Tom Harkin

WASHINGTON – In an unusual break in the partisan warring over healthcare, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Obama's choice to oversee the mammoth Medicare and Medicaid health programs. Marilyn Tavenner, a former hospital executive and...

The fight over the federal minimum wage is coming to Baltimore. The head of the U.S. Department of Labor plans to swing into town Tuesday to talk to low-wage workers about how they make — or don't make — ends meet. Seth D. Harris, the agency'...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced legislation that would modify crop insurance premium assistance for insured crops grown on native sod converted to cropland and land that a producer cannot...

WASHINGTON -- A Senate committee vote on Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez was postponed hours before it was set to take place Wednesday, highlighting what appears to be a growing partisan fight over the confirmation of the former Maryland official. ...

WASHINGTON -- A vote on President Obama’s nominee to lead the Labor Department was delayed for an additional week, the latest roadblock for the controversial choice. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions was scheduled to...

WASHINGTON -- In a surprise move that deals a serious blow to Democratic chances of holding the Senate, veteran Montana Sen. Max Baucus has decided not to seek reelection next year, Democratic officials said Tuesday. Baucus chairs the Senate Finance...

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee who steered President Barack Obama's health care overhaul into law but recently broke with his party on gun control legislation, has decided to retire, Democratic...

Thomas E. Perez, the former Maryland labor secretary nominated to lead the U.S. Department of Labor, faced pointed questions at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday about whether politics influenced his decisions as the top civil rights attorney in...

WASHINGTON — President Obama's pick for Labor secretary, Thomas E. Perez, emerged unscathed Thursday from a Senate confirmation hearing that was more perfunctory than contentious. Conservatives have been critical of Perez, the administration's top...

WASHINGTON -- Democrats’ efforts to maintain a majority in the U.S. Senate after next year’s midterm elections were thrown into further doubt Tuesday when Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., became the fifth senior member of the party to announce his...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson was expected to announce his retirement Tuesday, making the state the fifth where Democrats will have to defend a seat without an incumbent seeking re-election. The decision opens up a 2014 race...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Over dinner at a swank hotel a few blocks from the White House, Republican senators wanted to know if President Barack Obama would support a gradual increase in the age of eligibility for Medicare, set at 65 since the program's...