In what felt like a formal kick off to his 2012 re-election campaign last night, President Obama's State of the Union Address highlighted his successes over the past three years, announced several reforms he hopes will address economic disparity in America, and tried to take his critics to task. more ›

I can haz grassroots protest? Wikipedia and Google are among the many websites "on strike" today to protest two bills before Congress that they say would cripple the open nature of the internet. more ›

A Schock campaign for governor in 2014 could be just the tonic for the Illinois GOP. more ›

Nice to see Congress proactively responding to the problems that are making America a banana republic. more ›

The line in the sand drawn by Obama continues the confrontational stance he adopted with his joint session of Congress nearly two weeks back. more ›

Joe Walsh said he would handle accusations levied by ex-wife Laura he owes over $100,000 in child support privately. Probably because he would be a vindictive dick about it. more ›

8th District Rep. Joe Walsh came out swinging after the Sun-Times published a story yesterday that read he owed his ex-wife over $100,000 in child support, claiming the article to be a "hit piece." more ›

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL-4) was arrested participating in an immigration protest outside the White House about an hour ago. more ›

President Obama and Congress find themselves in a staredown over debt ceiling negotiations, but the President did find time to announce an end to the ban on gays in the military. more ›

Freshman Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock appears on the cover of the June Men's Health and showing off abs worthy of a P90X workout. Seriously, the youngest member of Congress has Ravishing Rick Rude abs. Schock should hold town hall meetings in Peoria and just imitate Rude addressing wrestling audiences: "What I want right now is for all you fat, out of shape sweathogs to keep the noise down while I take my sportcoat and shirt off, and show the ladies what a real Congressman is supposed to be like. HIT THE MUSIC!" more ›

With the House set to vote today on the budget deal that was hammered out last week, the focus and rhetoric in Washington shifted yesterday to the subject of long-term deficit reduction. President Obama unveiled his plan for cutting $4 trillion from the deficit over the next 12 years through a combination of budget cuts, tax hikes on the wealthy, cuts to the Pentagon's budget and reforms to other entitlement programs, with a final goal of reducing spending by three dollars for every dollar of new tax revenue generated. more ›

House Republicans are targeting $6.8 billion in transportation spending cuts across the country. Among the programs facing a removal in funding is $133 million allocated to build a bridge at 63rd and State which would allow Metra trains to pass over the Norfolk Southern tracks that also serve Amtrak lines. Dubbed the "Englewood Flyover," the project, when completed, would reduce a bottleneck affecting 80 Metra Rock Island Line trains and 60 Amtrak and freight trains a day. more ›

Apparently the recent separation of Al and Tipper Gore was what led Senator Mark Kirk to oppose climate change legislation, and not political or economic considerations. Kirk told the New York Times that his rationale for not supporting climate change legislation in Illinois is the result of Al Gores' personal life, not as a result of political or economic factors. "The consensus behind the climate change bill collapsed and then further deteriorated with the personal and political collapse of Vice President [Al] Gore," Kirk said in what was described as a "brief interview." more ›

3rd Congressional District Representative Dan Lipinski, the Democratic co-author of H.R. 3 (aka "The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act") is finally starting to open up about his support of the bill. H.R. 3, if approved, seeks to make certain provisions of the Hyde Amendment. more ›

President Obama addresses a divided Congress for the first time in tonight's State of the Union address and he's expected to focus the speech on job creation, reducing the federal deficit and trying to get Democrats and Republicans to work together to achieve that. It's also expected by many that the address will serve as sort of a preview for Obama's 2012 re-election bid. The President's post-midterm approval ratings have increased, currently standing at 53 percent in an AP-GfK poll released last week. more ›

We're keeping tabs on reports from Arizona of a shooting in Tucson, AZ today. Among those shot was Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords was meeting with constituents when a gunman approached and opened fire, hitting Giffords in the head along with several others. more ›

Jesse Jackson, Jr. gave a rare interview to the AP over the weekend after delivering a Christmas message to detainees at Cook County Boot Camp. Jackson has been pretty quiet since he acknowledged he was named in the criminal complaint against former Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2008. During the Blagojevich trial, Jackson was said to have been mentioned by a businessman at a meeting discussing fundraising for Blago and Jackson’s desire for the seat. Blagojevich’s brother Robert testified that businessman offered to raise up to $6 million for Rod in exchange for Jackson’s appointment. more ›

How does the cliche go? "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Looks like President Obama has done just that, taking the Democratic mid-term election losses in stride and earning a 56 percent approval rating for the recently completed lame duck session. more ›

A bit of a shocker in the House of Representatives last night, as they voted to pass the DREAM Act by a 216-198 count. more ›

Republican Congressman Peter Roskam, of Wheaton, ascended to the position of chief deputy majority whip this week, the bottom rung of House leadership, making him the number four Republican in congress. While the position is largely concerned with lining up votes on the floor, it also gives Illinois something of a voice in the GOP leadership in Washington. The position has also been a stepping-stone to higher leadership positions in congress. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois held the position, as did now-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia. Roskam will be working with Dayton congressman and now Speaker of the House John Boehner. more ›

Congresswoman Melissa Bean finally conceded to her Republican opponent, Joe Walsh, in the 8th Congressional District race. After all absentee ballots were counted, Walsh's final lead over Bean was reduced to 290 votes, a gossamer-thin margin that even Bean realized she couldn't overcome with recounts. more ›

For me, like many voters that tend to punch the Democratic button in the ballot booth, this election is a shock, even if we saw the train wreck coming months in advance. I remember being in Washington, D.C. on election night 2008, when a spontaneous demonstration of Obama supporters broke out in front of the White House, when I heard people running through the streets of DuPont Circle shrieking and yelling in elation. I remember thinking that, like we still talk about "Reagan Democrats," we might soon be talking about "Obama Republicans." Like some of the president's advisers, I think I underestimated the newly-minted minority party, and overestimated the Democrats in congress. more ›

Today the Tribune ran a feature on several of our local congressmen and their efforts to save money (and maintain a certain image) by sleeping in their D.C. offices while Congress is in session. And who can blame them? If we, like Rep. Mike Quigley, had two daughters in college, we'd look for any way to save cash, too. Quigley also says it's a symbolic gesture for his constituents: "I like to think that this reinforces the point that I live in the district, that I spend most of my time in the district, and I'm trying to be in solid contact with my constituents." more ›

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Local Community Radio Act, which will open the airwaves to potentially hundreds of new low power FM radio stations across the country. The new legislation sets to repeal constraints put on LPFM Radio by Congress in 2000. Any low power station was to follow the “third adjacent rule,” which stated that there must be three empty clicks of the radio dial between stations. If the act is passed into law, those empty airwaves will now be filled with any number of low power stations, which could be used by local community groups, non-profit organizations and religious groups. more ›

U.S. Congressman Luis Gutierrez (4th District) announced in a press release that, along with at least 22 other members of Congress, he will introduce the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) today. Gutierrez said in his press release: more ›

With today being the drop deadline for next year's elections, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis has announced he will forgo a run at Cook County Board President and instead focus on getting re-elected to his current position, Congressman of Illinois' 7th District, and office he has held since 1996. more ›

Not a day goes by that we don’t have some sort of press release cross our desk, or get an email promising “secret information that will "distroy" [Sic] Mayor Daley’s House of Cards,”, but it isn’t often that a U.S. Congressman gets on national television to read his love for the Second City into the Congressional record. That said, Mike Quigley’s “Top Ten Reasons the world should still stop by for a slice of deep dish in Chicago, the greatest city in the world” is way too populist on the food angle (really, he couldn’t mention Alinea or the Publican?), and really kind of ridiculous on the schools end (as in, our high schoolers could kick Rio’s high schooler’s asses). more ›

That then-U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of the 5th Congressional District of Illinois wanted a hand-picked replacement who could essentially serve as a "seat-warmer" when he was selected as then-President-Elect Obama's Chief of Staff is no surprise. That "seat-warmer" would hold Rahm's seat in Congress until Rahm was done working for Obama and could return to his place on the Hill. And that Rahm had contact with Blagojevich about various replacements - including the infamous "for sale" U.S. Senate seat - is also no surprise. Rahm's admitted they talked shop but also maintained he did nothing wrong. But this morning we're getting more specifics courtesy of an investigation by the Sun-Times who reports that Rahm wanted Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool as his "seat-warmer." more ›

Last night, President Obama addressed a joint-session of Congress and the American public to make his case for his health care reform plan, addressed controversies such as the "death panel" accusation, and mixed the usual Obama pragmatism with a bit more of a hard-line stance (the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet called it "a magnificent balancing act"). You can watch the speech below in its entirety and read the full text here. more ›

Mark Kirk, Illinois's 10th District Congressman and GOP front runner for the state's U.S. Senate seat, has been been trying to get in front of conservative rage at Obama lately. Earlier this month he held a press conference in a downtown Chicago federal building (in his capacity as a U.S. Congressman) to denounce the House version of the proposed health care reform legislation. Then, he called the bill partisan and expensive, and cited medical malpractice reforms as the key to cutting costs. This week he's upped the ante, lying about the details of the proposed legislation. "Should we provide taxpayer health care for people who are illegally here in the U. S.? I do not think we should provide federally-subsidized health care to illegal aliens," Kirk asked the crowd before rhetorically answering his own question. He failed to mention that the proposed legislation doesn't actually offer health insurance coverage for those in the United States illegally. more ›