Government - Nation

WASHINGTON – Challenged by protesters chanting "shame, shame," House Republicans advanced legislation Tuesday to crack down on immigrants living illegally in the United States as the Senate lurched ahead on a dramatically different approach offering the hope of citizenship to the same millions.

WASHINGTON – A scrappy Vice President Joe Biden vowed Tuesday to "beat the gun lobby" by ultimately passing stronger firearm laws and said some lawmakers who voted against background checks have privately told him they want another chance.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama defended top secret National Security Agency spying programs as legal in a lengthy interview Monday, and called them transparent — even though they are authorized in secret.

WASHINGTON – States can't demand proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections unless they get federal or court approval to do so, the Supreme Court ruled Monday in a decision complicating efforts in Arizona and other states to bar voting by people who are in the country illegally.

WASHINGTON – An Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, including some requests that languished for more than a year without action.

ATLANTA – Far from reversing course, Senate Democrats who backed President Barack Obama’s health care law and now face re-election in GOP-leaning states are firming up their support for the overhaul even as Republican criticism intensifies.

WASHINGTON – In the months and early years after 9/11, FBI agents began showing up at Microsoft Corp. more frequently than before, armed with court orders demanding information on customers.

WASHINGTON – After months of caution, President Barack Obama suddenly is positioned more aggressively on Syria than the global leaders he’s joining at a summit Monday, now that he has authorized weapons and ammunition shipments to struggling rebels.

WASHINGTON – In an early test of support for a comprehensive immigration bill, the Senate on Thursday voted down a Republican attempt to require the U.S.-Mexico border to be under control for six months before immigrants here illegally could take the first steps toward citizenship.

WASHINGTON – The director of the National Security Agency vigorously defended once-secret surveillance programs as an effective tool in keeping America safe, telling Congress on Wednesday that the information collected disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks without offering details.

WASHINGTON – Backers of far-reaching immigration legislation are turning their attention to courting support and counting votes after the Senate pushed the contentious bill over early procedural hurdles.

HONG KONG – Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about U.S. surveillance programs, has few options to stay one step ahead of the authorities while in apparent hiding.

WASHINGTON – In Spanish and English, the Senate pushed contentious immigration legislation over early procedural hurdles with deceptive ease on Tuesday as President Barack Obama insisted the "moment is now" to give 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally a chance at citizenship.

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration declassified a handful of details Tuesday that credited its PRISM Internet spying program with intercepting a key email that unraveled a 2009 terrorist plot in New York.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama prodded Congress Tuesday to send him a bill by fall remaking the nation's immigration laws, even as the Senate prepared to cast its first floor votes on the landmark measure opening a door to citizenship for millions.