For a decade, war widows in matching yellow suit jackets and hats quietly and persistently have knocked on Capitol Hill doors seeking an end to the "widows' tax," a government policy that deprives them of benefits from their husbands' military service.

Mother Nature's wrath has forced the U.S. House to scrap its work week.No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer said Tuesday the body will not meet the rest of the week and no votes are scheduled. His comments came as Washington remained paralyzed from one blizzard and hunkered down in anticipation of a possible 10-20 inches more of snow.

Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama will stop blocking Senate confirmation of about 70 government appointees nominated by President Barack Obama, his office said.Shelby had placed "holds" on most of Obama's nominees, delaying the Senate from acting on them, in a dispute over federal spending involving his state.

A Pennsylvania congressman and longtime friend of the late Rep. John Murtha says the congressman's large intestine was damaged during gallbladder surgery and the complications led him to be hospitalized.Murtha died Monday at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va.

Scott Brown says he's a different kind of Republican, a centrist willing to work with Senate Democrats to fix health care and the ailing economy.But his independentbent is likely to be sorely tested in a bitterly divided Senate where party loyalty is often at a premium.

Called a prostitute by conservative talk show hosts, a Louisiana Democrat on Thursday defended a deal she cut for her Hurricane Katrina-ravaged state in the Senate health care bill.Sen. Mary Landrieu insisted the Medicaid boost worth $300 million wasn't in exchange for her vote for President Barack Obama's sweeping health care plan and she noted that Louisiana Republicans backed the deal.

Republican Scott Brown took over the seat of the late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy on Thursday, vowing to be an independent voice in a bitterly divided Senate."I can't promise I will be right in every vote I make. ... I will do the very best job I can," Brown told reporters.

House Republicans are asking President Barack Obama to work with them to cancel already-in-place spending programs.Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia sent a letter to the White House on Thursday asking Obama to invoke a provision that lets lawmakers cut money included in past budgets.

Washington confronted a new world order Thursday as the Democrats' supermajority died, taking with it much of President Barack Obama's agenda and any certainty of his party maintaining control of Congress.Republican Scott Brown's swearing-in to the Massachusetts seat held for decades by Sen.

Newly-sworn Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown says the last economic stimulus bill did not create even one new job, a claim that most economists would dispute.Brown made the assertion moments after he was sworn in Thursday by Vice President Joe Biden to the seat held for nearly half a century by the late Democratic Sen.

The 217-212 roll call Thursday by which the House voted to allow the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper in debt.A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.Voting yes were 217 Democrats and 0 Republicans.Voting no were 37 Democrats and 175 Republicans.

Brown sworn in as U.S. senator from Massachusetts, ending Democrats' supermajority reign.___February 04, 2010 05:21 PM EST Copyright 2010, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Motivated by a wave of new bank bonuses, two Democratic senators want top executives of big financial institutions that received government help to pay a 50 percent tax on any compensation last year above $400,000.The one-time tax would apply to all highly paid employees at financial institutions that got at least $5 billion from the $700 billion bailout fund that Congress approved at the height of the financial crisis in fall 2008.

A 1.9 trillion-mile trip is about the same as 8 million trips to the moon.Unfortunately, the $1.9 trillion in new borrowing authority Congress is giving President Barack Obama won't take people quite that far. The additional $1.9 trillion raises the debt ceiling to $14.

The United States should not rush into a change as large as repealing the ban on gays serving openly in the military without making sure the people it affects are on board, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said an 11-month study into the effects of lifting the ban will examine practical questions such as how the change would affect the numbers of people who decide to remain in the service when their terms expire.

Backers of public financing for congressional elections are making a new push, triggered by a Supreme Court decision that lets corporations spend unlimited money on politics. Two top Democrats in Congress back the idea.So why hasn't it gone anywhere? One big reason: Members of Congress prefer the current system because it favors incumbents.

Rep. John Murtha has been hospitalized in intensive care stemming from complications related to gallbladder surgery.Spokesman Matt Mazonkey says the 77-year-old Pennsylvania congressman underwent scheduled surgery last week and is currently at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.

Lawmakers said Tuesday they might counter the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign money, along with the blizzard of special interest spending that could result, by making corporations and unions come clean about which campaign ads they are sponsoring and how much they are shelling out.

Sen. John McCain is bristling at the Pentagon's decision to launch a yearlong study into allowing gays to serve openly in uniform, saying he is "deeply disappointed" and calling the assessment "clearly biased" because it presumes the law should be changed.

President Barack Obama wants to save $115 million this year — and $1.2 billion over 10 years — by eliminating payments to states and Indian tribes that have completed cleanup of abandoned coal mines.Obama calls the proposal common sense: Why pay states to clean up mines that have already been cleaned up?But eliminating the program may not be so easy.

Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts says he opposes federal funding for abortions, but thinks women should have the right to choose whether to have one.Brown tells ABC's "This Week" that he disagrees with his party's position that the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion should be overturned.

The Obama administration's handling of the suspect in the airline bomb plot on Christmas exposed a vulnerability in the U.S. fight against terrorism, a Republican lawmaker said Saturday.Maine Sen. Susan Collins kept up the GOP drumbeat of criticism following a report by The Associated Press a week ago that a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was questioned for 50 minutes without being given a Miranda warning and that when he was later advised of his rights, refused to speak further with investigators.

Republican Rep. Steve Buyer announced Friday that he will not seek re-election this fall and will leave Congress after 18 years because his wife is ill.Buyer choked back tears as he stood next to his wife, Joni, on Friday, saying she had been diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease.

The Senate voted Thursday night to strengthen existing sanctions against Iran and impose new ones aimed at its gasoline supplies as part of the U.S. effort to dissuade Tehran from pursuing nuclear weapons and cracking down on internal dissent.

A House ethics panel found Thursday that Rep. Pete Stark did not violate the law or standards of conduct when he applied last year for a Maryland property tax credit.Stark, D-Calif., saved about $3,800 in 2007 and 2008 through a tax break reserved for those whose primary residence is in Maryland.