Mike Simpson

Nicole LeFavour, an openly gay state senator from Idaho, on Friday announced her bid for the U.S. House of Representatives. ?Nicole LeFavour, an openly gay state senator from Idaho, on Friday announced her bid for the U.S. House of Representatives. ?I'm running for Congress because I love Idaho and we can do better,? LeFavour tweeted on Friday. LeFavour's bid to represent Idaho's 2nd Congressional District, currently held by Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, was a surprise to many since only a few days earlier she had announced that she wouldn't return to the Idaho Senate. She told The New York Times that Republican opposition to a gay protections bill which she had sponsored was behind her decision to leave state politics. ?People are just being politically unbelievably spineless,? she said in reference to a committee vote against the measure. LeFavour must first survive a May 15 Democratic primary against Jack Chappell and Eldon Wallace to become the candidate to challenge Rep. Mike Simp

(Reuters) - They began this year vowing to slash spending and reduce government.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers intensified efforts on Friday to extend payroll tax relief for Americans, and it appeared likely that language to speed approval of a controversial oil pipeline might be part of a deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers were trying to forge a compromise deal on payroll tax relief for 160 million Americans on Friday as the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation to keep government agencies operating through September, 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers were trying to forge a compromise deal on payroll tax relief for 160 million Americans on Friday as the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation to keep government agencies operating through September, 2012.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that would keep the U.S. government operating beyond the weekend appeared in trouble on Tuesday as lawmakers bickered over whether they had resolved policy issues such as abortion funding and travel to Cuba.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that would keep the U.S. government operating beyond the weekend appeared in trouble on Tuesday as lawmakers bickered over whether they had resolved policy issues such as abortion funding and travel to Cuba.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill that would keep the U.S. government operating beyond the weekend appeared in trouble on Tuesday as lawmakers bickered over whether they had resolved policy issues such as abortion funding and travel to Cuba.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic lawmakers aim to present a dramatic show of support on Tuesday for a congressional "super committee" racing against the clock to agree on a deficit-cutting plan.

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters Life!) - Conservation groups have asked a U.S. appeals court to strike down a move by Congress to strip more than 1,500 wolves in Idaho and Montana of federal endangered species protections.

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters Life!) - Conservation groups have asked a U.S. appeals court to strike down a move by Congress to strip more than 1,500 wolves in Idaho and Montana of federal endangered species protections.

The political tussle over US spending has ensnared an unlikely victim, the gray wolf, whose long-time status as an endangered species will likely be axed due to a late addition to the budget deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gregory Jaczko, top cop for the U.S. nuclear industry, began his career in Washington as a young physicist assisting efforts to block a proposal to store radioactive waste in a Nevada mountainside.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Thursday pressed the Obama administration on its decision to stop work on a permanent nuclear waste storage site inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada, launching a formal probe and grilling the nuclear regulator on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Thursday pressed the Obama administration on its decision to stop work on a permanent nuclear waste storage site inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada, launching a formal probe and grilling the nuclear regulator on Capitol Hill.