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Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn on Monday marked the five-year anniversary of President Obama’s economic stimulus, but it was hardly a laudatory toast to the 2009 bid to restart America’s infrastructure and workforce. Mr. Cornyn, Texas Republican, said promises of “shovel-ready” jobs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were supposed to “get our economy moving.” “Five years later, our economy is still sluggish, Americans are dropping out of the workforce by the thousands, and the President’s latest big government experiment, Obamacare, is now on track to slash 2 million more jobs from the workforce,” he said.

early two years after Ted Cruz's come-from-behind primary victory, Tea Party challengers are fizzling in Texas. Defeating the former Senate and House GOP campaign committee heads would be a top trophy for conservative insurgents. But with just over two weeks until Election Day, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) are both heavy favorites against their primary opponents. Texas Republicans laugh that gadfly Rep. Steve Stockman's (R-Texas) challenge to Cornyn has been a comedy of errors. Tea Party leader Katrina Pierson (R) has failed to gain any real traction against Sessions as she’s struggled with fundraising and name...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is returning to Longview for a fundraiser that aims low at the wallet but high on attendance. “What we’re trying to do with this event is something I don’t think, typically, has been done before,” said John Coppedge, a Longview doctor. “We wanted to have an event that was fun and afforded the opportunity for a lot more people to participate in the process.” Political fundraisers, particularly for national office candidates, tend to be those $1,000-a-plate soirées that most people just hear about. Coppedge said the one planned for Feb. 16 is designed to draw as...

WASHINGTON, D.C. —U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) issued the following statement after voting against raising the debt ceiling. “After five years of out-of-control White House spending, including a jobless, trillion-dollar stimulus, now is hardly the time to give the President carte blanche to continue his spending spree. I voted against raising the debt ceiling because we need sensible reforms to cut down on spending and restrain Washington going forward.”

The U.S. Senate could approve a one-year extension of the U.S. debt limit by mid-afternoon on Wednesday after Republicans and Democrats agreed to shorten debate time ahead of an approaching snowstorm, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said. The Democratic-controlled Senate at 1:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) will take a procedural vote on the "clean" debt ceiling hike passed on Tuesday by the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold the majority. Should the legislation receive the required 60 votes to advance, the Senate will move immediately to a final vote on the measure, said Reid, a Democrat. The vote would likely occur...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Senate will begin voting on a House-passed bill to extend the U.S. debt limit at 1:45 p.m. Eastern. Very short article....

Americans for a Conservative Direction, an affiliate of the Silicon Valley-backed FWD.us advocacy group, on Friday launched a remarkable $750,000 ad campaign heaping praise on the House GOP for its new plan for immigration reform. President Barack Obama signaled Friday in a Google Hangout interview that he was open to the GOP terms, meaning reform is looking more likely than it did a week ago. The 10-day buy includes national broadcast TV and cable TV, plus talk radio. The ad, produced by FP1 Strategies, ends with type on the screen saying: “HOUSE REPUBLICANS WANT TO FIX IMMIGRATION – STRENGTHEN OUR...

Despite a crowded field of Republicans seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, voters are well-served to support him for a third term. Within a decade of his first election, Cornyn emerged as a party leader in the Senate, quickly climbing to the position of minority whip — a role in which he wields tremendous influence in the 100-member body. While several of his primary opponents articulately express what they see as Cornyn’s complacency in supporting an all-too-powerful federal government, none can be considered a serious challenger. The seven candidates seeking to unseat Cornyn are hotel industry executive Curt Cleaver;...

Members of the Armed Citizen Project say they’re not getting any direct response to their requests for U.S. Senator John Cornyn to change his mind about Obamacare. They say they want the Texas Republican to support fellow Texan Ted Cruz in the effort to defund the health care reform law. Project founder Kyle Coplen says the response from Cornyn’s Houston office has been unsatisfying so far… “They've painted John Cornyn as a master strategist who, you know, we just don't know what's good for us (but) he does,” explains Coplen. “It's really a lot of elitist talk.”

Sen. Ted Cruz refused point-blank to endorse his Texas Republican colleague Sen. John Cornyn in his upcoming reelection bid at an event here Friday. “I think it is very likely I’m going to stay out of all incumbent runs,” Cruz responded, when posed with an endorsement question at the annual Texas Tribune festival. Moderator Evan Smith, the head of the Texas Tribune, said that the junior Texas Republican’s failure to endorse Cornyn had inspired tea party activists to call for Cornyn’s head. “You could put a stop to this,” Smith said of grassroots unrest. “Endorse him right now. Will you...