us senate

July 31, 2013 - The Arkansas-based retail giant is disciplining and firing workers who participated in a strike in June. While the firings are almost certainly illegal, congressional Republicans have declawed the national labor board, leaving it without a quorum to conduct business.

May 29, 2013 - In 2010, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas retracted his apology to BP for the Obama administration's effort to get compensation for those affected by the Gulf oil disaster. Will Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have to do the same with his call for the Senate to apologize to Apple for criticizing the company's brazen tax dodging?

April 29, 2013 - Former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), now president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, claims that unauthorized immigrants are a burden on the social safety net -- but the numbers don't bear that out.

March 25, 2013 - MIT physicist Ernest Moniz is an academic who has also served on boards or advisory councils of large energy companies, including BP.

March 22, 2013 - The U.S. House and Senate are advancing very different plans for the 2014 federal budget. One represents a balanced approach that includes new revenues, while the other gives tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and cuts public investments that help the most vulnerable.

January 11, 2013 - The new year promises lots of action on the labor front -- and as always in the South, it comes with heavy baggage from the past.

October 17, 2012 - A large oil sheen in the Gulf of Mexico reported by watchdogs as far back as August 2011 has been tied to BP's failed Macondo well. Congressional leaders are demanding answers from the company about the ongoing oil release, and they also want to ensure BP pays fully for the damages caused by its 2010 disaster.