Senate

Obama garnered his loudest cheers from the right side of the chamber so far on Tuesday night when he said he was ordering his administration to throw the doors open to greater conventional energy exploration and exploitation. 

"Tonight I am directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources," he said to rowdy applause from the Republican side of the chamber. "This country needs an all-out, all-of-the -above strategy that develops every available source of American energy." 

Speaking to progressives in his own party, however, the president also emphasized his commitment to making American a leader in clean energy.

President Obama struck a positive tone in beginning his third State of the Union address on Tuesday night telling a skeptical Congress of his accomplishments, naming the end of the Iraq War, Osama bin Laden's death, some job creation and General Motor's solvency. 

"The state of our union is getting stronger and we have gone too far to turn back now," said Obama. 

"As long as I am president, I will work with anyone in this chamber ot build on this momentum... I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis," he continued, taking an apparent swing at his predecessor, George W. Bush

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) scheduled a procedural vote on House-passed legislation that would disapprove of President Obama's request to raise the Treasury's debt limit by another $1.2 trillion.

Ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Tuesday suggested he expects President Obama to deliver an eloquent but meaningless speech in tonight’s State of the Union address.

Pointing to the Budget Control Act the Congress passed last summer, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) attempted to debunk the GOP's repeated claims on Tuesday that the Senate had not passed a budget in a 1,000 days.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) prepared to welcome President Obama to the Capitol on Tuesday by saying he was already disappointed in the State of the Union address scheduled to be delivered in the House chamber later in the day. 

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) championed the stunning reversal of the Protect IP Act's fortunes in the Senate on Monday, claiming victory for Internet users.

The Senate confirmed John M. Gerrard of Nebraska to be United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska 74-16 on Monday in its first vote of the year.

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Monday evening that he doubts that the Senate will ever confirm again the Obama administration Justice Department official who wrote an opinion that said recess appointments can be made while the Senate is not technically in recess.

Grassley spoke on the Senate floor in reference to Assistant Attorney General Virginia Seitz, who wrote the opinion that said Obama can make recess appointments when the Senate is not available to offer advice and consent. That opinion led to four recess appointments in early January, when the Senate was holding occasional pro forma sessions.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), author and prime Senate proponent of the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA), defended the derailed legislation on Monday and suggested he planned to bring it back to the Senate floor for a vote later in the year.