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Senate Democrats are making it clear that Sen. Jeff Sessions will not have an easy time being confirmed as President-elect Donald J. Trump’s first attorney general. In a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Democrats on the committee pushed for extensive confirmation hearings, indicating that they plan resistance, despite the fact that they referred to him as “a colleague” with whom they “have a personal and cordial relationship.” The senators also requested that Grassley allow for outside witnesses to testify on Sessions’ track record on immigration, civil and voting rights, women’s rights, and government oversight due...

Senator Chris Coons (D., Del.) said on CNN Tuesday that he regrets the rule change Senate Democrats made to the nomination process.“The filibuster no longer acts as an emergency brake on the nomination,” Coons said.The senator was questioned on the nomination process and the rule changes that senate Democrats had made in order to keep Republicans from derailing their selected nominees.Coons admitted that Democrats had watered down the nomination process after Kate Bolduan mentioned that Republican’s could now take advantage of the simpler consent process.“I do regret that. Frankly I think many of us will regret that in this congress because it would...

The Democratic Party, soliciting for donations to celebrate Vice President Biden's 75th birthday, is giving a "free" bumper sticker that declares "I DIDN'T VOTE FOR TRUMP" as a reward. "Help us make Joe's last White House birthday extra sweet," reads the Democratic email solicitation.

The company said the move is an alignment with industry trends in which fewer companies offer pensions. WILMINGTON, Del. -- The DuPont Company said it will eliminate its pension contribution for active employees. ... active employees will no longer accrue additional benefits, and employees under age 50 also will no longer receive dental, medical and life insurance benefits in retirement. ... Since 1998, nearly one-quarter of all Fortune 500 companies have stopped contributing to employees' primary pension plans, and 40 percent offer only a 401(k).

Vice President Joe Biden phoned his Republican successor, Mike Pence, Wednesday morning to congratulate him and Donald Trump on their sweeping victory and invite the vice president-elect to join him for dinner at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies are examining faked documents aimed at discrediting the Hillary Clinton campaign as part of a broader investigation into what U.S. officials believe has been an attempt by Russia to disrupt the presidential election, people with knowledge of the matter said. U.S. Senator Tom Carper, a Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has referred one of the documents to the FBI for investigation on the grounds that his name and stationery were forged to appear authentic, some of the sources who had knowledge of that discussion said. In the letter identified as fake, Carper...

Engineers erected a commercial Antares rocket vertical on its launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore Friday, positioning the 13-story booster for liftoff Sunday night with more than 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station. With a Cygnus supply ship enclosed in its nose cone, the rocket rolled out of its Horizontal Integration Facility on a self-propelled transporter starting around 5:12 p.m. EDT (2112 GMT) Thursday for the mile-long journey to launch pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia. Orbital ATK’s ground team secured the rocket after reaching the seaside launch pad at dusk, then hoisted the booster...

The 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season is heating up. Two tropical systems are taking aim at the United States. Tropical Depression Eight (Hermine) is expected to brush the Outer Banks of NC. Tropical Depression Nine (Ian) is in the Gulf of Mexico, anticipated to affect the Florida coast. Public Advisories: Ian(TD 9) Hermine (TD 8)Discussions: Ian (TD9) Hermine (TD 8)

Richard Reid was already a two-time felon when authorities searched his Delaware apartment and found marijuana, crack cocaine divided into sales-size plastic bags, powder cocaine, a scale — and a loaded .32 caliber handgun, an unloaded .25 caliber pistol and ammunition for two other types of weapons. Last week, President Obama commuted Reid’s 25-year sentence and made him one of the hundreds of drug users and dealers who the White House says have done enough time. But at the same time, Mr. Obama forgave scores of gun crimes convictions for the offenders, raising thorny questions about whether the White House...

Delaware’s death penalty law is unconstitutional in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, the state's high court ruled Tuesday. In a 148-page opinion, a majority of Delaware Supreme Court justices said the state law violates the U.S. Constitution because it allows a judge to sentence a person to death independently of a jury’s recommendation. …

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Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., his wife, Jill, center, and Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., applaud during talk on the final night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

A long profile on Hillary Clinton in the Washington Post earlier this week highlights (the 2011 Libyan intervention) as a key indicator of her approach to foreign policy. Clinton claims that the Libyan bombing campaign was an example of “smart power at its best.” If she actually believes that, it raises serious questions about her judgment, as well as about her ability to analyze foreign policy dispassionately and with the best interests of the United States at heart. If Clinton is willing to point to Libya as a “signature moment in her four-year tenure” as secretary of state, as the...

If Israel does not take steps to separate from the Palestinians, Jews will continue to be killed in terror attacks and the two-state solution will be in danger, opposition leader Isaac Herzog told US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday. Biden met with Herzog before concluding his three-day trip to Israel in a conversation that focused on the current wave of terror and on Biden's impressions on the Palestinian issue based on his talks with leaders during his visit. The US vice president's trip saw him meet both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas separately. Biden...

It made barely a ripple in the national last week when initially reported, but 5 state workers in Delaware were indicted for Food Stamp fraud totaling nearly a million dollars. An official statement from the Delaware state government reported on June 14: Attorney General Matt Denn announced today the arrests and indictments of seven former state of Delaware employees for theft of federal money. All seven were employed by the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), and were responsible for issuing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, and three previous arrests were also related to the same investigation. Two of...

President Obama’s Twitter account, which is run by his "Organizing for Action" staff, follows 636,000 accounts. Many of them you might expect: Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry. Even Mariah Carey and Snoop Dogg don't really raise an eyebrow. But several accounts on the presidential follow list fit a different theme: Asa Akira, a porn star who has 653,000 followers and, in her Twitter bio, states "I have an award-winning a****le." Joanna Angel (390,000 followers), who describes herself as a "multiple award winning punk porno princess;" Penthouse Pet Of The Year Nikki Benz (808,000 followers); and Ashley Steel (138,000 followers),...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The Latest on the Orlando gay nightclub massacre (all times local): 12:20 p.m. Vice President Joe Biden is calling for banning civilian ownership of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines following the mass shooting in Orlando.

PHOENIX — Delaware is stealing millions of dollars that belongs to Arizona and its residents, Attorney General Mark Brnovich is charging. In a new lawsuit being filed Thursday at the U.S. Supreme Court, Brnovich and colleagues from other states contend Delaware is illegally telling MoneyGram Payment Systems to give it any funds not claimed by customers. MoneyGram, in the business of selling money orders and travelers' checks, is incorporated in that state. But the attorneys general say federal law requires such funds to be given to the state where it was purchased. The lawsuit says Delaware has been doing this...

Top figures in the Democratic Party pummeled Donald Trump Thursday as they publicly coalesced around Hillary Clinton for the first time in her push for the White House. The three-pronged attack from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren came on the same day the former and latter formally endorsed Clinton. The fiercest attack came from Warren, who excoriated Trump as "a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and who serves no one but himself" and warned of a "full-scale assault on the integrity of the federal judiciary and its judges."...