"republican"

Speaker of the House John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, stepped out of the White House yesterday after a 90-minute meeting with President Obama and reported no progress.

Lawmakers, many of whom had urged President Obama to seek authority from Congress before going ahead with a military strike against Syria, were largely positive about his decision to do just that.

“It was feeling like some kind of Klan rally.” That’s the reaction of spectator Perry Beam to Saturday’s appearance at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Mo., of a rodeo clown wearing a mask meant to look like President Obama and what happened during his performance.

“The Internal Revenue Service’s scrutiny of conservative groups went beyond those with ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot’ in their names — as the agency admitted Friday — to also include ones worried about government spending, debt or taxes, and even ones that lobbied to ‘make America a better place to live,’ ” The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Alabama Legislature has approved a bill making it legal to brew beer at home, a practice that had been forbidden in the state. If Gov. Robert Bentley signs the bill, as is expected, home brewing will soon be legal in all 50 states.

Sen. Joe Manchin says he’s going to reintroduce his bill that expands background checks for gun purchases to sales made at gun shows and online, and he predicts that the second time around, it will get enough votes to move out of the Senate.

President Obama unveiled his 2014 budget proposal Wednesday, calling it is a “fiscally responsible blueprint” that can help grow the economy and shrink deficits.

A final deal on a changing immigration laws is at hand but still incomplete, according to two of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators collaborating on it.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday is set to approve expanded federal background checks for gun buyers, moving the measure to the full Senate, where it could come up for a vote next month before going to the GOP-controlled House.