Senators narrowly rebuffed a Republican-led attempt Thursday to undo President Obama's new contraception mandate as the culture wars and charges of religious freedom violations spilled out onto the chamber floor and both parties vowed to make the vote an issue in November's elections.
Alas, "Operation Hilarity" was not so hilarious. The expansive effort to persuade Democrats to vote for Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum in the Michigan primary included everyone from Michael Moore and MoveOn.org to the Michigan Democratic Party. To their chagrin, Mitt Romney won anyway.
Massachusetts Sen. Scott P. Brown says he won't be pressured by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's son to stop running a radio ad claiming the elder Kennedy's position is similar to Mr. Brown's in the fight over whether religious employers should have to provide birth-control coverage.
Pointing to growing unease that President Obama's proposed contraception coverage rule doesn't protect religious freedom sufficiently, a Catholic bishop told Congress on Thursday the church will throw its weight behind House legislation releasing any employer from the mandate on religious or moral grounds.
President Obama's efforts last week have failed to quell the fury over his decision to require most health plans to cover contraception. Republicans are still promising a fight in Congress, and two leading Catholic groups remain on the fence although the administration thought they had been won over.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, under fire from Congress and veterans for naming ships after fellow Democrats and social activists, plans to announce another round of ship names in the near future that will be more traditional, a Pentagon official tells The Washington Times.
There are no signs the national furor is ebbing over the Obama administration's plans to require that either employers or their insurance companies provide birth-control services at no extra cost to their female employees.
Support for an anti-online piracy bill — drafted with rare bipartisan support — is eroding in the face of mounting public and corporate backlash.
Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a supporter of Mitt Romney, won a Senate GOP leadership post Tuesday over Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a tea party favorite.
