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Composite liberal and conservative scores of members of the US Congress based on their voting record are listed. The formation of a winning coalition in both houses of the US Congress is difficult due to the diversity of positions of the lawmakers.

Committee chairmen have enjoyed a resurgence of influence on national issues because of alliances with party leaders, and the skills and effectiveness of the chairmen themselves. Congressional leaders have learned to trust the expertise and experience of the chairmen to enact legislation. Other views on the resurgence of the committee chairmen's influence are presented.

U.S. Congress members that are expected to be President-elect Barack Obama's allies in passing key items to his agenda are presented. Key allies identified for Obama's economic agenda include Senator Richard Durbin. Expected key allies for Iraq and foreign policy, energy and environment, healthcare, judicial nominees, and in changing Washington, are also presented.

Presidential candidate John McCain's role in the White House meeting with bi-partisan congressional leadership on addressing the financial crisis is seen as instructive about how he would act if he is elected president. Views on Congress, as well as on how Senator John McCain might work with Congress if he gets elected as the U.S. president, are presented.

The unique position of Democratic Senator Charles Schumer as a utility man ably playing multiple roles in policy and politics is discussed.

The time is nearing for the United States to pull out of Iraq in the face of an unsupportive political situation at home. The pullout from an unresolved situation will mark a challenging and traumatic phase in the U.S. that might threaten national unity, and the ongoing civil war in Iraq will remain proof of the disastrous intervention of the U.S.

Democratic committee chairmen are conducting several oversight hearings of administration officials and corporate bosses, since taking control of Congress. They seem to be cautious in their approach to avoid an overzealous partisan image that might be counterproductive to them.

Charlie Reed is the director of Biblical Concepts in Counseling, an organization in Cheyenne, Wyo., that sounds like an unlikely place for the federal government to invest your tax money. [...]

The November 7, 2006 midterm election in the US is likely to see several legal problems involving voter ID requirements, ballot-counting methods and new voting machines, all of which will result in many votes that will never be counted. However, when a race is not tight enough for contested ballots to matter, or when the results are not within 'the margin of litigation', election officials and the political parties' official observers will generally accept the imperfections and move on.

Some state and local education advocates are seeking changes in the No Child Left Behind Act when it is due for reauthorization in 2007. But the federal administration of the US President George W. Bush believes that the law passed in 2001is effective as it is with respect to provision of education to every child in America, and is best left unchanged and allowed to stay its course.

Nearly eight out of ten migrants granted legal status in the United States of America get it on the basis of family ties, not job skills, and new US citizens take advantage of the system by sponsoring relatives for citizenship under current immigration policies. But tough immigration laws also mean that illegal immigrants are deported and thus, separated from relatives who are naturalized citizens of the US, and their children who are citizens by virtue of being born in the US.

Republican Party leaders believe that they must pick their battles carefully during President-elect Barack Obama's first year in office. Republican Party insiders who were surveyed believe that there will be times that they will work with Obama, and oppose him on other times. Key findings of the survey, as well as views of some respondents, are presented.

Democrats, who assume control of Congress in January 2007, would be accompanied by a group of experienced professional aides to help them in driving an agenda and managing a bill on the floor. Several staffers, who had left the Capitol Hill for other positions, are willing to be part of a team of qualified A-team of Democratic aides, also comprising of staffers who stayed in government service through the years of the Democratic minority.

Democrats, on gaining control of Congress, are planning a coordinated, careful but vigorous oversight of the administration of the US President George W. Bush on various issues such as the Iraq war, intelligence programs, presidential power, the Vice President's involvement in corruption, fraud and abuse by the administration, Medicaid and voting reforms. However, since they are also focusing on the 2008 elections for the White House and Congress, they would not go overboard at the risk of giving an impression of being obstructionist and extremist in targeting the government policies.

Thousand of Chinese are smuggled into the United States (U.S.) by human smugglers called 'snakeheads'. One reason that Chinese peasants and city dwellers are willing to pay snakeheads huge amount to get into US is that it is very unlikely they will ever be deported if they are caught. The non-cooperation of the Chinese government makes it difficult for the U.S. to deport illegal Chinese.

To lay out his strategy for the war in Afghanistan, President Obama delivered a speech. His December 1 remarks at West Point lasted about half an hour. His audience politely [...]

Ask not what your party can do for you -- ask what you can do for your party. That could well be the formula for politicians who want to lead [...]

OK, breathe. After months of exhausting Washington-style obsessing about the contents and timing of health care reform legislation, many lawmakers are ready for a break. Some are looking forward to [...]