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BAGHDAD - Lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned Saturday of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces. The Sadrist Movement has heightened its rhetoric against the government in recent days, raising concerns over the cease-fires in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Still, the lawmakers and other al-Sadr officials said they are adhering to the truces. The cease-fires are crucial to Iraqi security forces' sweeps in...

California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is leading a delegation of lawmakers to Mexico, a week before he gives up his leadership post. The Los Angeles Democrat was invited by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Nunez described the four-day trip as a working visit to strengthen ties with California's most important trading partner. He is scheduled to meet with Calderon, business leaders and Mexico's top education and health officials. Last year, Nunez was criticized for spending about $70,000 from his campaign account to pay for luxury goods and meals at high-end restaurants while traveling abroad. He told reporters during a news conference...

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group. The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's National Assembly opened an investigation Wednesday into a congressman's accusations that two of President Hugo Chavez's brothers acquired 17 ranches in recent years — if true a potential stain on the image of Chavez's socialist movement. Lawmaker Wilmer Azuaje detailed his allegations in a closed-door committee session, presenting documents that he says show how an assortment of ranch lands were obtained by Chavez's brothers Argenis and Narciso. Azuaje said afterward that he asked the congressional audit commission to visit the haciendas for an inspection and to summon those who sold the properties for questioning. Azuaje, of...

WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers are questioning a Bush administration plan to eliminate requirements for farms to disclose air pollution from animal waste. Currently farms must report to federal, state and local officials when emissions of hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels. In a little-noticed proposed rule change published in the Federal Register on Dec. 28, when Congress was on its winter recess, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating the reporting requirement. EPA argued that the requirement created an unnecessary burden for farms and that the emission release reports weren't acted on at the federal level, anyway....

Eight California lawmakers are traveling overseas this week to study high-speed rail systems and other matters as the Legislature takes an 11-day spring break. Assembly members Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, are on a trip to Spain sponsored by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, and Assembly members Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, and Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, are part of a delegation visiting Japan. One reason for the trips is to study the development of high-speed rail systems in...

BAGHDAD - Parliament cleared the way Wednesday for provincial elections this year that could give Sunnis a stronger voice and usher in vast changes to Iraq's power structure. The new law — which set the vote for Oct. 1 — is one of the most sweeping reforms pushed by the Bush administration and signals that Iraq's politicians finally, if grudgingly, may be ready for small steps toward reconciliation. Passage of benchmark reforms on healing the country's sectarian and ethnic rifts — along with a reduction in violence — were the primary goals of the 30,000-strong U.S. troop increase that President...

When armed carjackers last month relieved state Senate Pro Tem Don Perata of his state-owned vehicle, it raised two eyebrows -- one for the brash daylight crime on a North Oakland street, the other for the flash of Perata's ride. While more lawmakers are going hybrid-green, the Capitol's most powerful Democrat was rolling candy-apple red in a $38,600 Dodge Charger with 22-inch rims, yo. Turns out Perata, D-Oakland, was far from alone among state lawmakers -- and not even in the top 10 -- in his taste for gas-slurping automotive luxury at mostly taxpayer expense. More than half the senators...

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. lawmakers scheduled to meet Thursday with former Pakastani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf were advised to leave the country after Bhutto's assassination. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said in a telephone interview from his Islamabad hotel room that he and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., were to dine with Musharraf and meet later in the night with Bhutto. He said he heard about the attack on Bhutto as he was dressing for the dinner with Musharraf. "Our foreign policy had relied on her presence as a stabilizing force," Specter said, emotionally describing her death as...

AUSTIN -- House Speaker Tom Craddick has asked lawmakers to review the Texas Department of Transportation's multimillion-dollar ad campaign promoting toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Craddick, R-Midland, included a review of the Keep Texas Moving campaign on a list of topics that the House State Affairs Committee will study leading up to the 2009 legislative session. Craddick also asked the Appropriations Committee to review transportation spending over the past five years and study alternatives for funding future transportation needs. The transportation matters were among the "interim charges" that Craddick assigned last week. Other matters to be reviewed in advance...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is endorsing a tough immigration measure being pushed by Iowa Congressman Steve King. Under King's measure, businesses would not get a tax deduction for wages paid to an illegal immigrant. King says Thompson's endorsement means he understands that Internal Revenue Service regulations can be as important as Homeland Security procedures in enforcing immigration laws. King, who represents western Iowa's 5th District, has been a vocal critic of the nation's immigration policies. The issue is an important one in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, and King's call for tougher laws...

AUSTIN — Two state lawmakers are requesting formal inquiries into whether the Texas Department of Transportation is improperly spending money on advertising. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, and Rep. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, question whether an estimated $7 million to $9 million TxDOT is spending on its "Keep Texas Moving" campaign is a proper use of resources. The lawmakers have asked Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick look into the matter. Paxton said he is concerned that the transportation department is spending the money to argue its case before the public in response to lawmakers' questions about projects such...

That Southern charm may soften the appearance of the actor-senator’s hardened conservative views. Last month brough the moment in the presidential campaign I’d been dreading. The popular conservative from my home state, fellow Tennessean Fred Thompson, entered the Republican primary. The pundits and “insiders” have dismissed the actor and former senator even before he declared his candidacy on late-night TV. Some claim he’s a Hollywood lightweight, but I’ve heard that before (Ronald Reagan). Some dismiss him as a Southern simpleton, but I’ve heard that before (George W. Bush). And I’ve even heard some claim he has a wealth of sexual...

Department of Corrections: $2.078 billion in gross spending, compared to $1.940 billion enacted the previous year. Department of Labor and Economic Growth: $1.301 billion, compared to $1.231 billion enacted the previous year. Higher Education: $1.896 billion, compared to $1.787 billion enacted the previous year. Department of Community Health: $12.048 billion, compared to $11.196 billion enacted the previous year. Department of Human Services (Welfare): $4.588 billion — an increase of more than $80 million, plus 171 new employees.

Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) woke up at 2:30 on Tuesday morning to see the hillside behind his house glowing with fire and flames shooting as high as 50 feet in the air. He then watched as the fire ran to the top of the ridge of the hill and raced back down the other side. McKeon, who returned to Washington on Tuesday afternoon, said in a phone interview that 25 structures had been destroyed and maybe 15,000 people evacuated from his district. According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reported late Tuesday that 750 homes had been totally...

Sunday, 30 Sep 2007, 7:27 PM EDT LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The hours ticked away Sunday as lawmakers struggled to reach a budget deal that would avert a partial shutdown of state government and the worst budget debacle since the payless paydays of 1959. The state House was stalled trying to put up the votes needed to change the way some teacher and state worker health benefits are handled. It had failed earlier Sunday afternoon to pass a measure that would place the state's 6 percent sales tax on a wide range of services, clearing the voting board without the...

A lawmaker said Tuesday he will press the government for the release of a black teenager held in the "Jena 6" case that spurred one of the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Other activists said they planned more protests if the teen is not immediately pardoned. "Our first responsibility is to get young Mychal Bell out of prison," said Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who said he will pressure the Justice Department to take a hard look at "the miscarriages of justice that have occurred in Jena, Louisiana." Conyers spoke after he and several other...

FORT HUACHUCA — If some Army captains had their say, senior military officers would not be put in the position of having to testify before congressional committees, as Gen. David Petraeus did Monday and Tuesday before the House of Representatives and the Senate. After watching the general, commander of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker testify before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the consensus of the 16 captains attending the career course at the Intelligence Center at this Southern Arizona Army post was that the senators were talking and not wanting to...

And now for a message on global warming from your Georgia Legislature: Don't sweat it.

Members of Congress recently under scrutiny by federal authorities: ___ Senate Republicans: _Ted Stevens of Alaska, sixth term. Stevens is under a federal investigation for his relationship with Bill Allen, an oil field services contractor who was convicted this year of bribing state lawmakers. Agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service searched the senator's Alaska home on Monday. ___ House Republicans: _Don Young of Alaska, 18th term. Young is under federal investigation as part of an ongoing corruption probe, according to a federal law enforcement official. Part of the Young investigation involves his campaign finance practices. _John Doolittle of...