Across the nation, Indian tribes cheered when President Barack Obama signed a new Violence Against Women Act last week, expanding the power of tribal courts to try non-Indians for crimes of domestic violence committed on reservations. | 03/15/13 16:30:21 By - By Rob Hotakainen
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a leading conservative voice in the Senate, said Friday he now believes government should not stand in the way of allowing same sex couples to marry. | 03/15/13 08:38:09 By - David Lightman
Texas State Rep. Drew Springer embraces freedom.
Even for plastic bags. | 03/15/13 07:33:22 By - Anna M. TinsleyPresident Barack Obama’s three days of visits to Capitol Hill produced no serious thaw in the bitter partisan standoff that’s impeded progress on budget and fiscal matters for years. | 03/14/13 19:42:41 By - By David Lightman, Emma Kantrowitz and William Douglas
A trio of rising Senate Republican stars Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tim Scott of South Carolina rallied thousands of conservative activists Thursday in rousing speeches that signaled a passing of the torch to a younger, more diverse group of party leaders focused on winning back the White House. | 03/14/13 18:53:16 By - By James Rosen McClatchy Newspapers
President Barack Obama will hear plenty about Syria when he steps off Air Force One in the Middle East next week, very likely facing new pressure from worried allies to help rebels oust Syrian President Bashar Assad but carrying no change in U.S. policy that could calm fears of the crisis spreading across borders and destabilizing the region. | 03/14/13 18:36:13 By - By Lesley Clark and Hannah Allam
After a couple of false starts, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would ban assault weapons, restrict the size of ammunition clips and require universal background checks on gun sales. | 03/14/13 19:42:05 By - By Curtis Tate
The debate this week over the federal budget is essentially a clash over when politicians think the budget deficit matters, and whether it really does matter. | 03/14/13 15:01:00 By - By Kevin G. Hall
House Republicans on Wednesday introduced legislation that would roll back a sweeping energy program that has paid financial incentives to North Carolina homeowners for buying efficient appliances, solar panels and home energy audits. | 03/14/13 07:23:19 By - John Murawski
New projections that show the latest version of a major oil tax overhaul could cost the state more than $9 billion over the next six years sparked sharp divisions Wednesday on a key Senate panel over whether that will be harmful. | 03/14/13 06:53:08 By - Lisa Demer
Senate Democrats on Wednesday unveiled their first budget plan in nearly four years, a proposal that sets up a lengthy fight with Republicans over the two parties’ stark differences on taxes, spending and the future of Medicare. | 03/13/13 19:04:41 By - By David Lightman and William Douglas
Christina Blair of Shawnee has twin daughters in high school, including an aspiring teacher.
She worries what might happen if a madman comes in with a gun and youre locked in a classroom. How do you defend against that? You cant, Blair said. | 03/13/13 07:00:26 By - Brad CooperRepublicans in the House of Representatives on Tuesday proposed a plan to balance the federal budget in 10 years, their opening bid in a clash with President Barack Obama over how best to curb soaring budget deficits and eventually stop the debt from climbing. | 03/12/13 18:58:14 By - By William Douglas and David Lightman
Used to operating on a shoestring budget, the arts are, nevertheless, bracing for the latest hit as the capitals constellation of federally supported museums, galleries and other cultural institutions grapples with governmentwide budget cuts. | 03/12/13 17:43:28 By - By Maria Recio
Richard Cordray received polite questions and even a few compliments from a panel of U.S. senators at his nomination hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill. After two hours of testimony, however, his chances for being confirmed as director of Washingtons newest consumer watchdog agency looked grim. | 03/12/13 17:37:15 By - By Lindsay Wise
Americans overwhelmingly support tougher background checks for prospective gun owners, and a majority support bans on assault weapons and big ammunition clips, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. The survey also found that Americans have widely differing views on how to proceed on immigration, another issue that’s high on the Obama administration’s priority list. Guns and immigration are expected to provide some of this year’s most heated congressional debate. | 03/12/13 15:04:02 By - By David Lightman
Paul Ryan's new budget? Sounds like the old Paul Ryan budget to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. | 03/12/13 13:31:08 By - David Lightman
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s long pursuit of stricter gun laws began more than three decades ago on a day of bullets and bloodshed in San Francisco, when she was the president of the city’s Board of Supervisors. On Nov. 27, 1978, former supervisor Dan White walked into City Hall with a grudge and a .38 revolver. He fatally shot Mayor George Moscone, walked past Feinstein’s office and then turned his weapon on Supervisor Harvey Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials and a rising political star. The shootings recast her political career, becoming its consequential moment and one that’s forever defined her in the public sphere. | 03/12/13 12:21:45 By - By Curtis Tate
If President Barack Obama had piled up political capital with his impressive re-election, it’s largely gone. His approval rating has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, with more voters now turning thumbs down on his performance than thumbs up, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll. The measure of how much people like him also has dropped. | 03/11/13 16:07:42 By - By Steven Thomma
President Barack Obama will try to jump-start budget talks Tuesday as he kicks off a series of extraordinary meetings with congressional lawmakers with a huge obstacle to overcome: Personal relationships in Washington don’t matter as they once did. | 03/11/13 15:36:44 By - By David Lightman
Bushs new book, Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution, exploded on the political scene last week and left the former Florida governor uncharacteristically wobbly over how to legalize the status of the undocumented. | 03/11/13 14:49:55 By - Marc Caputo
For nine years, a pair Hill lawmakers have asked the president to posthumously pardon American boxing legend Jack Johnson. George W. Bush failed to act, but the congressmen thought they might be able to convince the nation’s first African-American president to do so on behalf of the world’s first African-American heavyweight boxing champ. But Obama hasn’t issued a pardon either, and his administration says it’s unlikely he will. That isn’t stopping the lifelong boxing fans from trying again. | 03/11/13 14:27:07 By - By Anita Kumar
Laws allowing health care workers to refuse to participate in an abortion have been on the books for decades.
Missouri legislators, however, dont think they go far enough. | 03/11/13 07:16:41 By - Jason HancockHuman rights and fairness groups are pressuring Gov. Steve Beshear to veto a bill that they say would make it easier to discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgender people in Kentucky. | 03/11/13 07:10:48 By - Jack Brammer and Beth Musgrave
The budget cuts in Washington have not hit home in America, at least not yet. | 03/10/13 13:17:49 By - By Steven Thomma
President Barack Obama has relied on state secrets and secret laws to make national security decisions with little congressional or public oversight much as his predecessor did, according to a report being released Sunday by a liberal government watchdog group. | 03/10/13 00:00:00 By - By Anita Kumar
Luis Miranda is leaving to return to the private sector as a communications consultant. The White Houses director of Hispanic media, Miranda is credited with helping to provide access not seen in previous administrations. The outreach came as the White House was courting the growing Hispanic vote, which helped President Barack Obama win-re-election. | 03/08/13 17:39:00 By - By Lesley Clark
The split between hard-right conservative Republicans and mainstream party moderates will be on vivid display in Virginia over the next few months, a struggle thatll be watched closely as key to the partys hopes for a national revival. | 03/08/13 15:30:43 By - By David Lightman
President Barack Obama’s coming trip to Israel will focus as much on looking to restart a frosty relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as on any other issue. | 03/08/13 12:59:52 By - By Lesley Clark
Critics of a proposed voter photo ID law vowed Thursday to launch a vigorous effort to fight the proposal, saying it amounted to a 21st-century version of the poll tax used to keep blacks from voting. | 03/08/13 07:19:25 By - Rob Christensen
The Senate confirmed John Brennan to head the Central Intelligence Agency on Thursday after two Republican senators blasted Sen. Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster, which temporarily held up the vote on President Barack Obama’s choice to head the spy agency. | 03/07/13 18:20:01 By - By William Douglas and Lesley Clark
President Barack Obama is doing something he rarely does: Talking to Congress. | 03/07/13 18:09:09 By - By Anita Kumar
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks like a strong 2016 presidential candidate, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. | 03/07/13 07:52:46 By - David Lightman
A bill intended to clarify religious freedom in Kentucky advanced in the legislature Wednesday over the objections of groups who fear that the measure could be used to trample civil rights. | 03/07/13 07:03:46 By - Beth Musgrave
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday began a filibuster of President Barack Obamas nominee to head the CIA, saying he would continue speaking from the floor of the Senate until he had guarantees that U.S. policy on the use of drones would not be applied to Americans at home. Editor's note: The filibuster ended at 12:39 a.m., Thursday, March 7th. | 03/06/13 19:23:29 By - By Matthew Schofield and William Douglas
Its become an annual ritual: Congress cant agree on a budget, so it adopts a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. | 03/06/13 17:29:23 By - By David Lightman
Attorney General Eric Holder is getting plenty of conflicting advice as he tries to figure out how the federal government should respond to the decision by voters in Washington state and Colorado to legalize marijuana for recreational use. | 03/06/13 16:55:06 By - By Rob Hotakainen
At first glance it seemed as though Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri had broken with the majority of her fellow conservatives in the House of Representatives last week to renew an expanded version of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which funds programs to assist survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse. | 03/06/13 16:48:07 By - By Lindsay Wise
The House of Representatives took the first step Wednesday toward keeping the federal government open after March 27, passing a bill to extend spending levels through Sept. 30 and preserving the automatic spending cuts that went into effect Friday. | 03/06/13 16:38:13 By - By David Lightman and William Douglas
When he jumped into the contentious debate over the nations gun laws, Sen. Joe Manchin learned quickly that hed committed a crime in politically toxic Washington. | 03/06/13 14:01:09 By - By William Douglas
Looming federal budget cuts are threatening to temporarily shut down North Carolina's multibillion-dollar hog and poultry industry by disrupting federal meat inspections, according to state and federal officials. | 03/06/13 07:01:00 By - Rob Christensen
Gov. Steve Beshear said Tuesday that he has spoken with actress Ashley Judd about her potentially challenging U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014, but he declined to give details of the conversation. | 03/06/13 06:44:48 By - Beth Musgrave
The National Rifle Association, a touchstone for gun-rights advocates in the national debate about gun control, is putting its name on the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway in April. | 03/05/13 07:10:38 By - Carlos Mendez and Mac Engel
A legislator's effort to restrict state-paid abortions in Alaska came under fire Monday during a hearing dominated by testimony from Planned Parenthood and other advocates worried that poor women may resort to dangerous back-room abortions if the state cuts off funding. | 03/05/13 06:40:52 By - Lisa Demer
A woman who allegedly appeared in a video in which she claimed to have been paid for sex with Sen. Bob Menendez is now saying the video was a setup. | 03/04/13 22:12:43 By - EZRA FIESER
The federal government will start cutting spending as early as Saturday, with President Barack Obama and congressional leaders unable to bridge their fundamental disagreement over spending and taxes. | 03/01/13 18:40:45 By - By Lesley Clark and William Douglas
Already, a decade of budget deficits run up in war and economic crisis has saddled the government with a $16 trillion debt, a bill that will force the country to come to grips with how much government it wants and how much it wants to pay for it at the very time the aging baby boomers put new strains on the budget through such vast programs as Medicare and Social Security. Now the government is about to start cutting spending in some programs, offering a first look at how the American people will react. | 03/01/13 18:20:42 By - By David Lightman
A bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives is close to introducing its own immigration bill, which would grant legal status to many of the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants but _ in a significant departure from similar proposals in the White House and Senate _ isn’t expected to include new paths to citizenship, according to those involved in the discussions. | 03/01/13 17:31:12 By - By Franco Ordonez
House Republicans, among them the head of a key oversight panel, threatened Friday to call Cabinet secretaries and other executive agency managers before congressional hearings on how furloughs are applied in the wake of forced spending cuts. | 03/01/13 17:53:04 By - By James Rosen
President Obama took to a White House lectern to warn that he and Congress' failure to meet an agreement on avoiding $85 billion in spending cuts means "many middle class families will have their lives disrupted in significant ways." | 03/01/13 12:28:30 By - Lesley Clark
GOP strategist Karl Rove may be an unpopular figure among Republican volunteers, especially after launching a drive this year that tea party activists considered an attack on their brand of grassroots conservatism. | 03/01/13 06:53:53 By - Kevin Yamamura
House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, speaking Thursday at the cottage where Abraham Lincoln drafted the Emancipation Proclamation, celebrated its 150th anniversary but warned that one of the most important products of the slain president’s visionary leadership is under threat at the Supreme Court. | 03/01/13 06:25:30 By - By James Rosen McClatchy Newspapers
Sometime Friday, the federal government will take the first step toward cutting spending in dozens of departments and programs after the two major parties each tried and failed to muscle partisan alternatives through the Senate. | 02/28/13 20:03:49 By - By William Douglas and Lesley Clark
For weeks, President Barack Obama has warned Americans about the dire consequences of allowing the automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration to go into effect . | 02/28/13 19:17:38 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark
Ending a 16-month battle with the Senate, the House voted 286-138 to approve the plan as part of an expansion to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. Republican opponents relented after failing to win enough votes to reauthorize the law without the provision. The bill now goes to President Barack Obama, who said hed sign it. | 02/28/13 17:34:02 By - By Rob Hotakainen
The federal budget ax is poised to chop $46 billion from defense spending, and communities around Texas military bases are bracing for the impact. | 02/28/13 11:58:41 By - Alex Branch
An effort by an anti-abortion state senator to restrict state-funded abortions using state law, not a doctor's opinion, to define what is "medically necessary" was sharply challenged Wednesday during a legislative hearing. | 02/28/13 06:41:03 By - Lisa Demer
Sen. Marco Rubio, back from a Middle East trip, said Wednesday that the United States should start supplying ammunition to moderate Syrian opposition groups in order to protect U.S. interests by countering the rise of radical groups. | 02/27/13 19:27:43 By - By James Rosen McClatchy Newspapers
Republicans said the spending cuts start Friday. The White House said its really Saturday. Either way, the seemingly trivial dispute underscored the inability of the two sides to avert spending cuts neither side wanted when they were first enacted and signed into law in 2011. | 02/27/13 19:00:08 By - By William Douglas and Anita Kumar
More than two months after the horrific mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, the Senate on Wednesday held its second hearing on legislation to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips and to extend background checks to gun shows and private sales. | 02/27/13 18:16:02 By - By Curtis Tate
The politically charged issue of race was before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a case that could determine how the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act applies to the South. | 02/27/13 13:37:52 By - By Maria Recio
President Barack Obama will meet with congressional leaders Friday, the day across-the-board spending cuts are scheduled to take place. | 02/27/13 10:35:49 By - Anita Kumar
Texans love their independence -- and their guns.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, is proposing to give Texans more of both. | 02/27/13 07:27:07 By - Anna M. TinsleyAt PortMiami, federal dollars fund Customs agents, security operations and cargo inspectors. But with a historic cut in federal spending set to begin Friday, port director Bill Johnson must contemplate how to keep the place running with less help from Washington. | 02/27/13 07:01:33 By - Douglas Hanks and Martha Brannigan
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham called Tuesday for an end to hyper-partisanship, saying the urgent issues the nation faces require lawmakers to focus on solving problems instead of assigning blame. Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Graham, a South Carolina Republican, expressed great respect for each other as each accepted the Prize for Civility in Public Life. | 02/26/13 18:45:39 By - By James Rosen McClatchy Newspapers
President Barack Obama journeyed Tuesday to military-rich Virginia to prod Congress to halt looming federal spending cuts, warning of the potential consequences on Americas armed forces and economy. | 02/26/13 17:53:02 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas
While South Mississippi braces for the effects of "sequestration," former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said in a recent nationally-televised interview he hopes the budget cuts go forward to help reduce the deficit. | 02/26/13 12:53:47 By - Michael Newsom
In a chamber dotted with female legislators wearing new camo scarves, the Alaska state House on Monday passed a gun measure that is wildly popular among the GOP-controlled Legislature even though it raises serious constitutional issues. | 02/26/13 07:01:32 By - Lisa Demer
In a last-minute bid to minimize the most painful impacts of federal spending cuts and perhaps blame Republicans will propose this week allowing the government to choose where to cut. | 02/25/13 18:57:40 By - By Anita Kumar and William Douglas
He’s not your usual newbie senator. After just weeks on the job, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has managed to ruffle feathers on both sides of the aisle with his aggressive questioning of former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., the Obama administration’s nominee for defense secretary. Some critics said it contained echoes of the McCarthy era. | 02/25/13 17:40:21 By -
President Barack Obama told the National Governors Association -- meeting today at the White House -- that members should lobby their members of Congress to avoid the looming series of spending cuts known as the sequester. | 02/25/13 14:24:08 By - Lesley Clark
Congressman Doc Hastings in a letter to the White House accused a Department of the Interior official of mismanagement and called for President Obama to nominate a replacement. | 02/25/13 13:43:58 By - Michelle Dupler
Gov. Pat McCrory says he signed off on the controversial pink licenses that will be issued to some young illegal immigrants who were granted protection from deportation for two years. | 02/25/13 12:19:41 By - Franco Ordonez
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says he wants to return to Congress to tackle the growing national debt, but first he is tackling his past. | 02/25/13 07:18:22 By - Andrew Shain
The White House on Sunday ramped up its campaign to avoid across-the-board spending cuts scheduled to take place in less than a week by releasing detailed estimates of what reductions could mean in every state. | 02/24/13 20:09:38 By - By Anita Kumar
Today, the White House is releasing new state-by-state reports on the devastating impact the sequester will have on jobs and middle class families across the country if Congressional Republicans fail to compromise to avert the sequester by March 1st. | 02/24/13 20:01:20 By -
Faced with tough re-elections and constituents clamoring for government services, Republican governors in some big swing states are turning pragmatic, pulling away from the conservative line that helped them win in 2010. | 02/24/13 15:32:59 By - By David Lightman
President Barack Obama insists he wants a balance of more taxes and less spending to curb runaway budget deficits. His record suggests, however, that he leans against cutting spending. | 02/22/13 15:56:10 By - By Lesley Clark
The upcoming automatic federal budget cuts would mean a big hit to energy development, as well as to Americas national parks, according to the Interior Department, which says oil and gas leasing would be slowed and popular parks would see reduced hours and fewer services. | 02/22/13 07:22:15 By - By Sean Cockerham
A newspaper report that top State Department officials believe Cuba should be removed from the U.S. list of countries that support terrorism drew denials Thursday from the department and the White House. | 02/22/13 06:50:43 By - Juan O. Tamayo
Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are being honored for displaying civility in politics, a rare Washington commodity they’ll need plenty of in the coming months as they champion the divisive issues of gun control and immigration legislation. | 02/21/13 20:00:00 By - By James Rosen
Don’t be too frightened by the doomsday talk about the automatic spending cuts that look more and more likely to kick in next week. | 02/21/13 16:32:43 By - By David Lightman
Mount Rainier National Park will not open the Ohanapecosh Visitor Center this season if Congress and the Obama administration fail to reach a budget deal by March 1. | 02/21/13 07:31:31 By - Jeffrey P. Mayor
Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday he supports expanding Medicaid and funneling billions of federal dollars to Florida, a significant policy reversal that could bring health care coverage to 1 million additional Floridians. | 02/21/13 07:10:38 By - Tia Mitchell and Steve Bousquet
Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., on Wednesday said that shell introduce a bill in Congress next week that would reward high-poverty schools that improve their test scores and lower dropout rates. | 02/21/13 06:31:40 By - By Renee Schoof
After retiring from a 36-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives last month, Norm Dicks has no doubt that he’s worth every penny of his new pension: It will allow the Washington state Democrat to cash a monthly check from the U.S. government for $7,365.82. Critics say the pension system is far too generous and that members of Congress should put their retirement money on the table as they look for ways to cut federal spending. | 02/20/13 17:29:46 By - By Rob Hotakainen
President Barack Obama's job approval rating among California voters has climbed above 60 percent for the first time since 2009, the year he first took office, according to a new Field Poll. | 02/20/13 07:03:20 By - David Siders
The Alaska Senate on Tuesday approved a Parnell administration measure to roll back cruise ship wastewater standards that were approved by voters in 2006. The vote was 14-6. | 02/20/13 06:52:54 By - Lisa Demer
After days of criticism that he was excluding Republicans from immigration talks, President Barack Obama on Tuesday reached out to several Republican leaders who are calling for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. | 02/20/13 06:23:39 By - By Franco Ordonez
America is failing too many of its children in public schools because it doesn’t spread the opportunity for a good education fairly to all, according to a report for the government released Tuesday. | 02/19/13 18:47:17 By - By Renee Schoof
President Barack Obama is launching a public campaign to pressure Congress to avoid brutal spending cuts he said could hurt a still wobbly economy and increase the unemployment rate. | 02/19/13 18:44:53 By - By Lesley Clark
Aldo the drug-sniffing dog and his canine colleagues won a big treat at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as justices unanimously approved a sniff search that had led to a Florida bust. | 02/19/13 14:40:23 By - By Michael Doyle
Federal spending cuts planned for March 1 could hit Washington state hard, costing 41,700 jobs and removing $3.4 billion from its economy, according to state estimates. | 02/19/13 18:55:34 By - By Rob Hotakainen
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnells re-election campaign released its first video ad Tuesday, a parody highlighting the difficulty Democrats are having trying to recruit a viable candidate to run against him. | 02/19/13 13:18:59 By - Jack Brammer
There's a new push to add regulations on gun shows held at city facilities.
As elected officials in Congress and the state Legislature consider whether to place additional restrictions on gun purchases, a local group is pressing for change at gun shows held on city property such as the Will Rogers Center. | 02/19/13 07:36:05 By - Anna M. TinsleyPresident Obamas administration drafted legislation this month that could give undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship in eight years, require employers to check workers immigration status and increase penalties for those who break immigration law. | 02/19/13 06:59:56 By - Marc Caputo
A controversial Alaska gun bill sponsored by House Speaker Mike Chenault that would put federal agents at risk of felony charges for enforcing certain future weapons laws cleared the lone committee assigned to hear it Monday, despite a legal opinion saying it is likely unconstitutional. | 02/19/13 06:49:09 By - Lisa Demer
Immigration isnt a touchy subject just for many Republicans. Southern and moderate Democrats also may be a bit skittish about the idea of granting a path to citizenship for the nations 11 million illegal immigrants. | 02/18/13 15:52:43 By - By Franco Ordonez
A bill moving through the Alaska Legislature would eliminate wilderness restrictions in a portion of a state park in the Bristol Bay region so a utility can study a hydroelectric project on a lake where such development now is banned. | 02/18/13 06:54:58 By - Richard Mauer
Military readiness will be threatened. So will food inspections, teaching jobs, mental health services and more, all because of the automatic spending cuts due to take effect March 1. Congress, though, has left the building. | 02/15/13 15:04:46 By - By David Lightman
The state Division of Motor Vehicles will comply with a state attorney generals opinion and issue drivers licenses to thousands of young illegal immigrants who are eligible to drive because of a federal program that gives them temporary protection from deportation, Transportation Secretary Tony Tata said Thursday. | 02/15/13 07:18:45 By - Bruce Siceloff and Anne Blythe
With Republicans balking, the Senate put off a confirmation vote on former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense. | 02/14/13 18:32:03 By - By William Douglas
Senate Democrats proposed a $110 billion plan Thursday to cut projected budget deficits and replace automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect March 1. | 02/14/13 17:54:40 By - By David Lightman
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he will propose legislation to prevent a repeat of an incident last week in which a Lady's Island woman, who once pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, passed a background check and legally purchased a gun. | 02/14/13 13:21:58 By - Gina Smith
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn rejected Wednesday the possibility of serving in President Barack Obamas Cabinet as transportation secretary, saying he wants instead to help Obama show that an African American can lead the nation. | 02/14/13 11:33:37 By - James Rosen
The thousands of low-income North Carolinians denied health insurance in a Republican-drafted measure that passed the House on Wednesday are left with few options for coverage. | 02/14/13 07:17:57 By - John Frank
Sens. Marco Rubio’s and Rand Paul’s delivery of back-to-back rebuttals of President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress – Rubio as the Republican response, Paul as the tea party rejoinder – raises some tantalizing questions: | 02/13/13 17:27:00 By - By James Rosen McClatchy Newspapers
Senate Republican leaders on Wednesday demonstrated the fissures that continue to linger over proposals to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. | 02/13/13 19:34:50 By - By Franco Ordonez
Republicans forced the budget crisis that helped create the pending across-the-board cuts in the first place. And Republicans provided crucial votes for the 2011 deal that ended that impasse, an agreement that’s about to trigger $85 billion in automatic spending reductions March 1. The idea of the budget cuts did come from the White House two summers ago, as a last-ditch effort to jump-start stalled negotiations. | 02/13/13 16:40:30 By - By David Lightman
Senators are urgently trying to save the struggling U.S. Postal Service after its announcement that it will cut Saturday delivery starting in August. | 02/13/13 15:57:40 By - By Beena Raghavendran
Senate Republicans pressed President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Treasury Department on Wednesday over an investment in a Cayman Islands fund as well as a bonus deal that came as his then-employer Citigroup was about to need a taxpayer bailout and just before he left the bank to return to the government. | 02/13/13 19:11:48 By - By Kevin G. Hall
. President Barack Obama used a bustling engine-parts factory that came back from the dead as the backdrop Wednesday to pitch his plans to boost U.S. manufacturing, part of the second-term agenda he’d rolled out in his State of the Union address the night before. | 02/13/13 17:05:51 By - By Lesley Clark
Sen. Rand Paul scolded Democrats and Republicans alike for spending money the government doesn't have as he delivered the tea party response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to Congress. | 02/13/13 10:48:59 By - James Rosen
Sen. Marco Rubio was cruising along in his rebuttal to the presidents State of the Union speech Tuesday night when he couldnt take it any longer. | 02/13/13 06:59:39 By - Marc Caputo
In English and Spanish, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday night delivered a scathing rebuke of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, signaling a Republican battle for middle-class voters that could help re-energize his party and also propel a potential 2016 White House run. | 02/12/13 23:26:46 By - By William Douglas
Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery - State of the Union Address | 02/12/13 22:45:16 By -
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida Delivers the Republican Address to the Nation after President Obama's State of the Union address | 02/12/13 22:44:49 By -
Newly elected second-term presidents traditionally use their first State of the Union address to promote themselves as visionaries with sweeping plans to unite the nation behind an ambitious, common goal. | 02/12/13 22:41:38 By - By David Lightman
A key Senate panel voted along party lines Tuesday to recommend the confirmation of former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, sending his nomination to the full Senate despite opposition from Republican senators over his stances on Iran, Iraq and Israel. | 02/12/13 20:01:44 By - By James Rosen
President Barack Obama’s pick to head the Treasury Department faces a tough grilling Wednesday from Republicans looking to spotlight his time at Citigroup, the troubled financial institution rescued by taxpayers. | 02/12/13 18:24:42 By - By Kevin G. Hall
President Barack Obama returned to the unfinished business of a still struggling economy Tuesday night, outlining a second-term agenda with proposals designed to create jobs, expand the middle class and spur financial growth. | 02/12/13 23:14:49 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark
Ten U.S. senators are urging the Supreme Court to overturn the rulings of multiple lower courts and to uphold a 1996 law that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman and freed states not to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. | 02/11/13 18:22:37 By - By James Rosen
Bryan Hull hopes that the Ruger LC9 pistol holstered on his hip sends a clear message. He's not hiding the fact that he is armed and ready to protect himself. | 02/11/13 07:33:34 By - Anna M. Tinsley
After days of private strategy sessions, Republicans and Democrats are poised this week for the same kind of ugly partisan combat over spending and taxes that’s spawned fiscal chaos and sent Congress’ approval ratings plunging. | 02/11/13 00:00:00 By - By David Lightman
The White House on Friday defended its decision not to endorse a CIA plan to arm the Syrian rebels, saying it was worried that U.S. weapons could “fall into the wrong hands” and worsen the situation in the civil war-torn country. | 02/08/13 18:21:13 By - By Lesley Clark
A confident President Barack Obama is expected Tuesday to unveil an aggressive agenda in the first State of the Union address of his second term, calling for a rewrite of the nation’s outdated immigration laws, steps to prevent gun violence and ways to bolster a still fragile economy. | 02/08/13 15:45:11 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar
The Department of Energy is closely examining contracts as the threat looms for sequestration-driven spending cuts March 1, according to a new memo from Daniel Poneman, deputy energy secretary. | 02/08/13 12:58:33 By - Annette Cary
Senior Obama administration officials have agreed that the number of nuclear warheads the U.S. military deploys could be cut by at least a third without harming national security, according to those involved in the deliberations. | 02/08/13 04:00:00 By - By R. Jeffrey Smith
America’s two top defense leaders acknowledged Thursday that they’d supported a CIA plan, opposed by the White House, to arm Syrian rebels . | 02/08/13 10:59:18 By - By Matthew Schofield
The confirmation hearing Thursday of John Brennan to be CIA director reopened scrutiny of a wide range of controversies that have dogged the country for more than a decade, ranging from the Obama administration’s embrace of targeted killings to the Bush administration’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques many equate with torture. | 02/07/13 23:22:49 By - By Jonathan S. Landay
For the past three years, some Republican and Democratic lawmakers have sat next to each other during President Barack Obama’s annual State of the Union speech to Congress in a largely meaningless one-night show of bipartisanship. | 02/07/13 18:14:05 By - By James Rosen
Voters want stricter gun control laws--but not by an overwhelming majority.
A new Quinnipiac Polling Institute national survey shows that by a 52-43 percent margin, people want tougher laws. | 02/07/13 08:09:19 By - David LightmanThe head of the Congressional Black Caucus is urging President Barack Obama to nominate House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn of Columbia to become the next U.S. secretary of transportation. | 02/07/13 07:34:04 By - James Rosen
Cracks continue to develop in the Republican Partys concrete opposition to Obamacares state expansions of Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. | 02/07/13 07:23:05 By - Dave Helling
Marco Rubio wont just give the Republican rebuttal to President Barack Obamas State of the Union speech on Tuesday night.
The Florida Senator will give two. | 02/07/13 07:07:39 By - Marc CaputoAt Wild West Guns, where stuffed caribou and Dall sheep adorn the walls, customers know Harry Reid as someone who understands guns. | 02/06/13 17:03:43 By - By Anita Kumar
Retired U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, president-elect of one of the nations prominent conservative think tanks, has formed a conservative think tank in South Carolina. | 02/06/13 07:25:50 By - Jamie Self
Republican lawmakers are taking another swing at insisting Missouri voters show a government-issued photo ID at the polls. And theyre meeting fierce resistance. | 02/06/13 07:15:05 By - Jason Hancock
A former aide to Sen. Bob Menendez might benefit from a major overseas port deal thats supported by the powerful Democrat and is tied to a South Florida donor whose offices were raided last week by the FBI. | 02/06/13 07:06:59 By - Marc Caputo
President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to pass a package of modest cuts and tax changes as a way to delay drastic, across-the-board federal spending reductions that could harm the economy. | 02/05/13 17:51:37 By - By Anita Kumar and David Lightman
Republicans in the House of Representatives kicked off their first hearing on immigration with a stated goal of harmonizing the principles of humanity and the rule of the law. But the gathering emphasized how many House Republicans still oppose granting a path to citizenship, which several Judiciary Committee members referred to as “amnesty.” | 02/05/13 16:57:19 By - By Franco Ordoñez
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is on the radio in California this week, criticizing the Golden State in a new advertisement and urging businesses to flee to Texas. | 02/05/13 07:01:06 By - David Siders
The House decided Monday to roll back pollution standards voted into law by the 2006 cruise-ship initiative, allowing cruise vessels to dump ammonia, copper and other contaminants into Alaska waters. | 02/05/13 06:45:44 By - Richard Mauer
Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the long-unrecognized daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, died Monday at 87. | 02/04/13 19:17:38 By - Jamie Self
Its nothing new: horror stories about people whose mental illnesses turned them into killers; a safety net that failed to catch them; and now, politicians in Olympia, Wash., vowing to do something. | 02/04/13 12:58:28 By - Jordan Schrader
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem said Gov. Rick Perry has without a doubt created a lasting legacy in Texas. | 02/04/13 07:23:44 By - Anna M. Tinsley
The shadowy tipster who made explosive allegations involving U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic named names. He gave descriptions of the women, and in some cases, phone numbers and addresses. | 02/04/13 07:06:13 By - Kathleen McGrory and Melissa Sanchez
The Senate’s top Republican on energy issues, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has crafted a blueprint for U.S. energy policy that calls for increased drilling while opposing laws to cap greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming. | 02/03/13 22:08:53 By - By Sean Cockerham
President Barack Obama honored 23 scientists Friday at the White House. | 02/01/13 18:43:24 By - By Anne-Kathrin Gerstlauer
After months of criticism and legal challenges, President Barack Obama’s administration proposed Friday that religious institutions no longer be required to provide their employees with health insurance coverage for birth control. | 02/01/13 18:22:35 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark
Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, said Thursday that he was committed to providing Marines with answers about the water contamination that occurred at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. If he’s confirmed, he pledged, he’ll work to overcome bureaucratic hurdles that may obstruct findings about the impact of the contamination on Marines and their family members. | 02/01/13 13:41:35 By - By Franco Ordonez
Seeking to slow the childhood obesity epidemic, South Carolina health leaders would like to limit the purchase of sugar-filled drinks with food stamps. Catherine Templeton, director of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Lillian Koller, director of the Department of Social Services, have exchanged thoughts on the subject. | 02/01/13 07:19:48 By - Joey Holleman
Shares in Kris Kobachs political future buy, sell, or hold? Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, built a national profile on immigration issues. In court, in print, and on television, Kobach often serves as the face of Republican support for tougher policies toward illegal immigration. | 02/01/13 07:07:30 By - Dave Helling
When Hillary Clinton joined the Obama administration’s famed “team of rivals,” political observers were abuzz with the possibilities of a secretary of state who was already a powerful global celebrity, a former first lady, and a hardened presidential candidate. Despite the star power and political savvy, however, analysts four years later say they can’t identify an enduring diplomatic approach that would add her to the list of the all-time greatest secretaries of state. | 02/01/13 06:28:14 By - By Hannah Allam
The left came to praise former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican whom Obama nominated to be his next secretary of defense. The right came to, if not bury him, keep him on the hot seat all day as it explored his views and past, sometimes controversial, statements on Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and nuclear weapons. | 01/31/13 19:12:04 By - By Matthew Schofield
President Barack Obama’s high-profile jobs council went out of business Thursday, despite reports that the economy shrank at the end of last year and the unemployment rate remains stuck at 7.8 percent, exactly the same as it was four years ago when the president first took office. | 01/31/13 18:47:12 By - By Emma Kantrowitz
Can you make a wealthy person do something by temporarily withholding a relatively tiny part of his or her income? America is about to find out, after the Senate approved a bill on a 64-34 vote to suspend the nation’s debt limit until mid-May, enabling the federal government to continue to borrow money to pay its bills. | 01/31/13 17:48:13 By - By William Douglas
For members of Congress from big cities, the West Coast and the Northeast, gun control has jumped to the top of the agenda. For those elected in red state America, the issue is regarded very differently. | 01/31/13 17:21:41 By - By David Lightman
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell raised $715,000 in the last three months of 2012 for his re-election campaign, bringing his campaign total to $7.4 million, campaign manager Jesse Benton said. | 01/31/13 13:40:04 By - Jack Brammer
Should public universities and colleges in North Carolina be judged and funded primarily by how well they groom students for the job market? | 01/31/13 07:23:29 By - Caroline McMillan
Republicans say its a simple change, from opting out to opting in. But by making it more difficult for public employee unions to collect dues, GOP lawmakers in Kansas and Missouri could weaken a chief political nemesis. | 01/31/13 07:15:43 By - Jason Hancock and Brad Cooper
Two authors of the Senate bipartisan agreement on immigration from both parties see their work as a hopeful sign of a new wave of bipartisanship in Congress. | 01/30/13 21:01:39 By - By Franco Ordonez
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is wading into the immigration thicket again, less than six years after a titanic battle over the same issue left the Seneca Republican badly bruised and on the losing side. | 01/30/13 07:27:41 By - James Rosen
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign is contending that Democratic liberals are trying to infiltrate conservative groups in the state to oust McConnell next year. | 01/30/13 07:11:22 By - Jack Brammer
Two former California Senate leaders sat before lawmakers Tuesday and warned them about the death threats sure to come their way as they embark on new gun control efforts death threats that, ironically, drove one of of them, Don Perata, to arm himself for protection. | 01/30/13 06:51:29 By - Kim Minugh
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took his case for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system straight to one of the most influential voices in Republican politics, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. | 01/30/13 06:25:58 By - By David Lightman
With only three “no” votes, the Senate on Tuesday confirmed veteran lawmaker and former presidential candidate John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as the secretary of state for the Obama administration’s second term. | 01/29/13 18:57:46 By - By Hannah Allam
President Barack Obama proposed to rewrite U.S. immigration laws Tuesday, echoing a bipartisan group of influential U.S. senators in a one-two step that signaled a changing political landscape and the best chance in a generation to change the way the nation treats those who arrived here illegally. | 01/29/13 18:56:25 By - By Anita Kumar and Franco Ordonez
As a Democrat from a swing state, Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina already faces a tough re-election fight next year. | 01/29/13 17:16:29 By - By Renee Schoof
America’s two major political parties are prisoners of their images, stifling their ability to broaden their appeal. Democrats are routinely portrayed as liberals and Republicans as conservatives, and movement toward the center, where elections are usually won, is difficult to detect. | 01/29/13 06:31:33 By - By David Lightman
All roads to immigration restructuring run through Florida, and the "tough but fair" approach that’s being discussed this week has at its center two of the state’s Republicans: Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami. | 01/28/13 17:45:01 By - By Erika Bolstad
A group of eight Democratic and Republicans senators, including Floridas Marco Rubio, will officially release a wide-ranging immigration plan Monday that could give a pathway to citizenship, tighten border security and increase guest-worker permits. | 01/28/13 07:04:46 By - Marc Caputo
As another debt-deal deadline looms this winter in Congress, an unusual alliance of lawmakers has joined forces to put the Pentagon budget under greater scrutiny and to end the almost carte blanche status it enjoyed in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. | 01/28/13 00:00:00 By - By James Rosen
When it came time to select a new chief of staff, President Barack Obama didn’t look very far. | 01/25/13 18:55:55 By - By Anita Kumar
According to the White House, Obama will introduce a plan that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which many Republicans oppose and liken to “amnesty.” | 01/25/13 18:51:27 By - By Franco Ordonez
Citing frustration with the Obama administration and congressional gridlock, Georgia’s senior senator, Republican Saxby Chambliss announced Monday that he won’t seek re-election next year, dealing a blow to Senate Republicans while bolstering Democratic hopes of regaining the seat after a 12-year absence. | 01/25/13 18:37:53 By - By Tony Pugh
Anywhere you look, President Barack Obama looks different heading into his second term. | 01/24/13 15:00:04 By - By Lesley Clark
Sen. Claire McCaskill is making another run at ending earmarks after the Missouri Democrat tried but failed during her first term in Congress. McCaskill will reintroduce legislation today designed to halt the practice of earmarking, which enables lawmakers to designate funds for special projects back home without legislative scrutiny. | 01/24/13 12:15:17 By - Lindsay Wise
The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to suspend the nations debt limit until May, allowing the federal government to continue to pay its bills and removing an immediate threat to the economy as it struggles to gain strength. | 01/23/13 17:30:41 By - By William Douglas and Kevin G. Hall
Defiant in one of her final appearances in office, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress on Wednesday that she accepts responsibility for security lapses in the deadly Sept. 11 attack on U.S. posts in Libya, but she also stressed that the assault was part of a broader war the United States faces against extremists in North Africa. | 01/23/13 18:43:55 By - By Hannah Allam
It worked for Democrats. Could it work for Republicans? With national Republican Party officials gathering in Charlotte this week, its a natural question: Will the party return for its 2016 convention? | 01/23/13 13:04:09 By - Jim Morrell
More medical professionals, including nurses and midwives, would be permitted to perform certain early abortions in California under a bill unveiled Tuesday. | 01/23/13 06:58:59 By - Jeremy B. White
The House plans to vote Wednesday on a Republican proposal to extend the government’s debt ceiling for three months, but conservatives were waging a last-minute effort to defeat the bill because it would not force spending cuts. | 01/22/13 19:08:14 By - By William Douglas and Lesley Clark
Many of Kentucky's Tea Party leaders are plotting a strategy to defeat U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Republican primary, a spokesman for a group calling itself the United Kentucky Tea Party said Tuesday. | 01/22/13 18:30:20 By - Jack Brammer
More than 2,000 people filled the National Cathedral on Tuesday to offer a prayer for President Barack Obama as he enters his second term in office. | 01/22/13 17:14:31 By - By Anita Kumar
The Republican Party is in turmoil, confused about its future and disliked by huge numbers of voters. | 01/22/13 15:46:53 By - By David Lightman
No doubt anymore where President Barack Obama wants America, and history, to place him: As a tough-minded liberal. | 01/21/13 18:38:36 By - By David Lightman
The crowd that jammed the National Mall on Monday for President Barack Obama’s second inaugural may have been smaller and less ebullient than the 1.8 million people who attended his historical first swearing-in, but by no means was it somber. | 01/21/13 17:51:31 By - By William Douglas and Maya T. Prabhu
The new Congress looks like a changing country, and California’s delegation looks a lot like the change. | 01/21/13 17:40:39 By - By Curtis Tate
Idaho Republican Congressman Raul Labrador is critical of President Obama's news conference and executive order prompted aimed at curbing gun violence. The president had children attend his announcement last week of executive orders and a legislative agenda prompted by last month's Connecticut school shooting that left 20 elementary students dead. | 01/21/13 15:22:13 By - Dan Popkey
“America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive, diversity and openness, an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention,” he said on a crisp, sun-filled afternoon. “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together.” | 01/21/13 22:22:52 By - By Anita Kumar and Lesley Clark
The nation's debt is its biggest problem, and the only way to fix it is to make changes in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Friday. | 01/21/13 07:17:04 By - Jack Brammer
From a frigid 2009 Inauguration Day to a soggy 2012 Democratic convention, Mother Nature hasn’t always been kind to President Barack Obama. And meteorologists say that Monday’s inauguration is likely to be another chilly affair. | 01/20/13 12:39:42 By - By William Douglas
President Barack Obama was officially sworn into office for a second term Sunday in a small ceremony at the White House as the nations capital geared up for a full inauguration on Monday. | 01/20/13 22:35:21 By - By Anita Kumar
President Barack Obama said Saturday his inauguration will be a symbol of U.S. democracy, as well as an “affirmation that we’re all in this together." | 01/19/13 16:22:11 By - By Lesley Clark
An American contractor that came under fire several years ago for cost overruns and delays during the construction of a major U.S.-funded power plant in Afghanistan faces renewed criticism on another, much smaller project. | 01/19/13 00:00:00 By - By Lindsay Wise
When Claire McCaskill set out to crack down on waste and fraud in wartime contracting six years ago, the newbie Democratic senator from Missouri figured that finding ways to save taxpayer dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be a no-brainer project, even in the highly partisan halls of Congress. “I learned quickly that that was very naive,” she said in a recent interview. | 01/19/13 00:00:00 By - By Lindsay Wise
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, hoping to avert another politically costly showdown with President Barack Obama over fiscal issues, plan a vote next week on increasing the debt ceiling enough to cover three months of additional borrowing to pay the government’s bills. | 01/18/13 18:01:47 By - By David Lightman
As President Barack Obama prepares to begin his second term, he will govern a nation where people feel insecure about their economic futures, worried about their personal safety and concerned that international threats are spiraling out of the United States’ control. | 01/18/13 15:29:36 By - By David Lightman
Four years ago, President Barack Obama used his inaugural address to declare “an end to the petty grievances, and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.” | 01/18/13 15:22:27 By - By Lesley Clark and Anita Kumar
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