Anthony Weiner, whose career as a congressman collapsed after he posted sexually suggestive pictures of himself on Twitter, has announced that he’s running for mayor of New York City.“I made some big mistakes and I know I let a lot of people down. But I've also learned some tough lessons,” the Democrat said in a video posted on his website late on Tuesday."I'm running for mayor because I've been f...    

    

    

    

A sweeping bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system cleared its first major hurdle late Tuesday night, with the 18-member committee charged with completing a first round of legislative edits voting to advance the amended bill to the full Senate.  The vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee was 13-5.  Three Republicans - Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Orrin...    

Acknowledging that it would jeopardize the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill, a top ally of LGBT rights advocates will not call for a committee vote on an amendment that would include the spouses of LGBT individuals with the same standing as heterosexual couples in immigration law. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced "with a heavy heart" that he would withhold h...    

    

With a final committee vote on a comprehensive immigration reform bill finally in sight, proponents of immigration reform won the support of a key Republican panel member after hammering out a bipartisan compromise dealing with visas for high-skilled foreign workers.Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, long considered a Republican swing vote on the 18-member Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Tuesday nigh...    

A top IRS official scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight committee has notified Congress that she will invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions.Lois Lerner, head of the IRS unit which handled tax exempt organizations, won't answer questions about what she knows about the improper screening of conservative groups or about why she repeatedly failed to tell Congre...    

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, long considered a swing vote on immigration in the Senate Judiciary Committee, just said that he will vote the bill out of committee.He added that he could still oppose the legislation on the Senate floor if further changes are not made.His support comes after he and Gang of Eight negotiator Chuck Schumer hammered out a compromise relaxing some restrictions on how comp...    

    

    

The Oklahoma tornadoes that killed at least 24 people Monday have restarted the debate in Washington over emergency spending and whether it should be offset by cuts elsewhere in the  federal budget. It’s an ongoing battle for dollars that most recently flared in the wake of Hurricane Sandy last fall and resulted in a highly public and angry spat between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his fello...    

    

U.S. senators of both parties directed outrage at top IRS officials over not being informed earlier as to the tax agency’s work to target conservatives and demanded answers Tuesday as to why action was not taken more quickly to halt the abuses. Senators voiced their dismay at the IRS leadership’s efforts to respond to indications that officials in the agency’s Cincinnati office had singled out con...    

Yes, the last two weeks haven't been kind to the Obama White House. Yes, the administration has found itself on the defensive -- regarding the IRS, Benghazi and leak-investigation controversies. And, yes, those stories aren't going way. But it's also unclear if these controversies are political winners for the Republican Party.In addition to new polls showing that President Obama's approval ratin...    

    

    

U.S. senators of both parties directed outrage at top IRS officials over not being informed earlier as to the tax agency’s work to target conservatives and demanded answers Tuesday as to why action was not taken more quickly to halt the abuses. Senators voiced their dismay at the IRS leadership’s efforts to respond to indications that officials in the agency’s Cincinnati office had singled out con...