Senate, Congress | featured news

President Barack Obama will make a rare trip to Capitol Hill next week to meet with Senate Republicans as he grapples for new ways to break through Washington's partisan logjam.

Actress Ashley Judd is giving off lots of signals that she is going to make the race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. She's chatting with Democratic legislative leaders in the state about the idea and huddling with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee too.

Across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any resulting inconvenience or disruption in government services.

The Senate has confirmed Jack Lew, a former budget director and chief of staff to the president, as the next Secretary of the Treasury. The vote was 71 to 26.

A proposed ban on military-style assault weapons faces a key test vote as early as Thursday when the committee considering gun control legislation is scheduled to decide whether to refer the proposal to the full Senate.

Decorated Vietnam veteran Chuck Hagel was sworn in as U.S. defense secretary on Wednesday after a bruising Senate confirmation battle, and promised to renew old U.S. alliances and forge new ones without attempting to "dictate" to the world.

With a 71-to-27 vote, the Senate has cleared the way for Chuck Hagel’s confirmation as defense secretary, despite complaints from Republicans about his readiness for the job.

Twice burned, Republicans are treading carefully around tea party groups as they pursue a Senate majority that slipped through their fingers in 2010 and 2012....

Republicans have, for now, blocked Chuck Hagel's nomination to become defense secretary.

A US Senate panel has approved Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's new Secretary of Defense. The move sets the stage for his confirmation in front of the full Senate, possibly this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday voted 14-11 along party lines, advancing the former Republican Senator from Nebraska's confirmation to take over from Leon Panetta as the head of the Defense department.