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Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six people and shot former Arizona lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords in a 2011 rampage, kept bomb-making components in a safe in his bedroom, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

Republican lawmakers are challenging the Obama administration over a newly announced plan to expand the use of U.S. military bases to house illegal immigrant children, warning that it will put a strain on troops and threaten military readiness.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is consistent - at least when it comes to espousing total indifference to what Newark residents want for their state-operated public school system.

About 300 homes - twice as many as previously estimated - have burned in a massive wildfire in north-central Washington, a county sheriff said Friday.

Suspected militants patrolling a road in western Afghanistan shot and killed 14 Shiite Muslim travelers Friday, in a rare sectarian attack that Afghans fear is part of an increasing pattern of insurgent assaults on ethnic and religious minorities.

By voice vote this week, the Senate approved President Barack Obama's nomination of Gen.

Just a day after a Capitol Hill hearing highlighting her case, a Sudanese woman flew to Italy early Thursday, escaping a possible death sentence in her native land for refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

The Environmental Protection Agency is under fire for a preemptive strike against a massive copper and gold mine in Alaska, where hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs are at stake.

Sen. John Walsh, right, and son Michael leave the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill after a swearing-in ceremony with Vice President Biden.

A day before meeting with President Obama at the White House to discuss the border crisis, the presidents of Honduras and Guatemala blamed the wave of unaccompanied children inundating the U.S. on American foreign policy and on gridlock in Congress over immigration reform.

Negotiations over legislation to ease the Veterans Affairs health-care crisis broke down on Thursday as leaders of the House and Senate veterans committees rolled out competing proposals with a $15 billion gap between them.

Sen. Ted Cruz vowed Thursday to continue blocking confirmation of a series of ambassadorial and other diplomatic nominees despite the Federal Aviation Administration lifting a ban on U.S. airline flights to Israel.

The past two years have introduced a cottage industry to Washington, D.C.: polling that shows how very unlikable things -- root canals and Darth Vader, for example -- are more popular than politicians.

Kansas is suddenly a hotbed of intra-party GOP conflict . You may be familiar with the revolt of more than 100 Republican officials who chose to endorse a Democratic candidate for governor instead of the incumbent, Gov. Sam Brownback .

Michele Bachmann, who is retiring from Congress at the end of her term, is stoking speculation that she might mount a second bid for the White House.

A U.S. lawmaker will pressure the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday to consider a raft of reforms, after William Ackman's aggressive efforts to take over Allergan Inc raised concerns about loose rules governing disclosure and shareholder voting.

Montana Sen. John Walsh's thesis written to earn a master's degree from the U.S. Army War College contains unattributed passages taken word-for-word from previously published papers.

U.S. Republican lawmakers introduced legislation on Wednesday that would force President Barack Obama to submit quickly to Congress any comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran and give lawmakers the chance to reject the deal and reimpose sanctions.

In a break from his chamber's often acrid political divisions, a choked-up House Speaker John Boehner prompted two bipartisan standing ovations Wednesday when he praised the doctor who helped a congresswoman's infant survive a rare fetal condition .