Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) have proposed legislation that would call on a new government working group to devise a plan for cutting poverty in half over the next decade.

Under their Half in Ten Act, H.R. 2182, several dozen federal departments and agencies would participate in the Federal Interagency Working Group on Reducing Poverty. The working group would be led by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development would appoint a staff director for the group.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced a bill Thursday that aims to eliminate racial profiling by law enforcement.

“As a matter of practice, racial profiling just doesn’t work,” Cardin said. “The more resources spent investigating individuals because of their race, religion, national origin or ethnicity, the fewer resources directed at suspects who are actually demonstrating illegal behavior.”

Four House Democrats have proposed legislation that would require airlines to put policies in place so families can sit next to each other on flights.

The Families Flying Together Act, H.R. 2191, is a response to the growing difficulties families face staying together on flights, as airlines have begun to charge for services such as making a specific seat request.

Members of both parties demanded Friday that the United Nations remove Iran from leading upcoming disarmament talks.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 72 House members said Iran's “continued pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,” “grotesque human rights record” and “role as a leading state sponsor of terrorism” should “disqualify” it from chairing the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. The next round of Geneva-based talks will take place from next Monday through June 23. 

“By allowing Iran to chair this Conference, the United Nations is legitimizing a tyrannical regime committed to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction while delegitimizing the United Nations as a force to contain nuclear weapons,” the letter says. “Indeed, a conference seeking nuclear transparency and disarmament will be led by a country operating a dangerous and covert nuclear program that threatens global nuclear instability.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit discrimination in adoption or foster care placements based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status.

“Every child deserves a loving home, and it is just wrong to keep children from a brighter future with a loving family by discriminating against adoptive parents based on their sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity,” Gillibrand said.

Paul argues the government has eroded protections for electronic communications over the past few decades.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) this week reintroduced a resolution that calls on the House Clerk to place a real time display of the United States national debt.

Reed proposed a similar resolution in the last Congress, when he said a debt clock on the House floor is needed to remind people of the nearly $60,000 per second the government is borrowing.

Two Democrats from Washington State say they are staying in touch with emergency workers and state officials after a portion of a bridge on Interstate 5 spanning the Skagit River collapsed.

No deaths were reported as of late Thursday night, but a few cars were on the section of the bridge as it fell into the river in a rural area of Washington.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Thursday that they’d introduce a bill to offset sequestration cuts with revenue from closing tax loopholes.

Whitehouse said the Cut Unjustifiable Tax Loopholes Act gives lawmakers five different loophole options to cut. He said all five loopholes would add up to $127 billion, while only $80 billion is needed to replace sequestration cuts in fiscal year 2013.

“We should get rid of some of these things even if we had no deficit because they are an embarrassment,” Levin said on the Senate floor Thursday. “I’m talking about collecting taxes that should be paid.”