Party Line Vote

In an extraordinary blow to President Bush's power and prestige, the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday night voted to reject former Sen. John Tower as secretary of defense. The 11-9 vote was along party lines. President Bush and embittered Senate Republicans vowed to fight for the troubled nomination on the Senate floor. But with Democrats holding a 55-45 majority, Tower now appears unlikely to win the job that he has so long and so ardently sought.

Doubling down on a controversial campaign issue, the GOP-led House approved a 2013 budget that would cut taxes for the wealthy, revamp Medicare and slash federal spending in a vote that will define the Republican Party this election year and beyond. Thursday's 228-191 party-line vote comes as a heated debate is playing out in Congress and the campaign trail, where Mitt Romney has embraced the proposal in sharp contrast to President Obama's approach to budgeting. No Democrats voted for the measure, but 10 Republicans voted against it - more than last year.

The Senate, trying to cut a partisan knot, voted along party lines Tuesday to begin limited hearings into the Whitewater controversy before the end of next month. With all 56 Democrats voting yes and 43 Republicans voting no, the Senate approved a resolution offered by Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) to authorize the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to investigate some aspects of Whitewater at hearings to begin no later than July 29.

In a mostly party-line vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would permanently bar NPR from receiving federal funds, the latest escalation in conservatives' campaign against the broadcaster. Republicans already voted to eliminate all federal support for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the current fiscal year, which helps public stations buy NPR programming, but the provision was not incorporated into the continuing agreements that have kept the government funded.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a move, prompted by the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, to prohibit the use of private contractors in the interrogation of detainees. The measure, one of the first legislative responses to the abuses at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, was rejected by the Republican-controlled chamber on a largely party-line vote of 54 to 43. Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.

Senate Republicans, stung by Democratic successes in altering President Bush's education bill, closed ranks Tuesday to reject an initiative to bolster the teaching corps in needy schools. On a 50-48 party-line vote, Republicans defeated an amendment offered by Democrats to add the Clinton-era program to the new bill. The proposal by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) sought to direct up to $2.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday turned aside a bid by Republicans to repeal the new healthcare law, in the first Senate test of the sweeping overhaul that President Obama signed in March. The 47-51 party-line vote on a procedural motion came two weeks after House Republicans pushed a repeal resolution through that chamber. And it ended the first chapter of the GOP legislative attack on the new law, setting the stage for new battles over specific provisions of the law, including the controversial mandate that will require most Americans to get health insurance starting in 2014.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday approved a major Republican initiative to reduce spending on Medicare by $270 billion over seven years and move millions of elderly beneficiaries into health maintenance organizations and other managed-care systems. The measure was adopted on a straight party-line vote of 22 to 14 amid highly partisan debate.

Congress on Tuesday gave final approval to a $26.1-billion aid package for cash-strapped states that will keep 161,000 teachers and thousands of police, fire and other local government workers from being laid off. The legislation was quickly signed by President Obama. The funding will also help states maintain medical services for low-income people. The measure was approved on a virtual party-line vote after the House was summoned back to Washington from its August recess for a rare one-day session.

Democratic and Republican senators alike lamented the increasingly sharp partisan divide over the Constitution and the courts Tuesday, and then divided mostly along party lines to approve Elena Kagan, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court. The lone maverick was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted to confirm Kagan because, he said, she is smart, well-qualified and of good character. "But yes, she's liberal," he said, and paused. "Sort of expected that, actually."

A House committee on Tuesday advanced a bill that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, boosting a top Republican priority and taking aim at the Obama administration and states like California that favor tougher regulations. The bill was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee in a largely party-line vote. Republicans argued that action by the EPA, coming after Congress failed to pass a global warming bill, would impose burdensome and unnecessary rules on industry.

Senate Democrats on Wednesday turned aside a bid by Republicans to repeal the new healthcare law, in the first Senate test of the sweeping overhaul that President Obama signed last March. The move to attach the repeal to an aviation bill got just 47 votes, all from Republicans, falling 13 shy of the 60-vote supermajority needed. Fifty-one senators voted against repeal. That effectively ended the first chapter of the GOP legislative attack on the new law, two weeks after Republicans pushed a repeal resolution through the House.

After years of debate, the Federal Communications Commission adopted the first-ever regulations to forbid owners of high-speed lines and airwaves from favoring their services over competitors. The rules are aimed at preserving open access to the Internet and allowing consumers the continued, unfettered use of such online services as Netflix and Hulu video and Skype and Vonage phone. The FCC's action, in a 3-2 vote Tuesday along party lines, comes as consumers are increasingly using broadband Internet connections for both wired and wireless devices to watch TV shows, movies and video snippets ?

Congress on Tuesday gave final approval to a $26.1-billion aid package for cash-strapped states that will keep 161,000 teachers and thousands of police, fire and other local government workers from being laid off. The legislation was quickly signed by President Obama. The funding will also help states maintain medical services for low-income people. The measure was approved on a virtual party-line vote after the House was summoned back to Washington from its August recess for a rare one-day session.

Democratic and Republican senators alike lamented the increasingly sharp partisan divide over the Constitution and the courts Tuesday, and then divided mostly along party lines to approve Elena Kagan, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court. The lone maverick was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted to confirm Kagan because, he said, she is smart, well-qualified and of good character. "But yes, she's liberal," he said, and paused. "Sort of expected that, actually."

After a final surge to overcome Republican opposition, congressional Democrats approved the last piece of their healthcare overhaul Thursday night, sending President Obama a package of changes to the landmark legislation he signed Tuesday. The so-called reconciliation package, which includes a major reorganization of the federal student loan program, passed the Senate on Thursday on a nearly party-line vote, 56 to 43. The end came after a grueling night and day of roll-call votes as Republicans sought to derail the bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday endorsed the Supreme Court nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. in a vote that split along party lines and highlighted disputes over his conservative judicial record. The full Senate will begin its debate on Alito today and a vote on his selection by President Bush to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor could come by the end of the week. Alito is expected to narrowly win confirmation and, as a justice, tilt the court to the right.

An advisory group selected by Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren is recommending that California ban the manufacture and sale of cheap and easily hidden handguns known as Saturday Night specials that are often used by violent criminals. The draft report by Lungren's Policy Council on Violence Prevention comes as the Legislature debates a bill by state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) that would outlaw such handguns.

With President Obama ready to sign the historic healthcare reform bill, the White House and its Democratic allies in Congress aggressively pressed forward Monday on their next major legislative priority -- a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner declared that the debate had reached "a defining moment" as the Senate Banking Committee moved quickly to approve the legislation on a 13-10 party-line vote. The bill, based on a proposal by the Obama administration, is similar to one the House passed in December without a single Republican vote.