NATIONAL
June 9, 2013 | By Katherine Skiba
WASHINGTON - Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a conservative Republican, announced her support Sunday for a bipartisan immigration overhaul plan, lending momentum to the comprehensive measure being debated in the Senate. “Our immigration system is completely broken,” the New Hampshire lawmaker said on CBS's “Face the Nation.” “This is a thoughtful, bipartisan solution to a tough problem.” Ayotte, who was elected in 2010, is the first Republican to endorse the measure apart from the four in the Senate's so-called Gang of Eight: Sens.
NATIONAL
May 8, 2013 | By Lisa Mascaro and Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The immigration reform bill crafted by a bipartisan group of senators has deeply split the Republican minority even as lawmakers prepare to take the first votes on the proposal Thursday. Alabama's Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, a conservative former prosecutor with a courtly drawl, has emerged as the leading opponent of the bill. He is aiming at his GOP colleagues with unusual zeal, and calls out the architects of the bill as, essentially, dishonest. "Sen. Flake is wrong: It's not a 13-year path to citizenship or welfare," blared one recent missive from Sessions targeting Arizona's Republican senator, Jeff Flake, who helped draft the legislation.
NEWS
November 6, 2012 | By Lisa Mascaro
WASHINGTON - Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, a Democrat, was unable to overcome Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, keeping the Senate seat from Arizona in the GOP column. Carmona enjoyed a late surge in the historically Republican state as a moderate, and Latino, candidate, with the state showing signs of an emerging Democratic tilt. But funding from Democrats nationally and a visit from former President Clinton were not enough to outpace Flake, a six-term congressman from Mesa who is a conservative leader in the House.
NEWS
January 24, 2012 | By Michael A. Memoli
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords made an emotional return to the House floor tonight to thunderous applause from her colleagues just moments before the president's arrival for the State of the Union address. The appearance by Giffords, largely absent from the House since the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting that nearly took her life, is to be one of her final acts as a member of Congress before she submits her resignation Wednesday. The Arizona Democrat, accompanied by her chief of staff, was silent as she arrived in the Speaker's Lobby before taking the floor.
NEWS
February 15, 2011 | By James Oliphant, Washington Bureau
Rep. Jeff Flake made it official this week. Four days after Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona said he would not stand for reelection in 2012, the six-term GOP congressman from suburban Phoenix said he'd launch a bid to replace him. But much of the speculation concerning the seat, such as it can exist 18 months before an election, continues to swirl around Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A few short weeks ago, it was unimaginable that anyone could tie Giffords' name to a 2012 Senate campaign, but the wounded congresswoman, shot in Tucson on Jan. 8, is reportedly making so much progress that the prospect sounds plausible, if not, as of yet, very realistic.
NEWS
January 15, 2011 | By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times
President Obama on Saturday called for Democrats and Republicans to work together to deal with the nation's problems as official Washington began to reengage after a week of mourning for the 19 shooting victims of the Arizona rampage. In separate media addresses, Obama and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) both paid tribute to the victims and praised the heroes of the events a week ago, when a lone gunman opened fire outside a Tucson supermarket as Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was meeting her constituents.