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United States Congress

A closer look at Sandy recovery package
Details on how the $50.5 billion package of recovery and related aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy and other federally declared disasters is to be ...
THE RESET: Guns, immigration topping week's agenda
A week into his second term, President Barack Obama is temporarily turning from perpetual political fights over the national debt, government ...
Ryan says deep budget cuts likely unavoidable
The chairman of the House Budget Committee says Republicans will oppose tax increases and, as a result, deep, unpopular budget cuts will likely take ...
Lawmakers see immigration overhaul this year
Republican and Democratic lawmakers were cautiously optimistic Sunday that a long-sought overhaul of the nation's immigration system that includes a ...
Leading Democrat: Gun control faces uphill climb
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who's leading the push to restore an assault weapon ban, acknowledged on Sunday that the effort faces tough odds to pass ...
'No budget, no pay' advances despite reservations
In an earlier era, a move like the one engineered by House GOP leaders to pass a "no budget, no pay" measure probably would have been stopped in its ...
APNewsBreak: Harkin won't seek 6th Senate term
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said Saturday he will not seek a sixth term in 2014, a decision that eases some of the burden the national Republican Party faces ...
Ryan says GOP needs to pick its fights with Obama
Rep. Paul Ryan has a message for fellow Republicans: Let's stick together and carefully pick our fights with President Barack Obama. In a speech ...
Democrats may stand in Obama's way on gun measures
As the Senate prepares to begin debating new gun control measures, some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats are poised to frustrate his ...
Health answers sought about burned-off war garbage
J.D. Williams didn't think much about the smoke cloud that often shrouded his air base in Iraq. Not when it covered everything he owned with black ...
Court says Obama appointments violate constitution
President Barack Obama violated the Constitution when he bypassed the Senate last year to appoint three members of the National Labor Relations Board, ...
Ga. Sen. Chambliss won't seek re-election in 2014
When Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss announced Friday that he wouldn't seek a third term in 2014, a race that already was likely to feature a contested ...
Pentagon: Budget crisis could hurt war effort
The Afghan war effort eventually would be harmed by across-the-board budget cuts, even as the Obama administration intends to shield the military's ...
Obama picks foreign policy aide as chief of staff
President Barack Obama announced Friday that his new chief of staff is longtime trusted aide Denis McDonough, whom the president described as a close ...
GOP senators will oppose VA electoral change
The prospects appear doomed in Virginia this year for Republican-backed legislation that would replace the state's winner-take-all method of ...
Maze of gun laws in US hurts gun control efforts
Military-style assault weapons, gangster-style Tommy guns, World War II-era bazookas and even sawed-off shotguns — somewhere in the U.S., there is a ...
Geithner sees US economy strengthening gradually
Outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner thinks the U.S. economy will strengthen this year — as long as Congress avoids cutting spending too ...
Obama presses liberal agenda as he starts 2nd term
From gun control to gay rights, President Barack Obama's second-term agenda is shaping up as an unabashedly liberal wish list. In less than a week, ...
What's an assault weapon, anyway? A gun glossary
Even Americans who have never touched a gun are probably familiar with the looks and names of a few — the military M16, the action-movie's Uzi, the ...
Democratic support for Hagel grows
Democratic support for Chuck Hagel's nomination for defense secretary grew on Thursday as the former Republican senator allayed concerns about his ...
Senate OKs modest restrictions on filibusters
The tradition-laden Senate voted Thursday to modestly curb filibusters, using a bipartisan consensus rare in today's hyper-partisan climate to make ...
Jindal: GOP must stop being 'stupid party'
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called on the Republican Party to "stop being the stupid party" on Thursday as GOP leaders promised fundamental changes ...
What's a filibuster look like? Not Jimmy Stewart
From Jimmy Stewart's fictional all-night talkathon to real-life dramas over World War I and civil rights, the Senate's filibuster has played a notable ...
Kerry tackles questions on Iran, Syria, Hagel
Sen. John Kerry, President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of state, collected pledges of support Thursday and testified at his confirmation ...
Honduras can't pay its bills, neglects services
Street surveillance cameras in one of the world's most dangerous cities were turned off last week because Honduras' government hasn't paid millions ...