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The Senate voted 49-40 Monday evening to confirm John B. King Jr., President Barack Obama’s nominee, as secretary of education. A total of 11 senators did not vote on King’s confirmation, while those who voted against him cited his loyalty to the system and support for Common Core education standards. King, 41, has been the acting secretary of the Department of Education since January, after Arne Duncan stepped down from the Cabinet post at the end of last year. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, spoke in support of King on the Senate floor....

Democrats accused Republicans on Tuesday of taking their cues from Donald Trump after the Senate’s No. 2 Republican said President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court should expect to be treated like a “piñata.” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said Republicans were “acting like big, tough people threatening to destroy the reputation of a Supreme Court nominee they haven’t even met yet.” Reid and other Democrats denounced a comment by Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, who told reporters late Monday that anyone nominated by Obama to the high court “will bear some resemblance to a piñata.” Reid...

The House omnibus bill, released last night, includes a provision that would quadruple the number of H-2B visas for low-skilled guest workers. The measure would increase the number of H-2B visa workers allowed in the U.S. in 2016 from 66,000 to around 264,000. The new provision does not increase the current H-2B visa cap of 66,000 but would exclude any worker who has already received an H-2B visa in the last three years. The provision can be found on page 701 of the omnibus spending bill:

Sen. Sessions says this hurts wages and reduces job prospects for native-born workers. The upcoming appropriations legislation would massively expand the foreign worker program, quadrupling the issuance of low-wage visas, according to an analysis from Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R., Ala.) office. The H-2B visa program allows employers to hire foreign workers to come temporarily into the United States to work either in nonagricultural labor or a temporary service job. For example, some workers who use the H-2B visa program could be employed as a housekeeper, an amusement park worker, or a landscape laborer. According to the senator's office, the language...

Former Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has agreed to pay off $800,000 of debt from his failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 2012, according to a report in The Texas Tribune. According to a September letter obtained by the Tribune, Dewhurst has agreed to pay the debt over the next year but he said that he was not legally obligated to pay the money to his vendors. “While there is obviously no legal obligation that I personally pay the vendors invoices, and while a few of you let me down with messaging and media that was counter-productive, plus there were...

Sen. John Cornyn is calling on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to appoint a special counsel to oversee the investigation into Hillary Clinton off-the-books email arrangement. “Secretary Clinton’s misconduct is evident, and her intent — since the beginning of her tenure as Secretary of State — to keep information from the public is clear,” stated Cornyn, the Senate GOP’s second-in-command. “The present circumstances surrounding her use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State could not be more extraordinary,” the Texas senator continued, “nor the conflicts greater. Americans deserve the assurance that justice — and justice alone...

On the floor of the U.S. Senate on Sunday evening, something remarkable—a little bit insider-y in Washington, but remarkable nonetheless—happened: The Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)52% , his entire leadership team, and most of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate voice voted through measures to fund Planned Parenthood in its entirety and to help protect President Barack Obama’s nuclear arms deal with Iran. The reason the voice vote is significant is because McConnell, especially, and his Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)59% , purposefully launched what appears to be an unprecedented effort to duck accountability for their votes—and the...

On the floor of the U.S. Senate on Sunday evening, something remarkable—a little bit insider-y in Washington, but remarkable nonetheless—happened: The Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), his entire leadership team, and most of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate voice voted through measures to fund Planned Parenthood in its entirety and to help protect President Barack Obama’s nuclear arms deal with Iran. The reason the voice vote is significant is because McConnell, especially, and his Whip Sen. John Cornyn, purposefully launched what appears to be an unprecedented effort to duck accountability for their votes—and the votes of every...

The No. 2 Senate Republican instantly dismissed the fresh shutdown threat from members of the House Freedom Caucus, who declared they wouldn’t vote for any spending bill keeping the government open if it funds Planned Parenthood.“We’re not going to engage in a shutdown scenario,” said Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas. “That will set the pro-life movement back, not advance it. We’ve got better ideas to actually advance the pro-life agenda.”President Barack Obama has threatened to veto any bill that eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood. Republicans have been seeking to defund the group for years, but many have dug in...

Senate Republicans concede they are not likely to have enough votes to overturn President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran unless they can swing a key Democratic voice against the accord. They’re setting their sights on Hillary Clinton, vowing to tie her to the deal in hopes of pressuring her to oppose it. GOP leaders need 67 votes to override Obama’s expected veto and keep sanctions on Iran in place. The administration has not yet announced an accord but lawmakers expect it to come soon. “It could be a good policy strategy. It’s not going to be hard to come up...

The most potent illustration that Republicans have shifted their attitudes on immigration came Tuesday morning when all GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment from Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to severely limit the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country. The committee’s overwhelming ‘No’ vote shows that the battle for Republicans’ souls on immigration has shifted away from groups that want to reduce the influx of foreigners, like the Heritage Foundation, NumbersUSA, and Fairness for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), toward free-market groups that applaud increased immigration, such as Americans for Tax Reform and the CATO Institute....

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance the USA Freedom Act Sunday evening, but too late to prevent Sen. Rand Paul from being able to force a short-term expiration of Patriot Act surveillance authorities at midnight. The overwhelming vote Sunday came after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., threw in the towel on advancing any short-term extensions of the Patriot Act authorities under the continuing objections of Paul, the fellow Kentuckian he has endorsed for the presidency. The Senate voted 77-17, far above the 60-vote threshold to advance the bill. Several more steps are required, however, before a vote on final passage,...

Hours before the Senate’s PATRIOT Act standoff hit its peak this month, Republican leaders thought they had Rand Paul figured out. He would object, rail on the matter on the Senate floor — and then let at least a temporary extension through. “I don’t agree with Sen. Paul on this issue, but I think he’s been a constructive guy,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said just before the week-long recess. A day later with the clock past midnight and the Senate in a standstill largely because of Paul’s objections, Cornyn wasn’t nearly as generous. “I’m a little surprised,”...

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans began to look at our national security in a different light. No longer were the lines of battle neatly drawn and enemies easily identified. In the 21st century, threats would be constantly evolving and growing even more complex. The crisis in Syria and Iraq has illustrated just how dangerous these threats are, both abroad and at home. In February, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center estimated more than 20,000 foreign fighters had joined the Islamic State or other related groups in Syria — among them, some 3,000 were from Western countries. More than...

Forty-seven Senate Republicans are signaling in an open letter to Iran and the White House that a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program will be at risk once President Obama leaves office. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously...

President Obama’s pick to serve as the next attorney general is having a hard time finding Republican supporters. To be confirmed by the Senate, Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch only needs four Republicans to support her nomination. But it is unclear where those votes will come from. Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah) is the only Republican so far who has signaled his intention to vote for Lynch, though several others have spoken favorably about her. But many Republicans are expressing concerns about Lynch's stance on immigration and what they suggest is a lack of “independence" from the White House. Lynch’s confirmation...

Republicans voice support for Netanyahu congressional speech Top Republican leaders took to public and private channels Thursday to expose a coordinated campaign by the Obama administration to attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his acceptance of an invitation to speak before Congress, according to conversations with multiple lawmakers and leading pro-Israel insiders. The statements, many of which were obtained by the Washington Free Beacon in conversations with leaders in Congress, come in the aftermath of a widely cited New York Times report in which Obama administration officials accused Netanyahu of breaking diplomatic protocol by agreeing to speak before receiving...

Egypt has offered to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Libya after Islamic State (Isis) released pictures showing 21 kidnapped Egyptian Christians paraded in orange jumpsuits. Egypt said it had no choice but take urgent measures on Friday with Isis expanding fast across Libya, its war-stricken neighbour. “We are helping them,” Cairo’s foreign ministry spokesman, Badr Abdelatty, said. “If they would like to come back from Libya, we are facilitating their return to their home country.” The Coptic Christian guest workers were kidnapped in Sirte, on Libya’s coast, by Isis units based there in two operations in December and January....

If congressional Republican wanted to make the ongoing controversy surrounding Benjamin Netanyahu even more of a partisan food fight, this is clearly the way to do exactly that. Senate Republicans on Thursday moved to officially welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.S. ahead of his planned speech to Congress next month, the latest development in a saga that has roiled politics in both countries. Almost all GOP senators were listed as co-sponsors of a resolution by Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) saying the Senate “eagerly awaits the address of Prime Minister Netanyahu before a joint session of the...

At the start of the last Congress, John Cornyn wrote an editorial titled “Partial Government Shutdown May Be Needed to Restore Fiscal Sanity.” He’s singing a different tune today. “I’ve evolved,” the Texas Republican and newly minted Senate majority whip said in an interview last week with CQ Roll Call. For starters, the memory of the 2013 shutdown over Obamacare instigated by his fellow Texas senator, Ted Cruz, remains fresh. “Part of wisdom is to learn from your experiences, and I think we learned the hard way that shutdowns are not well received by the American people,” Cornyn said. “And...