U.S. Congress News

WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel paid no mortgage interest on a beach resort property for more than 10 years, a lawyer for the powerful House committee chairman said Friday.

DETROIT, Michigan (AFP) - The US presidential election campaign went into full swing Friday under the shadows of a struggling economy, with unemployment figures soaring to a five-year high and triggering recession fears.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee made clear Friday they expect more answers from the FBI about its August announcement that a government scientist was responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

CAMDEN, N.J. - U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews said Thursday he intends to seek re-election after all, replacing his wife on the ballot for his congressional seat.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Republican National Convention's dominant theme of John McCain as war hero was reinforced with a documentary-style film shown to convention delegates before the senator came to the stage to accept his party's presidential nomination.

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain, accepting his party's presidential nomination, said he was the candidate to change the way Washington does business and vowed to ``restore the principles'' of a Republican Party that has ``lost the trust'' of the American people.

The back-to-back Democratic and Republican extragavanzas gave both parties a chance to put their best foot forward as the general election campaign gets underway. If their competing efforts are a wash, the advantage will remains with the Democrats as far as the push to expand their congressional majorities.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sarah Palin’s command performance accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination gives House Republicans a fresh, high-profile champion for the drilling-based energy policies they have fought so hard to publicize all summer.

Lawmakers, lobbyists, Bush administration officials, congressional staffers and businessmen caught up in the Jack Abramoff public corruption probe:

The parties' national conventions serve as gathering places for the party faithful to fire up their grass-roots voting base and officially select their presidential tickets. They also serve as platforms for congressional incumbents and challengers to draw national attention to their local contests -- that is, if they show up.

House Races to Watch

ST PAUL, Minnesota (AFP) - The economy may be the number one issue in the White House race, but the Republican National Convention has yet to dwell on the troubles of Americans trying to make ends meet.

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The site of one of the worst U.S. bridge disasters served as a backdrop yesterday for House Republicans seeking more highway money over the opposition of President George W. Bush and presidential nominee John McCain.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Republicans have nominated Sen. John McCain for president, handing the senator the prize that eluded him eight years ago.

House Republicans have taken their fight for expanded offshore drilling to their party's convention in Minnesota.

WASHINGTON - Democratic leaders in the Senate plan to push a bipartisan energy proposal that would allow for some expansion of offshore drilling when Congress returns next week from a five-week recess.

Presidential conventions are meant to put the best public face on the attending party, promote its national ticket and motivate its activists for the upcoming election. But this week's Republican convention in St. Paul that will nominate Arizona Sen. John McCain for president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president also is a time of introspection.

Democratic Rep. Robert E. Andrews appears set to stun New Jersey's political community for the second time this year by announcing that his House re-election bid is back on after he canceled it to run for the Senate, according to the political Web site {@url@PolitickerNJ@http://www.politickernj.com/editor/23089/andrews-will-seek-re-election-house@].

WASHINGTON - A leading Democratic lawmaker has made public a secret Bush administration letter that says the U.S. has the right to immediately stop nuclear trade with India if that country conducts an atomic test.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Democrats could reap electoral rewards from several years of political organizing, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said, a sentiment echoed by several other prominent conservatives.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has a message to reporters scrutinizing John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin: "Please, media, keep it up."

PHOENIX - A Democrat who raised a hefty amount of money and a Republican lobbyist who has never held elected office will battle each other in November to succeed embattled Republican Rep. Rick Renzi in Arizona's 1st Congressional District.

President Bush, Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and former 2008 GOP presidential rival Fred Thompson are slated to speak out forcefully for John McCain at the Republican National Convention Tuesday. Bush and Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner both have been at odds with McCain in the past. Lieberman has consistently sung his praises.

WASHINGTON - Republicans' Senate campaign arm called off television ads Tuesday that were to air in New Mexico in the run-up to Election Day, an indication that it's leaving the GOP candidate there to fend for himself as the party braces for losses.

WASHINGTON - FBI agents taped more than 100 phone conversations involving Sen. Ted Stevens as part of their public corruption investigation, Stevens' attorneys said Tuesday.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - An attorney hoping to become the first Democrat in nearly two decades to represent Maryland's Eastern Shore in Congress picked up an endorsement Tuesday from the incumbent who lost a GOP primary for the seat.

MINNEAPOLIS - Hundreds of people unhappy with the two major political parties offered a noisy endorsement Tuesday of Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman whose failed bid for the Republican nomination for president garnered heavy support on the Internet.

NEW ORLEANS - Sordid bribery allegations and jokes about "cold cash" hidden in Rep. William Jefferson's freezer apparently did not matter much to voters two years ago when the New Orleans Democrat won a runoff election for his long-held congressional seat with a surprising 57 percent.

WASHINGTON - Congress is putting the short-term future of renewable energy companies in jeopardy even as the presidential candidates and most lawmakers hail windmills, solar panels and biofuels as long-term solutions to high gasoline prices and global warming.