U.S. Congress News

Gas tax holiday could mean job losses in states

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain said Friday that his Democratic rival Barack Obama is further to the left than the only Socialist US senator.

HOUSTON - President Bush, in the second half of a Southwestern fundraising trip Friday, backed the candidacy of Republican Pete Olson, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Nick Lampson in Texas' 22nd congressional district.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she is pushing for about $50 billion in a second election-year economic stimulus package being shaped by Democrats in Congress.

July 18 (Bloomberg) -- House Minority Leader John Boehner said the U.S. economy is surprisingly strong and dismissed calls by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a second stimulus package of tax rebate checks.

As congressional campaigns have heated up, many of the competitive contests have turned to the advantage of the Democrats.

NEW YORK - Rep. Charles Rangel asked the House Ethics Committee on Thursday to investigate his fundraising for a college research center named after him, saying a probe would prove he did nothing wrong.

WASHINGTON - A House committee chairman asked the Pentagon on Thursday to declassify some documents about the friendly fire death of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, saying the public and Tillman's family should get to see them.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called President George W. Bush "a total failure" who "has no ideas," in an interview with CNN.

WASHINGTON - Congress wants to require executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to have their pay packages approved by the government as part of a bill to throw a federal lifeline to the mortgage giants.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives failed to approve legislation on Thursday that would have pushed oil companies to drill on federal leases they already hold while requiring the government to more often lease tracts in an Alaskan oil reserve.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Thursday killed a Democratic plan designed to spur drilling on already available federal lands in Alaska, the West and the western Gulf of Mexico.

WASHINGTON - A man wanted by Liechtenstein for leaking secret bank records that identified millionaire tax cheats told lawmakers on Thursday about elaborate sham transactions and code words used to outsmart the IRS.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday threatened to veto legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives that would force oil companies to give up undrilled federal leases and ban the export of crude drilled in Alaska.

WASHINGTON - Former Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday "it was not a hard decision" to withdraw Justice Department legal opinions that approved the use of harsh interrogation methods which critics say amount to torture.

MINNEAPOLIS - Dean Barkley — lawyer, political kingmaker, and bus driver — has spent 62 days in the U.S. Senate, which he calls "the most prestigious club on earth."

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US Senate investigative panel accused two prominent banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland on Wednesday of helping wealthy Americans hide billions of dollars and evade taxes.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate has given a major boost to a program to combat AIDS and malaria around the world, voting to triple funding for a cause championed by President George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Wednesday to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday approved extending federal "wild and scenic" environmental protection to the lower Taunton River in Massachusetts, dealing a blow to developers who want to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on an urbanized stretch of riverbank.

WASHINGTON - The congressman-lead singer had a question for the guest keyboardist at the all-congressional band gig Wednesday night.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration lobbied skeptical lawmakers Wednesday to support a rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as lawmakers weighed how to protect taxpayers while still giving the government unfettered power to pour money into the mortgage giants.

WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday that the Bush administration is considering a new federal rule that would withhold government funding from health care providers and organizations that refuse to hire workers who won't perform abortions or provide emergency contraception.

The 80-16 roll call by which the Senate on Wednesday approved spending $48 billion over the next five years to treat and prevent the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and elsewhere around the world.

WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday passed legislation governing next year's intelligence budget that demands lawmakers be given greater access to the nation's most closely held secrets.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans pressured U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday to set a vote on a free trade pact with Colombia, which they said would die if Congress does not approve it this year.

WASHINGTON - There was a little something for everyone — patients, pharmacists, even providers of wheelchairs and oxygen machines — in Congress' legislation to overturn a Medicare cut for doctors. And with those sweeteners, the ranks of Republicans willing to break with the president began to grow.

WASHINGTON - Four Democratic senators, including Sen. Carl Levin, on Wednesday called on the State Department's inspector general to investigate whether agency employees encouraged lucrative oil deals between Iraq and several Western companies.

WASHINGTON - A two-decade ban on people with HIV visiting or immigrating to the United States may end soon through a Senate bill aimed at fighting AIDS and other diseases in Africa and other poor areas of the world.