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Andrea Seabrook

Andrea Seabrook covers Capitol Hill as NPR's Congressional Correspondent.

In each report, Seabrook explains the daily complexities of legislation and the longer trends in American politics. She delivers critical, insightful reporting – from the last Republican Majority, through the speakership of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats' control of the House, to the GOP landslide of 2010. She and NPR's Peter Overby won the prestigious Joan S. Barone award for their Dollar Politics series, which exposed the intense lobbying effort around President Obama's Health Care legislation. Seabrook and Overby's most recent collaboration, this time on the flow of money during the 2010 midterm elections, was widely lauded and drew a huge audience spike on NPR.org.

An authority on the comings and goings of daily life on Capitol Hill, Seabrook has covered Congress for NPR since January 2003 She took a year-and-a-half break, in 2006 and 2007, to host the weekend edition of NPR's newsmagazine, All Things Considered. In that role, Seabrook covered a wide range of topics, from the uptick in violence in the Iraq war, to the history of video game music.

A frequent guest host of NPR programs, including Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation, Seabrook has also anchored NPR's live coverage of national party conventions and election night in 2006 and 2008.

Seabrook joined NPR in 1998 as an editorial assistant for the music program, Anthem. After serving in a variety of editorial and production positions, she moved to NPR's Mexico Bureau to work as a producer and translator, providing fill-in coverage of Mexico and Central America. She returned to NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1999 and worked on NPR's Science Desk and the NPR/National Geographic series, "Radio Expeditions." Later she moved to NPR's Morning Edition, starting as an editorial assistant and then moving up to Assistant Editor. She then began her on-air career as a weekend general assignment reporter for all NPR programs.

Before coming to NPR, Seabrook lived, studied and worked in Mexico City, Mexico. She ran audio for movies and television, and even had a bit part in a Mexican soap opera.

Seabrook earned her bachelor's degree in biology from Earlham College and studied Latin American literature at UNAM - La Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. While in college she worked at WECI, the student-run public radio station at Earlham College.

  • The Senate Banking Committee approved Richard Cordray, President Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a party-line vote. But 44 Republican lawmakers have vowed to block any and every nominee in the full Senate until the bureau is changed.
  • House Democrats have thwarted a GOP attempt to remove New York Rep. Charles Rangel as head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Rangel is under a House inquiry for not disclosing all of his personal assets and income. The question is how Rangel's ethics woes shake out politically.
  • Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota is perhaps the most ardent deficit hawk in his party, which makes him a pivotal figure in the Senate Finance Committee's "Gang of Six." The gang of three Democrats and three Republicans is working on a bipartisan health care bill, even as town halls erupt and compromise recedes.
  • Senate discussions are expected to continue on Tuesday about the $2 billion extension of the popular "cash for clunkers" auto rebate program. The White House says the incentives are unlikely to continue into the weekend, if the Senate fails to approve the extra funding already passed by the House.
  • A statue of President Reagan is unveiled in the Capitol Rotunda in the presence of former first lady Nancy Reagan and House Speaker Pelosi. The unveiling ceremony was poignant and sweet, but was not without its political moments.
  • President Barack Obama's budget proposal is placing conservative Democrats in a tight spot. Republicans are asking them to be fiscally cautious. Liberals are targeting them with a barrage of ads, urging them to support the president's budget.
  • After looking at the president's budget proposal, the Congressional Budget Office says the U.S. government will be nearly $2 trillion in the red this year. And it projects that the deficits will just keep adding up over the next 10 years.
  • The House of Representatives passed Friday President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan. The 246-183 vote came with no Republican support. Seven Democrats voted against the measure and one voted present. The Senate takes up the measure next.
  • The House and the Senate agreed Thursday on a $790 billion economic stimulus package. The deal provides about 35 percent in tax cuts and 65 percent in spending, along with billion in aid to the states, as well as a tax cut for most working families. Few other details are forthcoming, however.
  • Senators announced a compromise between House and Senate negotiators on the economic stimulus package. Some House Democrats are upset that money for states and schools had been removed from the measure, but backed the deal.