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Actor Chuck Norris said he supports tougher enforcement of the U.S.-Mexico border and said the government downplays border violence.

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New signs emerged mid-week that Republicans and Democrats are ramping up their efforts to focus on U.S. job creation, although, as expected, they continue to press completely different ideas on how to make it happen.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday announced a hearing March 30 to explore "impediments to job creation," and Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said it is already clear to the GOP that government intervention is a major impediment.

"Contrary to what some in Washington believe, we cannot spend our way to prosperity," Camp said. "Washington needs to create an environment that allows the private sector to do what it does best — invest and create jobs. This hearing will help us identify areas where Congress needs to act to ensure that the government is not impeding job creation."

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President Obama on Friday signed the three-week spending resolution that funds government operations through April 8. The prior two-week spending bill expired today.

The House approved the bill on Tuesday by a 271-158 vote, and the Senate approved it by a 87-13 vote.

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called the spending fight over the 2011 fiscal budget "absurd political theatre" and said he would not support a second stopgap spending measure.

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Republicans in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would declare English the official language of the United States and require the development of English language testing guidelines for those applying for U.S. citizenship.

The English Language Unity Act would set out a new chapter in U.S. code that imposes an obligation on U.S. officials to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the official language of the Federal Government."

Part of this chapter would include a "uniform English language rule" holding that "all citizens should be able to read and understand generally the English language text of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the laws of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution."

To ensure this outcome, the bill would require the secretary of Homeland Security to issue a proposed rule for testing the English language ability of candidates for citizenship. The bill envisions possible exceptions to this standard but says these exceptions "should be limited to extraordinary circumstances, such as asylum."

The bill also says English language requirements and workplace policies in the public and private sectors "shall be presumptively consistent with the Laws of the United States."

"This legislation will provide much-needed commonality among United States citizens, regardless of heritage," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who sponsored S. 503. "As a nation built by immigrants, it is important that we share one vision and one official language."

"We need to encourage assimilation of all legal immigrants in each generation," said Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the House sponsor of H.R. 997, the companion bill. "A nation divided by language cannot pull together as effectively as a people."

The House bill is being sponsored by 60 House Republicans, but the Senate bill had no co-sponsors as of Friday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed cloture Thursday on a motion to proceed to legislation to fund the Small Business Administration.

Reid made the move after a group of conservative Republicans warned they would block an attempt to bring the bill to the floor by unanimous consent. The Republicans have promised to prevent any legislation that does not cut spending from hitting the Senate floor.

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Addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard endorsed stimulus projects around the world, saying they had averted further economic disaster.

"While there has been real pain, the global response averted true economic disaster,” said Gillard. “Economic stimulus has been crucial to limit the worst effects of the downturn, and economic reform is crucial now to deliver the best hopes for a strong recovery.”

President Obama's stimulus package, which poured more than $800 billion into the U.S. economy beginning in 2009, has become a favorite punching bag for Republicans, who note the unemployment remains high. This year the administration has sought to provide further stimulus in the form of government spending and tax cuts.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) once again attacked Republicans’ budget proposal on Wednesday, claiming its cuts target “little children” and “poor little boys and girls.”  

He added that the spending bill, which will face a vote in the Senate later on Wednesday afternoon, is “insulting” to the American people.

“H.R. 1 is a mean-spirited bill that would cut the heart out of the recovery that we have in America today,” said Reid. “It goes after little children, poor little boys and girls ... we want them to learn to read.”

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Republicans’ budget proposal to slash $61 billion in government spending is a product of the Tea Party’s influence, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday afternoon.

“The plan we will vote on tomorrow is the same plan the Tea Party already pushed in the House of Representatives,” Reid said in a floor speech. “Now the same Tea Party is trying to push it through the Senate.”

“Do we want jobs?“ Reid asked later. “If we do, then we simply cannot pass the plan the Tea Party has already pushed through the House.”

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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) stepped back from remarks he made on the Senate floor Thursday in which he associated Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Hosni Mubarak with Republicans who want to do away with unions. 

In a statement on Friday, Brown said he should not have mentioned the tyrants in the context of the fight over public service unions in Ohio, Wisconsin and other states.

“I am passionate about fighting for the middle class,” Brown said in the statement. “Ohio's teachers and nurses and police and firefighters are facing the loss of their collective bargaining rights, and I think that's wrong. But in speaking about this, I should not have mentioned the hostility of tyrants, like Hitler, to unions. I don't want my mistake to distract from the critical debate in Ohio, and I apologize for it.”

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