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WASHINGTON — Two late-night votes in the Senate last weekend provide fodder for party activists already drawing up plans to reward loyalists and punish adversaries as the 2016 U.S. election cycle starts. The litmus-test votes: passage of a $1.1 trillion spending bill that Democrats criticized for being too kind to big banks and campaign donors, and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's failed constitutional objection to President Barack Obama's immigration policy. Pressure from the bases of both parties was strong enough that 40 senators -- 22 Democrats and 18 Republicans -- voted against the bill even though it included provisions to...

WASHINGTON - Stepping into an elevator on his way out of the U.S. Capitol Friday night, Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell - the next Senate Majority Leader - bid reporters farewell. "See you Monday," he said. By agreement with Democrats, a budget showdown risking a potential government shutdown had been pushed back a couple of days, creating breathing room for senators in both parties while they made plans for a pre-holiday weekend. Sen. Ted Cruz had other ideas. In a maneuver that would put the junior Republican senator from Texas at the center of another high-stakes political drama, Cruz pressed a...

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid pulled out one of his most familiar threats during perhaps his last week as majority leader, pledging to keep the Senate in session through the weekend to get 23 of President Barack Obama’s nominations confirmed and pass bills extending billions in tax breaks and providing terrorism risk insurance to commercial buildings. The Senate already worked one Saturday this month, so why not another? While the Nevada Democrat is not yet warning senators that the chamber could work on Christmas, his remarks on Monday morning were clearly aimed at getting Republicans to relent on procedurally fighting...

For all of their foresight on other matters, America's founders were somewhat taken aback by the natural development of political parties. It happened anyway, even during George Washington's presidency. And although party ideology has fallen along different lines at various points in American history, it has long governed the allegiance of a majority of American voters in elections. In legislative matters, party ideology takes the form of the modern party caucus system. In order to achieve their goals, partisan lawmakers collaborate, choose leaders, and agree on strategies in advance. On Saturday, lawmakers demonstrated why this system evolved and is necessary....

In the aftermath of the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report focused on Bush-era techniques, the Obama administration's own counterterrorism practices are coming under increased scrutiny. Gruesome details of forced rectal feedings without medical necessity, waterboarding, and sleep deprivation were chronicled in the report's executive summary, dredging up harsh practices employed during the George W. Bush administration. But on Capitol Hill, Republicans charge that the Central Intelligence Agency's approach to counterterrorism has not grown more humane—it's merely shifted. "Obviously, we don't interrogate prisoners anymore," says Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who chaired the Intelligence Committee during the Bush administration....

Other than the Koch brothers, there is arguably no one outgoing-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid disdains more than the Tea Party. And no one represents the Tea Party in the Senate more than Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Yet, after hours of tedious wrangling, Reid on Friday agreed to allow a vote on a measure from Cruz questioning the constitutionality of President Obama’s executive order on Deferred Action, which does, in effect, grant de facto amnesty to upwards of 5 million illegal aliens. Cruz told Breitbart News that a Senate vote on Obama’s executive action was important for two reasons: “First,...

It’s a question that will prove crucial next year when Mitch McConnell takes the reins of a new Senate: Just how big is the Ted Cruz caucus? Three votes on the “cromnibus” late Saturday night suggest it could be as large as 22 senators — a dangerously high number for McConnell — or as few as a handful. Let’s break down the three votes — on filibustering the $1.1 trillion package, on Cruz’s point of order aimed at targeting the president’s immigration action, and final passage. The high-water mark for the Texas Republican came on his point of order vote,...

The Senate voted 56-40 late Saturday evening to pass a $1.1 trillion spending package that funds most of the government through next September. The vote culminates a week of acrimonious sniping and sends the spending bill to President Obama’s desk for a signature. The debate exposed divisions within the Democratic and Republican caucuses on both sides of the Capitol and sets the stage for what could be a year of internecine squabbling in 2015. Twenty-one Senate Democrats voted against the bill while 24 Republicans voted for it, including every member of the Senate GOP leadership. Democratic opponents included several senators...

Bloomberg is title and link only: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-13/senate-push-on-final-spending-bill-thwarted-by-disputes.html

Congress gave itself until Wednesday to pass a government funding bill after the two Republican senators whose efforts led to a government shutdown in 2013 disrupted legislation that would avert a shutdown. Unable to pass a massive spending bill that would keep the government funded for a year, the Senate on Saturday approved a stopgap measure to prevent a shutdown at midnight. The maneuver came during a rare Saturday session after GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee demanded a vote Friday to defund President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, thwarting Senate leadership's hopes to pass a $1.1 trillion...

Their power ebbing, Senate Democrats launched a last-minute drive Saturday to confirm roughly 20 of President Barack Obama's nominees, and several Republicans blamed tea party-backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for creating an opening for the outgoing majority party to exploit. Lawmakers took a break in their intrigue long enough to send Obama legislation that provides funds for the government to remain open until Wednesday at midnight, easing concerns of a shutdown. A separate, $1.1 trillion long-term funding bill remained in limbo. Republicans tried to slow the nomination proceedings, but several voiced unhappiness with Cruz, a potential presidential candidate in 2016....

WASHINGTON – Republican aren’t mincing words about some in their own party as the political divide grows and the deadline to pass a spending bill nears. Heading into a rare Saturday session, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News he was surprised that GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah went over his head Friday night and help up a vote on the $1.1 trillion spending bill. A senior GOP source lashed out at Cruz and Lee, calling the move “hamfisted” and “amateurish.” Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that he was surprised by...

Sen. Ted Cruz, the firebrand conservative freshman from Texas, has blown up the Senate leadership’s plans to have a peaceful weekend by forcing round-the-clock votes on President Obama’s nominees and the $1.1 trillion omnibus.Cruz took to the floor late Friday to castigate congressional leaders for trying to pass the 1,600-page spending bill after only a few hours of debate and questioned the resolve of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to fight Obama’s executive order protecting five million illegal immigrants from deportation.“Even though millions of voters rose up just one month ago to protest how...

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., says she probably won't run for office again. "Oh Lord, no," Landrieu, 59, told reporters when asked if another campaign, perhaps for governor in 2015 or the Senate in 2016, was in her future. "Well, let me say, I'm not going to say a definite 'no' about any of those two," Landrieu said. "I've been trained to never say no. But it is highly, highly unlikely." [Snip] Matthew Lehner, her communications director, said he expects her farewell address later Thursday to be upbeat, and reflect on some of the contributions - such as oil and gas...

After hours of debate on the massive government spending package, the Senate adjourned until Saturday, pushing a fight that dominated Congress for days into the weekend. The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the $1.1 trillion package, which has already passed the House, Sens. Mitch McConnell and Barbara Mikulski said late Friday. Members from both parties in the Senate are trying to make last-minute changes to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made a procedural move Friday that would set up a vote on final passage in the Senate no later than Monday. In a surprise development, the...

Senate Republicans huddled over lunch Friday afternoon in the Capitol to discuss strategy on the House-passed spending bill and other pending legislation, exiting the meeting with a resounding message: Let's get this done and get the heck out of here. But that feeling of optimism was quickly squashed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been negotiating with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Friday afternoon to bring up a vote on the omnibus bill later in the evening, keeping the government's doors open and allowing senators to take the weekend off. Many members on both sides of the aisle were hopeful that...

If some (i.e. Harry Reid) in the Senate seek unanimous consent to go straight to a vote on Cronybus, but Cruz (and others who may wish to join him) delay this move by forcing Reid to hold a cloture vote - and thus stall the vote in the Senate on Cronybus by 30 hours - would you support this if it led to a short-term funding measure? While this move may upset Boehner, who has now bent his will to Obama's desire, would you support Cruz (or whomever may wish to do this - Warren?) doing this?

Rapp felt his anger stir a bit. “Senator, I have been shot on three separate occasions in the service of this country. I received this nice little scar at the ripe old age of twenty-five.” Rapp showed her the left side of his face and craned his neck to show her fellow committee members the white mark that ran nearly four inches along his jaw-bone. “It was delivered by the man who was behind the terrorist attack on Pan Am flight one-oh-three. One hundred seventy-nine Americans were on that flight. Thirty-five of my classmates from Syracuse University perished, including a...

In the 219-206 vote, 67 Republicans rejected the spending bill, largely because it failed to take action to stop Obama's executive immigration order. But that was offset by 57 Democrats who voted in favor. Shortly after passage, both the House and Senate passed a 48-hour extension to allow the Senate more time to consider the measure. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said it would be debated on Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's now up to the Senate to pass a huge $1.1 trillion spending bill to keep the government running, but not before a battle between old school veterans and new breed freshmen such as tea partier Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren, a liberal with a national following.