Congress

Congress headed out of Washington on Friday, accomplishing relatively little in a short work period and missing deadlines on the budget and on helping Puerto Rico with its financial crisis.

Congress increasingly is being defined by what it's not doing this election year.

While GOP task forces are talking about national security, jobs and health care, the House floor has largely been turned over to the obscure and the arcane. Instead of wrapping up a typical day's work at suppertime, early afternoon getaways are the norm. And it could remain that way for much of the year.

Despite a distinct lack of support from Senate colleagues -- not one single endorsement -- the Republican presidential candidate and freshman Texas senator has a small but loyal group of supporters in the House who are flying to rallies, meeting with voters and trying to convince the electorate that he's not such a bad guy.

State and local governments would be permanently barred from taxing access to the Internet under a bipartisan compromise that Congress is a step away from sending to President Barack Obama.

Thanks to Congress' recent tax-and-spending spree, Republicans intent on fulfilling a political promise will have to propose far deeper cuts to domestic programs to bring the government's deteriorating balance sheet back into the black.

House Republicans renewed their call Friday for swift Senate action on a bill cracking down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees, following the arrests of two Iraqi-born men on terrorism-related charges.

After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal's country of origin on packages of red meat.

Legislation repealing President Barack Obama's health care law comes to the forefront when the House reconvenes this week, marking a sharply partisan start to a congressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan but deficit draining year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and a sweeping array of business interests.