Seth McLaughlin

Obama steps up aid to save Africa’s animals

President Obama issued an executive order Monday targeting the illegal trafficking of elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns and other products from protected animals in Africa, saying the poaching and trafficking is threatening the continent's iconic wildlife and must be stopped.

July 1, 2013

GOP lawmakers in Texas take another swing at stricter abortion limits

Days after a Democrat-led filibuster helped kill new abortion restrictions, Republican Gov. Rick Perry and GOP lawmakers plan to take another swing at the politically charged issue when they return to Austin on Monday for a second special legislative session.

July 1, 2013

Same-sex marriages still divisive in GOP

The Supreme Court's rulings on gay marriage this week exposed growing fissures among Republicans, with some social conservatives issuing a call to arms in defense of traditional marriage and others warning it is time for the party to soften its rhetoric on the politically charged issue.

June 27, 2013

Obama administration has lost two-thirds of Supreme Court cases

President Obama celebrated the Supreme Court's decisions Wednesday on gay marriage, but overall it has been a rocky term before the court for his administration, winning just more than a third of the cases in which it was involved.

June 26, 2013

Obama will start climate change fight with reductions in carbon emissions

Seeking to jump-start the stalled national debate over climate change, President Obama said Tuesday that because Congress has failed to act, he has a moral obligation to take matters into his own hands in an effort to curb production of greenhouse gases.

June 25, 2013

Obama to push unilateral action against climate change

President Obama says he will renew his push to combat climate change, beginning with a speech Tuesday — but he will find his options more limited than during his first term when temperatures appeared to be on the rise, along with momentum for curbing greenhouse gas emissions at home and abroad.

June 24, 2013

Rand Paul’s call to end foreign aid concerns Israel

Sen. Rand Paul's call to end U.S. foreign aid, including to Israel, set off a debate not only within Mr. Paul's Republican Party in America, but also among Israelis, for whom decades of U.S. financial backing have become an accepted norm.

June 17, 2013

Eric Holder tells Senate panel: Congress has been briefed on NSA snooping

U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder said Thursday that members of Congress have been kept up to speed on the National Security Agency's collection of millions of telephone records and that he would be willing to discuss the issue further in additional closed-door briefings.

June 6, 2013

N.J. Gov. Christie picks state A.G. to fill U.S. Senate seat

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday tapped Jeffrey S. Chiesa, the state's Republican attorney general and a longtime adviser, to the Senate seat left open by the passing earlier this week of Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, sending Mr. Chiesa to Washington just in time for high-profile legislative scraps over immigration and taxpayer-funded farm subsidies.

June 6, 2013

GOP Sen. Graham says he’s ‘glad’ NSA is collecting phone records

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday that he is "glad" that the National Security Agency is collecting millions of telephone records — including his own — from one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies in an attempt to combat terrorism.

June 6, 2013

Polarizing pick: Obama tabs Rice for top security post; Samantha Power to U.N.

In a move sure to provoke congressional Republicans, President Obama is nominating embattled U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice Wednesday to serve as his national security adviser.

June 5, 2013

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie calls Oct. 16 special election to replace deceased Sen. Frank Lautenberg

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Tuesday that there will be an October special election to fill the Senate seat left open following the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

June 4, 2013

Sen. Marco Rubio: Immigration bill does not have votes to pass

Sen. Marco Rubio said Tuesday that there aren't 60 votes to pass the immigration bill he wrote and that the Senate will have to embrace even stiffer enforcement in order to win voters' confidence and sway lawmakers reluctant to repeat the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty.

June 4, 2013

Frank Lautenberg was last WWII veteran in Congress; N.J. Gov. Chris Christie to pick replacement

Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, a World War II veteran who served five terms in the Senate, died Monday, leaving one of New Jersey's Senate seats empty and marking the first time in roughly 70 years that the chamber will be without a someone who saw service in that war.

June 3, 2013

GOP sees reasons for optimism in 2014 for Senate; retiring or vulnerable Democrats open door

It's early — 17 months early — but Republicans have reason to be optimistic about the way the 2014 Senate races are shaping up around the county, especially in South Dakota and West Virginia, where Democratic incumbents are retiring.

June 2, 2013

Pryor fires back at Bloomberg in Senate re-election campaign ad

Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas fired back Thursday night at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign against lawmakers like himself who helped shoot down tighter gun control laws.

May 31, 2013

GOP talks up school choice as good policy and good politics

A Republican Party still reeling from the November elections is hoping that advocating for school choice can help the GOP recapture moderate voters, arguing that the issue provides a natural link between their limited-government philosophy and the average voter's desire for good local schools.

May 29, 2013

Rep. Michele Bachmann won’t seek re-election to House

For a few weeks in 2011, Rep. Michele Bachmann was on top of the GOP, having chased Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty from the GOP presidential field and racing to the front of the pack.

May 29, 2013

Chris Christie balances short-term gains with long-term questions

In yoking himself to President Obama on Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie likely helped himself with the New Jersey voters he's wooing for re-election this year — but their public embrace could come back to haunt the Republican if he seeks the GOP's presidential nod in 2016.

May 28, 2013