Congress News Headlines

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Texas prosecutor and one-time candidate for Congress was convicted Friday of accepting bribes in exchange for court favors, including an $80,000 payment in a scheme that allowed a convicted murder to escape.

The Justice Department stopped short of saying that Attorney General Eric Holder O.K.’d the investigation into Fox News reporter James Rosen. But critics have seized on a comment Holder made last week, asking if the attorney general misled Congress. The Obama administration has been criticized...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday to award Congress' highest civilian honor to four girls killed in an Alabama church bombing during the civil rights movement. He called it a tragic loss that "helped to trigger triumph and a more just and equal and fair America."

By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-growing backlog of U.S. military veterans' disability claims, which has stoked congressional anger, has dipped in recent weeks, however tentatively. But that is not taking any pressure off President Barack Obama, his Department of Veterans Affairs or the Pentagon to fix a system …

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Friday granting the United States' highest civilian honor to four black girls killed in a civil rights-era church bombing that shocked the nation in 1963. Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson and Cynthia …

By Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama wants to roll back some of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. "war on terror," but efforts to alter the global fight against Islamist militants will face the usual hurdle at home: staunch opposition from Republicans in Congress. …

UEFA President Michel Platini wants to establish a European sports police force to address betting, corruption, match-fixing, doping and hooliganism. Speaking to the UEFA Congress in London on Friday, ...

Vermont's senior U.S. senator says he hopes a farm bill now working its way through Congress will save taxpayer money while continuing assistance for dairy farmers and conservation programs. Leahy says ...

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Congressman John Larson are announcing a new manufacturing jobs initiative that will bring together state government, businesses and colleges. The announcement is ...

College students in Washington state say they need Congress to give them affordable student loans at a rate they can depend on, instead of a yearly debate on rising interest rates. "The fact that ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama pushed his health care overhaul plan through Congress, he counted labor unions among his strongest supporters.

On a frigid Wednesday afternoon in January, Speaker John Boehner sat in a conference room at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va., acknowledging the limits of his authority. For the past two years, the Republican Study Committee—a caucus of the most conservative representatives—had defied his leadership, plotted against …

Not long ago, it would have been ludicrous for the House speaker to approach the Republican Study Committee on bended knee, much less to depend on it to restore harmony to the conference. The committee's philosophy of governance would vex any speaker: Members consider themselves conservatives first and Republicans second. …

President Barack Obama defended the United States' use of drone attacks as an important part of the U.S. counterterrorism policy on Thursday but signed new presidential policy guidelines to spell out for Congress and the public the standards that the U.S. will use before carrying out drone attacks.

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will engage Congress in exploring a number of options for increased oversight of lethal drone strikes outside of war zones like Afghanistan.

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner announced Thursday that he is resigning from Congress effective in August to take a post with the University of Alabama system.

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Thursday told Congress that a recent restructuring of its heavy rocket launch program to add 60 more launches and extend the schedule for a decade would more than double the program's projected cost to $70.7 billion. The Defense Department's annual report to Congress …

NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Weiner set out to reintroduce himself to voters Thursday as he embarked on a mayoral bid after leaving Congress in a sexting scandal. He found a much more supportive reception in his first day of campaigning than he did from the state's top Democrat, who bluntly criticized his candidacy a day ea …

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday his chamber would chart its own path on immigration rather than simply considering a Senate-passed measure, quashing hopes some Democrats had for quickly enacting the landmark legislation. "While …

By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Thursday told Congress it expected a 1 percent drop in the cost of its biggest weapons program, the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jet, while averting the huge cost increases seen on other weapons programs in recent years. The Defense Department's annual report …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For New York City mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner, the road to City Hall leads through Pittsburgh. Weiner, the candidate who infamously resigned from the U.S. Congress two years ago in a sexting scandal, unveiled a video announcing his mayoral candidacy and a campaign logo on his website on Wednesday. …

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a licensed physician, was reprimanded and fined by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners for having sex with patients before he was elected to Congress, according to documents released Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House members writing a bipartisan immigration bill said Thursday they had patched over a dispute that threatened their efforts, even as they and the rest of Congress prepared to return home for a weeklong recess where many could confront voters' questions on the issue.