'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
The Obama administration's decision to release some immigrants awaiting deportation back into the community has spawned a furious backlash from Congress, where stunned lawmakers have besieged the Homeland Security Department with questions.
A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee on Friday called into question the leadership abilities of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, expressing "outrage" at what he called the department's questionable response to sequestration — including the release of detainees from detention centers across the country.
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin took to the floor of Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday and echoed what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently told Fox News' Chris Wallace: the federal government does not have a spending problem.
The two Republican rebuttals to the State of the Union address Tuesday night reinforced the GOP's commitment to cutting spending — but the dueling responses from Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul also exposed a split in the party over how that philosophy applies to the defense budget.
Congress on Monday cleared $50 billion in additional Superstorm Sandy relief and reconstruction aid for the Northeast, sending it to President Obama for his signature and bringing the total tab for taxpayers from the storm to $60 billion.
Congress showed us anew over the last year that an earmarking system that secures federal money for political pet projects is alive and well -- despite a promised ban by lawmakers. In fact, such funding even can live on after the sponsoring lawmaker has died.
When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $3 million in smoking-cessation funds to Iowa clinics back in 2010, home state Sen. Tom Harkin crowed he helped secure the money using his position on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski is set to become the first woman to chair the prestigious Senate Appropriations Committee, a position left open this week by the death of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye.
House Speaker John A. Boehner wants to use a vote on tax hikes for millionaires to pressure President Obama into putting real spending reductions on the table. Instead of cuts, however, Senate Democrats are quietly preparing to add billions in new outlays to the deal.
Retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman in his final Senate floor speech urged Congress to put partisan rancor aside and reach across party lines to break Washington's gridlock.
When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $3 million in smoking cessation funds to Iowa clinics back in 2010, home state Sen. Tom Harkin crowed he helped secure the money using his position on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Senate Democrats rejected a Republican effort to force defense contractors to send out notices of possible job layoffs four days before the election, calling the move politically driven and purely speculative based on looming spending cuts.
Pakistani Ambassador Sherry Rehman this week demanded that the White House apologize for a NATO assault on Pakistani forces and halt drone attacks on Pakistani territory, if Washington wants to improve relations with a nation many see as a key South Asian ally in the war on terrorism.
A legal technicality is preventing the Pentagon from spending millions of dollars set aside to curb suicides, even as suicide in the ranks is on the rise, a nonprofit advocacy group says.
A Senate panel has approved a foreign aid budget for next year that cuts U.S. assistance to Pakistan and Egypt.
