Congress

A letter sent to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for the poisonous substance ricin, and initial testing also reveals that ricin was included in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama.

Several U.S. Senators have confirmed that they have receive suspicious letters, with at least one addressed to Senator Roger Wicker confirmed as having included the poisonous substance ricin. The Secret Service is also investigating a letter that was sent to President Barack Obama, which they state that initial testing reveals also contained ricin.

Ricin, which is derives from the castor bean plant, is considered to be the most poisonous, naturally occurring substance. The bean part of the plant is what is poisonous to humans, animals, and insects. The "mash" from the processing of castor beans is ricin, which can be a powder, a mist, or a pellet. It can also be dissolved in water or a weak acid.

A letter mailed to Sen. Wicker that was postmarked in Memphis was intercepted at an off-site Capitol mail facility, and was found to contain a "white granular substance". The letter was quarantined before preliminary test showed that the substance was ricin. The letter has been sent to the FBI for further investigation. A suspect has been identified.

A second suspicious package was received on Wednesday morning at the Washington D.C. offices of Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). A spokesman for the senator says that the package is being investigated by Capitol Police. It is not yet know if it was similar to the one addressed to Wicker and Obama, which contained ricin.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) reversed his position on a ban on military-style assault weapons, coming out in favor of such a ban during a floor speech on Wednesday.

This represents a major reversal for Reid which came only hours before votes were slated to begin on amendments to the gun legislation. Speaking before the Senate, Reid said on Wednesday:

“We can and should make the same common sense approach to safeguard Americans from modern weapons of war, assault weapons. That’s why I will vote for Dianne Feinstein’s assault weapons ban, because we must strike a better balance between the right to defend ourselves and the right of every child in America to grow up safe from gun violence.

I’ll vote for the ban because maintaining the law and order is more important than satisfying conspiracy theories who [believe in] black helicopters and false flags."

The assault weapons ban had been stripped out of the base legislation, but will be voted on as an amendment. The National Rifle Association strongly opposes the measure, and the amendment is expected to fail.

In 2004 when the assault weapons ban expired, Reid had voted against renewing it.

ON Tuesday afternoon,however, Reid signaled that his views had been changed by the string of mass shootings in recent years. Reid also said on Wednesday that protecting police officers and innocent victims is "more important than preventing imaginary tyranny." Reid added:

“The United States military is not out to get us. Federal law enforcement, local police departments are not out to get us. These conspiracy theories are dangerous and they should be put to rest.”

Congress is currently considering legislation that would help curb the act of "showrooming", which is when a customer goes into a brick-and-mortar store to check out products and prices and then later goes online to actually order the product to find a cheaper price and avoid paying sales tax. Ohio retailers argue that they cannot compete with online retailers who aren't required to charge sales tax, and are now encouraging Congress to close the tax loophole.

Both Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) voted in favor of a Senate proposal that would allow states to collect sales tax for online purchases made from out-of-state retailers. The proposal, which is called the Marketplace Fairness Act, was added in as a part of the budget debate in March.

Portman's spokeswoman, Caitlin Dunn, commented:

“Sen. Portman believes that our tax system should be neutral."

Meanwhile, Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for Brown, says that the proposal would "create a level playing field for Ohio businesses," adding:

“All business should be treated the same – whether they do business at a storefront or on the Internet."

On Monday, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made a stop at a Boardman, Ohio, diner to announce his plans to promote his legislation calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. On Tuesday, Sen. Brown also stopped by Bowling Green State University to discuss his proposed hike in the minimum wage. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour in three steps, and would also provide the first minimum wage increase to tipped employees in over two decades.

Currently about 1.3 million Ohioans earn the minimum wage of $7.85 an hour, and 80 percent of them are adults.

The last time that Congress approved an increase in the federal minimum wage was in 2007 when it was raised from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.

U.S. Senator Rob Portman, a Republican representing Ohio, announced earlier this week that he had changed his stance on same-sex marriage after his son, WIll, came out as gay. Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, says that he discussed the issue of gay marriage with Portman on Thursday evening and advised him to outright reject his son.

In an email sent out to supporters, Burress said that Portman called him Thursday night asking for advice on the issue. On Friday, Portman announced that he had reversed his position on the issue, crediting his son's recent coming out for his change of heart. Portman wrote:

"I believe all of our sons and daughters ought to have the same opportunity to experience the joy and stability of marriage."

Burress' organization led the campaign to approve Ohio's constitutional amendment that prevents the state from recognizing any relationship other than a heterosexual marriage. In his email, Burress says that he told Portman that he and his wife would pray for his son to become heterosexual.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who is a doctor, was asked on Thursday morning by Glenn Beck if he had considered using a catheter during his marathon filibuster of CIA director nominee John Brennan last night. Paul said that he had considered the use of a catheter, which would have allowed him to lengthen the filibuster, but said that he ultimately decided against it.

Paul said:

"I did think about it. I've put them in before, but I really decided against it."

Paul's fillibuster ended at 12:39am on Thursday when the senator felt that he finally had to relieve himself and could no longer hold off. He ended the filibuster by stating:

The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will be implementing a hiring freeze due to the sequestration, which is likely to translate into extended wait times at airport security checkpoints.

TSA announced on Friday that it will be unable to fill vacancies in their workforce due to the forced federal spending cuts, and warned that with the lack of new security screeners, "during busy travel periods wait times exceeding 30-40 minute could double at nearly all of the largest airports."

The agency explained that when the Memorial Day weekend travel rush hits in May, there could be a vacancy for 1,000 security screeners. This figure would grow to 2,600 by September.

The TSA cuts are just one example of the $85 billion in cuts that the federal government must now make between Saturday and October 1. The cuts only went into effect on Saturday, so the full impact of them likely will not be felt by the public until April or May.

President Obama spent Friday evening meeting with congressional leaders attempting to strike a deal at the eleventh hour to prevent the across-the-board cuts, however his efforts revealed no results as the Republicans refused to budge and instead decided to dig in their heels. Following the meeting, Obama said:

Speaking at a conference held by Young Americans for Liberty, a group that was founded after Ron Paul's 2008 presidential run, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) suggested that former Vice President Dick Cheney will go to hell for his involvement in the Iraq War.

During the speech at the event held in Raleigh, N.C., Jones said:

"Congress will not hold anyone to blame. Lyndon Johnson's probably rotting in hell right now because of the Vietnam War, and he probably needs to move over for Dick Cheney."

Jones' remarks drew a round of applause from those in attendance.

During the speech, Jones also expressed regret over his own vote in support of the Iraq War in 2003.

Each year, the National Journal maps out where members of the U.S. House of Representatives stand on the ideological spectrum based on how often they vote along party lines on politically polarizing issues. For the 2012 class, fourteen Democrats are tied at the No. 1 ranking as the most liberal congressman in in the U.S. House, while on the other side of the aisle, former Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri is ranked as the most conservative Republican.

Fourteen Democrats, including five from California alone, voted along party lines 94.5 percent of the time. Akin, on the other hand, voted in accordance with Republican ideologies 97 percent of the time in 2012.

The most liberal congressmen include (all tied for No. 1):

Yvette Clarke (D-New York) - 94.5
William Lacy Clay, (D-Missouri) - 94.5
John Conyers (D-Michigan) - 94.5
Danny Davis (D-Illinois) - 94.5
Donna Edwards (D-Maryland) - 94.5
Mike Honda (D-California) - 94.5
Barbara Lee (D-California) - 94.5
John Lewis (D-Georgia) - 94.5
Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) - 94.5
John Olver (D-Massachusetts) - 94.5
Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) - 94.5
Linda Sanchez (D-California) - 94.5
Pete Stark (D-California) - 94.5
Lynn Woolsey (D-California) - 94.5

On the other side, the most conservative congressmen include:

1. Todd Akin (R-Missouri) - 97
2. Austin Scott (R-Georgia) - 96.8
3. Marsha Blackburn (R-Louisiana) - 96.5
4. Jeffrey Landry (R-Louisiana) - 96.2
5. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) - 95.8
6. John Fleming (R-Louisiana) - 95.8
7. Jeb Hensarling (R -Texas) - 95.8
8. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) - 95.8
9. Steve Scalise (R-Lousiana) - 95.8
10. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) - 94.3
11. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas) - 94.3
12. Steve King (R-Iowa) - 93.8
13. Connie Mack (R-Florida) - 93.7
14. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) - 92.7

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Barack Obama urged Congress to increase the minium wage to $9 an hour and "tie the minimum wage to the cost of living so that it finally becomes a wage you can live on." House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) responded to Obama's request on Wednesday, stating that he is opposed to raising the minimum raise right now.

Boehner said:

“Listen, when people are asking the question ‘Where are the jobs?’ why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people? I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters on every rung of the economic ladder. I know about this issue as much as anybody in this town."

Rather than increasing the minimum wage, Boehner says that the focus should be on policies to get people to enter the workforce, adding: