![Texas Democrats who staged walkout pressure U.S. Senate to pass voting bills](https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/06/15/bafd8b3e-94f4-4e06-ad4f-2932e07d6c7e/thumbnail/1200x630/68ed10665279667527c0f3ebad572a16/gettyimages-1323764894.jpg)
Texas Democrats who staged walkout pressure U.S. Senate to pass voting bills
CBSN
A group of Democratic state lawmakers from Texas on Tuesday pressured U.S. senators to pass two major voting bills that have been stalled.
The Texas Democrats who traveled to Washington this week were part of a group of lawmakers who staged a walkout in the closing hours of the state's legislative session last month to defeat a sweeping election bill Republicans in the state were trying to pass. They met Tuesday with Congressional Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and spoke at the Senate Democrats' lunch. "These Texas Democrats bravely fought against voter suppression," Schumer said. "They must have gotten five or six standing ovations. We were really taken by their courage, their bravery and, most importantly, their mission."![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250214202746.jpg)
Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a high-stakes meeting at this year's Munich Security conference to discuss the Trump administration's efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the U.S. seeks a "durable" peace, while Zelenskyy expressed the desire for extensive discussions to prepare for any end to the conflict.
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Washington — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce, the nation's largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who hadn't yet gained civil service protection - potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers.
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It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, a local horse farrier and trainer who also competes in long-distance horse races, was on his usual ride in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — just a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he noticed a freshly dug hole along the trail that piqued his curiosity.