'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Sen. Daniel K. Inouye's death last week ended the more than 50-year reign of the Senate "lions" — a select group of iconic, long-serving members whose presence connected the chamber to some of the most important events of the past half-century.
Senate President Pro Tempore Daniel K. Inouye, the chamber's senior member and a hero of World War II, died Monday of respiratory failure, leaving what his colleagues said was a giant hole in the fabric of the chamber.
Underscoring just how little has changed despite last week's elections, both chambers of Congress are poised to re-elect the same people to lead them into next year.
When people profit from bad news, they won't tell you about good news.
U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd obtained secret FBI documents about the civil rights movement that were leaked by the CIA and triggered an angry confrontation between the two agencies in the 1960s, according to newly released FBI records.
Congress is a very generous place to work, a place where a horrific tragedy (such as the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords) or terrible health news (such as a stroke, suffered by Sen. Mark Kirk) doesn't mean career uncertainty and financial destitution. It would be lovely if the rest of the world were that generous.
The Republican wave that has swept into governors' mansions of neighboring states has yet to reach West Virginia, but the GOP hopes that will change when a political newcomer tries to unseat the acting Democratic governor in a special election Tuesday.
The recently announced debt-limit deal is far from perfect. However, it will reduce spending and does represent a step forward. No such progress would have been possible but for the Americans who rose up in the last election and kicked so many big spenders out of office.
When Sen. Joe Manchin III, West Virginia Democrat, voted last week to block a Republican attempt to repeal the 2010 health care law, his action on some levels was routine. The vote was straight along party lines, and the GOP effort was viewed largely as a symbolic gesture with little chance of success.
Sen. Joe Manchin III, the West Virginia Democrat newly elected to replace the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, has raised eyebrows in the state after opting to attend a family event while skipping a pair of politically sensitive Senate votes over the weekend.
Five winners of special House and Senate elections are being sworn in before the rest of the freshman class.
"John McCain took his biggest wrong turn when he boarded his 'Straight Talk Express' and became the media's darling … quite unaware that the press adored him because he was useful to them in their own soft-core anti-Americanism," writes Tunku Varadarajan at the Daily Beast.
President Barack Obama says Senate Republicans are playing politics with bills that would extend benefits to the unemployed and increase lending to small businesses.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, known for his rhetorical flourish, his devotion to his home state of West Virginia and his fierce defense of the legislative branch's constitutional primacy in American government, died Monday morning at the age of 92.
A master of Senate procedure and federal spending, Sen. Robert C. Byrd died Monday at 92 after the longest congressional career in American history - and it's easy to see the mark he left on his beloved home state of West Virginia.
