Senate

Abortion Restrictions_Live.jpg

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (left) talks with Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, Houston Democrat, in the Senate Chambers in Austin on July 11, 2013. A Senate committee pushed through new abortion restrictions, setting up a Senate vote before the weekend to send it to Gov. Rick Perry. The bill would require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, only allow abortions in surgical centers, dictate when abortion pills are taken and ban abortions after 20 weeks. (Associated Press)

7_3_2013_rubio-0018201.jpg

Susan B. Anthony List and other pro-life groups have been lobbying Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, for weeks to lead the charge in the Senate on legislation would ban abortions 20 weeks into pregnancy, with exceptions for risks to the mother's life and rape or incest, though such a bill is unlikely to be taken up in the chamber. (Associated Press)

6_302013_immigration-18201.jpg

The 68-32 vote in favor of the immigration reform bill was a milestone for the Senate and for the immigration debate, but it was even more important for Sen. Mario Rubio, a first-term Florida Republican who won some but not all of the changes he promised he would try to accomplish. (Associated Press)

6_272013_naacp-protests-48201.jpg

More than 80 protesters are arrested outside the Senate chamber in Raleigh, N.C., during the seventh week of “Moral Mondays.” The NAACP and others are outraged over policies established by the Republican-controlled state government. (Associated Press)

Immigration_Live.jpg

** FILE ** Sens. John McCain (left), Arizona Republican, and Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, two of the authors of the immigration reform bill crafted by the Senate's bipartisan "Gang of Eight," shake hands on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday, June 27, 2013, before the final vote. (Associated Press)

6_262013_abortion-restrictions-te-158201.jpg

** FILE ** In this June 26, 2013, file photo, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, Fort Worth Democrat, stands in pink tennis shoes on a nearly empty Senate floor as she filibusters in an effort to kill an abortion bill in Austin. (Associated Press)

Lautenberg Honored_Live.jpg

**FILE** Sen. Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey Democrat, smiles after the final votes before the Senate leaves for a five-week recess on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 2, 2012. (Associated Press)

Boy Scouts Tax Breaks_Lea(1).jpg

Democratic state Sens. Ricardo Lara (left) and Kevin de Leon converse during a Senate session at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. By a 27-9 vote the Senate approved Mr. Lara's bill that would use California's tax policy in an attempt to pressure the Boys Scouts of America into fully accepting gay members. The bill, SB323, gets rid of a tax exemption for sales and use taxes, as well as corporate taxes, for youth groups that discriminate. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

AP825514849729.jpg

**FILE** Sens. Patrick Leahy (right), Vermont Democrat and president pro tempore of the Senate, and Thad Cochran, Mississippi Republican, walk to the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill on May 6, 2013, during a vote on legislation to collect sales tax on Internet purchases. (Associated Press)