Topic: Harry Reid

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Can immigration reform pass? Five senators to watch.

Immigration reform will pass the Senate before the Fourth of July, Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada has vowed. Here are five key senators (or groups of senators) that will be pivotal during the two weeks of debate.

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In filibuster deal, a glimpse of how the Senate could actually work

The filibuster deal to avoid the Senate's 'nuclear option' showed that when senators actually talk to each other (a rare thing nowadays), they’re not so bad at figuring things out.
Senate averts 'nuclear option,' but leaves deeper questions unanswered

After a rare, closed meeting senators agreed to confirm several controversial Obama nominees. The deal avoided a 'nuclear option' that would have changed Senate rules on filibusters.
The Monitor's View What Senate filibuster deal tells young democracies like Egypt's

The Senate filibuster deal avoids the severe political backlash of the 'nuclear option' – for now. It recognizes the filibuster's historic role in protecting minority interests, a lesson for newly democratic countries like Egypt.
Filibuster fight: Senators still wrestling over nominees (+video)

A series of roll call votes are planned for Tuesday morning to confirm seven presidential appointees whom Republicans have so far blocked from receiving yes-or-no votes.
'Nuclear option' 101: Why the big fight over the Senate filibuster? (+video)

The 'nuclear option' involves a rules change involving the Senate filibuster that may look to many Americans like another case of partisan bickering. But it would in fact change how Congress works. Here's what all the fuss is about.
Senate leaders at odds over proposed rule changes

On Monday, all 100 senators will meet to seek a compromise that will allow President Barack Obama's nominees for several posts to be confirmed without receiving the required 60 votes.
Student loan rates battle: How the Senate's plans could affect you

Student loans are center stage today as the Senate votes on a Democratic plan to return interest rates on federal Stafford loans to a fixed rate of 3.4 percent for another year. Meanwhile, some senators are backing a bipartisan proposal to tie interest rates on student loans to the Treasury. How would the two plans affect students?
Senate back at student loans as pressure and rates mount, but deal elusive

A key student loan rate doubled last week after Congress refused to act, but the majority Democrats in the Senate are split and the party leadership is looking for a short-term fix.
Congress's summer 'to do' list not too taxing. What tops it?

The Senate will approve some agency nominations – and perhaps avoid a showdown over Obama's judicial nominees. Student loans need attention. A 'sequester' revise? Don't count on it before Congress recesses in August.
Obamacare delay? Large businesses get a one-year reprieve

Companies with 50 or more workers were given a one-year delay in providing coverage for their workers or face fines. 'We have heard that [businesses] need the time to get this right,' wrote a senior White House aide in a blog post. 'We are listening.'
Immigration reform: Senate Republicans on the cusp of buying in? (+video)

Republican senators are bringing new momentum to the bid to boost support for immigration reform, even as the GOP-controlled House strikes a harsher tone.
Can immigration reform pass? Five senators to watch.

Immigration reform will pass the Senate before the Fourth of July, Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada has vowed. Here are five key senators (or groups of senators) that will be pivotal during the two weeks of debate.
Gun control fight not over, Newtown families vow as anniversary nears

The families have converged on Washington to meet with President Obama and lawmakers and read names of those killed by gun violence. Friday marks six months since the Newtown shootings.
Senate Republicans help immigration bill advance, but will they vote for it? (+video)

The vote Tuesday was proof, say supporters of immigration reform, that the majority of Senate Republicans believe it would be politically toxic to be labeled obstructionists.
Obama turns tables on GOP: no compromise on judicial nominations

Obama slams Republicans for 'unprecedented' obstruction of his judicial nominees, and Sen. Harry Reid vows no compromise on a student loan deal, as Democrats take a page from the Republican playbook.
IRS report shows why tea party scandal was almost inevitable (+video)

When all the shouting about the IRS targeting of tea party groups dies down, Congress or the IRS will realize that the relevant tax law is devilishly hard to enforce fairly.
Opinion Obamacare faces new legal challenge: Its 'tax' still violates the Constitution

The Supreme Court saved Obamacare by deeming the law's individual mandate a 'tax.' But in that case, the law violates the Constitution's Origination Clause, which says all tax bills must originate in the House, not the Senate. Letting the law stand sets a dangerous precedent.
Before members rush for airports, Congress ends sequester flight delays

Once again, the prospect of missing flights home helped Congress resolve a standoff, this time over sequester cuts that had furloughed air traffic controllers and caused flight delays this week.
Senate, House pursue sharply different paths to immigration reform

Senate's bill is sweeping, and it's moving fast. The House so far is taking up immigration reform piecemeal, and is proceeding at a, well, deliberative pace. Why are the approaches are so different?
USA Update Ricin suspect released, as FBI shifts to new 'person of interest' (+video)

Ricin suspect Paul Kevin Curtis said, after his release: 'I thought they said rice.' Curtis's attorney says her client was framed. Federal investigators are looking into potential enemies.
Girding for a federal budget battle royale, parties wrangle over rules

With Capitol Hill bracing for a battle over financial policy this summer, the focus now is on rules for the committee that will seek to reconcile House and Senate versions of the federal budget.
Tax VOX Online sales tax: Is it in our future?

Online sales tax has growing bipartisan support among the nation’s governors, Francis writes, many of whom are strapped for tax revenues.
Robert Reich Senate balks on gun control. Reasons for the division.

The US Senate failing to pass gun control is a sign that rural, older, white America occupies one land; younger, urban, increasingly non-white America lives in another, Reich writes.
Decoder Wire Gun control: Three ways supporters are carrying on the fight

While gun control proponents may have conceded defeat in the Senate, they insist the war isn’t over. President Obama himself said he saw the defeat as just Round 1.
'Shame on you!' Gun vote shamed by Obama, Giffords, Maisch

'Shame' was the word of the day after the U.S. Senate failed to pass gun control legislation yesterday. A spectator in the gallery yelled out 'Shame on you!' while President Obama referred to the vote as 'pretty shameful' and Rep. Gabby Giffords wrote 'Shame on them' in an op-ed about the senators.