Cassie Semyon is a Washington correspondent for Spectrum News. She has experience interviewing lawmakers such as Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, acting as pool reporter for the Vice President and the Second Gentleman, and has live breaking news experience. cassie.semyon@gmail.com

More than two weeks after they met at the White House, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., says President Joe Biden has not followed up with a promised phone call to continue their discussions about raising the nation’s borrowing limit. “He hasn't, and it's unfortunate, because in America, our whole government, it's designed that you have to find compromise,” McCarthy told Spectrum News in an exclusive interview Wednesday (2/15/23). https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/news/2023/02/16/house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-exclusive-spectrum-news

For the first time as Speaker, Kevin McCarthy met with President Joe Biden at the White House (2/1/23) to discuss the looming debt ceiling crisis.

California Rep. Adam Schiff announced that he is throwing his hat in the ring for U.S. Senate, joining an already crowded field jockeying to represent the Golden State in 2024. https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2023/01/26/adam-schiff-senate-california-primary

Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the Golden State to pay her respects to the victims of the Star Dance Studio shooting. Jan. 25, 2023

Highlights from our four day coverage of the 118th Congress gaveling in and electing Speaker McCarthy after 15 ballots.

Sen. Alex Padilla is the epitome of the American dream – the son of two immigrants from Mexico and the first Latino to represent California in the United States Senate –though he says as a kid, being in Congress wasn’t his dream career. “I still get asked, 'Is this a dream come true, being a United States Senator for the state of California?'” Padilla said in an interview with Spectrum News in an interview ahead of his swearing-in for his first full term. “The honest answer is no, because when I was a kid, I never dreamt that this was real, that this was possible.” Ahead of being sworn in for his first full term as California's first elected Latino senator, I sat down for an extensive one-on-one interview with Senator Padilla.

Some highlights from my first year at Spectrum News