ABOUT:
Defense policy analysis, commentary and discussion.Humberto Sanchez covers the Senate for Roll Call. Prior to joining, he covered the budget and appropriations process for Congress Daily and now NJ Daily for three years.
Humberto previously worked at the Bond Buyer covering state and local budget and finance issues. He also covered the Securities and Exchange Commission for Dow Jones Newswires. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from James Madison University and is also an alumnus of States News Service.
Updated 4:44 p.m. | Senators led by John McCain and Majority Leader Harry Reid have defused the “nuclear option” that would have eliminated filibusters of executive nominations.
A Senate standoff over filibusters looms Tuesday morning, even though Senate leaders pledged to continue discussions about how to avoid the “nuclear option” during a rare bipartisan meeting of the whole chamber.
After running away from his family’s South Carolina farm as a boy and befriending archsegregationist senators in Washington, D.C., Bertie H. Bowman, an African-American who has worked in the Senate for more than 60 years, began keeping a diary of his adventures.
The Senate immigration bill got a boost Thursday, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed to a “border surge” amendment that would double the number of border agents and spend $3.2 billion on equipment to seal off the southern border.
Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said something Thursday afternoon that might have defense contractors cringing.
Sen. Rand Paul said he cannot support a bipartisan Senate immigration overhaul bill in its current form, but he is open to discussions with the bill’s supporters on what it would take to win him over.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has come to an agreement on immigration overhaul legislation, but one key Republican member will not sign off on it and will write his own proposal instead.
Immigration may be coming to the Senate floor next week, but the House has become the central focus in the struggle to pass a comprehensive bill.
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.
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.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch wants to vote for comprehensive immigration legislation, but he has a few conditions first.
Former Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., wants to patch up his relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after the Nevada Democrat refused to see him because of an affair Domenici had with the daughter of one of Reid’s close friends three decades ago.
Conservative newcomer Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday missed the Judiciary Committee deadline for filing immigration bill amendments when he found himself answering Senate Majority Harry Reid, who called him a “schoolyard bully.”
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.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised Wednesday to use the power of his office to get immigration overhaul legislation through Congress.
The Obama administration continued its outreach to Republicans Thursday, part of its elusive quest to strike a grand bargain on the deficit, by dispatching top emissaries to the Hill for lunchtime meetings.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy and ranking Republican Charles E. Grassley sparred at the opening of Monday’s hearing on immigration changes over how the Boston Marathon bombings might affect the legislation.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley on Friday linked the Senate’s debate over immigration reform to the revelation that the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing may be Chechen immigrants to the U.S.
In a jovial, almost giddy news conference Thursday, the bipartisan group of eight senators behind a comprehensive immigration bill formally introduced their proposal and expressed great confidence that they would succeed in steering it to the president’s desk.
Senate Democrats are still unclear on exactly how to proceed, procedurally, with gun legislation, with many key measures that would have been the heart of the bill failing Wednesday, sources said.
The bipartisan group of senators working on an immigration overhaul proposal has released a 17-page summary of its bill, which includes a provision that will exempt the children of unauthorized immigrants from a $500 penalty charged to those seeking to have their status legalized.
Bipartisan immigration overhaul legislation may not be released until at least Wednesday out of respect for the tragic events that took place during the Boston Marathon on Monday.
House GOP conservatives don’t believe Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost last year’s election because he failed to win over enough minority voters, as they look to tamp down growing GOP support for passing a comprehensive immigration overhaul.
The bipartisan Senate group working on immigration legislation blew yet another deadline Wednesday when Republican members did not deliver an anticipated briefing to their colleagues during a GOP Steering Committee lunch meeting. Members of the group insisted afterward that they are on track to deliver a bill this week or next.
Members of the bipartisan Senate group working on a sweeping immigration bill said they were rushing to introduce a bill as early as possible, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggesting that the measure could be wrapped up by the end of this week.
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