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Articles by Seth McLaughlin

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, walks to the floor from a closed-door meeting with Republican senators at the Capitol on Wednesday. Mr. McConnell and his Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, reached last-minute agreement to avert a possible default on government debt. (Associated press photographs)

Congress agrees to end shutdown

Moving with stunning speed, Congress voted Wednesday to end the 16-day government shutdown and avert the potential for the first major debt default in U.S. history in a deal that gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare.

October 16, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican: "What the focus should be is on making Washington, D.C., listen to the American people and respond to the very real harms that Obamacare is causing to millions of people." (Associated Press)

Three months of ups and downs for Cruz

After spending the past few months spearheading the effort to defund Obamacare, Sen. Ted Cruz relented Wednesday, saying he would not get in the way of a bipartisan spending bill that reopens the federal government and increases the nation's borrowing limit.

October 16, 2013
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is followed by reporters as he walks on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Washington. Sen. McConnell and his Democratic counterpart, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., are optimistic about forging an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced GOP leaders to drop efforts to ram their own version through the House.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Senate passes budget deal; bill heads to House

Congress was racing Wednesday night to approve legislation ending the 16-day-old government shutdown and avert the potential for the first major debt default in U.S. history in a deal that gave President Obama most of what he sought — an open government and more borrowing authority without denting Obamacare.

October 16, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gestures as he talks with reporters on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Washington. Leaders reached a last-minute agreement to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial, 16-day shutdown. Cruz said he would not try to block the agreement. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Senate leaders announce agreement to end shutdown, raise debt

Top senators struck a deal Wednesday to reopen the government and extend the federal government's borrowing authority into next year and both sides of the Capitol are hoping for quick action to reassure nervous financial markets eyeing a Thursday deadline set by the Treasury Department.

October 16, 2013
Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks during a news conference on the ongoing budget battle outside his office on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013 in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

House conservatives sabotage Boehner plan to end shutdown

Conservatives in the House sabotaged Speaker John A. Boehner's plan Tuesday to dent Obamacare while reopening the government and raising the debt ceiling, leaving senators scrambling to kick-start their own deal before Thursday's deadline for a potential default.

October 15, 2013
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks away from the microphone during a news conference after a House GOP meeting on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Washington. House GOP leaders Tuesday floated a plan to fellow Republicans to counter an emerging Senate deal to reopen the government and forestall an economy-rattling default on U.S. obligations. But the plan got mixed reviews from the rank and file, and it was not clear whether it could pass the chamber. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

House GOP unity breaks down over latest shutdown offer

House Republican leaders were searching for votes Tuesday to pass a debt increase and stopgap spending bill, facing a rebellion within their own ranks from lawmakers who felt their latest proposal to make two small dents in Obamacare wasn't enough of a victory.

October 15, 2013
Newark Mayor Cory Booker (center, at microphones), stands in front of fire-damaged 433 Hawthorne Ave., next to the place he calls home (left), as he talks about rescuing a neighbor. A report on a conservative website that he doesn't actually live there has his Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate asking him to come clean on where he lives. The special election is Wednesday. (Associated Press photographs)

GOP rival for Senate in N.J. challenges Booker’s residency

Republican Steven Lonegan said Monday that Newark Mayor Cory Booker, his rival in the New Jersey Senate race, should come clean about where he lives following a news report that raised questions about where the Democrat calls home.

October 14, 2013
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, reported some progress Monday toward a deal to avoid a threatened default and end a two-week partial government shutdown. "Everyone just needs to be patient. Perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We're not there yet," he said. (Associated Press photographs)

Senate works to end shutdown, raise debt limit

Senate leaders explored the outlines of a deal Monday that would end the two-week-old government shutdown and give the Treasury Department enough borrowing room to stave off a potential default this month, but all sides cautioned that the specifics are all still up for negotiation.

October 14, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz R-Texas addresses the Values Voter Summit, held by the Family Research Council Action, Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Cruz crushes field in presidential straw poll at Values Voters Summit

Sen. Ted Cruz trounced the competition in the presidential straw poll at the 2013 Values Voters Summit, with Dr. Ben Carson and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum coming in a distant second and third places — highlighting how Mr. Cruz has become a rock star with grassroots conservatives.

October 12, 2013
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, speaks at the Family Foundation of Virginia's annual gala at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, in Richmond. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Daniel Sangjib Min)

Ted Cruz hits back at hecklers during his Value Voters Summit speech

Illegal immigrant advocates interrupted Sen. Ted Cruz's speech to the Values Voters Summit on Friday more than a half-dozen times, calling on the Texas Republican and potential presidential candidate to support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

October 11, 2013
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, before the House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the effects the government shutdown is having on benefits and services to veterans. About 3.8 million veterans will not receive disability compensation next month if the partial government shutdown continues into late October, Shinseki told lawmakers Wednesday. Some 315,000 veterans and 202,000 surviving spouses and dependents will see pension payments stopped. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

VA outlines scope of cuts to veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been able to maintain most operations amid the government shutdown, but Secretary Eric K. Shinseki warned Congress on Wednesday that it will soon have to halt payments to more than 5 million beneficiaries.

October 9, 2013
President Obama speaks about the the budget and the partial government shutdown, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, in the Brady Press Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Debt-limit holiday, supercommittee proposed to end shutdown impasse

The government shutdown entered its second week Tuesday, and all sides said the pain is deepening — but that fight is being overshadowed quickly by the looming debt battle, which Democrats see as a last chance to try to break the tea party's influence on the GOP.

October 8, 2013