Congress: Congressional News, Schedule, Votes & More - The Washington Post

Everything you need to know about how the Supreme Court could rule on same-sex marriage

Sean Sullivan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:32:30 GMT

The Supreme Court could announce decisions in a pair of landmark gay marriage cases as soon as Thursday morning.

So, how might the highest court in the land decide, and which states will be affected? Thanks to a fantastic new interactive Washington Post graphic, you can explore all of the possibilities.

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Democratic-aligned groups target McConnell

Sean Sullivan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:09:12 GMT

A pair of Democratic-aligned groups waging an effort against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is kicking off the push with a new TV ad that argues it's time for a new senator after nearly three decades in the upper chamber by the Republican.

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DCCC raises $6.1 million in May

Sean Sullivan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:03:09 GMT

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $6.1 million in May, finishing the month with $11 million in the bank and $2.1 million in debt, according to a committee aide.

The National Republican Congressional Committee hasn't yet released its May numbers. The NRCC had $8.7 million in the bank and $6.3 million worth of debt at the end of April.

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Anatomy of a Washington dinner: Who funds the Competitive Enterprise Institute?

Juliet Eilperin — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 10:02:06 GMT

People have plenty of conspiracy theories about the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute: that it's merely an extension of the Koch brothers' empire, or a subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil Corp.

While the group does not disclose its donors as a general rule, it does reveal which companies and interest groups sponsor its annual fundraising dinner -- which takes place Thursday night at the J.W. Marriott -- along with how much they contribute. CEI provided a copy of its dinner program to the Fix, which ranks donors according to the value of five metals -- chromium, tungsten, nickel, copper and tin -- which ecologist Paul Ehrlich bet economist Julian Simon would be more scarce in 2005 than in 1980, the year of the wager. (Ehrlich lost the bet.)

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Republican aide challenges Democrats in real-life 'hunger games'

Ruth Tam — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 04:05:40 GMT

Can you feed yourself on $31.50 a week, the average the USDA says a beneficiary of SNAP gets per week?

Some staff members of Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Tex.) think so.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamp program. Some Democrats who are seeking increased funding for the program are asking people to try living on a food budget of $4 a day, or $28 a week.

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Mayors Against Illegal Guns apologizes for naming Tsarnaev as gun violence victim

Ruth Tam — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:14:11 GMT

Attendees of the "No More Names" event in Concord, N.H., gathered on Tuesday to hear names of gun violence victims read aloud. What they didn't expect to hear was Tamerlan Tsarnaev's name announced alongside those of their families and friends. The Boston Marathon bombing suspect died from injuries sustained in a shootout with the Boston police department and his name angered many in the crowd.

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Shorthand

Aaron Blake — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:01:13 GMT

* Steve King holds a filibuster-esque press conference

* Lisa Murkowski becomes the third Republican senator to back gay marriage

* A House committee passes a bill making it a federal crime to be an illegal immigrant

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Alex Sink says Charlie Crist would be 'a disaster' as Democratic nominee

Sean Sullivan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:46:30 GMT

EARLIER ON THE FIX:

Harry Reid's support for D.C. statehood is nothing new

Which immigration amendments will pass next?

The remarkable consistency of President Obama's job approval numbers

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Harry Reid's support for D.C. statehood is nothing new

Ed O'Keefe — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:51:10 GMT

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) used his remarks Wednesday during the formal dedication of a statue honoring Frederick Douglass to voice support for making the District of Columbia a full-fledged state.

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GOP poll: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett in bad shape

Aaron Blake — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:47:22 GMT

A newly leaked Republican poll shows Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) faces a steep uphill battle in his quest for reelection, and even many Republicans are unhappy with him.

The Public Opinion Strategies poll, which was obtained by the Philadelphia City Paper and conducted from April 30-May 2, shows Corbett trailing Rep. Alyson Schwartz (D) 46 percent to 34 percent.

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Which immigration amendments passed today?

Ed O'Keefe — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:41:55 GMT

Updated 6:22 p.m. ET

The Senate considered several more amendments Wednesday to the bipartisan immigration bill.

Every time that the Senate plans to vote on amendments, we're providing a summary of each proposal and handicap its prospects for passage. Here's a look at what transpired today:

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The remarkable consistency of President Obama's job approval numbers

Chris Cillizza — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:30:25 GMT

Here's the truth about President Obama's job approval numbers: They don't move around all that much.

New numbers from Pew Research Center tell that story. Forty nine percent of respondents approved of the job President Obama while 43 percent disapproved. Those numbers are remarkably unchanged from where Obama stood in a January Pew poll despite the fact that the past five and a half months have seen the failure of the White House's attempt to change gun laws, the IRS scandal, evidence of an improving economy, the NSA revelations and plenty of other "major" news events.

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Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono: Immigration bill 'disadvantages women'

Ruth Tam — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:42:55 GMT

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) has a problem with the Senate's sweeping immigration overhaul proposal: it "disadvantages women."

In a conversation with The Washington Post's Brook Silva-Braga on The Fold, the freshman senator decried the bill for moving immigration policy to a two-tiered system that reduces people to points. Awarding foreigners for their level of education or work experience "institutionalizes and sets in concrete the unequal opportunities that women have in these countries," she said.

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Rush Holt is no Cory Booker. And he's just fine with that.

Sean Sullivan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:40:58 GMT

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), in his own words, is no Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D).

"I'll be the first to admit, I'm no Cory Booker," Holt says in an introductory campaign video released Wednesday. "I don't have a million Twitter followers, I've never run into a burning building, and I'm not friends with Mark Zuckerberg, though I did like him on Facebook."

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Moniz taps veteran environmentalist as chief of staff

Al Kamen — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:18:00 GMT

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz has tapped highly regarded environmentalist Kevin Knobloch, most recently president of the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, to be his chief of staff.

Knobloch had also been the organization’s legislative director for arms control and national security and had worked on the Hill in the ‘80s as legislative director for former Democratic senator Tim Wirth of Colorado and legislative assistant and press secretary for former New York Democratic representative Ted Weiss.

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Sequester furloughs avoided for Customs and Border Protection

Josh Hicks — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:46:50 GMT

Congress has approved a plan to avoid furloughs for U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees during fiscal 2013, according to a Wednesday statement from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

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Who will be the next Republican senator to embrace gay marriage?

Sean Sullivan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:18:15 GMT

Note: We originally posted this item on April 5. We're resurfacing it now, in light of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's Wednesday announcement that she supports gay marriage. With the Supreme Court expected to rule soon on cases involving gay marriage, the issue is front and center once again. So, it's worth revisiting which Senate Republican might be next to follow in the footsteps of Murkowski and Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). We've taken Murkowski off the list, and reached out to the offices of the remaining senators on it. We will update with any change in position.

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Obama to reveal plan to combat climate change, aide says

Lenny Bernstein — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:12:00 GMT

President Obama will outline his plan to address climate change in "the weeks ahead," an effort that will focus on at least three broad areas in which the administration's rule-making powers can have significant impact, the White House's top adviser on energy and the environment said Wednesday.

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Biden on emancipation: 'Finally, the message got to Texas'

Aaron Blake — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:09:07 GMT

Vice President Biden said Wednesday at a ceremony honoring abolitionist Frederick Douglass that it "took a long time" for emancipation to make its way to Texas.

Speaking at a ceremony unveiling a statue of Douglass in the U.S. Capitol, Biden talked about how Wednesday's Juneteenth holiday honors the day Texas became the last state to learn the Civil War -- and by extension, slavery -- was over.

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WATCH: The biggest presidential speeches in Berlin

Ruth Tam — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:28:08 GMT

On the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech of solidarity to Berliners, President Obama spoke at on the east side of Berlin's famous Brandenburg Gate to call for the simultaneous reduction of U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads. In his speech, Obama reiterated the reality of many post-Cold War challenges and but emphasized the importance of collaboration.

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Americans don't believe in much of anything -- and why that's a terrible thing for politics

Chris Cillizza — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:26:18 GMT

People no longer trust their government, their media or much of anything else to do the right thing.

That lack of confidence, which has accelerated in the last decade or so, is a major (and often overlooked) factor in the current political morass in which the country finds itself -- deeply divided along partisan lines without anything even close to objective force able to referee us through the mess.

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Rick Perry jabs at New York in effort to lure businesses

Sean Sullivan — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:22:22 GMT

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has a message for New York businesses: Forget the Empire State, it's all about the Lone Star State.

As he's embarked on a trip through the northeast this week to convince employers to move to Texas, Perry is front and center in a series of ads that accuse New York of over-regulating and over-burdening businesses, take digs at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's policies, and mention New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) in an unflattering context.

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White House softball team to suit up against pot lobby for a rematch

Emily Heil — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:07:27 GMT

It’s rematch time for the White House softball team, which you might recall got smoked last summer by a team fielded by a coalition of pro-marijuana groups.

The two teams square off again on Wednesday night at the field on the Ellipse just off the White House’s front lawn.

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House panel approves controversial immigration bill

Ed O'Keefe — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:16:33 GMT

The House Judiciary Committee approved a measure late Tuesday that would make it a federal crime for illegal immigrants to be in the United States.

The Republican-backed proposal also would permit state and local governments to draft their own immigration laws, as long as they are consistent with federal statutes.

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Murkowski becomes third GOP senator to back gay marriage

Aaron Blake — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:53:15 GMT

A third Republican senator has come out in favor of gay marriage, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announcing her support Wednesday morning.

"I am a life-long Republican because I believe in promoting freedom and limiting the reach of government," Murkowski wrote on her Web site. "When government does act, I believe it should encourage family values. I support the right of all Americans to marry the person they love and choose because I believe doing so promotes both values: it keeps politicians out of the most private and personal aspects of peoples' lives while also encouraging more families to form and more adults to make a lifetime commitment to one another."

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