Navy commandos whose remains have languished in Libya for more than two centuries will have to wait at least a little longer after the Navy on Thursday blocked senators' efforts to have their bodies brought back to the U.S.
For years, the Navy has been reluctant to reclaim the remains of its first 13 commandos, who perished in a failed raid on Tripoli Harbor in Libya in 1804 — but pressure has been growing in Congress to force them to do just that.
Sen. John Boozman is co-sponsoring a bill that would require every employer in the country to use the E-Verify program to screen for illegal workers — but until earlier this month, the senator himself wasn't signed up for the system, thus violating a 1996 law that makes its use mandatory for all congressional offices.
While the Republicans' surprising win in New York's 9th Congressional District race drew most of the attention, it was the GOP's second victory on Sept. 13 that could have even bigger ramifications for President Obama's re-election bid.
The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Monday night to avert a potential government shutdown after the Obama administration discovered it had enough money in its disaster accounts to last through the end of this month, leaving lawmakers with "nothing to fight about."
Republican Bob Turner pulled off a stunning upset Tuesday to win a special election to fill the seat vacated by disgraced former Rep. Anthony D. Weiner, reversing decades of Democratic control in the New York City district.
The debt-ceiling agreement brokered behind closed doors by President Obama and congressional leadership was a failure in every respect. It neither soothed the markets nor produced a dime in actual spending cuts. The stock markets plunged and the United States suffered a humiliating downgrade - the very fate this deal was supposed to avoid. The new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction needs to do better.
The score after two 2011 special congressional elections: Democrats 2, Republicans 0. But Republicans have a chance to even the score with two more special elections, both scheduled for Sept. 13.
Nevada's Dean Heller was sworn in Monday as a senator to replace the embattled John Ensign, who resigned amid a Senate Ethics Committee investigation stemming from an extramarital affair he had with a campaign aide.
