By
Humberto Sanchez
| May 23, 2013, 11:41 a.m.
Senate Majority Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tangled over nominations for the second day in a row Thursday, with Reid raising the possibility of changing the filibuster rules on a simple majority vote to speed action.
By
John Gramlich
| May 22, 2013, 4:58 p.m.
Bipartisan momentum is building for legislation that would give reporters new legal protections from government authorities who want them to reveal their confidential sources. But it’s far from clear whether the effort can overcome the objections that derailed similar bills in the Senate in 2007 and 2009.
Rep. Karen Bass
| May 22, 2013, 2:13 p.m.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said it best earlier this month: “The incomprehensible evil of child trafficking has to be brought to a halt ... we cannot and must not let these children down.”
Chief Jim Johnson
| May 22, 2013, 2:07 p.m.
Last week, law enforcement officers arrived in the nation’s capital by the thousands for National Police Week to honor the sacrifice of the 120 officers killed in the line of duty in 2012.
By
Melissa Attias
| May 21, 2013, 6 a.m.
The decision to tie mental health legislation to the Senate gun package that was pulled from the floor last month has left supporters of those provisions in limbo.
By
John Gramlich
| May 20, 2013, 5 a.m.
Did the Justice Department break the law when it secretly reviewed the phone records of more than 20 Associated Press reporters and editors? Many legal experts aren’t ready to go that far.
By
Humberto Sanchez, Steven T. Dennis
| May 17, 2013, 8 a.m.
The current draft of the Senate’s immigration overhaul appears to give some employers a $3,000-a-year incentive to hire a newly legalized immigrant rather than an American citizen in order to avoid the new employer mandates in the health care law.
By
Emma Dumain
| May 16, 2013, 5:48 p.m.
The tea party movement, after heating up to a roaring boil in the 2010 election cycle, diminished to a simmer over the past few years.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 16, 2013, 2:53 p.m.
President Barack Obama defended his administration’s effort to stamp out national security leaks amid the controversy over the seizure of Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department.
Robert Johnson
| May 16, 2013, 1:22 p.m.
We are on the cusp of finally realizing federal immigration reform in the United States. As our nation’s lawmakers debate this much anticipated bill, it is essential that we are diligent in ensuring that all aspiring citizens have a fair shot at the pathway to citizenship. There are those who believe that anyone with a criminal conviction, no matter how minor or old, should be shut out of this process and deported. I strongly disagree.
By
Daniel Newhauser
| May 15, 2013, 10:55 a.m.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said on Wednesday that somebody deserves go to jail as the investigation begins into why the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative-leaning groups.
By
Jason Dick
| May 14, 2013, 6:34 p.m.
As a trio of scandals continued to circle the White House on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid threw some jabs at Republicans regarding the IRS and Benghazi controversies. Then he landed a roundhouse on the Obama administration over the Justice Department’s secret acquisition of Associated Press telephone records.
By
Megan Scully
| May 9, 2013, 3 p.m.
Lawmakers from both parties on Thursday expressed optimism that they could work with the White House on a number of legislative proposals aimed at getting the military’s growing epidemic of sexual assault under control.
By
Lauren Smith, Humberto Sanchez
| May 8, 2013, 5:49 p.m.
The Republican campaign against Labor Secretary nominee Thomas E. Perez picked up serious momentum Wednesday, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Marco Rubio both raised strong objections.
By
Lauren Smith
| May 7, 2013, 2:45 p.m.
With a Senate committee vote set for Wednesday on the nomination of Thomas E. Perez for Labor secretary, House Republicans convened a joint hearing Tuesday to examine a whistle-blower case that GOP lawmakers have been using as ammunition against him.
By
Emma Dumain
| April 23, 2013, 2:20 p.m.
Hours after a suspect being held in connection with sending a ricin-laced letter to Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., was released from custody, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the case against him entirely.
By
John Gramlich
| April 23, 2013, 11:46 a.m.
An independent government watchdog is probing allegations that President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, B. Todd Jones, improperly retaliated against a whistle-blower while working in his current job as a federal prosecutor in Minnesota.
By
Stuart Rothenberg
| April 22, 2013, 5:59 p.m.
The deep disappointment coming from the White House, gun control advocates and the parents of Newtown, Conn., at the demise of the Manchin-Toomey Senate compromise gun bill is understandable. But some of the rhetoric following the amendment’s defeat has been over the top.
By
Niels Lesniewski
| April 18, 2013, 7:12 p.m.
This week’s floor votes on guns show how different the Senate world might look without filibuster threats — for better or for worse.
By
Meredith Shiner
| April 17, 2013, 7:44 p.m.
President Barack Obama has barnstormed the country promising action on gun control legislation, and on Wednesday the Senate acted — to vote down the heart of the bill.
