
Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday the fight for congressional action on gun legislation is far from over while outlining unilateral steps the Obama administration has taken to combat gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings in December.

Backers of the immigration bill under consideration in the Senate say the legislation encourages illegal aliens to learn English, but that's apparently not so. They've been running ads on conservative talk radio programs insisting that the illegals "must learn English" as a condition of legalization.
For those Americans who support the Senate immigration-reform bill from the Gang of Eight: Illegal aliens are not so-called "undocumented immigrants." Immigrants have legal residence, and illegal aliens do not have legal residence. Illegal aliens have documents — fake documents, altered official documents or stolen identity documents of American citizens.

It doesn't matter whether the Republican-led House passes good, workable immigration legislation.

A year after they failed to pass a farm bill and suffered for it in several big congressional races, House Republicans think they've finally got the right balance to fund agricultural programs while weaning more Americans off food stamp benefits.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a law expanding the state's Medicaid program following her victory over conservatives in her own party opposed to embracing a key part of President Obama's health care overhaul.

President Obama's nominee to head the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives remains the focus of a federal investigation and a senior Republican is asking why his confirmation hearings last week weren't postponed until the case has been resolved.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the federal government can pre-empt a state and require that it use a national voter registration form, in a decision that punctured part of Arizona's far-reaching voter-check laws.

The future of long-standing government bans on obscenity and nudity on the airwaves soon could become much clearer as President Obama's pick to head the Federal Communications Commission faces a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday — one day before the public comment period on the policy ends.