentives for parents to remain in the workforce.

With the help of USAFacts, we take a look at some of the ways the federal government assists working families with the cost of childcare.

For example, this chart from USAFacts shows the number of tax returns claiming various child tax credits from 1980-2017. Taken together, these tax credits totaled $119 billion in 2017 (the most recent year of data available).

Take a gander at our full story, then tell your reps:

Do you think childcare is sufficiently available & affordable?

What You're Saying

Here's how you're answering Should it be Clearly Legal for State & Local Law Enforcement to Comply with ICE Detainer Requests?