Report: Stutzman ‘campaign’ trip featured family events

A family trip to California that Indiana congressman Marlin Stutzman paid for with campaign money included visits to Universal Studios and Capitol Records, lunch with a TV producer his wife admires and a VIP dining experience beside Ronald Reagan's airplane. Those were among details that emerged last week in a report by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which began investigating the Stutzman family's August 2015 California visit after The Associated Press first reported on it in April.

HRC Criticizes Trump Picks Tom Price, Betsy DeVos, Jeff Sessions

The Human Rights Campaign , the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, has criticized three of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Trump has picked Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.

White Privilege: GOP Senators Ask President Obama To Halt Federal Hiring

They want to ensure that his administration doesn't bring in an influx of new Democratic hires before Donald Trump takes office. s President Obama 's time in the White House dwindles down, Republican senators are trying to ensure that his administration doesn't bring in an influx of new hires before Donald Trump takes office.

Letters: Trump’s deal to save Carrier jobs isn’t what it seems

When you dig down into the story about Donald Trump saving jobs in Indiana , you discover yet another moment when reporters and mass media have fallen for fraud and accepted statements as true without digging into the details. Vice President-elect Pence and President-elect Trump visit the Carrier air conditioning and heating company in Indianapolis on Thursday.

McCaul proposes a oesecurity tolla …

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul on Friday proposed a new "security toll" he said the U.S. could assess on all visitors from Mexico, with the money going to fund President-elect Donald Trump's plans for a border wall. Mr. McCaul, who is auditioning for Homeland Security secretary in the Trump administration, also said in a commentary on Foxnews.com that other Latin American countries' visitors should pay the fee, given that illegal immigrants from Central America have overtaken Mexicans as the majority of border-jumpers.

Of bunnies and suits, Louisiana’s long campaign for the U.S. Senate winds down

Gerald Faulk casts his ballot during early voting Monday, November 28, 2016, at the Lafayette Parish Government Building in Lafayette, La. Early voting for the Dec. 10 runoff elections began Saturday and will continue through Saturday, Dec. 3. John Kennedy and Foster Campbell are the two candidates vying for a U.S. Senate seat while Scott Angelle and Clay Higgins are in a runoff in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District.

Santa breakfast brings hundreds of community members together

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Paul Ryan isn’t ruling out Medicare privatization, and it isn’t just Democrats who are wary

Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan speaks during a weekly news briefing December 1, 2016 at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. During the briefing, Ryan repeated comments indicating that changes to Medicare would have to accompany any effort to repeal and replace President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan speaks during a weekly news briefing December 1, 2016 at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. During the briefing, Ryan repeated comments indicating that changes to Medicare would have to accompany any effort to repeal and replace President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In ultra liberal Key West, a Trump fan answers critics with an obscene letter

For a brief time this week, Alvin Crockett posted an angry handwritten letter to a political critic on the Trump campaign sign he put outside his scooter shop in Key West, Fla. President Barack Obama's Fayetteville, N.C. rally for Hillary Clinton grew rowdy when an elderly Trump supporter started protesting during the president's speech.

Some Republicans Applaud Trump Call With Taiwan

From left, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton applauded President-elect Donald Trump's decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday. President-elect Donald Trump's telephone call with Taiwan's president on Friday broke decades of U.S. diplomatic policy in the region and brought a quick objection by China, but several Republican members of Congress have applauded Trump's decision to accept the call.

Senate power struggle surfaces ahead of session

Senate Republican leader Shane Massey won't back the state's most powerful politician, Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, Tuesday in his bid to retain the leadership role. The Edgefield Republican said he hopes to be joined by both newer and tenured members in a show of displeasure for Leatherman's power play to avoid ascending to the soon-to-be-vacant lieutenant governor spot.

U.S. approves new airline over objections from N.J. Republican and his union allies

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration 's approval of a new international airline over objections from organized labor and Republican ally Rep. Frank LoBiondo means new flights from Newark Airport. Norwegian Air International received final Transportation Department approval Friday.

McConnell cautions replacement to health law to take time

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Congress will act early next year to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law but delay the changes as Republicans try to come up with an alternative. The Kentucky Republican insisted Saturday that some 20 million Americans who have health care through the six-year-old law will not lose coverage, though the likely upheaval in the insurance industry suggests otherwise.

Memo: Trump backs pipeline based on policy, not investments

Spokesman Bryan Lanza said in a memo this week to supporters that Trump's backing for the pipeline near a North Dakota Indian reservation ``has nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans.' ' Trump's most recent federal disclosure forms, filed in May, show he owned a small amount of stock in Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline builder, and at least $100,000 in Phillips 66, an energy company that owns one-quarter of the pipeline.

Freedom Caucus on Retreat to Discuss 2017 Policy Priorities

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows is discussing "harmful" regulations with the Freedom Caucus on a retreat this weekend that he wants President-elect Donald Trump to repeal. The House Freedom Caucus is on retreat this weekend in Charlottesville, Va., to discuss policy priorities and ways it can work with the incoming Trump administration, a spokeswoman said.

Meet the ‘Mad Dog’ Donald Trump wants to lead the Pentagon

Revered by his troops as a "warrior monk" with a knack for hard-edged quips, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis led troops in Afghanistan in 2001, won laurels for leadership in one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq War and most recently headed US Central Command, perhaps the military's most complicated and challenging post.