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Full coverage of Congress, including the House of Represenatives and the U.S. Senate. The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com provide analysis of Capitol Hill.
Category Covered: Congress
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Health bill opponents make most of mammogram advisory
As a health reform bill endorsed by President Obama marches toward its first Senate floor vote on Saturday, his opponents stepped up efforts to define the legislation as big-government ambition run amok that will interfere with intimate medical ...
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Congress
Burris reproved by Senate ethics panel
Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.) has been admonished by the Senate ethics committee for his public comments about his controversial appointment to the seat previously held by President Obama.
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Congress
Rep. Reyes not under investigation, House panel says
The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has said it is not investigating Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who was the subject of a complaint last year involving contact between his ...
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Congress
Silvestre Reyes
An opaque transparency
As the first congressional investigation of the Fort Hood massacre began Thursday, a curious collection of witnesses assembled in the committee room.
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Congress
Obama faces congressional anger about economy
Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration.
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Congress
Pentagon opens 2 probes in Fort Hood shootings
The Pentagon is launching an urgent review of whether military procedures hinder the identification of service members who pose a threat to their fellow troops.
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Congress
Lieberman opens Hill's first public hearing on Fort Hood
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman gaveled into session Capitol Hill's first public hearing on the Fort Hood attack, promising Thursday to run his investigation from exactly where he sat on the dais -- the center.
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Congress
Baron Hill
Joe Lieberman
Peter Orszag: Bills offer clear path to better health care
The bills under discussion will put us on a path to a high-quality, low-cost system.
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Congress
Peter DeFazio
Health care
Alan Blinder: Danger lies in threat to Fed independence
Why the Fed needs its independence from Congress.
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Congress
Sen. Lugar's wife charged with DUI, hit-and-run
The wife of Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) was arrested in McLean on Wednesday night after crashing into a parked car, and she was charged with drunk driving and hit-and-run, Fairfax County police said Thursday.
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Congress
Richard G. Lugar
Reid announces a Saturday vote on beginning debate on health bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid said Thursday that the first crucial vote on a $848 billion health-care overhaul package would likely take place Saturday.
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Congress
Harry Mitchell
Harry Reid
Lawmakers seek more help from administration for Fort Hood investigations
A bipartisan group of senators began a concerted push Wednesday to get more cooperation from the Obama administration in its reviews of the Fort Hood shootings, which left 13 dead and a raft of questions about information-sharing among intelligence ...
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Congress
W.Va.'s Byrd becomes longest-serving member of Congress
In his nearly six decades on Capitol Hill, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) has broken nearly every legislative record that anyone bothers to count. On Wednesday, two days shy of his 92nd birthday, Byrd reached yet another milestone: He became the ...
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Congress
Robert C. Byrd
Fenty, Gray lend support to home rule legislation
D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray briefly put aside their political differences Wednesday to support an effort on Capitol Hill to give the city more control over its budget process and law-making.
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Congress
Congressional Black Caucus celebrates Jesse Jackson's first presidential run
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus paid tribute to the 25th anniversary of the Rev. Jesse Jackson's first run for president Wednesday morning on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Congress
Jesse Jackson
House of Representatives
Reid 'cautiously optimistic' about getting 60 votes on health bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid scrambled to lock down votes behind a health-care bill that he is expected to present Wednesday night to his Democratic caucus.
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Congress
Harry Mitchell
Harry Reid
Holder: 'We need not cower' ahead of trials for 9/11 plotters
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told the Senate on Wednesday morning that the Obama administration "will use every instrument of our national power to bring to justice those responsible for terrorist attacks against our people."
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Congress
General David Petraeus
U.S., China may come to talks with emission-reduction goals
Buried in the text of Tuesday's joint declaration between President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao was a hopeful clause about climate talks: The Obama administration is likely to offer emission-reduction targets at next month's climate summit, ...
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Congress
Digest
REGULATION Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Tuesday that a House vote on legislation to overhaul the financial regulatory system probably will be delayed until at least the second week of December.
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Congress
Barney Frank
In the Loop: C Street house no longer fully tax-exempt
The famous rowhouse on C Street SE where disgraced South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford sought counseling after his affair -- as did Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after his affair -- has begun paying D.C. real estate taxes, according to city officials. ...
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Congress
Mark Sanford
John Ensign
Washington, D.C
In Senate vote, signs of shift on Guantanamo Bay detainees
The Senate on Tuesday rejected an attempt to bar using funds from a defense spending bill to build or modify prisons in the United States to hold detainees from Guantanamo Bay, a move that suggested congressional Democrats may be lining up behind ...
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Congress
Guantanamo Bay
Release of Reid's health-care bill could come as early as Wednesday
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) scrambled Tuesday to lock down votes behind a health-care bill that he may unveil as early as Wednesday.
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Congress
Harry Mitchell
Health care
Harry Reid
Republicans push for immediate Hill inquiries on Fort Hood
The Obama administration's request that congressional committees slow their investigations into the Fort Hood shootings sparked denunciations Tuesday from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who pushed for immediate probes into any warning signs before the ...
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Congress
Baron Hill
Poll finds deep divisions on health-care reform
As the Senate prepares to take up legislation aimed at overhauling the nation's health-care system, President Obama and the Democrats are still struggling to win the battle for public opinion. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Americans deeply ...
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Congress
Gallup Poll
Health care
Washington Post
ABC News
Army panel to examine Hasan's career
Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, is forming a panel to look closely at the military career of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the man accused in the Fort Hood shootings, and probe whether warning signs were missed, a senior Army official said ...
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Congress
U.S. Army
George Will
Democratic senator Lincoln feels pressure in health-care debate
When the Senate begins floor debate on a health-care reform package this week, the outcome is almost certain to rest on decisions made by a handful of moderate Democrats.
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Congress
Health care
Blanche Lincoln
Opponents of health-care effort look to fund a critical economic study
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an assortment of national business groups opposed to President Obama's health-care reform effort are collecting money to finance an economic study that could be used to portray the legislation as a job killer and ...
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Congress
Health care
So much for the power of incumbency
Amid the spin spewing from the parties over what this month's elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York meant, there is one indisputable lesson learned: Voters don't like incumbents these days.
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Congress
Immigration looms as sticking point in health-care legislation
The 31-year-old woman creeping gingerly into Adventist HealthCare's free-standing emergency department in Germantown was obviously in pain, and physician Orlee Panitch quickly diagnosed the problem: gallstones.
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Congress
Health care
Insurance exchange may have loophole
Nobody wants to spend a lot of time, energy -- and taxpayer money -- and end up back where they started. But that's what could happen with one of the principal elements of health reform, the so-called exchange or gateway.
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Congress
Holder steps into another controversy
Eric H. Holder Jr. called his order Friday to send the plotters of the 9/11 attacks to trial in Manhattan "the toughest decision I've had to make as attorney general." But what the nation's chief law enforcement officer did not lay bare for public ...
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Congress
Hutchison to stay in Senate as she runs in Texas
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) plans to announce Saturday that she will remain in the Senate for at least a few more months while she continues campaigning to become Texas governor, sources familiar with her plans said Friday.
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Congress
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Obama presses Congress to rework immigration laws
The Obama administration expects Congress to begin moving to overhaul the nation's immigration laws early next year, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday, adding that improved border security and a drop in migration caused by the ...
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Congress
Homeland Security
N.Y. congressional race not yet certified
Officials in New York have not yet certified Bill Owens (D) the winner of the Nov. 3 special congressional election, saying Thursday that a recounting of the vote shows him with a smaller lead than first reported.
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Congress
U.S. considers backing interim international climate agreement
Less than a month before negotiators will meet in Copenhagen with the ambitious goal of crafting a deal to curb global greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is considering endorsing a limited short-term climate pact instead.
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Congress
International Monetary Fund
Corrections
-- In the Nov. 12 Local Living section, the MisFits column should have said that some White House employees have pedometers, not that employees of the Office of Management and Budget received pedometers at the White House.
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Congress
Fed's response may make withdrawal tricky
The Federal Reserve has over the decades viewed its independence from political influence as crucial for its ability to guide the U.S. economy.
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Congress
Initially waved off, Hispanic advocates jump into health debate
After trying to carefully balance their interests in health-care reform and immigration, the nation's Hispanic lawmakers and largest advocacy groups are scrambling to develop a strategy to counter what they see as efforts to shortchange immigrants in ...
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Congress
Dodd's reform plan takes aim at the Fed
The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping regulatory reform bill that would strip the Federal Reserve of nearly all of its power to oversee banks, setting up a possible clash with the Obama administration, which has ...
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Congress
Christopher J. Dodd
Bailout Plan
Finance bill by Senator Dodd would overhaul banking regulators
A regulatory bill that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) introduced Tuesday would create three agencies aimed at policing threats to the economy, preserving banks in good health and protecting borrowers from abuse.
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Congress
Christopher J. Dodd
TSA nominee questioned over FBI censure
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) questioned President Obama's nominee to lead the nation's airport security agency Tuesday about a censure he received from the FBI in 1988.
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Congress
Susan Collins
Bill Clinton urges Senate Democrats to quickly pass health-care reform
Former president Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats on Tuesday to resolve their differences with a health-care bill and pass an overhaul as soon as possible. Summoning the lessons of his own history with health-care reform, Clinton warned, "The worst ...
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Congress
Bill Clinton
Health care
Washington Sketch: Globe may not be big enough for One World Government
The New World Order came into being at 4:25 Tuesday afternoon.
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Congress
Washington, D.C
Some Democrats to fight abortion amendment in health bill
President Obama and Senate Democrats sought on Sunday to generate momentum from the House's passage of health-care legislation, even as a new hurdle emerged: profound dismay among abortion-rights supporters over antiabortion provisions inserted into ...
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Congress
Fort Hood suspect's links to imam under scrutiny
Federal investigators are examining possible links between Fort Hood shooting suspect Maj. Nidal M. Hasan and an American-born imam who U.S. authorities say has become a supporter and leading promoter of al-Qaeda since leaving a Northern Virginia ...
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Congress
A vote to make or break a career
When Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao won a stunning victory in a heavily Democratic district in New Orleans last December, the GOP was so thrilled that House Minority Leader John A. Boehner sent a memo to his colleagues headlined "The Future is Cao."
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Congress
Republican National Committee
John A. Boehner
Health bill compromises won over holdouts
So much for the political power of the public option.
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