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Posted: 2/28/2013 2:58:28 AM EST
FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. With across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any public inconvenience or disruption in government services that result. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Posted: 2/28/2013 1:58:34 AM EST
In this Feb. 26, 2013, photo, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican angst over presidential election losses obscures the fact that many conservative ideals have prospered for decades. McConnell and other top Republicans say the deficit is a threat. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Posted: 2/27/2013 11:58:31 AM EST
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson speaks to the media after casting her vote in Steger, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in the special primary election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. Halvorson is one of the front-runners in the primary. The others include former state Rep. Robin Kelly and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale. They were among 14 Democrats and four Republicans in the special primary, but the Democratic winner is expected to sail through the April 9 general election because of the heavily Democratic region. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Posted: 2/27/2013 12:28:37 AM EST
Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, a Democrat, speaks with reporters after casting his vote in Chicago, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in the special primary election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. Beale is one of three front-runners in the primary. The others include former state Rep. Robin Kelly and former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson. They were among 14 Democrats and four Republicans in the special primary, but the Democratic winner is expected to sail through the April 9 general election because of the heavily Democratic region. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 5:53:38 PM EST
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio wraps up a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, where he and GOP leaders challenged President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in four days. Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. He is followed by Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas is at left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 4:58:37 PM EST
File - In this July 24, 2003 file photo, then State Sen. Minority Leader Jim Brutle, right, speaks next to then Senate President Pro tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, left, during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif. As Republicans nationwide reconsider the party's direction, nowhere is their challenge more daunting than in California. In an attempt to restore their party to relevance, Republican delegates are expected to elect as their new chairman this weekend a former state lawmaker who is widely seen as a pragmatist and a political moderate. But it's far from clear whether the former state senator, Jim Brulte, or anyone else can turn around the party's political fortunes. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 3:23:25 PM EST
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson casts her vote in Steger, Ill., Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in the special primary election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. Halvorson is one of the front-runners in the primary. The others include former state Rep. Robin Kelly and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale. They were among 14 Democrats and four Republicans in the special primary, but the Democratic winner is expected to sail through the April 9 general election because of the heavily Democratic region. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 3:23:25 PM EST
Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, a Democrat, speaks with election judge Nancy Karen as he casts his vote in Chicago, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in the special primary election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson in Illinois' 2nd Congressional District. Beale is one of three front-runners in the primary. The others include former state Rep. Robin Kelly and former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson. They were among 14 Democrats and four Republicans in the special primary, but the Democratic winner is expected to sail through the April 9 general election because of the heavily Democratic region. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 12:58:31 PM EST
Following a closed-door party caucus, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, center, and GOP leaders meet with reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26 2013, to challenge President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts that take effect in four day. Speaking at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. A frustrated Boehner told reporters, quote, "We should not have to move a third bill before the Senate gets off their ass and begins to do something." From left are, Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 12:28:42 PM EST
Following a closed-door party caucus, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, accompanied by fellow GOP leaders, meet with reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, to challenge President Obama and the Senate to avoid the automatic spending cuts set to take effect in four days. Speaking at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Boehner complained that the House, with Republicans in the majority, has twice passed bills that would replace the across-the-board cuts known as the "sequester" with more targeted reductions, while the Senate, controlled by the Democrats, has not acted. From left are, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Boehner, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Posted: 2/26/2013 3:03:29 AM EST
FILE - In this Dec. 21, 1995, file photo Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, dumps out coal, his so-called Christmas gift to President Clinton, during a news conference about the federal budget on Capitol Hill as Congressional Republicans tried to restart balanced budget talks on day six of the partial government shutdown. President Barack Obama and his officials are doing their best to drum up public concern over the shock wave of spending cuts that could strike the government in just days. So it’s a good time to be alert for sky-is-falling hype. (AP Photo/Denis Paquin, File)
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Posted: 2/24/2013 12:03:33 PM EST
FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2013 file photo, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas is seen on a video screen as he addresses a conservative forum at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. Weeks into his job, Texas Republicans are cheering Cruz's indelicate debut and embracing him as one of their own. The insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's blessing and bankroll, has run afoul of GOP mainstays, prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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Posted: 2/24/2013 12:03:33 PM EST
FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2013 file photo Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texa,s points to a life size photo of a Remington 750, a popular hunting rifle, to make a point about the proposed ban on certain kinds of guns during a Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Weeks into his job, Texas Republicans are cheering Cruz's indelicate debut and embracing him as one of their own. The insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's blessing and bankroll, has run afoul of GOP mainstays, prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Posted: 2/24/2013 12:03:32 PM EST
FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2013 file photo Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, talks with committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., during a hearing about gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington. Weeks into his job, Texas Republicans are cheering Cruz's indelicate debut and embracing him as one of their own. The insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's blessing and bankroll, has run afoul of GOP mainstays, prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Posted: 2/24/2013 12:03:32 PM EST
FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2013 file photo Armed Services committee member, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, questions former Sen. Chuck Hagel (not shown), President Obama's choice for defense secretary, during Hagel's confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Weeks into his job, Texas Republicans are cheering Cruz's indelicate debut and embracing him as one of their own. The insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's blessing and bankroll, has run afoul of GOP mainstays, and prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism. Also seen from left are Sen.s Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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Posted: 2/23/2013 7:56:57 PM EST
U.S. Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) (C) talks with reporters as he departs a meeting about debt ceiling legislation with fellow Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Posted: 2/23/2013 7:56:57 PM EST
U.S. Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) (C) talks with reporters as he departs a meeting about debt ceiling legislation with fellow Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 28, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Posted: 2/23/2013 9:38:22 AM EST
In this photo taken Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, speaks on the House floor in Olympia, Wash. It has been just shy of 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Washington state law barring members of the Communist Party from working for the state is unconstitutional. Evidently, that is not enough time to remove it from the books. Fitzgibbon first introduced a measure to repeal the anachronistic law last year, saying that it would be a quiet end to a moot statute originating from a dark period in our nation’s history. Though his bill passed out of the House Judiciary Committee, it did do so on a party-line vote, with four Republicans opposed. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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Posted: 2/23/2013 9:08:24 AM EST
FILE – In this Jan. 31, 2013, file photo Democrat senators, from right, Carl Levin, D-Mich., Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., confer as Republican Chuck Hagel, a former two-term senator and President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies at his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. The fierce Republican opposition to the Hagel's nomination has long been seen as a proxy for the never-ending scuffles between the Democratic president and congressional Republicans, with barely any reservoir of good will. Barring any surprises, the battle will probably end this coming week with Hagel's Senate confirmation; but his fellow Republicans have roughed him up. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Posted: 2/23/2013 9:08:23 AM EST
FILE – In this Feb. 12, 2013 file photo Senate Armed Services Committee members, from left, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., gather for a Capitol Hill hearing on looming defense budget cuts to be followed by a confirmation hearing on former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination to Secretary of Defense. The fierce Republican opposition to the Hagel nomination has long been seen as a proxy for the never-ending scuffles between the Democratic president and congressional Republicans, with barely any reservoir of good will. Barring any surprises, the drawn-out battle will probably end this coming week with Hagel's Senate confirmation; but his fellow Republicans have roughed him up. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
