Senate

The Senate pro-forma session was moved to the Postal Square Building due to the earthquake that hit the district.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on Monday joined President Obama in calling for dictator Moammar Gadhafi to give up control of Libya.

“It’s time for Gadhafi and his government to step down and give up their iron-fisted control,” said Harkin in a speech at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the The Quad-City Times reported.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday blasted President Obama for limiting U.S. involvement in Libya, saying the restrictions weakened America’s image abroad.

"We were wrong to let it go on this long and risk losing," said Graham, as reported by The Republic. "NATO had its back against the wall and we're sending a signal of weakness when you lead from behind.

"When you take on a guy, take him on, because people are watching," continued Graham. 

Sen. Bob Corker also says he was disappointed he wasn't put on the "supercommittee."

President Obama is attempting to thwart the will of Congress by issuing executive orders, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) claimed Monday. 

“What [Obama] can’t do legislatively, he tries to do administratively or through executive order,” Smith said on the Joe Pags Show. The president “believes in a super-powerful, centralized federal government, and that is what he wants — whether or not Congress goes along and whether or not the American people go along.”

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said on Monday that the work of the debt-reduction supercommittee, of which he is a member, has already begun.

"For sure … we will [get started by September] but we have really started on the phone already," said Upton in an interview with local NBC Affiliate WNDU. "We have had lengthy conference calls already."

Upton added that a "national website" is already being built to allow public input to the commission, and that it could be finished by the week's end and staffers are working on scheduling public hearings.

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) will receive the Spirit of Lincoln Award next month from the LGBT-rights group the Log Cabin Republicans for his role in repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) over the weekend said it is critical to repeal President Obama's landmark healthcare legislation in order to restore strength to the U.S. economy.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) on Thursday warned an audience that the U.S. debt crisis is “much worse" than they think it is.

“This country is on the edge," warned Risch, as reported by the Magic Valley Times-News. "As bad as you guys think it is, and you watch this stuff, I can tell you it is much worse than what you think it is.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is planning to introduce legislation that would extend the ability of states to borrow billions of dollars interest-free from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund (FUTF) to help pay state unemployment claims, and said failing to extend this program would crush small companies in his state and possibly others.

The 2009 stimulus bill gave states the ability to borrow from the FUTF without paying interest, but that benefit will expire at the end of fiscal 2011, or Sept. 30. Schumer said the expiration means an interest payment will be due at the end of September.

New York borrowed $3 billion from the FUTF to help make unemployment payments, which translates into a $95 million interest payment. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 28 states plus the Virgin Islands have borrowed a combined $36 billion from the fund, which means other states will face the same problem New York is facing.