Washington (CNN) - Senate negotiators have not given up hope that bipartisan compromise is possible on the issue of background checks for guns, according to sources familiar with the talks, despite not yet finding common ground on the divide over how to handle records from those checks.
Central to the talks is Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, a pro-gun Republican with a 100% rating from the National Rifle Association. Coburn is on board with the idea of conducting background checks to prevent convicted felons and the mentally impaired from purchasing guns. But he is vehemently opposed to any legislation allowing the federal government to keep track of who owns guns.
FULL POST
(CNN) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid formally introduced a much-anticipated gun bill Thursday, his office announced. The Senate is expected to debate the legislation when the upper chamber returns from a two-week recess.
The bill, released just over three months after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, is made up of three measures. One measure expands the background check system, while the other two deal with school safety and gun trafficking.
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - Anticipating possible political backlash if forced federal spending cuts kick in as expected later this week, the Senate's No. 2 Republican said Monday that he is preparing a message he plans to hit hard: The cuts are not going to have as negative an impact as the Pentagon and others in the Obama administration are saying.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he plans to make the case to other Republicans and the public that despite warnings from the Pentagon that the mandated cuts will be devastating, the overall amount of defense spending will actually still rise.
FULL STORY
Washington (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama insist they're not giving up on the - currently stalled - one-on-one talks to avert the fiscal cliff, but regardless, sources in both parties now believe that with Boehner's Plan B having bombed, the next move will now start in the Senate.
A senior Democratic Senate source laid out three scenarios Democrats in the Senate are considering: either go over the cliff; push for a fall back measure, an alternative to going over the cliff; or push for a broad deal, such as the deal Obama offered Boehner last weekend, which Democrats said included $2 trillion in tax increases and spending cuts.
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - In a significant development in the fiscal cliff standoff, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, a leading deficit hawk, said Wednesday he would support higher tax rates on wealthier Americans as part of a broader deal with President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to avoid the crisis.
"I know we have to raise revenue," the senator from Oklahoma told MSNBC. "I don't really care which way we do it. Actually, I would rather see rates go up than do it the other way, because it gives us a greater chance to reform the tax code and broaden the base in the future."
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) - The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday that he wants an outside investigation to determine whether any White House staff members engaged in inappropriate behavior in Colombia as part of the alleged prostitution scandal involving Secret Service agents and military personnel.
"I'm not going to be satisfied until we get some independent look at this," Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said.
FULL STORY
Washington (CNN) – With government funding set to run out in 10 days, and Congress on recess, Republican and Democratic congressional leaders sparred via press release Tuesday, blaming each other for steering the government toward a possible shutdown.
The sharp tone of the releases was in contrast to hopeful signs Sunday and Monday that the two sides were on a path to head off a disruptive shutdown that could affect a wide range of government services.
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) – Senate Democrats are openly expressing their disappointment, and in some cases outrage, with the President Obama's tax cut deal.
And what is most striking walking the hallways and talking to senators is that the palpable frustration is coming not just from liberal Democrats, but moderates as well.
FULL POST
(CNN) – Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was warmly embraced by some of her fellow Republicans who shunned her for launching a write-in campaign instead of accepting the results of the GOP primary she lost.
Murkowski was one of 11 Republicans to attend a swearing-in ceremony in the Senate chamber Monday for two Democrats who won special elections.
FULL POST
Washington (CNN) – It's no secret that there is no love lost between national Republicans and their GOP Senate candidate in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has only contributed a minimal amount of money to her campaign, and Republican officials in Washington still do not think she can beat the Democrat, Chris Coons.
But O'Donnell's popularity in the Tea Party movement and among other conservatives nationwide has drawn a flood of money into her campaign coffers. Aides say she's raised millions since her surprise GOP primary win in mid-September.
That's why a senior Republican official told CNN that GOP strategists are scratching their heads, wondering why O'Donnell's campaign has not used her fundraising cash yet to air any television ads promoting her campaign.
From CNN Politics
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
Recent Comments