U.S. Congress

WASHINGTON — Casting Barack Obama as a president run amok, the House voted on Wednesday for a bill that would expedite congressional lawsuits against the chief executive for failure to enforce federal laws.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A Democratic state senator from Oklahoma City says he plans to run for the 5th Congressional District seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. James Lankford.

RALEIGH, N.C. — LGBT North Carolinians reacted swiftly Wednesday to a statement from U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers’ campaign team, which used coded anti-LGBT language to attack Clay Aiken, who earlier announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Thursday introduced legislation to correct the records of service members discharged from the U.S. military solely due to their sexual orientation prior to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, to reflect honorable service and reinstate benefits they would have earned.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Pop singer Clay Aiken, who first made a name for himself as a contestant on “American Idol,” is considering a run for Congress in North Carolina’s 2nd District, a state Democratic Party consultant confirmed on Friday.

Dan Innis’ husband persuaded him to run for the U.S. House. It didn’t matter that Innis, a former business school dean, faced an aggressive Democratic incumbent, GOP colleagues who oppose his right to marry, and history – no Republican ever has been openly gay when first elected to Congress.

WASHINGTON — Freshman U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney plans to marry his long-time partner, who proposed over Christmas.

LOS ANGELES — A majority of Americans in every U.S. congressional district support laws that protect against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, such as the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed last week by the U.S. Senate, according to new research from UCLA’s Williams Institute.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has approved an extension of a program established by former President George W. Bush to fight AIDS worldwide.

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), on Thursday reiterated his opposition to federal legislation to prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.