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Articles by Jacqueline Klimas

** FILE ** Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican (Associated Press)

McConnell: Senate should focus on defense, budget in last days

With less than two weeks in session before the end of 2013, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn't understand why the Senate is focusing on a string of non-emergency presidential nominations rather than must-pass legislation like a budget, defense policy bill and farm bill.

December 10, 2013
Levin

Lawmakers in hurry to fund military budget

Lawmakers are trying to rush the 2014 defense policy bill through Congress in less than a week to keep up a decadeslong streak of passing the key piece of legislation that covers defense spending, including military pay.

December 9, 2013
Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York Democrat (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Congress creates a legislative fortress for military sex-assault policy

It has been looming for months, but Congress' debate over how to deal with sexual assaults in the U.S. military could get lost in the end-of-year shuffle as Senate Democrats find themselves with little time to tackle the budget, presidential nominations and a host of other major priorities.

December 8, 2013
** FILE ** Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Congress reports ‘great progress’ on farm bill

Lawmakers said they made "great progress" toward reaching a farm bill deal in a meeting Wednesday morning as they push toward a final agreement that could be a year-end bright spot for an otherwise unproductive Congress.

December 4, 2013
A traveler passes April 30, 2012, through a security check point at Portland International Airport, in Portland, Ore. (Associated Press)

Is airline security fee in budget a tax in disguise?

Congressional Republicans have said they won't accept higher taxes as part of a year-end budget deal, but critics say one option that's still on the table is just a tax increase in disguise.

November 28, 2013
Debbie Stabenow, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, negotiated a deal with Rep. Frank D. Lucas to extend the 2008 “farm bill,” but the proposal was piggybacked onto the stalled “fiscal cliff” measure. (Associated Press)

Jobless, Medicare action nears

Congress may have punted deadlines for a government shutdown and a debt ceiling deal into 2014, but the clock is ticking on two entitlement programs that will expire in December, stripping away benefits for millions of people in the new year if lawmakers don't act.

November 20, 2013
An amendment introduced by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire Republican, to preserve tight restrictions on Guantanamo detainees was defeated by a vote of 55 to 43 in the Senate. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Senate, House at odds over moving Guantanamo detainees

The Senate voted Monday night to ease restrictions on transferring suspected terrorist detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay to the U.S., overcoming GOP objections and giving President Obama at least a temporary victory on the annual defense policy bill.

November 19, 2013
Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent and one of 29 budget negotiators, wants to expand social safety nets and proposes paying for it by taxing stock trades, increasing the estate tax and raising income tax rates for the top 2 percent of earners. (Associated Press)

Sanders lays out plan to raise taxes to pay for expanded entitlements

Even as negotiators struggle to write a final fiscal 2014 budget, one of Congress' most liberal lawmakers laid out his own vision for what the government's priorities should be — complete with big jumps in taxes and social spending and cuts at the Pentagon.

November 17, 2013
Landrieu

Democrats: Obamacare fix doesn’t go far enough

Congressional Democrats largely rallied behind President Obama's shift Thursday to allow some people to keep their existing insurance policies for a year, but many said it still doesn't go far enough to permanently fix the problems with the president's signature national health law.

November 14, 2013
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, has already ruled out tax increases as negotiators begin their work Wednesday to come up with a new federal budget. There seems to be a willingness among both political parties to revisit the sequester issue. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Negotiators already stake out positions on budget

No tax increases, no major cuts to Social Security or other entitlements, and no big jump in federal spending. As House and Senate negotiators meet Wednesday to try to hammer out a unified 2014 federal budget, what's most striking is how many options they've already ruled out.

November 12, 2013
** FILE ** This this Oct. 29, 2010, file photo shows Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, in Dubuque, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Iowa lawmaker pushes to give veterans a day off on their day

As Veterans Day arrives, members of Congress have plenty of proposals on how to honor them — including one Iowa Democrat, Rep. Bruce L. Braley, who has written a bill granting many veterans in the private sector the day off.

November 10, 2013