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Nation Topics - Senate

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Chuck Hagel

Why did war hero Chuck Hagel get blocked, while Wall Street crony Jack Lew sailed through?

Senate Dems should restore the practice to its proper function: as a tool for public dissent, rather than unchecked, covert obstruction.

The Wisconsin senate candidate rejects the idea of corporate personhood.

Sherrod Brown

Senator Sherrod Brown has been a leader in taking on the big banks, and now the Chamber of Commerce is retaliating.

A famous indictment from a century ago aptly describes today’s corrupt legislative body.

The senator's ideological shape-shifting has fallen out of favor.

Could the Senate start getting things done, if only legislators didn't have to face filibuster threats? This week on The Breakdown: the history of the filibuster, and how to get rid of it.

This session, the Senate has a chance to fix the filibuster—a reform we've been championing for years. Read our coverage by Christopher Hayes, Thomas Geoghegan, Senator Tom Harkin and William Greider.

Rod Blagojevich's trial verdict showed that the line between criminal corruption and the base line corruption continues to blur.

Blogs

The Senate has a chance to redeem its dysfunction and implement needed reforms to its own rules when it convenes a new session today.

January 4, 2011

Republican senators attacked Harry Reid for keeping the chamber working as the Holiday approached. What would these Tories have told George Washington and the troops who were preparing to cross the Delaware? And what would Tom Paine have said about today's summer soldiers?

December 24, 2010

Edgy as ever, Arlen Specter bids farewell to the Senate with accusations of cannibalism, griping about the decay of deliberation and some smart proposals for reforming a dysfunctional legislative chamber. But what about the zombies?

December 22, 2010

After a two-decade campaign, LGBT groups and their allies celebrate the removal of the last major hurdle to ending discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military.

December 18, 2010

At the start of the next session of Congress, Senate Democrats can check Republican obstructionism by reforming the filibuster.

December 15, 2010

When they do something so vile that even Fox commentators can’t stomach it, Republicans become They-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

December 13, 2010

Minnesota senator seeks a Department of Justice investigation into manipulation of NBC by Comcast.

November 24, 2010

Linda McMahon says she is running for the US Senate from Connecticut because she wants to "put people first." Those people clearly don't include the people who made her a billionaire; the wrestlers of World Wrestling Entertainment.

September 30, 2010

Senators decide next week if hundreds of thousands of undocumented young people will get a path to citizenship. Student activists are mobilizing to convince them to say yes.

September 16, 2010

Ari Melber shares his plan on how to fix Congress—let the majority win.

September 1, 2010