Senate

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said Obama "arrogantly circumvented the American people" with a recess appointment at the consumer bureau.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), in an interview earlier this week, accused Tea Party elements of Congress of "threatening havoc in the American economy" and of holding the nation hostage.

“I hope the American people will see the paralysis for what it is,” Blumenthal said in a far-ranging interview with the Ridgefield, Conn., Press.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Tuesday suggested Texas Gov. Rick Perry is going to have to do a lot better on the campaign trail in order to win the Republican nomination for the presidency. 

Outgoing Republican Conference Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) took a swing at both President Obama and his fellow senators in an interview published in the Chattanooga, Tenn., Times Free Press on Monday.

The Afghan national army has made major strides toward being able to defend itself, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said after returning from a New Year's visit to the war-torn country. 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this week that Republicans in Congress have failed to cut spending because Democrats are still in charge of most of Washington.

"We have the Democrats in charge of both the presidency and the Senate, and we have not cut spending, and we have not addressed the mortgaging of our children and our grandchildren's futures," McCain said in an Arizona television interview.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) accused Tea Party “extremists” of holding the payroll-tax cut “hostage” during the bitter fight to renew the cuts prior to the beginning of the holiday break.

Brown: “If you want to raise rates or do something as part of overall tax reform, I am all ears.’’

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, called on Thursday for total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) wrote in an editorial on Wednesday that government spending levels are nowhere near the historic high and suggested they ought to be increased.