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WASHINGTON -- Congress limped out of town Thursday for a seven-week recess, leaving behind a trail of partisan fights, a failed bill to help fight the Zika virus, a stalemate [...]

The article reports that the U.S. Congressional negotiators have worked extra to complete the spending bill for 2016 and accompanying package in tax breaks for businesses and low-income workers, and mentions that the amendments were opposed by the White House.

The article reports that the farm bill which will reach the floor of the U.S. House on July 25, 2007 will contain few changes in U.S. agricultural policy, despite bipartisan support for major reforms from U.S. President George W. Bush and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Strong opposition to such measures from the House Agriculture Committee caused Pelosi to endorse more limited measures, such as ending subsidies for farmers earning more than $1 million a year.

The article reports on the protest movements conducted by nationalist and religious demonstrators to attack gay rights advocates who gathered at the lower house of Parliament to resist the bill that would outlaw homosexual propaganda in Moscow, Russia.

The article reports on the passing of the Russian legislation to ban adoptions of Russian children by U.S. citizens. The bill responds to the American law punishing Russian nationals accused of violating human rights which can pose a set back on the relations of Russia and the U.S. Russian president Vladimir V. Putin has two weeks to sign and enact the adoption ban.

The article reports on the bill that would prohibit the adoption of Russian children by American citizens in Russia. It says that the bill was a response to a law signed by U.S. President Barack Obama that seeks to punish Russians citizens who are accused of violating human rights. It notes that Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has not yet expressed his view on banning adoptions outright.

MOSCOW -- In another clampdown on dissent, Russian lawmakers approved a bill on Friday that would impose tougher registration and reporting requirements on nongovernmental organizations that receive financing from foreign governments or other donors abroad. The law -- approved by the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, and expected to receive final approval rapidly -- was criticized by human rights and other advocacy organizations that said it could be used to intimidate government critics and to impede progress toward democracy. Some said the law might even block humanitarian aid. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

MOSCOW -- Major Internet sites and human rights advocates sharply criticized a proposed law that would grant the Russian government broad new powers to restrict Web content, ostensibly to protect children from pornography and other harmful material. Critics said the law could quickly lead to repression of speech and a restrictive firewall like the one in China. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, shut its Russian Web site on Tuesday to protest the proposed measure, and instead posted a large warning on its home page: ''Imagine a world without free knowledge.'' The notice said the proposed law ''can lead to the creation of extrajudicial censorship of the Internet in Russia, including the closure of access to Wikipedia.'' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOSCOW -- The Ukrainian Parliament refused on Friday to accept the resignation of its leader and instead adjourned for the summer, leaving uncertain the fate of a contentious bill that would allow local and regional governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages, in addition to Ukrainian. Volodymyr M. Lytvyn, the chairman of Parliament, has refused to sign the bill, effectively blocking it from reaching President Viktor F. Yanukovich, who could sign it into law. Instead, Mr. Lytvyn submitted his resignation, challenging the Party of Regions, which holds the majority, to choose a new chairman who would let the bill go forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parliament refused on Friday to accept the resignation of its leader, Volodymyr M. Lytvyn, and instead adjourned for the summer, leaving uncertain the fate of a contentious bill that would allow local and regional governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages, in addition to Ukrainian. Mr. Lytvyn, the chairman of Parliament, has refused to sign the bill, effectively blocking it from reaching President Viktor F. Yanukovich, who could sign it into law. Instead, Mr. Lytvyn submitted his resignation, challenging the Party of Regions, which holds the majority, to choose a new chairman. Hundreds of people demonstrated against the bill this week, leading to violent clashes with the police. Under the Constitution, Ukrainian is the only official language. But Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, is home to millions of native Russian speakers, particularly in parts of the country that make up Mr. Yanukovich's base of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MOSCOW -- The chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament resigned Wednesday after refusing to sign a contentious bill that would allow local and regional governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages, while hundreds of opponents of the measure clashed violently with riot police officers in Kiev, the capital. The chairman, Volodymyr M. Lytvyn, said Parliament acted illegitimately in adopting the bill, and tendering his resignation temporarily blocks it from reaching President Viktor F. Yanukovich, who could sign it into law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

CORRECTION APPENDED KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian Parliament, acting unexpectedly, approved a bill on Tuesday reaffirming Ukrainian as the country's sole national language, but allowing local and regional governments to grant official status to Russian and other languages spoken by at least 10 percent of their residents. The question of granting Russian official status as a second state language had reopened an emotionally charged debate in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic where millions of people speak Russian as their native tongue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A committee in the House of Commons on Wednesday unanimously called on the British government to introduce legislation that would seek to punish people linked to human rights abuses by denying them travel visas and freezing their financial assets. The proposed legislation is named for Sergei L. Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer, who died in prison after he was repeatedly denied care as his health deteriorated, prompting international criticism of Russia's human rights record. The British measure is virtually identical to legislation under consideration in Washington; intended to punish Russian officials linked to Mr. Magnitsky's case, it could also apply to suspected violators of human rights from other countries. Similar proposals have been under consideration in eight other European parliaments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- As the strategic jockeying in a fight over federal spending kicked into high gear, the Republican House speaker, John A. Boehner, said on Tuesday that it was up to the White House and the Democrats who control the Senate to agree to at least some Republican-backed cuts to help reach a short-term deal and avoid a government shutdown early next month. The House on Saturday approved more than $60 billion in spending reductions, for the fiscal year that runs through Sept. 30, that would hit nearly every area of the government. Not one Democrat voted for the bill, and the White House has threatened to veto it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The House speaker, John A. Boehner of Ohio, said Thursday that Republicans would not agree to a short-term extension of the spending measure now financing the federal government without additional cuts, sharply raising the stakes in a war of wills with Democrats that officials say could lead to a government shutdown early next month. The stopgap measure, which expires on March 4, has held spending generally to 2010 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- The House voted Wednesday to repeal the Democrats' landmark health care overhaul, marking what the new Republican majority in the chamber hailed as the fulfillment of a campaign promise and the start of an all-out effort to dismantle President Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. The vote was 245 to 189, with 3 Democrats joining all 242 Republicans in support of the repeal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a $1.1 trillion spending bill to finance the federal government through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Republicans said they would oppose it and insist on a temporary spending measure through the early part of next year when they hold the majority in the House and six additional seats in the Senate. The spending measure cuts $26 billion from President Obama's budget request and Democrats said it was a better option than using a stop-gap spending bill that would mostly finance agencies at last year's levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, said Thursday that he and other opponents of the military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gay service members had secured the votes to authorize its repeal -- provided that Senate leaders allow a free-flowing debate on the wider military policy bill that includes the repeal. The renewed confidence expressed by Mr. Lieberman, who is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, came as Democrats struggled to make any progress on the most pressing issues confronting Congress in its lame-duck session. House Democrats failed in a bid to extend jobless benefits, raising the prospect that aid could run out for millions of Americans headed into the holidays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- It was a wild finish on Capitol Hill just after midnight Thursday as lawmakers approved a stopgap spending measure, authorized NASA space programs and, for the first time in several years, managed to adopt the annual intelligence policy bill. Then, they raced home to preserve their own jobs. There were a few surprises in the closing act. The Democratic-controlled Senate, for instance, will meet in pro forma sessions through the November elections, a strategic ploy that blocks President Obama from making recess appointments but also prevents Republicans from bouncing back to the White House a bunch of nominations that have not been approved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Tuesday voted against taking up a major military bill that would allow the repeal of the ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy, disappointing advocates of allowing gay Americans to serve openly in the armed forces but leaving open the likelihood of another vote later this year. The outcome, at a time when Congress is increasingly paralyzed by the partisan fury of the midterm elections, was more a result of a dispute between Democrats and Republicans over legislative process than a straightforward referendum on whether to allow gay, lesbian and bisexual soldiers to serve openly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate advanced legislation to aid small businesses on Tuesday after months of Republican resistance. President Obama strongly supports the bill, which would provide loans and tax breaks to small businesses, and its swift enactment seems assured. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Republican leader proposed legislation on Monday to continue all of the Bush-era tax cuts indefinitely, testing the willingness of Democrats to allow a tax increase on the wealthiest Americans in a weak economy and making clear that a partisan fight will extend deep into the campaign season if not beyond. The proposal by the Senate leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, came a day after the House Republican leader, John A. Boehner of Ohio, suggested a potential compromise, saying he would vote for President Obama's plan to extend the cuts only for households earning less than $250,000 if he had no other choice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The House Republican leader, John A. Boehner, on Sunday opened the door to a compromise on the contentious issue of the Bush-era tax cuts, saying he would vote to maintain lower rates for families earning less than $250,000 even if President Obama and Democrats insisted on ending the cuts for wealthier Americans. With Congress returning to Washington this week, Mr. Boehner's decision is likely to reframe both the final intense weeks on Capitol Hill before the elections and the fall campaign, in which embattled Democrats have planned to paint Republicans as obstructionists favoring the rich over the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected a bill to aid small businesses with expanded loan programs and tax breaks, in a procedural blockade that underscored how fiercely determined the party's leaders are to deny Democrats any further legislative accomplishments ahead of November's midterm elections. The measure, championed by Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, had the backing of some of the Republican Party's most reliable business allies, including the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. Several Republican lawmakers also helped write it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Tuesday refused to take up a bill that would require more disclosure of the role of corporations, unions and other special interests in bankrolling political advertisements, after Democrats failed to persuade even one Republican to support it. The bill was drafted in response to a Supreme Court decision in January allowing unlimited campaign spending by corporations and interest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Perhaps the last best hope of Democrats to pass legislation aimed at creating jobs before the November elections seemed to be crumbling in the Senate on Wednesday as Republicans signaled that they would block a bill to expand government lending programs and grant an array of tax breaks to small businesses. Wrangling over the small-business measure began in earnest after Senate Democrats, breaking a two-month partisan logjam, finally succeeded in winning an extension of unemployment insurance. The vote was 59 to 39, with two Republicans joining Democrats in support of the extended benefits, which are retroactive to June 1. One Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- President Obama and Senate Democrats have decided to press ahead in the next two weeks with a scaled-back energy bill that limits carbon pollution by power plants but not by other industries in an effort to salvage the legislation before midterm elections. After months of gridlock, the White House and Democratic leaders have concluded that the sweeping measure they once envisioned cannot pass, so they will try to get what they can rather than pass nothing at all. The developing plan is intended to appeal to enough Republicans to overcome a filibuster but could disappoint liberals who argue that more needs to be done. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- It was supposed to be the one major piece of legislation this year that Republicans and Democrats could see eye to eye on, and vote aye on together in broad numbers. Instead, the sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system, a response to the economic crisis of 2008, will barely squeak through the Senate. Senate Democrats on Tuesday said they had cobbled together the bare minimum of 60 votes needed to close off debate and advance to a final vote later this week. Supporters included three Republican centrists from the Northeast, Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins of Maine and Olympia J. Snowe, also of Maine. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Final passage of sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation's financial regulatory system is now a question of when -- not if -- according to Senate Democrats. Yet, there still seem to be a lot of questions about when. As in: When will the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, be confident enough that he has the 60 votes needed to overcome any Republican filibuster and bring the legislation the Senate floor? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

CORRECTION APPENDED WASHINGTON -- The House on Wednesday adopted legislation to revamp the nation's financial regulatory system, voting mostly along party lines as partisan acrimony impeded cooperation even on the shared goals of averting future economic crises. The vote in the House was 237 to 192, with all but three Republicans standing in opposition to a measure that President Obama in his State of the Union speech said embodied one of the highest priorities of his administration: ''serious financial reform.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Congressional negotiators briefly reopened the conference proceedings on a sweeping financial regulatory bill on Tuesday after Senate Republicans who had supported an earlier version of the measure threatened to block final approval unless Democrats removed a proposed tax on big banks and hedge funds. Conference negotiators voted to eliminate the proposed tax and adopted a new plan to pay the projected five-year, $20 billion cost of the legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- An overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system, reached after an all-night Congressional horse-trading session, will vastly expand the authority of the federal government over Wall Street in a bid to curb the free-wheeling culture that led to the near collapse of the world economy in 2008. The deal between House and Senate negotiators, sealed just before sunrise on Friday, imposes new rules on some of the riskiest business practices and exotic investment instruments. It also levies hefty fees on the financial services industry, essentially forcing big banks and hedge funds to pay the projected $20 billion, five-year cost of the new oversight that they will face. And it empowers regulators to liquidate failing financial companies, fundamentally altering the balance between government and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The House on Friday adopted an annual Pentagon policy bill that includes a provision allowing the Defense Department to repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military. The vote was 229 to 186, with 220 Democrats and 9 Republicans in favor and 160 Republicans and 26 Democrats opposed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday rejected an effort by Democratic leaders to complete work on a sweeping financial regulatory bill as two key Democratic holdouts said it still did not tighten rules on Wall Street enough. The holdouts -- Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin -- joined with 39 Republicans to block an effort by the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to wrap up debate on the bill. The measure would enact the most far-reaching overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the aftermath of the Great Depression. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday unleashed a barrage of criticism at the far-reaching financial regulatory legislation being debated on the Senate floor, indicating that many of the party's leaders were prepared to vote against the bill. Republicans accused Senate Democrats and the Obama White House of orchestrating a ''government takeover'' of the financial industry and suggested that the bill would severely harm businesses on Main Street. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Anyone rejected for a credit card, car loan or department store charge account has most likely discovered a frustrating aspect of the government-mandated, free credit reports: the glaring absence of the numerical credit score that lenders rely on to make their decisions. That now stands to change as a result of an amendment adopted by the Senate on Monday as it moved closer toward completing a sweeping financial regulatory bill. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- In a defeat for major Wall Street banks, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a Republican effort to ease some of the tight new rules included in the bill for trading derivatives, the complex financial instruments that were at the center of the 2008 financial collapse. The question of how to regulate derivatives has generated fierce debate in the Senate, as lawmakers wrestled with a desire to bring new transparency and safeguards to the market while not hurting businesses that routinely use derivatives to hedge against risks, like swings in energy prices, foreign currency rates or other commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate opened debate on Thursday on a far-reaching financial regulation bill, and Democrats moved quickly to demonstrate that the legislation would not provide any future taxpayer bailouts of failing financial companies -- answering a Republican criticism that the Democrats had dismissed as false. The first amendment proposed to the bill, by Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, was intended to tighten language in the bill regarding how the government would handle any future collapses of financial companies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- With political pressure mounting, Senate Republicans relented on Wednesday and agreed to let Democrats open debate on legislation that would impose the most far-reaching overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system since the aftermath of the Depression. The decision by Republicans to allow floor deliberations came after they voted three days in a row to block the bill, and it suggested that they saw political peril in being depicted as impeding tougher rules for Wall Street. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans, united in opposition to the Democrats' legislation to tighten regulation of the financial system, voted on Monday to block the bill from reaching the floor for debate. As both sides dug in, the battle has huge ramifications for the economy and for their political prospects in this year's midterm elections. Republicans said they were intent on winning substantive changes to the bill and accused the Democrats of rushing the most far-reaching overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression. Both sides say they expect the overhaul eventually will be approved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by Democrats to start debate on legislation to tighten regulation of the nation's financial system, and the two sides traded bitter accusations about who was standing in the way of a bipartisan agreement. The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, asked Republicans to agree to begin debating the measure, which would impose a sweeping regulatory framework on Wall Street and big financial institutions. But the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, objected, saying Democrats were pre-empting negotiations to reach a deal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A group of Senate Democrats introduced a bill on Wednesday that would require the nation's three largest banks to shrink, in an effort to eliminate the problem of financial institutions being seen as ''too big to fail.'' Their proposal, which would put specific ceilings on the size of banks, builds on a provision already in the Senate's financial regulatory overhaul package that is meant to limit future growth of large Wall Street firms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans and Democrats predicted on Wednesday that Congress would soon pass a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system, indicating a potentially swift resolution of the latest partisan firefight on Capitol Hill. But the sides offered starkly different reasons for their optimism. Republicans said that they had forced Democrats back to the bargaining table to negotiate a bipartisan accord, while Democrats said that Republicans were hastily abandoning their opposition in fear of a public outcry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner appealed on Monday to the centrist Republican senators from Maine for their support of legislation to tighten regulation of the nation's financial system but came up empty-handed, leaving Democrats and Republicans on an apparent collision course. Mr. Geithner's meetings with the Maine Republicans, Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe, came as a war of words escalated over the financial regulation bill. Ms. Collins, after her meeting, said she remained opposed to the bill and that lawmakers needed more time to work out an agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, labored on Thursday to unite his caucus in opposition to legislation to tighten regulation of the nation's financial system, as Democrats expressed dismay that Republicans were threatening not only to vote against the bill but to block the start of floor debate. The Republicans, who just weeks ago lambasted the Democrats for negotiating provisions of the health care legislation behind closed doors, adopted an opposite approach and demanded that the Democrats agree to negotiate major changes to the bill before they would consider opening the regular process of floor debate and amendments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- President Obama signed legislation on Tuesday to expand college access for millions of young Americans by revamping the federal student loan program in what he called ''one of the most significant investments in higher education since the G.I. Bill.'' Mr. Obama went to a community college where the wife of his vice president teaches to draw attention to the student loan overhaul attached to the final piece of health care legislation that passed last week. In signing the bill, Mr. Obama put the final touches on his health care program but used the occasion to highlight the education provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Congress on Thursday gave final approval to a package of changes to the Democrats' sweeping health care overhaul, capping a bitter partisan battle over the most far-reaching social legislation in nearly half a century. The bill, which Democratic leaders hailed as a landmark achievement, now goes to President Obama for his signature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats approved a far-reaching overhaul of the nation's health system on Sunday, voting over unanimous Republican opposition to provide medical coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans after an epic political battle that could define the differences between the parties for years. With the 219-to-212 vote, the House gave final approval to legislation passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. Thirty-four Democrats joined Republicans in voting against the bill. The vote sent the measure to President Obama, whose yearlong push for the legislation has been the centerpiece of his agenda and a test of his political power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- House Democratic leaders late Friday were exploring the possibility of a deal with abortion opponents that would clinch the final votes to pass major health care legislation, but they faced stiff resistance from lawmakers who support abortion rights. It was not immediately clear if the bill could win approval without some concessions to Democrats seeking tighter abortion restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Love it or hate it, one thing that is indisputable about the Democrats' big health care legislation is that the cost figures are going to come out right where President Obama said he wanted them. When the president finally came forward with an outline of his own proposal, aimed at bridging differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation, he said it would have a 10-year price tag of about $950 billion and would reduce federal deficits over that same time period by more than $100 billion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]