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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hoping to gather enough votes for at least a short-term extension of the Patriot Act. He supports the National Security Agency's phone-snooping program, which has generated heated debate in the Republican Party. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Mitch McConnell’s NSA phone-snooping hopes set for Senate vote

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he would schedule a vote this week on a rewrite of the Patriot Act, setting up a final showdown on the NSA's bulk-data programs and putting pressure on civil liberties advocates to muster the 60 votes needed to end the snooping.

May 19, 2015
(Associated Press) **FILE**

Pentagon waste: $1M spent at strip clubs, casinos

One Navy petty officer managed to spend six times his allotted per diem at strip clubs using his official government travel charge card, according to a new Pentagon audit Tuesday that found Defense Department employees made more than $1 million in bogus charges at strip clubs and casinos in just one year.

May 19, 2015
Hillary Rodham Clinton, with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea (The Washington Times) **FILE**

House GOPers demand IRS investigate Clinton Foundation

House Republicans on Tuesday demanded the IRS open an investigation into the Clinton Foundation's tax-exempt status, questioning whether the organization has broken faith with its charitable mission by hiding some donations.

May 19, 2015
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaking at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the America Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Washington, March 23, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Hillary Clinton emails release plan set by State Dept. rejected by judge

A federal judge rejected the State Department's plan to delay posting former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails, instead issuing an order Tuesday insisting the Obama administration release the thousands of messages on a rolling basis -- with the emails related to the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack given priority.

May 19, 2015
House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican (Associated Press/File)

John Boehner demands Obama do-over on Islamic State war request

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday that President Obama should withdraw his current war request from Congress and "start over," coming up with an entirely new strategy to fight the Islamic State after this weekend's setback in Iraq.

May 19, 2015
President Obama tours the Real-Time Tactical Operational Intelligence Center in the Camden County (N.J.) Police Administration Building on Monday with Camden County Police Chief J. Scott Thomson. (Associated Press)

Obama seeks to end immigration enforcement by local, state police

The administration issued a report Monday saying that in order to rebuild trust between police and their communities, the federal government should stop enlisting state and local police in most immigration enforcement, setting up another challenge as President Obama tries to please immigrant rights advocates while carrying out deportations.

May 18, 2015
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson waits to speaks about the agency's budget and cybersecurity at the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee session during the National Governors Association Winter Meeting in Washington, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

DHS blames tech glitch for violating judge’s amnesty injunction

The Obama administration blamed a technology glitch for why it continued to approve new amnesty applications in February, even after a federal judge issued an injunction, telling the court late Friday that they are now begging about 2,000 illegal immigrants to tear up their three-year work authorizations.

May 16, 2015
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has battled the Obama White House and previous administrations, begging them to punish China, which the senator said has manipulated the value of the yuan to help bolster its exports. (Associated Press)

Obama trade deal complicated by Senate’s China currency manipulation crackdown

Brushing aside President Obama's objections, the Senate voted overwhelming Thursday to push back against China and other countries deemed guilty of depressing their own currencies to win a trade advantage versus the U.S., potentially complicating the White House's push for fast-track trade negotiating powers.

May 14, 2015
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson speak during the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund's Annual Candlelight Vigil, Wednesday, May 13, 2015 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Jeh Johnson honors heroic DHS employees

From the TSA agent who helped distract the attacker at the New Orleans airport to a Federal Protective Service inspector who grabbed a woman trying to jump off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge just outside Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson recognized a dozen department employees Thursday for valor.

May 14, 2015
House Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, pauses during a news conference on Capitol in Washington on March 19, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

John Boehner: Blaming GOP for Amtrak crash is ‘stupid’

Accusations that Republicans are responsible for this week's deadly Amtrak train crash because of funding fights are "stupid," House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday, bristling at a question about the matter during his weekly press conference.

May 14, 2015
Alexis Marroquin (center, with white T-shirt) was granted a stay to remain in the U.S. while his uncle was sent back to El Salvador. Immigration advocate Ralph Isenberg (back right), who is not an attorney, is taking on the family's crusade to reunite. (Joe De la Fuente)

Immigration enforcement system dysfunction tears apart family

In the end, their flights almost overlapped: The 11-year-old boy on his way to the U.S., granted a one-year parole to escape violence in his home of El Salvador, arrived in Dallas just a week after his uncle, Elvin Marroquin Diaz, whose testimony helped earn the boy his parole, was deported back to El Salvador.

May 13, 2015
Homeland Security Department Inspector General John Roth. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

ICE releasing some illegals without knowing criminal history

The Homeland Security Department can't yet say how many illegal immigrants it's releasing under President Obama's prosecutorial discretion policies, and sometimes agents cut loose illegal immigrants without ever knowing their full criminal history, the department's inspector general said in a new report Wednesday.

May 13, 2015
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican. (Associated Press)

NSA phone snooping rejected by House; Patriot Act rewrite approved

Democrats and Republicans in the House linked arms Wednesday and voted to cancel the NSA's phone-snooping program and end all bulk data collection, approving a rewrite of the Patriot Act just weeks before the law's key provisions are due to expire.

May 13, 2015
United States Attorney Sally Yates (Associated Press) **FILE**

Sally Quillian Yates wins confirmation as deputy attorney general

The Senate confirmed Sally Quillian Yates on Wednesday to be deputy attorney general, giving her overwhelming support to fill the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department just weeks after her boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, struggled to make it through her own confirmation.

May 13, 2015
The new agreement paves the way for passage of the deal through the Senate, but President Obama's own troops in the House said their opposition is intensifying, and they blamed the president for mishandling the politics of his top second-term priority. (Associated Press)

Obama trade bill revived after bipartisan deal sets new votes

Senate leaders reached a deal Wednesday to revive trade legislation that Democrats had appeared to have scuttled just a day earlier, breathing new life into the centerpiece of President Obama's economic agenda -- though House Democrats vowed a tougher fight still awaits.

May 13, 2015