Sean Lengell

House will put NLRB in its cross hairs

The Republican-led House will take up a measure this week that would conditionally shut down the National Labor Relations Board in a move aimed at stopping President Obama from tilting the panel too far to the political left.

April 8, 2013

Sequester leads FAA to close 149 air traffic sites

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday announced its final list of 149 air traffic control facilities that will close nationwide due to the automatic federal spending cuts that kicked in earlier this month.

March 22, 2013

Sanford makes it into two-person runoff for House seat

Mark Sanford asked South Carolina voters for their forgiveness, and — so far —enough said yes.

March 20, 2013

Tom Coburn: Harry Reid is wrong to link sequester with Marine deaths

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn on Wednesday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of "political manipulation" when he suggested a fatal training exercise that killed seven Marines was due to the sequester cuts.

March 20, 2013

Two long-serving House members face ethics probes

The House Ethics Committee said Tuesday it has begun investigations of two veteran lawmakers accused of misusing or failing to report campaign money.

March 19, 2013

Arizona argues its case before Supreme Court for requiring proof of citizenship to vote

Arizona Attorney General Thomas C. Horne told the Supreme Court on Monday that states carry the "burden" of determining voter eligibility and they can demand residents prove their citizenship before registering to vote.

March 18, 2013

‘The Bible’ producers say Satan-Obama link is ‘utter nonsense’

The History channel says the resemblance between President Obama and the Satan character in its new mini-series "The Bible" is coincidental and wasn't intended to be a political statement.

March 18, 2013

S.C.’s Mark Sanford seeking redemption from voters

Disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's comeback bid takes a big step this week, when Palmetto State voters will decide if he deserves another shot in office.

March 18, 2013

Sessions questions math in Democrats’ budget

Forget passing a Senate budget. Senate Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on basic numbers such as what it means to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion — a disagreement that underscored the difficulty of agreeing on a 10-year budget.

March 14, 2013

Voter ID case heads to Supreme Court

An Arizona law designed to stop illegal immigrants from voting hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court will take up a landmark case this month on whether the state can demand would-be voters to prove they are citizens before casting ballots in federal elections.

March 14, 2013

‘No sacred cows’ in Democratic spending plan

Four years after they last passed a budget through the Senate, Democrats announced a new blueprint for federal spending Wednesday that proposes significant tax increases, new stimulus spending and some budget cuts — making slight headway in controlling federal debt.

March 13, 2013

Lingering vacancies burden justice system; nominations lag, cases grow

A backlog of judicial vacancies at federal courts is straining the nation's justice system — delaying trials, increasing workloads for judges and posing a disincentive for talented lawyers from pursuing careers on the bench, legal analysts say.

March 11, 2013

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan will not seek re-election in 2014

Sen. Carl Levin, a sixth-term Michigan Democrat and one of the Senate's longest serving and most influential members, said Thursday he won't see re-election in 2014.

March 7, 2013

GOP filibuster blocks key Obama judicial nominee

Senate Republicans on Wednesday delivered another blow to President Obama's ability to fill high-level federal judicial openings, using a filibuster to block Caitlin Halligan's nomination for a seat on the influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

March 6, 2013

Democrats propose measure to raise minimum wage

Democrats in Congress proposed legislation Tuesday to boost the federal minimum wage to more than $10, going beyond what President Obama has proposed and arguing the working poor need the extra support amid a sour economy.

March 5, 2013

Scalia ‘racial’ comment on voting rights law draws fire

A suggestion by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that a key 1960s-era voting rights law aimed at ending Jim Crow-era voter discrimination against blacks perpetuates "racial entitlement" has drawn outrage from civil rights leaders and others.

February 28, 2013

Congress renews law to protect women from violence

House Republicans leaders bowed to pressure Thursday and passed a new, Senate-written Violence Against Women Act, which adds protections to gay partners, illegal immigrants and victims on American Indian lands.

February 28, 2013

Conservative court justice: Voting rights law perpetuates ‘racial entitlement’

Decades of civil-rights law hung in the balance Wednesday as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case seeking to end the federal government's role as arbiter of states' decisions on how to run elections, with one conservative justice saying the role perpetuated "racial entitlement."

February 27, 2013

Gay, illegal inclusions endanger violence act

An ongoing dispute on Capitol Hill over renewal of the Violence Against Women Act -- once among the most noncontroversial measures in Congress -- is heating up ahead of an expected House vote Thursday.

February 26, 2013

Supreme Court to take key voting rights case

The Supreme Court this week will take up a potentially landmark case that could end almost five decades of Justice Department intervention that gives the federal government control over voting decisions in states and localities with a history of discrimination.

February 25, 2013