u s senate

Fifty-one percent of Americans are female yet, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University, of the 535 members of the United States Congress in 2018, women make up only 106 or 20 percent of its members.

Mike Pompeo is qualified to be secretary of state - that doesn't mean he's a great choice but that doesn't make him worthy of Senate rejection either.

With our executive branch in the hands of Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled legislative branch now essentially subservient to him, the judicial branch and the Justice Department  now remain the principal defenders of the rule of law in this country.

U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin announced Wednesday that he opposes the nomination of CIA director Mike Pompeo to serve as President Donald Trump’s next secretary of state.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week went to testify before members of the Senate and Congress. What has evolved is a situation uncommon in recent American politics: for both conservatives and liberals to agree on an issue, namely that individual privacy must be protected online.

Update on status of Harford-sponsored bills in the final day of the 2018 Maryland General Assembly session.

What Harford County bills made it and what bills died now that the 2018 Maryland General Assembly session ended Monday?

With hours remaining in the 2018 General Assembly session, the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates remain divided on the age at which a person should be permitted to marry.

A House of Delegates committee approved two bills, each incorporating parts of the initial comprehensive bill, which had sparked some controversy.

The Maryland House and Senate have reached an agreement on the thorny issue of expanding the infant medical marijuana industry to give minorities an ownership role, the lead Senate negotiator said Saturday.

Who received thumbs up or down from the Carroll County Times this week?

The sweeping crime bill pending in the Maryland General Assembly that Gov. Larry Hogan and some state lawmakers touted as a way to combat violence in Baltimore is facing a likely collapse with just three days left in the 2018 legislative session.

The Maryland Senate on Friday voted to strip a Baltimore trash incinerator and similar facilities of a “green energy” label that qualifies them for millions of dollars in subsidies paid for by electricity customers across the state.

The black and Latino caucuses of the Maryland General Assembly took a stand Thursday against comprehensive crime bills pending in the final days of the legislative session.

Two controversial handgun carry bills sponsored by Harford County legislators – one to arm churchgoers and the other to arm teachers and other school employees – have gone nowhere in the 2018 Maryland General Assembly session.

Maryland’s state senate on Thursday passed legislation to create a state commission to investigate unanswered questions surrounding the city police department’s disgraced Gun Trace Task Force.

The conglomeration of crime fighting ideas that the Senate passed hasn't gotten any simpler in the House, but it may be moving in the right direction.

Accused sexual predators who claim their victims consented to sex will now face the possibility that evidence of their past behavior can be presented against them at trial under legislation passed Wednesday by the Maryland General Assembly.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan pulled out a stamp and a red marker Wednesday to dramatically veto a bill that would overhaul the process by which the state vets and approves construction and renovation of schools. Comptroller Peter Franchot joined him in ceremonially signing on to the veto.

Gov. Larry Hogan has a pile of bills on his desk that Democrats are itching for him to veto. Should he do it?

Comptroller Peter Franchot, who has taken repeated political hits during this year's General Assembly session, slammed Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller in a radio interview Friday and accused the Democratic "machine" in Annapolis of corruption.

A Maryland House of Delegates bill that would permit prosecutors to introduce evidence of past assaults in some trials for sex offenses was approved by a Senate committee Thursday, clearing the way for it to be enacted.

Nathaniel Oaks resigned from office at a time that makes it almost impossible for the residents of the 41st District to be represented in the Maryland Senate in the waning days of this year's session.

The Maryland Senate voted Thursday to overhaul the way the state approves funding for school construction projects, ending a legislative flurry that has provoked Gov. Larry Hogan and Comptroller Peter Franchot to direct sharp accusations of cronyism at the legislature.

Nathaniel T. Oaks pleaded guilty to two federal corruption charges this morning in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Judge Richard D. Bennett said — about two hours after Oaks formally resigned his Senate seat in the Maryland General Assembly.

After a lengthy debate across a partisan divide, the Maryland Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would make it illegal for licensed mental health professionals to offer therapy advertised to change one's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Maryland Senate and House of Delegates did little to alter Gov. Larry Hogan’s $44.5 billion budget, moving the spending plan through the chambers with minimal acrimony and unusual speed.

Gov. Larry Hogan unleashed bitter criticism of leading lawmakers Wednesday over what he called a "simply outrageous" proposal to strip oversight authority over school construction from a board he chairs.

A sweeping crime bill that passed the Maryland Senate with Gov. Larry Hogan's support is being attacked by critics who call it an election year ploy tainted by harsh, racist sentencing proposals.

Despite assurances from the most powerful three men in Maryland politics, not all Marylanders will be protected from paying more as a result of the new federal tax bill.

The Senate unanimously approved President Donald J. Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. Attorney in Maryland late Thursday, rapidly moving his approval during the course of a single day after he appeared to stall for weeks in committee.

A $1.3 trillion federal spending bill working its way through Congress this week sets aside $73 million for Chesapeake Bay restoration and would continue to provide funding for other Maryland priorities previously threatened by deep cuts.

Marylanders stopped by police could carry up to an ounce of marijuana and only face civil fines under a bill the state Senate passed Monday night.

The Maryland House of Delegates voted to impose a strict liability standard for possible offshore oil spills.

Senate Republicans said Monday that they will consider Robert K. Hur to be the U.S. Attorney for Maryland after initially delaying his confirmation over questions about the Department of Justice’s probe of the 2016 presidential election.

Maryland House of Delegates unanimously approved long-sought legislation Monday that will allow judges to admit evidence of a defendant’s past behavior in trials for sexual assault.

A veteran senator from Southern Maryland would have one of Maryland’s largest bridges named after him under legislation that is advancing in the House of Delegates.

Members of the state’s congressional delegation Friday called on the Senate to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Maryland’s U.S. Attorney after revelations he is being delayed over questions about the Russia probe.

In the latest gun control debate, Donald Trump is once again playing fast and loose with the truth, says Jules Witcover.

Proposed legislation to allow judges to admit evidence of past acts in trials of defendants accused of sexual assault has cleared what may be its biggest hurdle.

Senate Republicans are delaying the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. Attorney in Maryland until they receive information from the Department of Justice related to the special counsel’s Russia probe, The Baltimore Sun has learned.

A year after they revoked all of Maryland's outstanding calls to amend the U.S. Constitution, state lawmakers endorsed a new call for a federal constitutional convention to reverse the Citizens United decision.

It's no coincidence that Gov. Larry Hogan is teaming up with Democrats in the legislature to shore up Obamacare. It could be a huge issue for him — and Republicans nationwide — come November.

The state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 represents a 2.2 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

A bill that would allow judges to admit evidence of similar sexual offenses in trials of accused rapists is poised to pass the Maryland Senate but faces its biggest hurdle in the House of Delegates.

Just as Baltimore approved a ban on polystyrene foam food containers, a General Assembly proposal to prohibit the materials from restaurants and schools across Maryland appears in peril. A House of Delegates committee voted it down Friday, and a Senate panel raised concerns about it Tuesday.

Baltimore County state Sen. Bobby Zirkin is so popular and well-funded that no one has challenged him in years. But a group of his constituents, frustrated that he isn’t progressive enough, are putting up a candidate of their own this year: PIkesville attorney Sheldon Laskin.

Linda Norman, the widow of the late state Sen. Wayne Norman, has been nominated by the Cecil and Harford County GOP central committees to fill the remainder of her late husband's term. Her name has been sent to the governor's office of appointments.

The Maryland Senate passed a patients bill of rights that patient advocates say they no longer support. The measure is the first to get to a vote in three years, moved along by the embarrassing exposure of a patient-dumping incident in Baltimore.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan told a Senate panel today that the federal government needs to increase funding and tighten international shipping requirements to help stem the opioid epidemic sweeping the nation.