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WASHINGTON — Sen. Deb Fischer is headed back to the White House tonight for dinner with President Barack Obama. “I’m a regular,” the Nebraska Republican quipped as she arrived at the weekly Senate GOP luncheon in the Capitol. Fischer was among a group of Republican senators who dined with Obama earlier this month. She also attended a reception there in March for Women’s History Month. The invite list for tonight’s dinner includes all 20 women in the Senate. It’s a record number of women in what has long been a male-dominated club. The group includes 16 Democrats and 4 Republicans....

Much of the drama has already dissipated; most of these amendments will fail.  The Toomey/Manchin bipartisan compromise appears to be dead in the water, with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) pounding home the final legislative nails earlier today. USA Today has a useful primer on what to expect this afternoon and evening, including the items liberals will be watching most carefully:   - The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act (Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and three co-sponsors): The compromise background check provision expands background checks to gun shows and Internet sales, but exempts family-to-family...

FOX NEWS: Jacob Conway, who is on the committee of Kentucky’s Jefferson County Democratic Party, revealed to Megyn Kelly moments ago that members of the liberal activist group Progress Kentucky bragged to him that they had made a secret recordings of a meeting held by Senator Mitch McConnell (R) without his consent. Earlier this week, tapes were released of McConnell and his aides discussing challengers in the upcoming election, particularly actress Ashley Judd. The FBI is now investigating the incident. According to Conway, Progress Kentucky’s Sean Riley and Curtis Morrison were in the hallway of McConnell’s campaign headquarters after an...

(CNN) – A key player in negotiations over potential gun control legislation said on Tuesday a planned GOP filibuster of the bill won’t occur if Democrats allow Republicans to bring amendments up for a vote. Sen. Tom Coburn, speaking on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront,” said a filibuster that’s been promised by more than a dozen fellow Republicans would prevent Americans from seeing where their elected officials stand on the issue. “It’s not going to be filibustered,” Coburn said, adding that the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needs to offer "an open amendment process" in order for Republicans to agree to...

Video -- Senate passed Budget Last Night - March 22, 2013:related threads:Senate approves Democratic budget plan that recommends $1 trillion in tax increases ... (AP)-------House Passes Ryan Budget, 221-207 Townhall.com ^ | March 21, 2013 | Guy Benson

WASHINGTON — Don't take Steve King lightly. That's the warning from Sen. Tom Harkin for his fellow Iowa Democrats itching for King to jump into a statewide race. “I've never underestimated Steve King,” Harkin told The World-Herald. “He is a smart guy. He is a tough campaigner.” Harkin is retiring after five terms in the U.S. Senate, and the race to succeed him in 2014 could help determine the body's balance of power. The race is viewed as a toss-up at this very early stage, before the candidates have been determined.

Here Are The Seven Senate Races To Watch In 2014 Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times | Feb. 16, 2013, 2:00 PM Just as the memory of the last bruising battle for control of the Senate begins to fade, political handicappers are casting their gaze to the 2014 campaign when Republicans once again will try to overcome the Democratic majority. Just as the Republicans began the 2012 campaign cycle in strong shape to reclaim the Senate, the GOP has a clear edge heading into the next face off. While some of the most intriguing political speculation today centers on whether actress...

Jose Antonio Vargas, an illegal immigrant and former reporter, scolded a congressional panel on Wednesday, saying that he should not be called illegal, and saying it is an insult to his family who brought him here. “When you inaccurately call me illegal, you not only dehumanize me, you’re offending them,” he said. “No human being is illegal.” Mr. Vargas testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee alongside Chris Crane — a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and president of the ICE agents’ union — who is unable to arrest him under the administration’s new non-deportation policies. Mr. Vargas, who “came...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, is assembling a mental list of the many pros and cons that come with a 2014 Senate bid. It's a tempting opportunity. Just consider: Sen. Tom Harkin's decision not to run for re-election means Iowa will have its first open Senate race in 40 years. King first must consider whether he can compete in a statewide race. His hard-line, take-no-prisoners conservative style on hot-button issues such as immigration made him a favorite of cable television programs and raised his national profile.

Ever since the allegations first made in November that Dominican-born eye doctor Salomon Melgen provided prostitutes for Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), a favor that appeared to be gravy on top of his large campaign contributions, the obvious question for us has been, "What has Menendez done for Melgen?" We believe that we have answer. After an extensive review of publicly available documents that link the two men, the answer relates to unusual actions on behalf of a port security company known as ICSSI. Ray Hernandez and Frances Robles detail in a New York Times story how Menendez sought to help...

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s Dominican prostitute scandal has finally caught the attention of the mainstream media because the FBI raided the office of the shady doctor friend that reportedly furnished the hookers, but it’s hardly the first time the New Jersey Democrat is embroiled in illegal behavior. In fact, Judicial Watch has for years reported the newly reelected senator’s many transgressions. As far back as 2007 JW wrote about a federal grand jury investigation into Menendez, a former member of the U.S. House, illegally steering lobbying business to a girlfriend that also served as his chief of staff. The former...

Credible sources are reporting this morning that Democrat U.S. Senator Tom Harkin will not seek reelection next year.

For the liberal establishment, “political courage” means a politician spitting in the face of his conservative constituents. The President’s gun proposals demand such political courage, and we conservatives ought to be all for it. There are people who really believe President Barack Obama is some sort of cunning political grand-master, plotting out the checkmate ten moves ahead of his plodding opponents. Nonsense. He’s actually President Peter Principle, failing ever upward thanks to the disarray of his opponents. Just when you think he might be clever enough to score his cheap points off of Newtown and turn back to beating the...

WASHINGTON - Opposing sides are finding common ground as lawmakers tackle the issue of gun control, mental health and school safety. Sen. Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor and democrat, says there is enough agreement to take the first steps toward solutions that would make the U.S. a little safer in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. "We need to make improvements to our mental health system," Kaine says. "We do need to talk about school security and figure out better security protocols, but we also can find common-sense rules about gun use that can help us...

As the son of a woman, the husband of a woman and the father of daughters and granddaughters, I celebrate the record number of females who are now United States senators. However, I do see some differences in the way these and other women are treated, depending on their party, policies and beliefs. Diane Sawyer broadcast a celebratory report last week on ABC's "World News Tonight" on which she gushed about the "record number" of 20 female senators. Senator Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., also praised the Senate female population. Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said she won't be satisfied until there are...

Gun grabbers are not going to be able to get 60 votes to break a Senate filibuster of gun control. But, with the help of fake "pro-gun" Senate Democrats, they may be able to get 50. So the question of whether Senate Democrats will need 50 votes or 60 votes will determine whether gun control -– and much of Obama's agenda -– will be slammed through and passed into law. This brings us to the "nuclear option." This is a trick which anti-gun Democrats intend to use the first day of the Senate session in order to obliterate the Senate...

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) lashed out at the upper chamber today as a symbol of government’s runaway power in Americans’ lives. “It’s an alternate universe. No, this — this place is a joke. I mean, bottom line, this is an absurd process,” Johnson said on CNBC. “It certainly proves the genius of our founding fathers that government should be limited. I mean, the fact that we have this place having such an enormous effect on our economy, on people’s livelihood, is wrong. It’s simply wrong.” “So, I’m the manufacturer. I’m always looking for the cause of problems. The cause of...

Democrat’s power grab takes away minority Republicans’ rightsForget about bipartisanship; Harry Reid has decided there’s no option that goes too far if it means diluting the influence of Republicans. The Senate majority leader plans to break with long-standing tradition in January by rewriting the chamber’s rules to silence the Republican minority. It’s a shortsighted maneuver, because it means Democrats will have no input in the legislative process when they find themselves out of power in the future. The hostilities spilled into the open on Monday and Tuesday with a rare, heated series of floor debates between Mr. Reid and Minority...

My post of this morning was published with a couple of Senate races not finally decided. But the Republican candidates (Rep. Denny Rehberg in Montana and Rep. Rick Berg of North Dakota) have now conceded to the victorious Dems. (incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in Montana and Sen.-elect Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota). This nets out at a two-seat pickup for the Dems and a 55-45 majority heading into 2013 (assuming that, as expected, the Senate's two independents, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sen.-elect Angus King of Maine will caucus with the Dems). The net gain is especially impressive since the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he will try to push through a change to Senate rules that would limit the GOP’s ability to filibuster bills. Speaking in the wake of Tuesday’s election, which boosted Senate Democrats’ numbers slightly, Mr. Reid said he won’t end filibusters altogether but that the rules need to change so that the minority party cannot use the legislative blocking tool as often. “I think that the rules have been abused and that we’re going to work to change them,” he told reporters. “Were not going to do away with the filibuster but we’re...