The latest Congress news from The Texas Tribune.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, attempted to turn up the heat Tuesday on Gov. Rick Perry by condemning a controversial proposal to offer Texas license plates with the image of the Confederate flag. Full Story
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Texas’s congressional Republicans seized on new unemployment numbers to decry President Obama’s economic policies days after he stopped in Mesquite to sell his jobs plan. Full Story
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A nonpartisan group of Texas lawyers, law professors and other legal advocates today called on the U.S. Senate to quickly fill judicial vacancies that are slowing down the justice system in Texas and nationwide. Full Story
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Protesters gathered outside the Headliners Club in Austin to urge U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Congress to pass the American Jobs Act. Boehner was in Austin to attend a reception with several GOP congressmen from Texas. Full Story
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Proposed legislation that would require employers across the country to use the electronic employment-verification program known as E-Verify passed out of a congressional House committee today. Full Story
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President Obama sent a $447 billion jobs bill to Congress today — his latest attempt to revive the struggling economy. How will Texas be affected? Full Story
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Austin Democrats are pretty unhappy with the Republican Legislature’s redistricting maps, and Rep. Lloyd Doggett is the poster child for their frustrations. Their anger might save him. Full Story
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State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, says he is filing papers this week to run for the congressional seat now held by Republican Francisco "Quico" Canseco of San Antonio. Full Story
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Building on the success of our previous redistricting interactive, the Tribune has prepared a new version that includes the redistricting maps for the state House, Senate and State Board of Education. Full Story
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Congress is set to vote on a deal that would raise the federal debt ceiling to avoid an unprecedented default. They may not be in Washington now, but we asked several U.S. Senate candidates to weigh in on how they'd vote on the plan if they were. Full Story
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Michael Williams, who jumped from the U.S. Senate race to the congressional race in the new CD-33 in North Texas, says he'll jump again: He's running for congress in CD-25, a district that stretches from Tarrant County all the way south to Hays County. Full Story
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Nine Texas government borrowers including Dallas, Bexar, Tarrant and Travis counties could face costly downgrades in their bond ratings if the federal government doesn't quickly resolve its debt ceiling problems. Full Story
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A weeklong partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration has delayed airport construction projects in Houston and Abilene. Full Story
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Michael Williams might be on the move again, switching from a new Tarrant County-centered congressional district to one that starts on that county's southern edge and runs all the way south of Austin into Hays County. Full Story
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With a vote looming on the House GOP plan to raise the debt ceiling and implement spending cuts, at least 10 of the 32 Texans in the House of Representatives say they will vote against the House GOP plan. Full Story
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July 21, 2011 Texas Sen. Cornyn addresses the final shuttle landing . Full Story
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State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, says that he won't be a candidate for Congress in the seat opened by Ron Paul's decision not to seek another term — but he might run for the state Senate. Full Story
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Weatherford car dealer Roger Williams switched from the U.S. Senate race to a race for Congress this morning, finishing up a swap that began last week with calls to supporters in and around the new CD-33. Full Story
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San Antonio State Rep. Joaquin Castro will take on veteran U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett to vie for a newly-created congressional district that spans from San Antonio up to southern Travis County. Full Story
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There might be more than one Williams in the race for that new Arlington-based congressional district. Former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who had been after Kay Bailey Hutchison's Senate post, switched officially this morning. Now Roger Williams is looking at it. Full Story