No longer impeded by Republican blocking tactics, Democrats are on track to win confirmation of up to 88 of President Barack Obama’s top judicial nominations this year, a total that would be the highest for any president in two decades.

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On both ends of the Capitol, the parties controlling Congress are happily showcasing futility.

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(AP) Officials say they will look into a tax break for Maryland residents received by Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Alaska Public Radio Network reported that Dan Sullivan owned a home in Bethesda, and the Alaska Democratic Party chairman asked ...

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The Senate voted Wednesday to advance an election-year bill limiting tax breaks for U.S. companies that move operations overseas. But big hurdles remain.

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With an August deadline looming, the House is poised to act on a bill that would temporarily patch over a multibillion-dollar pothole in federal highway and transit programs while ducking the issue of how to put the programs on sound financial footing.

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House Republicans won't support a plan by Senate Democrats to prevent states from facing a cutoff of federal highway and transit aid this summer, a key House committee chairman warned Wednesday, saying the proposal would force a tax increase.

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Two senators unveiled a bipartisan plan Wednesday to raise federal gasoline and diesel taxes for the first time in more than two decades, pitching the proposal as a solution to Congress' struggle to pay for highway and transit programs.

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The Senate for the first time confirmed an openly gay black man to become a U.S. District Court judge. By a 98-0 vote Tuesday, senators approved President Barack Obama’s choice of Darrin Gayles to join the federal bench in Florida.

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The House has voted to make permanent a generous tax break that makes buying new equipment and improving property easier for small businesses.

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Senate Republicans blocked an election-year Democratic bill on Wednesday that would boost the federal minimum wage, handing a defeat to President Barack Obama on a vote that is sure to reverberate in this year's congressional elections.

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