Tom Kacich | Madigan treating Democratic committeewoman hopeful like foe

Pamella Gronemeyer, who is running for the low-profile position of Democratic state central committeewoman in the 13th Congressional District, hasn't promised to try to unseat longtime Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan. But one of Madigan's campaign committees, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, has paid for robocalls by Sen. Dick Durbin and AFL-CIO President Mike Carrigan that endorse Gronemeyer's opponent, Jayne Mazzotti of Taylorville.

Grassley: I’ll fight for sentencing reforms

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pledged Wednesday to fight for a criminal justice proposal that includes reducing certain mandatory prison sentences, and he raised the prospect of blocking a package of related reforms the White House and congressional Republicans are said to be interested in if he can't get an agreement. Grassley and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has been pushing for legislation that would make reforms to sentencing guidelines, as well as prison practices.

Bipartisan immigration pact among several Senate proposals

A group of senators reached a bipartisan agreement aimed at balancing Democrats' fight to offer citizenship to young "Dreamer" immigrants with President Donald Trump's demands for billions to build his coveted border wall with Mexico. Though the compromise was announced Wednesday by 16 senators with centrist views on the issue and was winning support from many Democrats, it faced an uncertain fate.

Trump flirts with flashy military parade long eschewed by US

For generations, as America's authoritarian rivals strutted their tanks, troops and jets through main thoroughfares in dramatic displays of strength, the United States watched from afar, but did not emulate. Widely accepted as the world's mightiest, the U.S. military has no tradition of putting itself on parade like in Russia, North Korea or China.

CHART: How Trump’s Immigration Proposal Compares With Other Plans

An unexpected announcement of an agreement between top Democrats and President Trump, a quick reversal from the White House, a government shutdown, and a meeting where Trump reportedly described particular countries using vulgar language. All of these major news stories have centered around immigration - and more specifically, Washington's inability to agree on what to do as President Trump's deadline to end the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Child Arrivals policy fast approaches.

Two US lawmakers voice concerns over Philip Morris tobacco trials

Two Democratic U.S. senators said they have fresh concerns over clinical trials conducted by Philip Morris International Inc as it seeks U.S. clearance to market its iQOS electronic tobacco product as less risky than cigarettes, according to statements both senators provided to Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man uses a Philip Morris iQOS e-cigarette in Tokyo, Japan May 12, 2017.

Continue reading Pressure grows on Texas Sen. John Cornyn to deliver DACA fix

The White House aggravated hard-line conservatives and Democrats when it proposed granting citizenship to 1.8 million Dreamers in exchange for border wall funding and drastic changes to the nation's immigration laws. The Senate majority whip, who has emerged as a key Republican negotiator in talks to resolve the expiring Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, says he supports a permanent solution for young immigrants in the country illegally.

Trump says hea s open to pathway to citizenship a incentivea on DACA

President Donald Trump on Wednesday opened the door to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, the first time he's explicitly said he'd accept a pathway to citizenship for them. "We're going to morph into it.

Duckworth to become first senator to give birth in office

Sen. Tammy Duckworth will make history when she becomes the first sitting senator in history to give birth later this year, her office said Tuesday. "Bryan and I are thrilled that our family is getting a little bit bigger, and Abigail is ecstatic to welcome her baby sister home this spring," she said in a statement.

The Latest: Trump rejects bipartisan immigration proposal

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the legislation brought forth by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois is "unacceptable" to Trump. Sanders adds that the legislation should be "declared dead on arrival" and does not meet White House requirements on border security.

White House: Graham-Durbin immigration proposal ‘dead on arrival’

President Trump will not consider a bipartisan immigration proposal struck by Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin because it falls far short of the requirements Trump has laid out for any deal that helps Dreamers, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday. "I'd like to leave no doubt about where the White House stands on the Flake, Graham and Durbin agreement on immigration reform.

Immigration talks: What’s next?

As the dust settled Monday on an agreement to reopen the government, the path forward for immigration remained as murky as ever. Democrats and Republicans who worked to break the impasse over the shutdown spun their vote to accept a slightly shorter continuing resolution as a victory because of a commitment to turn to immigration.

U.S. Senator Durbin: Leadership discussing path to immigration vote

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said on Sunday that Senate leaders were discussing a "path" to a vote to provide legal protection for so-called Dreamers, young people who illegally immigrated to the United States as children. "There's a conversation obviously still going on about whether there's a path to getting a vote on the DACA-Dreamer issue," the No.

Democratic senator: New Trump campaign ad calling Democrats a complicita wona t work

An explosive new ad by the Trump campaign implying that Democrats would be "complicit" in any murder committed by undocumented immigrants "doesn't work," a leading Democratic senator said. "The American people are not going to accept the premise that immigrants are criminals and that we ought to deport the 'Dreamers,'" Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on This Week Sunday.

‘Ridiculous on both sides’: Government shutdown continues; so do negotiations

President Donald Trump's budget director is holding out hope that feuding Democrats and Republicans in Congress can reach a short-term spending agreement before the start of the workweek Monday, but he worries that the government shutdown could last for several more days if progress remains elusive. Democratic lawmakers challenged the president to get more involved and to accept bipartisan compromise as a way out of a shutdown that entered its second day Sunday amid finger-pointing from both parties as to who bears primary responsibility.

No immediate resolution to spending impasse after Trump, Schumer met on shutdown

President Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer failed to resolve the spending impasse on Friday in an extended meeting at the White House intended to see if they could avert a government shutdown. The two men promised to keep negotiating but lawmakers were lurching toward a midnight deadline with no deal in sight and no vote scheduled on a stop-gap measure to fund the government for another four weeks.