Trump, GOP Hill leaders to meet at Camp David in January

Eager for more legislative achievements before Washington's focus shifts to the midterm elections, President Donald Trump plans to open the new year by meeting with Republican congressional leaders to map out the 2018 legislative agenda, the White House said. After returning to Washington from Florida, where he is spending the holidays, Trump will quickly host Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin at the rustic Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains during the weekend of Jan. 6-7, the White House said.

Rev. Graham to Rosie: Hell is Filled ‘With People Who Rejected…

After Hollywood leftist Rosie O'Donnell tweeted to House Speaker Paul Ryan , "u will go straight to hell u screwed up fake altar boy," Reverend Franklin Graham remarked that O'Donnell does not "hold the keys to hell," and added that "Hell is going to be filled with people who rejected God's offer of salvation" and who rejected "His laws." On Dec. 23, Speaker Ryan tweeted , "At the end of each year, no matter how short -- or long -- it may feel, there is always Christmas.

Dems Hope to Use Tax Overhaul as a Club Against GOP

One of her counterparts in California dismisses estimates of tax savings for most U.S. households and says the legislation is "just putting money in the pocket of the wealthy." And in Kansas, a Democratic candidate for governor says it's "a recipe for disaster" that signals inevitable cuts to popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Tax-plan fallout in Democrats’ strategy

In this Dec. 20, 2017, file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, standing with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms plan to argue that the legislation favors the wealthy and breaks President Donald Trump and Republicans' promises to the middle class.

Democrats hope to use tax overhaul as a club against GOP

One of her counterparts in California dismisses estimates of tax savings for most U.S. households and says the legislation is "just putting money in the pocket of the wealthy." And in Kansas, a Democratic candidate for governor says it's "a recipe for disaster" that signals inevitable cuts to popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.

After chaotic start, Republicans make their mark in Congress

After a halting start, the Republican-controlled 115th Congress - sometimes in collaboration with President Donald Trump, often despite him - has enacted surprisingly far-reaching conservative achievements in its first year, among them a long-promised rewrite of the tax code, oil drilling in the Arctic and a series of lifetime appointments to the judiciary. For the new year, Republican leaders in the House have their sights on decades-old programs for the poor that they say are too easily exploited by those who do not need them.

Dems aim to turn tax plan into cudgel in 2018 midterms

In this Dec. 20, 2017, file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, standing with Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., right, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms plan to argue that the legislation favors the wealthy and breaks President Donald Trump and Republicans' promises to the middle class.

Dems aim to turn tax plan into cudgel in 2018 midterms new

One of her counterparts in California dismisses estimates of tax savings for most U.S. households and says the legislation is "just putting money in the pocket of the wealthy." And in Kansas, a Democratic candidate for governor says it's "a recipe for disaster" that previews inevitable cuts to popular programs like Social Security and Medicare.

Most N.J. lawmakers did the right thing on GOP tax bill. But how about with spending cuts? | Opinion

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed a GOP tax bill that rewards profitable corporations and wealthy families while putting middle-class and low-income families across the country at risk. All but one of New Jersey's 14 members of Congress -- including four of the state's five Republican House members -- voted against the bill.

New year to be a challenge for Republicans in Congress

Ready to leave for the Christmas recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to a news conference to discuss the GOP agenda for next year and and his accomplishments in the first year of the Trump Administration, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. Their tax bill triumph in the rear-view mirror, Republicans running Congress face a 2018 in which they'll need Democratic votes to get almost anything done.

Hill pushes spy bill renewal to January, but a bitter debate still looms

Congress voted Thursday to give itself an extra three weeks to settle bitter differences over how to reauthorize one of the government's most prized foreign intelligence-gathering tools, but the last-minute move has done little to reconcile competing concerns about the need to maintain powerful spy capabilities and Americans' right to privacy. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are united over how to limit the authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, particularly when it comes to the question of when law enforcement officials can scour the collected surveillance for information about Americans.

Young immigrants to wait until 18 to learn their fate in US

The fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants living here illegally and facing deportation will be decided next year, a Republican senator says. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday he received assurances from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that the Senate will vote in January on bipartisan legislation.

Trump signs stopgap spending bill into law to avert shutdown

Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, joined at left by Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., speaks about funding for the CHIP program as the House Rules Committee meets to work on a government funding bill, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017.

Mitch McConnell ‘warming up’ to Trump’s Twitter habit: ‘I haven’t been a fan until this week’

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., discusses the GOP agenda for next year and touts his accomplishments in the first year of the Trump administration. McConnell said on Friday he's changing his mind, at least over the most recent string of tweets from the White House, which have touted the GOP's recently-passed tax cut bill and other Republican legislative accomplishments.

Senate approves stopgap measure, evading shutdown35 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – Congress passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday, averting a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday but pushing into January showdowns on spending, immigration, health care and national security. Among the issues still to be resolved is federal aid for victims of recent hurricanes and wildfires.