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Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-N.Y.) is exasperated as she concludes her opening remarks and reaches for a piece of paper on the podium. “I don’t know who was handing out this literature,” she says, “but I think we’ve got to talk about this a little bit.”

Rep. Barney Frank , D-Mass., said he advised President Obama against taking up health care reform following a special election in 2010 that changed Democrats' fortunes in the Senate, saying that he should have instead turned his focus to financial reform.

Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin on Friday is endorsing the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney, becoming the latest Republican leader to urge the party to coalesce behind Mr. Romney and begin to confront President Obama.

The hoodie protests have arrived on the floor of the United States Congress. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) was chided and escorted from the House floor Wednesday morning for wearing a gray hoodie and sunglasses while delivering a rousing speech about the need for a full investigation in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

Republican Rep. Bob Turner, facing elimination of his New York City congressional district, says he'll seek the Senate seat held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. Turner's announcement Tuesday came just three days before New York Republicans will choose among Senate candidates. There are already three other Republicans seeking the nomination.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced Wednesday morning that she will run for her fourth term in 2012. “I’m looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.,” Bachmann told the Associated Press. The former presidential candidate’s future plans had been in some doubt. Redistricting could make her 6th district seat more competitive, and she spent much of the year in Iowa proclaiming herself “an Iowa girl” — not so helpful for winning an election in Minnesota.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts does not intend to seek re-election in 2012, his office said Monday, closing out a career of more than three decades in Congress capped by last year's passage of legislation imposing new regulations on Wall Street.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, struggling to form the words in her first extended interview since a January shooting rampage, said Monday she will not return to Congress until she is "better."

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords vows to return to Congress in a new book that details months of intense therapy and her emotional battle to come to terms with what happened when a gunman opened fire in front of a Tucson grocery store. The memoir, titled "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," is the most personal and detailed look yet at Giffords' efforts over the past 10 months to relearn how to walk and talk, and her painful discovery that six people were killed in the Jan. 8 attack outside a Tucson grocery store.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrived in North Carolina on Sunday to undergo "intensive" rehabilitation as she continues her recovery from being shot in the head in a mass shooting in January, her office said.