House GOP gun measure not likely to get Dems’ support

U.S. House Democrats said Friday they won't support legislation Speaker Paul Ryan plans to bring to a vote next week that seeks to prevent terrorists from purchasing firearms. Following their dramatic 25-hour House chamber sit-in last week to demand votes on gun bills, Democrats contend the Republican proposal doesn't provide strong enough action and warn that renewed protests are possible after the House reconvenes Tuesday.

McConnell bids to shelter GOP senators from Trump upheaval

In this Nov. 13, 2014 file photo, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., right, followed by Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, center, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., leave after McConnell was chosen to be the new majority leader, on Capitol Hill in Washington. McConnell faces a nearly impossible task this election year: protecting Senate Republicans from the political upheaval of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

In Senate split, $1 billion for Zika falls by wayside

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , joined by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.; and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, faces reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday about the Zika virus proposal. WASHINGTON -- The Senate split along party lines Tuesday and left a $1.1 billion proposal to fight the Zika virus in limbo.

Senate Democrats block GOP’s Zika funding bill

AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File An Aedes aegypti mosquito is photographed through a microscope at the Fiocruz institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion emergency request to combat a potential public health crisis from the Zika virus is more than 4 months old, but congressional dysfunction appears likely to scuttle a scaled-back version of the president's request, raising the prospect that Congress may leave on a seven-week vacation next month without addressing Zika.

U.S. Senate Democrats block GOP’s Zika funding bill

A dysfunctional Senate split along party lines on Tuesday and left a $1.1 billion proposal to fight the Zika virus in limbo, despite growing fears and a continental U.S. caseload that's exceeding 800. Democrats blocked the GOP-drafted measure by a 52-48 vote Tuesday -- short of the 60 votes required to advance it.

Analysis: Anti-Regulation Party in Texas Has a Strong Taste for Rules

It's the latest setback for a band of Republicans who abhor regulatory constraints on business but who regularly resort to regulation to control the behavior of individuals in Texas. The abortion restrictions that the nation's highest court kicked to the side of the road are part of a running theme among Texas Republicans, who routinely hide their political motives behind unsubstantiated claims of public safety.

Fish: The definition of crazy

So you'll forgive me for taking a layman's approach to what I feel is a very basic common sense piece of legislation that failed on the senate floor Monday. Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser that prevents me from wrapping my brain around why we can't pass a piece of legislation that would prevent a gun sale to a would-be terrorist.

Senate Plans Puerto Rico Debate With Passage by July 1 Uncertain

Senate leaders plan to debate Puerto Rico debt legislation next week, but it's unclear whether the measure will be sent to President Barack Obama before the island's next debt payment deadline on July 1. It will "require some cooperation" from Democrats to move the bill before Puerto Rico is expected to default on some of the $2 billion in principal and interest on debt payments, said John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.

4 Senate gun measures fail after Orlando shooting

The Senate voted down four gun control measures Monday evening, with Republicans and Democrats largely divided along party lines over how best to respond to the Orlando nightclub shooting more than one week ago. The last time a mass shooting spurred senators to action was in December 2015, after the San Bernardino, California, shooting, when they voted on two measures intended to prevent terrorists from being able to buy guns.

Democratic senator wages filibuster to push vote on gun control measures

A Democratic senator ended a nearly 15-hour-long filibuster on the Senate floor early Thursday, part of an effort to force a vote on gun control legislation following Sunday's terror attack in Orlando. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., yielded the floor at 2:11 a.m., 14 hours and 50 minutes after he began speaking.

Amid GOP discord, Ryan focuses on policy

House Speaker Paul Ryan is proposing an overhaul of the nation's poverty programs, the first of several policy plans aimed at uniting Republicans fractured by a contentious election and Donald Trump's personality-driven politics. Ryan's proposal would make changes to welfare, food and housing aid programs, among others, to increase work requirements, make the programs more efficient and allow states to make more decisions about how the aid is distributed.

Clinton and Lynch – Corruption, Not ‘Optics’

Attorney General Loretta Lynch tells us that her meeting with Bill Clinton aboard a private jet on the Phoenix airport tarmac was "primarily social" - you know, just two Democrats swapping stories about their grandkids and whatnot. The nation's top law enforcement official and the former president and husband of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee - who is under federal investigation - had a talk.

Susan Collins Offers A “Compromise” On Watch List Gun Bans

With congressional leaders once again at a stalemate over how to respond to a mass shooting, the Senate's most moderate Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, is developing a compromise measure that would prevent some terrorism suspects from purchasing weapons, while sidestepping partisan flash points that have doomed similar legislation in the past and threaten to do so again next week. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has already scheduled votes for Monday on four proposals - two sponsored by Republicans and two by Democrats - but all four are expected to fail in a nearly identical replay of votes last December after the attack in San Bernardino , Calif.