WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Eric Holder urged Congress to pass a new hate crimes law so the government could prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House of Representatives voted 405-1 Friday to condemn Irna’s crackdown on demonstrators and the government’s interference with Internet and cell phone communications.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Car shoppers could take advantage of government incentives worth up to $4,500 this summer to send their old gas guzzler to the scrap heap in favor of a more fuel-efficient new vehicle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday made its first stab at overhauling the U.S. health care system in the Obama era, with Republicans demanding specific cost totals amid eye-popping estimates of $1 trillion-plus and Democrats determined to press ahead.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A $106 billion bill to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan headed for a close vote in the House. Complicating the outcome is the inclusion of money for poor countries, aid to Pakistan, pandemic flu preparation and government rebates to people who trade in gas-guzzling cars.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress sent legislation to the White House Friday granting the federal government unprecedented authority to regulate and restrict cigarettes, the single largest cause of preventable death.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate votes Thursday on legislation that for the first time would give the government control over the production and marketing of tobacco products, a long-sought goal that supporters say could save lives and millions in health care dollars.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration plans to use a combination of new technology and old-fashioned police work to crack down on the extensive drug trade along the U.S.-Mexican border.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Democrats are using an approximately $100 billion war funding bill to give recently expanded GI Bill education benefits to the children of military service members who die while on active duty.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The battle is on between conservative and liberal interest groups to define little-known federal judge Sonia Sotomayor before senators — away from the capital on a weeklong break — return to weigh in on the fate of the woman who would be the Supreme Court’s first Hispanic.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - President Barack Obama promised graduating midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday that, as their commander in chief, he will only send them “into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary.“

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama warned overeager shoppers and greedy credit card companies alike on Friday to act responsibly as he signed into law a bill designed to protect debt-ridden consumers from surprise charges.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon new power to rein in wasteful defense spending Friday, a change he said was long overdue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is backing President Barack Obama’s efforts to ramp up the war in Afghanistan, granting his request for $91.3 billion for military and diplomatic operations there and in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans aren’t letting this one slide.