WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury on Thursday charged a once-powerful Washington lobbyist with evading federal limits on campaign donations by using straw donors to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to members of Congress, especially those with influence over military spending.

Read more – including donations to Norm Dicks……. Read More

The 10-point agenda, whose name is a takeoff of Republicans’ 1994 Contract With America, offers a series of promises for candidates running for Congress and other elected positions to adopt. Hundreds of candidates and a few members of Congress, including Washington state’s Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers, have made the pledge……. Read More

It now joins other such groups in the House of Representatives like the Afterschool Caucus, the 9-11 Commission Caucus, the Bourbon Caucus and the Minor League Baseball Caucus.

The House Administration Committee Monday approved a request by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., to form the Tea Party Caucus…… Read More

Leaders of both parties have believed for months that Republicans could win the House, where every lawmaker faces re-election. But a change of party control in the Senate, where only a third of the members are running and Republicans must capture 10 seats, seemed out of the question……. Read More

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Washington State finds Republican hopefuls Dino Rossi and Clint Didier both earning 48% support ……… Read More

Republicans head into the autumn campaign ……… Read More

Though the tax cuts passed by Congress with the encouragement of former President George W. Bush are often described as a boon for the wealthy, the changes passed in 2001 and 2003 lowered taxes for every income bracket…….. Read More

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said they had signed onto discharge petitions set to be offered by members of their conference, one of which would seek to repeal health reform in its entirety…….. Read More

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done…….. Read More

Obama temporarily halted all drilling in waters deeper than 500 feet on May 27 to give a presidential commission time to study improvements in the safety of offshore operations. More than a dozen Louisiana offshore service and supply companies sued U.S. regulators to lift the ban……. Read More