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In an interview with National Journal, the Republican senator who has been in office since 1976 said he "might very well consider" not campaigning for another term if an "outstanding person" were to run for his position. . . . Asked if he had any people in mind, Hatch replied: "Well, Mitt Romney would be perfect." He added that he has reached out to Romney about the idea.

Democrats are delaying for one week an initial committee vote on Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the committee, said Democrats had requested that the committee's vote on Gorsuch be punted to next week. "I understand that the minority would like to hold [him] over," Grassley said during the Judiciary Committee's meeting on Monday. Under committee rules any one member can request that a nomination be held the first time it appears on the agenda. Democrats were widely expected to delay the committee's vote until next week. The delay means...

The Senate overturned late Obama-era rules Thursday meant to protect consumer privacy from internet service providers that want to sell it. The regulations were passed in October, but hadn’t yet gone into effect. They would have required ISPs like Comcast and Verizon to ask permission before using or selling personal information. ISPs collect data like your browsing history, your physical location, the apps you’re using, and your financial and health information. They can then sell that data to advertisers, who use it to tailor their marketing to your individual wants and needs. If customers don’t want their data to be...

As the Senate Judiciary Committee was hearing from witnesses for and against Judge Neil Gorsuch, his Supreme Court nomination was delivered a critical blow: Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would join with other Democrats in filibustering Gorsuch — a move that would require at least 60 senators to vote to end debate on the nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Senate Democrat said Thursday he will oppose President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee and lead a filibuster of the choice, setting up a politically charged showdown with Republicans with far-reaching implications for future judicial nominees. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer criticized Judge Neil Gorsuch, saying he “almost instinctively favors the powerful over the weak” and would not serve as a check on Trump or be a mainstream justice. “I have concluded that I cannot support Neil Gorsuch’s nomination,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “My vote will be no and I urge my colleagues to...

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee met today to question Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch in the second day of his confirmation hearing. From the travel ban to abortion to statutory interpretation, here are some of the key exchanges between Gorsuch and the Senators.

Several people have compared Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch with former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Senator Dianne Feinstein tried to draw a contrast between the two men on the Second Amendment, but was unable to do so.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has changed her media strategy amid low poll numbers in her home state by making herself more available to the press in Massachusetts. Warren's "creative media-dodging habits are a running joke among her home-state press corps," Politico reported over the weekend. "Whenever the senator makes a public appearance, Massachusetts reporters know to keep one eye fixed on the exit doors." Last week, however, the Massachusetts Democrat held three open-to-media events in her home state. Each event was followed by lengthy huddles with reporters. [Snip] Terry MacCormack, the Massachusetts Republican Party's communication director, does not find...

Not seeing a thread so starting one...

Is one of the U.S. Senate’s top Republican squishes on his way out in 2020? Rumor is, Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. is considering retirement. The 76-year-old moderate has served as governor of Tennessee, secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002. He has run for president twice. Were Alexander to run for and win reelection in 2020, he would be 86 at the end of his term. But should he choose not to, former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning has been mentioned as a potential candidate.

SALT LAKE CITY — Former presidential hopeful Evan McMullin stated Friday he may run for public office again and is considering the possibility of challenging either Rep. Jason Chaffetz or Senator Orrin Hatch. McMullin made the comments Friday during an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Reddit in the “EnoughTrumpSpam subreddit. One user asked McMullin if he is considering running against Jason Chaffetz in 2018, and McMullin responded from a verified Reddit account to say he is considering such a move but must consider the desires of Utah constituents.

Before the inauguration, Donald Trump and Preet Bharara met and an agreement was struck that would keep US Attorney Bharara in his current position in New York under a new Trump administration. New York Senator Charles Schumer was instrumental in getting Bharara appointed to that position and in return was asked from time to time to do favors for the senator and his allies. Up until recently, President Trump had no idea what was really going on. Once President Trump’s staff understood the quid pro quo, they had no choice but to ask for Bharara’s resignation.

Senate Democrats have expressed frustration that the complex political dynamics surrounding Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court have left the Democratic caucus in flux, as the Trump administration appears poised to install a Scalia-ite conservative on the high court for a generation. The vexing political calculus concerns seven Democrats standing for reelection next year in states President Donald Trump carried in the 2016 general election. These lawmakers find themselves caught between a furious new class of left-wing activists and organizers, still reeling from Trump’s victory, and a midterm electorate in their home states likely to favor Republicans. As...

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) on Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) following the Senator's objection to a bill advancing Montenegro’s bid to join NATO. "The Senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin." Full Senate session here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTdqIlfp8XE

A Fox News poll released Wednesday evening found nearly one-third of Democrats have never heard of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is a lifetime politician and has been in Congress for more than 35 years. The March 12-14 survey concluded 31 percent of registered Democratic voters do not know who the New York lawmaker is, while 30 percent of all voters do not know him.

Your Senate seat, give it to me, now! Thanks to the very bad, low, not-classy, sad ratings during his stint as host of “Celebrity Apprentice,” Arnold Schwarzenegger suddenly finds himself with a lot of free time. He has a handful of movies in the pipeline, but nothing that sounds particularly Earth-shattering in terms of box office potential. So, if the rumors are true, he’s turned his attention back to the political arena.

Pay higher taxes. Watch Rachel Maddow. Colonoscopy. See Trump naked. These are things on the list of stuff I would rather do than have Arnold Schwarzenegger as a US Senator. It was reported today in Politico that the Former-Governor of the Golden State is being considered as a viable candidate to run for Senate for the projected-vacant seat of Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein will be 38,324 years old in 2018 (kidding, she will be 85), is expected to retire. With Trump in the White House, no democrat is looking forward to the prospect of sitting in a minority party seat in...

Schwarzenegger spokesman Daniel Ketchell told Politico that the former governor hasn’t ruled out the possibility of seeking a seat in the upper chamber “Right now Gov. Schwarzenegger’s focus is on using his platform to bring some sensibility and coherency to Washington by fighting for redistricting reform, like we did in California,’’ Ketchell told the publication. “We are keeping all of our options open as far as how we can accomplish that.”

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday revoked a rule that aimed to give the public more input into federal land management decisions, the latest move by the Republican-led Congress to undo Obama administration environmental regulations it sees as a burden. The Senate voted 51-48 to approve a resolution to repeal the Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Management Planning rule, known as BLM 2.0, finalized in December by the Obama administration.