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Sean Lengell

slengell@washingtontimes.com

Sean Lengell was a staff writer for The Washington Times.

Articles by Sean Lengell

Democratic Whip Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., left, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speak during a media availability after their meeting to discuss bounty programs, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Goodell pledges player safety reforms, Sen. Durbin says

Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday assured him the league was taking steps to project player safety and the league's integrity in the wake of an ongoing scandal involving player bounties.

June 20, 2012
Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, speaks to the media about the results of the meeting with the attorney general on Tuesday. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

Last-minute deal fizzles; Holder contempt vote still on tap

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. faces a contempt of Congress hearing Wednesday after refusing a last-minute compromise offer to turn over subpoenaed documents to a House committee investigating the botched Fast and Furious gunrunning operation.

June 19, 2012
**FILE** An irrigation pivot remains along a highway several miles near the proposed new route for the Keystone XL pipeline in Neligh, Neb. (Associated Press)

GOP sees roadblock to Keystone pipeline

Capitol Hill Republicans say yet another environmental impact study of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline is unwarranted and nothing more than a stall tactic by the Obama administration that threatens the project.

June 18, 2012
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, speaks June 12, 2012, to reporters on Capitol Hill following a political strategy session with other GOP Senate leaders. (Associated Press)

McConnell: Obama a threat to First Amendment

The Senate's top Republican on Friday portrayed the Obama administration as an Orwellian-style authority bent on stifling free speech of dissidents and whose "radicalism" threatens the First Amendment.

June 15, 2012
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, doesn't have "much of a leg to stand on" in his complaints about Senate Republicans preventing votes on more judicial nominees, a conservative critic contends. (Associated Press)

Senate GOP signals halt on circuit judge nominees

Senate Republicans have signaled that they will block further votes on White House nominations for some top federal courts until after the November presidential election, a move Democrats decry as partisan obstructionism that will strain a judicial system already suffering a backlog of vacancies.

June 14, 2012

Permits for rallies, marches in Tampa still available

The city of Tampa, Fla., has received fewer permit applications than expected from groups seeking to hold rallies, protest marches and other outside events during the Republican National Convention in August — extending a Monday deadline for organizations wishing to exercise their First Amendment rights.

June 13, 2012
** FILE ** Former Republican Representative from Florida, Allen West. Associated Press)

Florida’s West has the money, needs votes

Rep. Allen B. West, the acerbic Florida Republican who emerged two years ago as a leading face of the national tea party movement, is rarely short of words. And as the freshman amps up his re-election bid, neither is he short of money.

June 13, 2012
David Axelrod ** FILE **

Obama adviser denies administration leaks

Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod insisted Sunday that national security leaks weren't coming from the White House while Republicans continued to put the responsibility squarely at the feet of the president.

June 10, 2012
President Obama leaves after talking about the economy on Friday, June 8, 2012, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Taking a look back on a bad week for Obama

When President Obama looks back on the past week, perhaps he'll remember fondly the pies that first lady Michelle Obama purchased for him at a bakery in Virginia – because the rest of his week was a political nightmare.

June 8, 2012
House Speaker John A. Boehner says during a news conference he is confident Congress will pass a transportation bill sooner or later this year. (Associated Press)

Transport funding may be delayed

House Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday that if Congress can't come up with a long-term transportation funding bill this month he will shelve the matter until the late-year lame-duck session, a stance Democrats say is a stalling tactic designed to stifle the economy — and make President Obama look bad — until after the November elections.

June 7, 2012
**FILE** Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican (Associated Press)

Media, lawmakers balk at new labor-news rules

Members of Congress have sided with the media to blast a new Labor Department policy that tightens control over the distribution of employment data, saying the new rules threaten press freedom and raise concerns of possible Big Brother government interference.

June 6, 2012
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker greets J&D Manufacturing employee Steve Poppe of Eau Claire, Wis., during a visit to the maker of ventilation and other equipment for agriculture and similar commercial applications Monday in Altoona, Wis. (Associated Press)

Labor has much on the line in Walker recall vote

While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made his initial mark in office with polarizing anti-union measures, organized labor says its fight to oust the Republican from office is much larger than just his curtailing its collective-bargaining rights.

June 4, 2012
Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, followed by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican, right, leaves a GOP strategy session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 31, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Highway bill talks sluggish on Capitol Hill

Congress has hinted it's in danger of once again missing a self-imposed deadline on a critical spending measure, as House and Senate negotiators appear far from reaching a long-term deal to keep federal highway, rail and transit programs funded beyond June.

June 3, 2012
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat (Associated Press)

Pelosi: Raise tax-hike threshold to $1M

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday defended her proposal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning up to $1 million annually, saying she is trying to find a middle-ground approach that can jump-start debate.

May 31, 2012
Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a Republican candidate for the Senate, visits a restaurant in Houston on Tuesday, the day of the primary. Mr. Dewhurst touts his experience in the Air Force, the CIA and in business. (Associated Press)

Runoff set in Texas Senate race

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and tea-party favorite Ted Cruz are heading to a July 31 runoff in the state's Republican Senate primary, the Associated Press declared late Tuesday.

May 29, 2012
Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican primary candidate for Senate, says of Tuesday's vote: "The stakes could not be higher." (Houston Chronicle via Associated Press)

Texan aims to ride second tea party wave

One by one, several candidates hoping to be Texas' next GOP Senate nominee made their pitches to the Republican Party's forum in Erath County, just west of Fort Worth - but the few dozen voters packed inside the small meeting hall on a hot afternoon last week were getting antsy.

May 27, 2012