03/04/2010

Cornyn calls Perry's label for Hutchison 'unfair'
Texas Sen. John Cornyn issued a tough critique Wednesday of Gov. Rick Perry's effort to tar Kay Bailey Hutchison as a creature of Washington, calling that "unfair."

02/27/2010

Hutchison says she's staying in Senate for now to fight health care overhaul
AUSTIN – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Friday that she is prepared to stay in the Senate for as long as eight more months if Congress is still debating health care reform.

02/25/2010

Obama picks Beaumont judge to be U.S. attorney for Collin, Denton, East Texas
The selection of John B. Stevens Jr. gives hope that a political impasse over judicial nominees in Texas may have been broken.

02/07/2010

Texas Watch: Social Security faces rocky political road
Beyond the thick curtain of finger-wagging last week over huge deficits and an unsustainable debt, a familiar battle resurfaced over the future of Social Security.

02/02/2010

U.S. aid unlikely to fill Texas' expected budget gap
WASHINGTON – Texas could face a $16 billion shortfall in its next two-year budget. The federal spending plan the White House laid out on Monday probably won't make a dent in that – though Texas and other cash-strapped states could get help later this year.

01/31/2010

Texas lawmakers balk at cutting manned spaceflight
Texas lawmakers in both parties are girding for battle with the Obama administration over the future of human spaceflight. Many of the same lawmakers routinely accuse the president of sending deficits into the stratosphere.

01/26/2010

Bipartisan group is latest to urge cutting U.S.' record $12 trillion debt
A half-dozen or so groups have tried to snap Congress into tackling the growing national debt. The latest entrant, unveiled Monday, is a bipartisan effort led by an all-star cast of political elders.

Fort Hood heroes to watch State of the Union with first lady
WASHINGTON – Two heroes of the Fort Hood massacre will be honored guests at Wednesday night's State of the Union speech.

01/24/2010

Massachusetts victory raises GOP hopes
Was there an underdog on the ballot in Texas who looked at last week's Massachusetts miracle without a thrill? Taxachusetts, of all places – wellspring of Kennedys, Dukakis, Kerry – sending a Republican to the U.S. Senate.

01/21/2010

Amid governor's race, Hutchison back in Washington for hearing
WASHINGTON – It's all about multitasking and time management in the Senate. The votes, the floor speeches, the meetings. The campaigning for another job.

Cornyn joins gloat over GOP win in Massachusetts
WASHINGTON – Texas Sen. John Cornyn reveled Wednesday in his party's stunning capture of the Senate seat held for nearly a half-century by liberal Edward Kennedy, contending the GOP will gain even more ground in the chamber this fall as a result.

01/20/2010

Texas rescue team yet to be deployed to Haiti
A Texas search-and-rescue team waiting to fly to Haiti is stuck at home for now, and as state military forces remain on standby a week after the catastrophic earthquake, there has been a ripple effect on charitable efforts to help.

01/17/2010

Bush talks up Haiti relief efforts, deflects Katrina questions

AP

The former president promoted his fundraising campaign with Bill Clinton on Sunday's talk shows.
How to donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
Haitians praise God
Author: Haiti’s humanity holds lesson for Dallas' elusive soul
Photos: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

01/16/2010

Obama taps former presidents for Haiti relief role
President Barack Obama met Saturday with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who set aside complex rivalries to team up and help the survivors of the Haitian earthquake.
How to donate to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund
Flow of aid grows
Dallas newlyweds blog about Haiti suffering
Photos: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

01/12/2010

Democrats say Cornyn hypocritical in calling for Reid's ouster
WASHINGTON – Democrats are accusing Texas Sen. John Cornyn of being hypocritical in calling for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to step down for making racially insensitive comments about Barack Obama.

01/08/2010

Hall challenger Steve Clark not afraid to spend
WASHINGTON – One of the challengers trying to topple Rockwall Republican Rep. Ralph Hall in the March primary is vowing to match the 86-year-old incumbent dollar for dollar.

01/03/2010

No serious challengers for Texas' U.S. House delegation
The window closes today for candidates, and so far, almost none of the Texas incumbents faces a major threat even though Congress is poised to undergo a dramatic shift in 2010.
Filing deadline today in state, local races
Map: U.S. House members from Texas
Blog: Politics

12/21/2009

In health care debate, Hutchison's bark comes with little bite
WASHINGTON – As the health care debate consumed Congress this month, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison emerged as a visible critic – impassioned but powerless.

12/13/2009

Obama's Hanukkah party draws hoopla
Nearly eight in 10 Jewish voters supported President Barack Obama last year. That's a few million people, many of them in swing states such as Ohio and Florida.

12/12/2009

GOP blasts Democrats' plan to raise federal debt limit by $1.8 trillion
WASHINGTON – House Republicans railed Friday against a plan to raise the federal debt limit by $1.8 trillion, accusing Democrats of trying to hide their profligacy by tacking it on to a must-pass defense bill.

12/09/2009

Dallas-Fort Worth area moves to top tier of terrorism targets
Dallas is now officially one of the nation's top 10 terrorist targets – a designation that sounds alarming but which state and local officials have sought for years, because it means millions in federal funds to beef up security.

12/06/2009

Obama takes flak for plan to build up, then draw down forces in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON – There were echoes of George W. Bush last week when President Barack Obama went to West Point and, before a sea of fresh-faced cadets, announced that he would quickly escalate the war in Afghanistan and then, a year later, begin to pull out U.S. troops.

12/02/2009

Texas lawmakers not sold on Obama's 2011 Afghanistan pullout target
WASHINGTON – For Texas lawmakers in both parties, President Barack Obama's plan for Afghanistan offered something for everyone and not enough for many.

11/27/2009

Sen. John Cornyn faces Republican rift in fight for Senate seats

As his party's campaign chief, the Texas senator sees opportunities in numerous states President Barack Obama won last year, and he's been pushing moderate candidates, which has not sat well with many conservative activists.
Blog: Trail Blazers
More politics

11/15/2009

Time hasn't made immigration reform easier
Immigration, after 10 months on the president's back burner, got its very own trial balloon the other day.

11/09/2009

White House says investigators are eager to speak with Fort Hood suspect
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs declined several times to say whether last week's massacre at Fort Hood should be classified as "terrorism" or the act of a lone individual.

11/06/2009

Conservatives step up fiery rhetoric at health care rally at Capitol in Washington
WASHINGTON – Thousands of conservatives from Texas and around the country converged on the Capitol on Thursday to denounce the Democratic health plan, accusing the president of a march toward socialism and demanding that Congress resist a government takeover of health care.

11/04/2009

GOP schism exposed in New York election adds pressure to Pete Sessions' campaign chief role
It was a big election night for Republicans overall. But their lone disappointment – the loss of a New York congressional seat in a crossfire between moderates and conservatives – could portend struggles next year for GOP leaders.

10/22/2009

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison unveils study showing cap and trade will be bad for Texas
WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison warned Wednesday that climate-change legislation working its way through Congress would push fuel prices up by $1 per gallon.

10/17/2009

Obama praises elder Bush at A&M
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – President Barack Obama offered a powerful homage Friday to George H.W. Bush at a forum on public service, crediting his GOP predecessor with inspiring legions of Americans to improve their communities.

10/16/2009

Obama visiting A&M; conservative critics organizing protest
President Barack Obama, on his first foray into Texas as president today, will face a unique mixture of warm, fuzzy bipartisanship and bitter protest at Texas A&M University.

10/14/2009

Hutchison unclear about Senate resignation date
WASHINGTON – Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who said in July that she would resign by December, said Tuesday that she's no longer sure when she'll leave the Senate.

10/07/2009

Fort Worth Rep. Kay Granger says it's time for Obama to decide on Afghan troops
WASHINGTON – Fort Worth Rep. Kay Granger, part of a congressional group that met with President Barack Obama to discuss Afghanistan, said she was growing impatient as the president weighs whether to send more troops or find an alternative.

10/04/2009

Liberty Legal takes up cross for religion
WASHINGTON – In a remote corner of the Mojave Desert, there's a war memorial dating to the 1930s. On top, there's an 8-foot cross that is, for now, obscured by a plywood box lest anyone driving 900 miles out of their way happen upon it and take offense at the endorsement of religiosity on public land.

09/30/2009

Dallas bomb plot suspect stayed on expired visa
Officials say Hosam Smadi, 19, arrived on a visitor visa, not a student visa as initially believed, in spring 2007. Smadi's status as a visitor, not a student, helped keep him under the radar.
Archive: More on Smadi's case
Monitoring issues raised | Wife says she's shocked

09/27/2009

Alleged skyscraper plot highlights problems of keeping tabs on immigrants
The tension between security and civil liberties, between surveillance and privacy, has simmered for eight years. The plot exposed last week in Dallas by the FBI – a Jordanian teenager allegedly hoping to level a skyscraper – provides the latest fodder.

09/20/2009

Hutchison gains support in Congress for governor's bid
WASHINGTON – Nearly half the Texas Republicans in Congress support Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in her bid to oust Gov. Rick Perry.

09/18/2009

Barton may seek appointment to Senate
WASHINGTON – Add Rep. Joe Barton to the list of Republicans lobbying for an appointment to the Senate when Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns.

09/15/2009

Quick Take: Fight over missed votes makes it harder for Hutchison to stay in the Senate
WASHINGTON — If it wasn’t ACORN, it would have been something else. The fact that the first Senate vote Kay Bailey Hutchison missed since entering the governor’s race happened to be on ACORN — a group Republicans love to hate — was just a bonus.

09/13/2009

Friction between Perry, Hutchison is nothing new
WASHINGTON – Sometimes you have to wonder how much Texas' governor and its senior senator could have accomplished if they'd managed to set aside rivalry and actually, you know, cooperated.