National News at a Glance

House Republican Leaders Promise Immigration Votes Next Week

After a frenzied, late-night negotiation, Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday promised to hold high-stakes votes on immigration next week. The move by Ryan was something of a defeat for the rebellious immigration moderates, who fell two signatures short of the 218 needed to force the House to act this month on bipartisan measures aimed more directly at helping young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. Instead, the House is most likely to vote on one hard-line immigration measure backed by President Donald Trump and conservatives — and another more moderate compromise bill that was still being drafted, according to people familiar with the talks.

Lawmakers Skeptical as They Assess North Korea Meeting

Lawmakers from both parties, deeply mistrustful of a leader who has brutalized his own country, greeted a joint agreement between the United States and North Korea coolly on Tuesday, with top Republicans warning President Donald Trump that any final accord on Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program should be submitted to the Senate for ratification. The president’s allies on Capitol Hill said the talks represented a potential breakthrough that could lead to lasting peace with one of the United States’ most dangerous enemies. But even they agreed with more skeptical lawmakers that there was much work to be done.

A ‘Sick Joke’: Democrats Attack Health Secretary on Pre-existing Conditions

Democratic senators blistered President Donald Trump’s health secretary on Tuesday, telling him that the Trump administration’s efforts to undo health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions made a mockery of the president’s campaign to rein in prescription drug prices. The secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, told Congress that he would be glad to work with lawmakers on legislation — “alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, modifications of the Affordable Care Act” — to provide access to insurance for people with pre-existing conditions. The decision regarding pre-existing conditions is “a constitutional and legal position, not a policy position,” Azar told the committee.

Wildfires Unfurl in Colorado, Spurring Evacuations and Closing a National Forest

Wildfires have burned across tens of thousands of acres of parched terrain in Colorado, spurring thousands of evacuations and compelling officials to seal off a national forest from the public Tuesday. A total of six wildfires were still active in the state, which has endured months of dry weather and little snowfall. The largest, in southwest Colorado, had consumed more than 23,000 acres on the edge of San Juan National Forest and was only about 15 percent contained, according to an interagency team. The authorities said they will keep the national forest closed until it receives “sufficient moisture to improve conditions.”

Obama-Linked Group to Mobilize Democrats in Battle for House

The political committee formed by former President Barack Obama is preparing to mobilize for the 2018 midterm campaign, targeting more than two dozen congressional races and several key state elections with a program aimed at turning out Democratic-leaning voters. The group, Organizing for Action, which emerged from the vestiges of Obama’s old campaign operation, intends to deploy organizers in 27 Republican-held congressional districts that could be key to a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives. Their mission, officials with the group said, will be to coordinate and train volunteers and deploy them to help Democrats in states from California to North Carolina.

Report Says Universities Fail to Stop Harassment

Years of efforts to prevent sexual harassment in science, engineering and medicine have failed, and universities need to make sweeping changes in the way they deal with the issue, a searing new report by a national advisory panel concluded Tuesday. It was issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, independent agencies that advise the government and the public. The panel offered 15 detailed recommendations. Institutions should overhaul their academic advising systems, for example, it said, so students and junior researchers are not dependent on one senior researcher for advancement and access to grants.

Trump Adviser Recovering After Heart Attack, Friends Say

Larry Kudlow, the director of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, spent Tuesday morning calling friends who said they expected him to return to his White House job after recovering from a mild heart attack that landed him in the hospital Monday. Kudlow, 70, seemed to be back to his usual self, friends and colleagues said, as he placed and fielded calls from Walter Reed Medical Center. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement Tuesday that Kudlow’s doctors “expect Larry will make a full and speedy recovery.”