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National Politics

Budget office view boosts Senate immigration bill

House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., sponsor of the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act, left, talks with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, prior to the start of the committee's hearing to discuss the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act. The committee in the Republican-led House is preparing to cast its first votes on immigration this year, on a tough enforcement-focused measure that Democrats and immigrant groups are protesting loudly.

Supporters of a far-reaching immigration bill in the Senate see fresh momentum from a report by the Congressional Budget Office that says the measure would boost the economy and reduce federal deficits by billions of dollars. 20 minutes ago

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NATIONAL POLITICS

Obama relying on untested oversight board on NSA

The obscure oversight board that President Barack Obama wants to scrutinize the National Security Agency's secret surveillance system is little known for good reason. The U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has operated fitfully during its eight years of low-profile existence, stymied...

31 minutes ago
NATIONAL POLITICS

Social issues still fire up GOP despite 2012 loss

Republican lawmakers have a message for those who want the party to soften its emphasis on social conservatism in hopes of reaching a wider national audience: Not so fast.

36 minutes ago
NATIONAL POLITICS

Budget office view boosts Senate immigration bill

Supporters of a far-reaching immigration bill in the Senate see fresh momentum from a report by the Congressional Budget Office that the measure would boost the economy and reduce federal deficits by billions of dollars.
NATIONAL POLITICS

Obama's Berlin speech: History raises the stakes

Five years and 50 years. As President Barack Obama revisits Berlin, he can't escape those anniversaries and the inevitable comparisons to history and personal achievement.

2 hours ago
NATIONAL POLITICS

Rural lawmakers push for farm bill votes in House

Farm-state lawmakers are scrambling to win bipartisan support for a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill on the House floor this week.
NATIONAL POLITICS

NSA director says plot against Wall Street foiled

The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence led by lawmakers sympathetic to the spying.
NATIONAL POLITICS

Gov't report: Smooth launch unsure for health law

There's no guarantee that President Barack Obama's health care law will launch smoothly and on time, congressional investigators say in the first in-depth independent look at its progress.
NATIONAL POLITICS

House passes far-reaching anti-abortion bill

The Republican-led House on Tuesday passed a far-reaching anti-abortion bill that conservatives saw as a milestone in their 40-year campaign against legalized abortion and Democrats characterized as yet another example of a GOP war on women.
NATIONAL POLITICS

NSA chief: Spying stopped 50 terrorist ‘events’

The director of the National Security Agency testified Tuesday that the government’s massive surveillance program helped thwart more than 50 terrorist “events” worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001, including a planned bombing of the New York Stock Exchange that involved a Kansas City...
NATIONAL POLITICS

IRS cases were referred to ‘Group 7822’

The Internal Revenue Service diverted applications for tax-exempt status from tea party and like-minded organizations to a special track known as Group 7822 for special scrutiny, according to transcripts of an interview by congressional interrogators with a key IRS official.