congress

March 20, 2015 - Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act was introduced in Congress with bipartisan support, House lawmakers are trying to restore a key part of the law that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. Just one Southern Republican is on board so far: Rep. Carlos Curbelo of South Florida.

March 13, 2015 - After a protracted political fight over immigration policy, Congress recently passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The final bill doesn't repeal the president's recent deportation relief programs, but it appropriates billions of dollars for draconian immigration enforcement.

March 2, 2015 - With a fight underway in Congress over protecting more U.S. waterways from industrial pollution, Environment America has issued a report looking at the millions of dollars spent on politics each year by polluters. Besides the Kansas-based oil and chemical giant, other big-spending polluters include Southern meat processors and an energy company.

February 6, 2015 - Backlash against the South's recent rapid growth in the immigrant population may be contributing to the region's negative response to the president's executive action on immigration. But demographic trends may be fueling a more welcoming environment in the region's cities.

January 28, 2015 - The Obama administration has proposed opening Atlantic waters to offshore oil and gas drilling after years of being lobbied by a coalition of coastal-state governors that had more than a little industry help. But a growing grassroots movement aims to keep the drills at bay.

January 13, 2015 - The choice is clear, says the climate movement: Promote the oil industry's interests, or demonstrate a commitment to addressing climate chaos by saying "No" to a dirty oil pipeline.

January 6, 2015 - The IRS faces a number of hurdles before its new regulations for social welfare nonprofits can be finalized, including potential opposition from Congress.

December 22, 2014 - Environmentalists say a long-awaited federal rule governing disposal of the toxic waste left over after burning coal is "too little and too late" -- and that when the next disaster inevitably occurs the White House will share the blame.

November 14, 2014 - President Obama reportedly plans to issue an executive order before year's end dramatically overhauling U.S. immigration policy, sparing as many as 5 million people from the threat of deportation. What will the political consequences be?

September 5, 2014 - Two election cycles after the landmark Supreme Court decision loosening restrictions on corporate money in politics, research is emerging that assesses its impact on our political system -- and it finds that the decision has disproportionately benefited Republicans, especially in North Carolina and Tennessee.