Farnoush Amiri

Farnoush Amiri is a congressional reporter for the Associated Press who focuses on how power struggles, investigations and foreign policy debates on Capitol Hill shape the national political story. She tracks the internal dynamics of the US Congress, especially the Republican-led House, and explains how partisan conflicts and procedural maneuvers turn into concrete decisions, from impeachment votes to economic and national security measures such as US sanctions on Iran’s efforts to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Congressional power struggles and Republican leadership

Amiri’s recent work centers on the shifting balance of power inside the House Republican Conference. She follows speaker races, leadership battles and threats of government shutdowns, showing which factions hold sway and what leverage they use. Her stories walk through the sequence of closed-door meetings, late-night negotiations and floor votes that decide whether party leaders survive, what concessions they make, and how those compromises affect legislation on spending, immigration and foreign aid. She pays close attention to the tension between hard-line conservatives and more moderate members, often grounding her coverage in key swing votes and the lawmakers who bridge or deepen those divides. Across this reporting, she treats leadership fights not as political theater but as the mechanism that determines what Congress can realistically pass.

Investigations, impeachments and the use of oversight

A second strand of her beat is Congress’s investigative and impeachment powers. Amiri covers Republican-led probes into the Biden administration and the president’s family, documenting how committee chairs craft subpoenas, stage hearings and present their findings to justify an impeachment inquiry. She reports on impeachment efforts targeting Cabinet officials such as the homeland security secretary over border and immigration policy, placing those actions in the context of past impeachments and the evolving norms around using this tool. Her stories often highlight how evidence, legal theories and political incentives intersect, laying out what investigators have actually uncovered, what remains unproven and how both parties frame the same set of facts.

She also follows disciplinary actions like censure or expulsion votes against individual members, showing how internal ethics questions and public outrage translate into rare punitive steps on the House floor.

Foreign policy, sanctions and national security debates

Although her core beat is domestic politics, Amiri regularly covers the points where Congress and national security policy overlap. Her reporting on US sanctions against an Iranian agency involved in efforts to control shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is part of a broader pattern of stories that connect foreign policy moves to political calculations in Washington.

In these pieces she explains how lawmakers respond to actions by the administration on Iran, Ukraine, Israel and other flashpoints, whether by backing sanctions and military aid or by trying to rein them in. She tracks key votes on foreign assistance packages and outlines the arguments from both parties about America’s role abroad, fiscal costs and the risks of escalation.

Her focus is on how these decisions are negotiated between Congress and the executive branch, and how national security language is used to rally or divide domestic constituencies.

Rules, procedure and the mechanics of Congress

Amiri’s coverage treats congressional procedure as a central part of the political story rather than background detail.

Her articles routinely explain how committee structures, special rules for floor debate and internal conference bylaws constrain what party leaders can promise and deliver. When high-profile events such as impeachment votes, shutdown deadlines or foreign-aid packages approach, she spells out the exact steps remaining, from committee markups to rule votes and final passage, and what each step allows opponents or supporters to do. That mechanical focus extends to how new House rules affect investigations, how deadlines are staggered to create leverage, and how rank-and-file members can force leadership’s hand.

For readers trying to follow complex standoffs, her work provides a clear map of process, not just quotes from the major players.

Style, sourcing and format

Across these threads, Amiri writes in a straightforward news format that alternates between breaking updates from Capitol Hill and deeper explainers when a fight or investigation reaches a turning point.

She relies heavily on on-the-record comments from lawmakers in both parties, supplemented with quotes from aides and officials who can describe what is happening inside closed rooms. Her stories often open with a pivotal vote, announcement or confrontation, then pull back to show the months of strategy and prior skirmishes that led to that moment. She avoids abstract political analysis in favor of concrete details: specific committees, amendments, sanctions targets, margins of victory and the next procedural step. The result is coverage that distinguishes itself by its granular attention to how Congress actually functions, and by its consistent focus on the practical consequences of partisan conflict for governance at home and US policy abroad.