Category: US Senate

US Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal, Clearing Way for Pretrial Litigation in Menendez Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to immediately take up a petition of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, claiming that corruption charges against him are pre-empted by the speech or debate clause of the Constitution. The court’s Monday order denying certiorari, clears the way for U.S. District Judge William Walls of the District of New Jersey to resume pretrial proceedings, which have been on hold since Menendez filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in November 2015.

Police: South Burlington man targeted teens for sex

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch because of his support from conservative interest groups that the Vermont lawmaker called “anti-choice, anti-environment and pro-corporate.” Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy is criticizing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch because of his support from conservative interest groups that the Vermont lawmaker called “anti-choice, anti-environment and pro-corporate.”

FILE – This Wednesday, March 1, 2017, file photo shows President…

This Wednesday, March 1, 2017, file photo shows President Donald Trump, flanked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., right as he speaks during a meeting with House and Senate leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. The president is deploying an outside and inside strategy to fulfill his campaign promise to repeal and replace “Obamacare,” seeking support beyond Washington before making an in-person pitch on Capitol Hill.

In 1st budget, Trump to push conservative view of government

President Donald Trump sends Congress a proposed budget this week that will sharply test Republicans’ ability to keep long-standing promises to bolster the military, making politically painful cuts to a lengthy list of popular domestic programs. The Republican president will ask his adopted political party, which runs Capitol Hill, to cut domestic agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, along with grants to state and local governments and community development projects.

HHS: ‘Nobody will be worse off financially’ with new bill

Health and Human Services Sec. Tom Price Sunday vowed no Americans would suffer financially as a result of the healthcare replacement bill House Republicans have rolled out and hope to pass soon. “I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through,” Price told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd.

Donald Trump Jr. says he misses campaign trail

Donald Trump Jr. made his first political public appearance since his father’s inauguration, taking an election victory lap and growing nostalgic for the campaign trail. “I thought I was out of politics after election day,” Trump said Saturday, speaking at the Dallas County Republican Party’s Reagan Day Dinner, where he recalled his father’s unpredictable path to the presidency.

We can’t rest on substance abuse

Though they disagree strongly about many aspects of government spending, the vast majority of West Virginia legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, understand one thing: The state is broke. Any thought of new spending had better be based on real necessity.

Programs try to bring civility, courtesy back into politics, society

To continue reading up to 10 premium articles, you must register , or sign up and take advantage of this exclusive offer: In this Feb. 2, 2017, photo provided by Middle Tennessee State University professor Mary Evins, students take part in a role-playing game about the 1676 Bacon’s Rebellion, in a class in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The university has staged re-enactments of historical events to help shed light on conflicting perspectives that led to great compromises.

Now-fired US Attorney Bharara boasts of a absolute independencea

A Manhattan federal prosecutor who says “absolute independence” was his touchstone for more than seven years as he battled public corruption announced he was fired Saturday after he refused a day earlier to resign. Preet Bharara, 48, revealed his firing on his personal Twitter account after it became widely known hours earlier that he did not intend to step down in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request that leftover appointees of former President Barack Obama quit.

Now-fired Preet Bharara boasts of ‘absolute independence’

A Manhattan federal prosecutor who says “absolute independence” was his touchstone for over seven years as he battled public corruption announced he was fired Saturday after he refused a day earlier to resign. Preet Bharara, 48, revealed his firing on his personal Twitter account after it became widely known hours earlier that he did not intend to step down in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request that leftover appointees of former President Barack Obama quit.

Mike Pence To Keynote AIPAC Conference

WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence and a bipartisan slate of top members of Congress are scheduled to address AIPAC’s upcoming annual conference. An American Israel Public Affairs Committee official confirmed to JTA that Pence will keynote the conference scheduled for March 26-28 in Washington, D.C. Pence, who enjoyed a long relationship with the pro-Israel lobby as a congressman and later as Indiana governor – but as a local congressman in 2009, told AIPAC that he didn’t know of the three synagogues in his district – spoke last month at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual confab and has taken a lead in condemning recent anti-Semitic incidents.

Pence appeals for complete GOP support for health overhaul

Vice President Mike Pence appealed for total GOP congressional support for a White House-backed health overhaul during a brief visit Saturday to Kentucky, where the Republican governor and junior senator are among the plan’s skeptics. “This is going to be a battle in Washington, D.C. And for us to seize this opportunity to repeal and replace Obamacare once and for all, we need every Republican in Congress, and we’re counting on Kentucky,” Pence said at an energy company where business leaders had gathered.

Pence Promises Kentucky Its Obamacare `Nightmare’ About to End

Vice President Mike Pence said the “nightmare” of Obamacare will soon end as he visited Kentucky in hopes of drumming up some good publicity for a contentious health bill that’s united many conservatives and liberals — as well as doctors, seniors and “Obamacare has failed the people of Kentucky it has failed the people of America and Obamacare must go,” Pence told told an invited audience of about 100 mostly small business owners and Republican backers in Louisville.

Trump administration seeks resignations of 46 US attorneys

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration. Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by President Barack Obama have already left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave “in order to ensure a uniform transition,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Friday.

Illinois congressman objects to men purchasing prenatal care

Illinois Republican Rep. John Shimkus is under fire after comments he made Wednesday about prenatal requirements in the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. During a 27-hour debate on House Republicans’ health care plan in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Shimkus suggested men could be opposed to former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law because under the law they are required to pay for prenatal care.

No lamenting liberal Liz’s fall from grace

Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is useless, teetering close to the ragged edge of pointless. Apart from starring roles in childish protests and tough-guy Twitter rants, Warren is making no difference in Washington, D.C., and is no friend to her constituents in Massachusetts.

Attorney general seeks resignations of 46 US attorneys

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday. Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by former President Barack Obama already have left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave “in order to ensure a uniform transition,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

Sean Spicer, Mike Pence

Vice President Mike Pence is set to rally support in Kentucky for a White House-backed health care overhaul, traveling to a state that has often been front-and-center in the battle over former President Barack Obama’s sweeping health care law. In Louisville, Pence is scheduled to tour an energy services company with Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, part of an effort to reassure conservative Republicans who have raised objections to the House GOP health care proposal that would scrap the “Obamacare” health care law.

Russia probe credibility in question

As congressional investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election are ramping up, so is the political division, raising questions about whether lawmakers’ work will be viewed as credible. The House this week scheduled its first public hearing, which some swiftly dismissed as political theater.

Trump stumping for AHCA? Democrats arena t worried.

The three-phase Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act is intended to end with massive political pressure on Senate Democrats, who’ll face a choice: Vote with them on individual replacement bills, or be blamed for the American Health Care Act’s implementation going awry. The crux of the theory is that 10 Democrats face reelection next year in states won by Trump.

House intel leaders ask Justice Department for alleged wiretapping evidence

The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee have formally asked the Justice Department to turn over any documentary evidence – applications, orders or warrants – related to alleged wiretaps of President Donald Trump and his associates during the campaign, two congressional aides confirm to ABC News. They have asked DOJ officials to provide information – if it exists – by March 13, one aide said.

Strict standards needed for contaminants in drinking water

Two U.S. senators from New York have introduced legislation that would require federal environmental regulators to clamp down on potentially harmful chemicals in drinking water. The bill, cosponsored by democrats Kristin Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, would require the Environmental Protection Agency to set “strong and enforceable safety standards” for chemicals like PFOA in public water systems.