Senate

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee has approved legislation to give benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee sent the legislation to the full Senate on Wednesday. The Senate has failed to pass previous versions of the bill. ...

Should some members of Congress get their way, employers will soon be banned from snooping in your Facebook page. Two lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it illegal for employers to require applicants and employees to divulge personal online information for social-networking sites, including passwords, ...

By Jim Abrams WASHINGTON -- A small business investment bill that had appeared to enjoy wide bipartisan support was in danger of collapsing Tuesday after Senate Democrats and Republicans split over two attempts to amend it. ...

By Jim Abrams WASHINGTON -- It might seem like a recipe for success: Legislation to help small businesses raise capital passed the House last week with 95 percent of lawmakers voting for it and President Barack Obama's support. But in today's Congress, nothing comes easily. ...

By Jim Abrams WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is set to come out with its version of legislation to help small businesses raise capital, paralleling a measure that cleared the House in a somewhat different form last week by a large bipartisan margin. ...

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum sought to make some political hay last weekend by taking President Obama to task for purportedly saying he wants all Americans to go to college. Speaking to a gathering of some 1,000 conservative activists in Troy, Mich., on Saturday, Santorum called the president ...

A group of black lawmakers in Missouri has pledged to fight efforts by Republicans to revise state labor laws to make it more difficult for workers to prove discrimination claims. Members of the Legislative Black Caucus say the legislation would roll back decades of civil rights advances and protect ...

By ALAN FRAM WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to temporarily set aside its partisan standoff over President Barack Obama's jobs plan and move toward giving a modest economic spark to two potent interest groups: veterans and businesses. In a 94-1 roll call, senators voted to start ...

By Andrew Taylor WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress and the White House face the choice of continued fighting or a shift toward bipartisan bargaining after the Senate voted to kill President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs plan. ...