Bill Clinton won after all

Two weeks ago, it seemed former President Bill Clinton was finished as a public figure. A variety of public intellectuals on the left had consigned him to the ashtray of history; they'd attested to their newfound faith in his rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick or torn him to shreds for having taken advantage of a young intern, Monica Lewinsky.

Senate edges closer to passing sweeping tax-reform bill

Telling reporters we have the votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber after a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers to advance the stalled GOP overhaul of the tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017. Telling reporters we have the votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber after a closed-door meeting with Republican lawmakers to advance the stalled GOP overhaul of the tax code, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 1, 2017.

Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Pocahontas’ Controversy

Is Sen. Elizabeth Warren part Native American? Is that how she got jobs as a professor at Ivy League law schools? Warren has not proved that she is part Native American, and no one has proved that she was ever hired because of her alleged racial background. What are the facts regarding Elizabeth Warren's Native American heritage and did she use it to further her career? No proof has emerged that confirms that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is, as she has claimed, part Native American.

Al Franken’s calculated strategy of non-denial

Senate Judicary Committee member Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., listens to witnesses during a subcommittee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 8. Sen. Al Franken has a strategy for getting out of his current mess. You can see it in action in an interview he gave this week to Esme Murphy, a reporter for CBS affiliate WCCO.

GOP nears Senate OK of tax bill after flurry of final dealsabout 1 hour ago

Republicans used a burst of eleventh-hour horse-trading Friday to edge to the brink of Senate passage of a $1.4 trillion tax bill, as a party starved all year for a major legislative triumph took a giant step toward giving President Donald Trump one of his top priorities by Christmas. "We have the votes," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared after leaders swayed holdout senators by agreeing to fatten tax breaks for millions of businesses and let people deduct much of their local property taxes.

GOP nears Senate OK of tax bill after flurry of final deals

President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans are scrambling to change a Republican tax... . Pausing for a reporter's question, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and other senators squeeze into an elevator as they rush to the chamber to vote on amendments as the Republican leadership works to craft their sweeping tax ... .

Republican deficit hawks vanish as Senate races to pass tax bill

The Republican chase for a rare political and policy win with passage of their tax plan has thinned the ranks of the party's deficit hawks. The last one standing in the Senate chamber was Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, and he was resigned to defeat.

Mitch McConnell: ‘We have the votes’ to pass tax bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said "we have the votes" to pass the tax reform bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he has secured at least 50 votes needed to pass a $1.4 trillion tax cut bill later this afternoon.

Senate GOP got to ‘yes’ by raising tax on overseas earnings, boosting small business breaks

The change was a key last-minute revision to the bill meant to gain the votes of Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Steve Daines of Montana. Republicans will increase the size of the one-time tax on overseas corporate earnings to pay for bigger small business tax breaks in their tax bill, several senators said Friday.

Small Businesses Are An Afterthought In Senate Tax Fight

Republican senators say tax reform would benefit small businesses but their true goal is to help the biggest firms, a fact dramatically illustrated by a Republican-on-Republican policy fight this week. The legislation would reduce the top corporate tax rate, the one paid by the largest publicly-traded companies, from 35 to 20 percent.

Mitch McConnell Says Republicans Have The Votes To Pass Tax Bill

Hours before Senate Republicans were scheduled to vote on a tax proposal that doesn't technically exist in final legislative form, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strode to the floor McConnell was foiled over the summer and fall by the GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, suffering a number of embarrassing defeats that illustrated his inability to wrangle the Republican Senate conference. Tax reform would be different, promised McConnell and other GOP leaders.

Cornyn, McConnell on tax reform: We’ve got this

Really? It didn't look that way yesterday evening when three of their Republican colleagues nearly derailed the tax reform bill on a procedural vote. After intense negotiations this morning and a little horse-trading, though, John Cornyn told reporters that GOP leadership have 50 votes whipped for the bill's final vote, expected later today or early tomorrow: Pressed if that means GOP leadership has the 50 votes needed to let Vice President Pence break a tie, he added "yes."

Sen. Jeff Flake announces support for tax bill; deal involves work on DACA

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of the last remaining GOP holdouts on the Senate's tax-cut plan, announced Friday he will support the bill in exchange for work on a fix for certain illegal immigrants often brought into the country as children - a hot-button issue as lawmakers also work on year-end spending bills. Mr. Flake said he wanted to get a firm commitment for work "on a growth-oriented legislative solution to enact fair and permanent protections for DACA recipients," and to eliminate what he described as one of the budget gimmicks GOP leaders are using to bring down the cost of their bill.

Senate GOP hustles to meet tax bill holdouts’ demands

Senate Republicans are stepping quickly to meet competing demands of holdout GOP senators for a tax overhaul package expected to add $1 trillion to the nation's deficit over 10 years. The Republicans eye a crucial final vote Friday on the $1.4 trillion Senate bill carrying the hopes of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party to preserve their majorities in next year's elections.

The Latest: Trump says tax bill keeps getting better

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump watch performances during the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump watch performances during the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.

Senator: It’s time for US military families to leave South Korea

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he believes it's time to start moving the families of American military personnel out of South Korea as North Korea pushes the U.S. closer to a military conflict. Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he will also urge the Pentagon not to send any more dependents to South Korea.