Other

The Department of Agriculture on Thursday officially delayed a proposed 15 cent-per-tree fee paid by Christmas tree producers.

"Pandering to the extreme right ... to put more concealed guns into our neighborhoods does not create jobs," Hoyer said.

Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday clashed over a bill requiring states to accept one another's concealed carry permits, which the GOP said is needed to avoid violations of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Democrats hit back by saying the bill would trample another GOP concern, states rights, which are preserved by the 10th Amendment.

The bill, H.R. 822, is expected to be approved by the end of Wednesday, on the backing of Republican arguments that the Constitution gives all Americans the right to bear arms, a right that should not be restricted by state laws.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and several Hispanic members of the House and Senate proposed legislation on Tuesday that would establish a Smithsonian American Latino Museum on the National Mall.

"A museum honoring the contributions of Americans of Hispanic descent has been long overdue," Reid said. "This bill brings it one step closer to reality."

Senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Monday requested a hearing on how changes to state voting laws — including those that require people to present photo identification before voting — might be making it tougher for people to vote.

"These changes in state voting laws raise serious constitutional concerns under both the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment," Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Subcommittee on the Constitution ranking member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

Rep. Maxine Waters called the supercommittee secretive and a threat to the democratic process.

Capitol Police, D.C. police and the FBI responded to a bomb threat near the Capitol campus Saturday night.

The Capitol campus returned to the quiet pace of recess in Washington on Wednesday morning following a 5.8-magnitude earthquake.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Monday reaffirmed that he would not run for a third Senate term in 2016, thereby sticking to his pledge to serve only two Senate terms.

Speaking at a town-hall meeting in Enid, Okla., Coburn urged his constituents to demand that politicians tell the truth, and said politicians should be fired when they fail.

"But you can't fire me, because I'm not running again," he said, according to the Muskogee Phoenix.

Coburn first made a term-limit pledge when he was a member of the lower chamber. He served just three terms in the House before leaving voluntarily, then successfully ran for the Senate in 2004.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) took some swings at Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) during a Wednesday town-hall meeting, but said his decision on whether to seek Hatch's Senate seat would not be made until football season.

"You don't have to have 36 years of seniority to get things done in Washington," Chaffetz said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "Seniority doesn’t matter if you don’t vote right."