ALI SWENSON

National political reporter

Swenson covers politics and the information landscape for The Associated Press. She is based in New York.

Signage showing that USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is accepted, is displayed at Wild Onion Market, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Uncertainty over federal food aid grows as the shutdown fight reaches a crisis point

The twin crises at the heart of the government shutdown fight in Washington are coming to a head. The federal food assistance program is facing delays and uncertainty.

Voters wait in line to cast there ballot at a polling place at Rowan College in Mount Laurel, N.J., Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Federal judge rules Trump can’t require citizenship proof on the federal voting form

President Donald Trump’s request to add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form cannot be enforced. U.S.

Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, left, and journalist Megyn Kelly attend a confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Secretary of Health and Human Services post, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Senate hearing for Trump’s surgeon general pick is postponed after she goes into labor

A Senate hearing for President Donald Trump’s surgeon general pick, Dr. Casey Means, has been postponed because she went into labor.

Bill Swick sits on the chair at his home in Minooka, Ill., Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Patients go without needed treatment after the government shutdown disrupts a telehealth program

Bill Swick, who has a rare degenerative brain disease, has lost access to virtual speech therapy due to the federal government shutdown.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, joined from left by Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., chair of the House Republican Conference, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrap up a news conference on day 23 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republicans grapple with voter frustration over rising health care premiums

Notices of rising health insurance premiums are landing in voters’ mailboxes and sending some to town halls to vent their frustration.

President Donald Trump listens as Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Some furloughed workers will return to manage health insurance open enrollment as shutdown drags on

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services says it will temporarily bring all its furloughed employees back to work starting Monday to manage health insurance open enrollment.

Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

What Americans think about rising health care costs, according to a new AP-NORC poll

A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive. That comes as Americans make decisions about next year’s health coverage and a government shutdown keeps future health costs in limbo for millions.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump announces a deal with a manufacturer to make a common fertility drug cheaper for IVF patients

Drugmaker EMD Serono has agreed to lower the cost of a common fertility medication through a deal with the Trump administration.

Celia Monreal and her husband Jorge, respond to a question during an interview at their home Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

As the shutdown drags on, these people will lose if health care subsidies expire

Millions of Americans with Affordable Care Act marketplace health insurance will face higher costs next year if Congress doesn’t extend enhanced premium tax credits that have made the plans more affordable.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington, as President Donald Trump, left, and Mehmet Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, look on. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Federal employees in mental health and disease control were among targets in weekend firings

Federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend.

The U.S. Capitol is seen on the second day of the government shutdown, in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

AP reader question: Have agencies violated the Hatch Act by using Democrat-blaming language online?

Here’s a question submitted by an Associated Press reader: Have agencies violated the Hatch Act by using Democrat-blaming language online in discussing the shutdown?

House Democrats prepare to speak on the steps of the Capitol to insist that Republicans include an extension of expiring health care benefits as part of a government funding compromise, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Just before shutdown, most Americans wanted health insurance tax credits extended, KFF poll finds

A new poll conducted just prior to the current government shutdown showed most Americans wanted Congress to extend tax credits that could expire at the end of the year.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and GOP leaders, from left, Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., blame the government shutdown on Democrats during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The blame game is on at federal agencies, where political messages fault Democrats for the shutdown

Americans’ routine interactions with the federal government this week are increasingly being met with partisan messaging.

House Democrats prepare to speak on the steps of the Capitol to insist that Republicans include an extension of expiring health care benefits as part of a government funding compromise, in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Looming health insurance spikes for millions are at the heart of the government shutdown

The federal government’s shut down centers around Democrats insisting that any deal addressing their health care demands and Republicans saying those negotiations can wait until the government is funded.

A YouTube sign is shown near the company's headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)

YouTube to start bringing back creators banned for COVID-19 and election misinformation

YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned for violating COVID-19 and election misinformation policies that are no longer in effect.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington, during an event with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump’s misleading comments on autism validate the ‘MAHA’ movement and reveal its political potency

President Donald Trump’s unproven statements about Tylenol, childhood vaccines and autism are validating the so-called Make America Healthy Again movement and revealing its potential political power.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Washington, as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz listen. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump makes unfounded claims about Tylenol and repeats discredited link between vaccines and autism

President Donald Trump is using the platform of the presidency to promote unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism.

Committee members attend a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the CDC on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Chamblee, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Takeaways from RFK Jr.'s vaccine panel meeting on COVID-19 and childhood vaccines

A vaccine advisory committee handpicked by U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. met in Atlanta for two days this week to consider various vaccine recommendations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio smiles as he prepares to enter a vehicle upon arrival at London Stansted Airport, during an official visit near London, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump administration’s new global health aid strategy focuses on bilateral deals with countries

The State Department is refocusing its foreign health assistance programs around multiyear bilateral deals with recipient countries.

A Super Tuesday voter walks past a sign requiring a photo ID at a polling location, March 5, 2024, in Mount Holly, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

Justice Department says it’s suing Oregon and Maine as it seeks voter data in multiple states

The Justice Department says it has sued Oregon and Maine for failing to provide their voter registration lists.

Well-wishers add balloons to a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters after the shooting death at a Utah college on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder and CEO of the organization, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Matthew Dowd’s firing begins flood of people facing consequences for their comments on Kirk’s death

Former MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd opened a floodgate of people who faced consequences for statements in the media — social or otherwise — in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.

Well-wishers pay their respects at a makeshift memorial at the national headquarters of Turning Point USA shown after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, during a Utah college event Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Assassination of Charlie Kirk adds to America’s roll call of public violence

In the tragic roll call of violence in American public life, Charlie Kirk’s name joins the long list.

Charlie Kirk, conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, speaks to supporters of President Donald Trump at a rally outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Charlie Kirk, who helped build support for Trump among young people, dies after campus shooting

Charlie Kirk, who rose from a teenage conservative campus activist to a top podcaster and ally of President Donald Trump, has been shot and killed.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

5 key takeaways from RFK Jr.'s contentious Senate hearing

Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. faced bipartisan questioning over recent changes to health agencies, vaccine approvals and other priorities at a contentious three-hour Senate hearing.

A worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga., outside of Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File)

Justice Department requests access to Dominion voting equipment used in Missouri in 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice has requested access to voting equipment used in the 2020 election in two Missouri counties in what appears to be a wide-ranging effort to more closely monitor election processes around the country.

Heather Honey, a conservative election researcher, leaves the federal courthouse in Harrisburg, Pa., Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Scolforo, File)

Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role

A conservative election researcher whose faulty findings on voter data were cited by President Donald Trump as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss has been appointed to an election integrity role at the U.S.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Gabbard slashing intelligence office workforce and cutting budget by over $700 million

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says it will dramatically reduce its workforce and cut its budget by more than $700 million annually.

A voter drops off their ballot at a dropbox on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Trump wants to do away with mail-in voting, but the Constitution doesn’t give him that power

President Donald Trump is vowing more changes to the way elections are conducted in the U.S., but based on the Constitution there is little to nothing he can do on his own.

Voters wait in a long line at a polling place at the Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

The Justice Department seeks voter and election information from at least 19 states, AP finds

The Justice Department is ramping up an effort to get election data from the states. According to an Associated Press tally, the department’s voting section has requested copies of voter registration lists from state election administrators in at least 15 states.

Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Jen Easterly speaks to The Associated Press in Washington, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Army secretary directs West Point to rescind appointment of Biden-era cybersecurity director

The Secretary of the Army has directed the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to review its hiring practices and rescind the appointment of a newly announced hire who led the nation’s cybersecurity agency under President Joe Biden.