Senate

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Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, on Tuesday will become the last of 13 Senate freshmen to deliver a "maiden speech" on the Senate floor, nearly five months into his term.

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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has plenty of time to decide and could win the Senate race even if she waited until 2012 before entering, the former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party says. (southwestphotobank.com via Associated Press)

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The district represented by Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Virginia Democrat, could lose black voters in the state Senate's redistricting plan.

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Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times Eric Schmitt told a Senate panel Tuesday, “I cannot say that even once my degree has opened any doors of employment for me,” but Kaplan said, “The experience of other students in his class was decidedly different. Of the others ... 13 of 16 [found a job].”

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Jell-O wrestling at the South Pole is one of the projects detailed in the Senate report "The National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope."

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. Barbara Boxer leaves Capitol Hill on Thursday after speaking on the Senate floor about former Nevada Sen. John Ensign. Mr. Ensign made false statements to the Federal Election Commission, the panel said.

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ROD LAMKEY JR./THE WASHINGTON TIMES John Watson, chief executive officer of Chevron Corp. (left); Marvin Odum, U.S. president of Shell Oil (second from left); H. Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America Inc. (third from left); James Mulva, chief executive officer of Conoco Phillips (second from right); and Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp., testify during a Senate hearing on oil- and gas-tax incentives and rising energy prices on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

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Nebraska Attorney General and Senate candidate Jon Bruning, a Republican, accepted the endorsement of the Tea Party Express on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tells a Senate hearing on Southwest border security progress that she has asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to come up with another way to measure the true state of security along the border.

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Pending Senate confirmation, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta is expected to take the helm at the Pentagon by July. (AP Photo)

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DALLAS MORNING NEWS VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS Former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert has taken an early fundraising lead among Republican candidates vying for a Senate seat in 2012. Mr. Leppert made a $1.6 million personal loan to boost his own campaign.

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** FILE ** Facing an ethics investigation by a special counsel, Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican, seen here in June 2009, announced on Thursday, April 21, 2011, that he would step down from his Senate seat. He earlier said he would not run for re-election. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS President Obama hosts a bipartisan meeting with House and Senate leadership on Wednesday in the White House. From left are: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, the president, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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"This will be awful," Delegate John A. Cosgrove, Chesapeake Republican, said of the Senate plan for congressional districts that, he says, slices up Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Prince William County and Hanover. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis announces in April 2011 that he's running for the New Jersey state Senate. (AP Photo)

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Former interim Sen. George LeMieux, Florida Republican, on Tuesday announced a bid to return to the Senate. (Associated Press)

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National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman and Peter Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association, testified Wednesday at a Senate transportation subcommittee hearing on improving the safety of passengers on the country's large buses, or motorcoaches. Crashes in the past decade have taken dozens of lives. (Associated Press)

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Rep. Allen B. West, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington last month, has been in Congress only since January, but there already is talk of a Senate run in 2012 or possibly a spot on the presidential ticket. But first, he says, "I've got to prove myself as a capable legislator, political leader." (Associated Press)

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Opponents of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, including C.J. Terrell demonstrate outside the senate parlor at the Wisconsin State Capitol Building as legislators inside voted to move forward on an amended version of the controversial bill Wednesday, March 9, 2011. The new bill removes the fiscal elements from the bill and strips public employees of collective bargaining rights. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Hart)

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Tears roll down the face of Liz Sanger of Madison, Wis., after the state Senate passed the budget repair bill following a meeting of a state Legislature conference committee at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Wednesday evening, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, M.P. King)