WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate moved ahead Wednesday toward a vote on a huge, bipartisan spending bill aimed at keeping the government running through September and ruling out the chance of a government shutdown later this month.

2. Obama Presses On With GOP Charm Offensive - Friday, March 08, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama pressed on with his Republican charm offensive Thursday, holding a White House lunch with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan in an effort to soften the ground for potential talks on a long-term deficit reduction deal.

3. Senate Panel Revives Dozens of Tax Breaks - Friday, August 03, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate's tax-writing panel is moving to revive dozens of tax breaks for businesses like biodiesel and wind energy producers, even as the GOP-controlled House trumpets symbolic legislation to erase them and create a new tax code with lower rates and fewer special interest tax breaks.

4. Gov't Report: Tax Cheats Getting Paid by Medicaid - Friday, August 03, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) – Thousands of Medicaid health care service providers still got paid by the government even though they owed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes, congressional investigators say. A legal technicality is making it harder for the IRS to collect.

5. Medicare Fraud Busters Unveil Command Center - Thursday, August 02, 2012

BALTIMORE (AP) – Medicare's war on fraud is going high-tech with the opening of a $3.6 million command center that features a giant screen and the latest computer and communications gear. That's raising expectations, as well as some misgivings.

6. Senate Procedural Snarl Could Shut Down FAA Again - Thursday, September 15, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – A procedural snarl and a single senator's objections could force another partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that Senate rules don't allow lawmakers to drop their current consideration of a disaster aid bill and shift to a stopgap funding measure for FAA and highway programs without the consent of all lawmakers.

7. Bill to Avert Another FAA Shutdown Passes House - Wednesday, September 14, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House on Tuesday approved a stopgap bill intended to avoid a shutdown of federal highway and aviation programs, with Senate action expected later this week.

The bill, which passed by a voice vote, temporarily extends operating authority for the Federal Aviation Administration through the end of January and federal highway and transit programs through the end of March.

8. Republicans Warn Against Waiving Air Subsidy Cuts - Monday, August 22, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican lawmakers warned Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a letter this week against waiving cuts in subsidies for air service to 10 rural communities unless he can show it would be too difficult for residents to reach a larger airport.

9. Senate Dems Give Way to GOP to End FAA Shutdown - Monday, August 08, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate approved legislation Friday ending a two-week partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration and President Barack Obama signed it into law, clearing the way for thousands of employees to return to work and hundreds of airport construction projects to resume.

10. Gang of 6 Deficit Effort Gains Momentum - Wednesday, July 20, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – Leaders of a bipartisan "Gang of Six" senators said Tuesday that they've reached agreement on a major plan to cut the deficit by more than $4 trillion over the coming decade in what could be a bold entry into a debate on the deficit long bogged-down by bitter partisanship.

11. Alexander Endorses Bipartisan Debt Reduction Plan - Wednesday, July 20, 2011

NASHVILLE (AP) – Sen. Lamar Alexander has endorsed a debt reduction plan that would reduce federal spending by $500 billion as a down payment to reduce the deficit.

In a statement Tuesday, Alexander, R-Tenn., said the proposal would find almost $4 trillion in reductions over the next 10 years.

12. Coburn Proposes $9 Trillion Deficit Cut Measure - Tuesday, July 19, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – One of the Senate's staunchest budget-cutters unveiled Monday a massive plan to cut the nation's deficit by $9 trillion over the coming decade. The plan by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is laced with politically perilous proposals like raising to 70 the age at which people can claim their full Social Security benefits.

13. Senate 'Gang of Six' Seek $4.7T in Deficit Cuts - Thursday, June 09, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – A member of the "Gang of Six" senators working on a bipartisan plan to wrestle the deficit under control says the group has identified $4.7 trillion in spending cuts and revenue increases over the next decade.

14. Memories of 1995 Haunt GOP as Shutdown Talk Grows - Tuesday, February 22, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Few memories haunt Republicans more deeply than the 1995-96 partial shutdown of the federal government, which helped President Bill Clinton reverse his falling fortunes and recast House Republicans as stubborn partisans, not savvy insurgents.

15. Democrats Attempt to Revive Food Safety Bill - Thursday, December 09, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – Food safety legislation stalled by a constitutional snag could be revived as part of a giant year-end budget bill.

The bill to increase the Food and Drug Administration's powers to keep food safe stalled after the Senate overwhelmingly passed it last week. House Democrats said the bill contained fees that are considered tax provisions, and under the Constitution such legislation must originate in the House.

16. Deficit-Cutting Plan Fails to Advance to Capitol - Monday, December 06, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama's budget deficit commission failed to garner enough support Friday to spur quick congressional action, but it's austere spending blueprint will live on because a majority on the panel embraced it.

17. Senate Shuns Push for Elimination of Pet Projects - Wednesday, December 01, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – By a sizable – but dwindling – margin, the Senate on Tuesday voted in favor of allowing lawmakers to keep stocking bills with home-state projects like roads, grants to local police departments and clean-water projects.

18. GOP Divided on How to Replace Health Overhaul Law - Tuesday, September 21, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's health care overhaul if they win control of Congress.

But, so far, they don't know what they would replace it with.

19. Battle Looms Over Health Care Repeal if GOP Wins - Wednesday, September 08, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) – If you thought passing the health care overhaul was messy, wait until Republicans try to repeal it if they regain power this fall.

It could come down to who blinks first, with some Republicans raising the prospect of a government shutdown.

20. Hoyer: Comprehensive Health Bill May Be No Go - Wednesday, February 24, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic congressional leaders confronted the reality Tuesday that they may not be able to pass the comprehensive health care overhaul sought by President Barack Obama. Republican leaders prepared to do everything in their power to make sure they can't.

21. Senate Report: 'Dirty Money' Still Entering US - Friday, February 05, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) - Foreign leaders and their families are still able to channel hundreds of millions of dollars in potentially corrupt money into the United States despite post-Sept. 11 laws cracking down on money laundering, according to a report released at a Senate hearing Thursday.

22. GOP Senators Put Cost Control First In Health Care Reform - Monday, August 31, 2009

The sign over a hospital toilet illustrated why health care costs are soaring in the United States, said U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming after touring Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto.

23. GOP Senators Put Cost Control First in Health Care Reform - Thursday, August 27, 2009

The sign over a hospital toilet illustrated why health care costs are soaring in the United States, said U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who toured Baptist Memorial Hospital Southaven today.

“Upstairs in this hospital, I went into the restroom and there’s a sign on the toilet, ‘Maximum weight of this toilet 350 pounds,” Barrasso said. “Think about that. There was a story that came out last week in USA Today, in the Wall Street Journal, in The New York Times about the cost of obesity to the health care system. It was $178 billion a year in added costs because of people who are eating too much and exercising too little.”

24. Dodd's Wife Serves on Health Care Company Boards - Monday, June 15, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The wife of a senator playing a lead role on a national health care overhaul sits on the boards of four health care companies, one of several examples of lawmakers with ties to the medical industry.

25. To Cover Both Wars, Senate Passes $91.3B Bill - Tuesday, May 26, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate is backing President Barack Obama's efforts to ramp up the war in Afghanistan, granting his request for $91.3 billion for military and diplomatic operations there and in Iraq.

26. US Senate Passes Credit Card Overhaul Bill - Wednesday, May 20, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to rein in credit card rate increases and excessive fees, hoping to give voters some breathing room amid a recession that has left hundreds of thousands of Americans jobless or facing foreclosure.

27. Obama Seeks GOP Help for Recovery Bill - Friday, January 30, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's economic stimulus legislation is headed for the Senate after a surprisingly partisan vote in the House in which Republicans united in opposition and 11 mostly conservative Democrats defected.

28. Alexander Looks ToHealth Care Reform in '08 - Wednesday, January 02, 2008
     Perhaps echoing an opinion he shared with The New York Times earlier this month - that the Republican party has "grown stale in its message and we're not as tuned in as we once were" - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.,