WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Senator Rand Paul was stopped at an airport on Monday for setting off an alarm and refusing a patdown, prompting his father, presidential candidate Ron Paul, to accuse security officials of being part of an “out of control” police state.

In a harshly worded attack on the Transportation Security Administration, which handles security screenings at U.S. airports, Ron Paul, known for his strident libertarian views, said the TSA “gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe.”

After Rand Paul refused the patdown, he was escorted out of the airport security area in Nashville, Tennessee, by local authorities, the TSA said. Paul missed his flight to Washington, but was later rebooked and rescreened without incident.

As favorites of the anti-Washington Tea Party movement, Paul and his father, who is a U.S. Representative from Texas, have helped lead the charge against what critics call excessive federal intrusion, from healthcare to body searches.

At a Senate hearing last June, Rand Paul challenged TSA Administrator John Pistole over his agency’s random patdowns of travelers at airports, including the case of a 6-year-old girl from his home state of Kentucky.

“This isn’t to say that we don’t believe in safety procedures,” Paul said. “But I think I feel less safe because you’re doing these invasive exams on a six-year-old. It makes me think you’re clueless that you think she’s going to attack our country and that you’re not doing your research on the people who would attack our country.”

On the campaign trail, Ron Paul has called for the abolition of the TSA on the grounds that it wastes taxpayer money and violates personal liberties.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Facing record-low approval ratings from Americans weary of congressional gridlock and elections in November, lawmakers want to show voters that really, they do get along after all.

Scores of Republican and Democratic lawmakers plan to cross the aisle and mingle with their opponents during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress next Tuesday, officials said on Thursday.

Skeptics say recent history suggests that the display of collegiality by nearly 140 of the 535 lawmakers during the nationally televised prime-time speech will be little more than that – a display.

Analysts point to the oddity of Republicans and Democrats trying to show voters bipartisanship during an election year, when both parties are expected to campaign aggressively, and negatively, to win control of both chambers.

And then of course there is Congress’ recent track record on bipartisanship.

Dozens of Republicans and Democrats sat next to each during the last State of the Union, in a fleeting display of unity after Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords was gravely wounded in a shooting.

“What followed was one of the nastiest and least productive years in the entire history of Congress,” said Larry Sabato, a political analyst at the University of Virginia, predicting more of the same this year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House Republicans, struggling to articulate a unified message after a year of fights among themselves and with Democrats, hope to use their annual retreat to craft an agenda that resonates with voters in November’s elections.

That will be House Speaker John Boehner’s main mission when he and his fellow Republicans gather on Thursday in Baltimore for three days of brainstorming behind closed doors.

There is also certain to be chatter about the party’s frontrunner to be the presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who is widely derided as an uninspiring moderate by members of the conservative base. And the lawmakers will hear from a rising party star: Chris Christie, the audacious New Jersey governor who is seen as a future presidential or vice presidential contender.

The retreat comes as Republicans, entering their second year in control of the House of Representatives, are hounded by disappointed voters, including many aligned with the Tea Party movement, a three-year-old grassroots conservative movement dedicated to smaller government, fiscal responsibility and individual freedom.

Recent surveys give Congress record-low approval ratings, with Democrats narrowly outpolling Republicans.

Adding to their gloom, after a year dominated by partisan brawls over spending and taxes, many conservatives feel they have little to show in their historic bid for smaller government.

In fact, polls show voters blame Republicans more than Democrats for partisan gridlock that pushed the U.S. government to the brink of shutdowns and unprecedented default amid a stubbornly high U.S. jobless rate now at 8.5 percent.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House Speaker John Boehner, hoping to spare fellow Republicans a second embarrassing defeat over payroll tax cuts, is prepared to navigate around rebellious Tea Party-aligned lawmakers to get a deal, according to congressional aides.

Republicans in the House of Representatives got a public drubbing from critics within and outside the party in December for initially refusing to approve a Senate plan to extend the tax break for 160 million Americans through February.

The party of lower taxes was left on the defensive, countering a barrage of criticism that its unwillingness to compromise threatened an effective tax hike on workers, potentially damaging the fragile economic recovery.

Now, with Democratic and Republican negotiators preparing for a new round of talks in the coming days to extend the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year, Republican leaders are anxious to move quickly to get a deal, aides said.

Party leaders fear another battle could distract from the more important task at hand – ousting President Barack Obama from the White House and winning majority control of the Senate in the November elections. They also want to neutralize an issue that Democrats already are using to their advantage in the presidential and congressional campaigns.

“I think Boehner will seek a more accommodating approach to get a good percentage of Democrats to vote for it – even if it costs him a lot of House Republican freshmen,” one House Republican leadership aide told Reuters.

“His instincts will be not to be so reliant on House Republican freshmen,” the aide added, referring to the 85 first-term congressmen.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top Senate Republicans are weighing whether to file a lawsuit to challenge President Barack Obama’s controversial use of recess appointments, but such a suit looks legally shaky and could ultimately backfire with voters.

Senators will likely make a decision on a possible lawsuit after they return to Washington on January 23, a senior Republican aide told Reuters.

“Everything is on the table,” the aide said.

Republicans face a difficult decision, because a lawsuit could give Obama more ammunition to paint Republicans as obstructionists, and it is unclear if they have enough of a personal stake to establish legal standing.

Last week, when lawmakers were away for the holidays, Obama bypassed Congress to put Richard Cordray in charge of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and to fill three vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.

The politically sensitive nominees were facing drawn-out Republican opposition, and Obama used the recess appointments to tap into voter hostility toward a gridlocked Congress, a major theme in his campaign to win reelection in November.

Republicans have said the move was possibly illegal because the appointments were made while the Senate was still technically in session, and argue it undercuts the Senate’s power to confirm nominees.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner caved in to growing criticism from within and outside his Republican Party, agreeing on Thursday to a short-term deal to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans.

In a dramatic reversal that appeared to end a standoff with Democrats, Boehner told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he would set a vote in the House on a Senate-passed two-month extension of the tax cut and jobless benefits – key supports for a fitful U.S. economic recovery.

The Republicans’ about-face contrasts with a year of dominance in Congress in which their staunch opposition to higher taxes and spending yielded a string of successes.

Their backpedalling this time handed a rare victory to President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats as well as much-needed momentum going into the November 2012 election.

In the battle of optics, Boehner and the party that fights for lower taxes found themselves being blamed for not helping avert a tax hike for middle-class Americans come December 31.

“We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it’s not exactly what we want,” a deflated Boehner told a news conference after giving up his push for a one-year deal that faced near impossible odds.

VOTES ON FRIDAY

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Thursday caved in to a growing chorus of criticism from both within and outside his Republican party and agreed to a short-term deal to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans.

In a major reversal that appeared to end a standoff with Democrats, Boehner told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he would set a vote in the House on a Senate-passed two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.

The Republicans’ about-face contrasts with a year of dominance in Congress, in which their staunch opposition to higher taxes and spending has yielded a string of political successes. Their backpedalling this time handed a rare victory to President Barack Obama and Democrats.

“We have fought the good fight. Why not do the right thing for the American people even though it’s not exactly what we want,” Boehner told a news conference.

The House could hold a simple “voice vote” on Friday that requires only a few members to be present and frees Republicans from having to cast politically difficult recorded votes. The Senate would also vote on Friday.

That procedure allows Boehner to push through the bill despite opposition from his often fractious caucus.

He told members about Thursday’s deal in a muted conference call in which they could ask no questions. In a similar call last weekend, he faced an outcry from members who opposed a short-term deal, forcing him to reject the Senate bill and precipitating this week’s crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a bid to end a worsening standoff over extending a tax break for Americans, President Barack Obama called on Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday to pass a short-term extension and return to talks on a year-long deal in the New Year.

While Boehner showed no immediate signs of backing down on his demand that Congress tackle the long-term deal to extend a payroll tax cut before it expires at year’s end, calls for compromise in his own party grew. With 2012 elections looming, some Republicans fear they will be blamed for letting the tax bill rise on January 1 for 160 million Americans.

Obama telephoned Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, to stress his willingness to work with Congress to get an agreement on the expiring payroll tax cut, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama asked Boehner and House Republicans to drop their opposition to a short-term measure that the Senate passed overwhelmingly at the weekend and signaled an unwillingness to reopen negotiations now, as Republicans are demanding.

Obama and many economists say the payroll tax cut is crucial to the country’s fragile economic recovery.

“The president reiterated the need and his commitment to work with Congress to extend the payroll tax cuts for the entire year,” Carney said, adding that the two-month extension negotiated by the Senate was “the only option to ensure that middle class families are not hit with a tax hike in 10 days.” Scenarios: How tax fight could play out.

While Obama is not reopening talks, his gesture on Wednesday might be seen as a nod to Republican demands. It came just hours after Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called for the president to get directly involved to resolve the dispute.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama demanded on Tuesday that Republicans in the House of Representatives pass a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, showing an unwillingness to back down in a fight that could result in higher taxes for 160 million Americans.

The Republican-led House earlier rejected a short-term deal passed by Democrats and fellow Republicans in the Senate over the weekend and called for fresh negotiations on the expiring tax break that saves the average American worker $1,000 a year.

As both sides dug more deeply into entrenched positions, House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, demanded Obama order Senate Democrats back into session to haggle over a year-long extension.

“I need the president to help out,” Boehner told reporters, drawing applause from a large group of Republican lawmakers standing behind him in the Capitol.

The show of solidarity stood in contrast to the revolt by conservative and Tea Party-backed House Republicans after Boehner was reported to have initially sought their support for the shorter extension over the weekend. U.S. payroll tax break fate uncertain.

Boehner has struggled to control his restive caucus all year, with a refusal by many members refusing to negotiate with Democrats pushing the federal government to the brink of three shutdowns and the edge of a debt default.

In a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room, a visibly frustrated Obama told lawmakers to put politics aside. “Let’s not play brinkmanship,” he said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In Congress’ tense drama over how to extend payroll tax cuts for 160 million Americans, it may be the most intriguing subplot: whether Republican House Speaker John Boehner is losing his grip on members of his own party.

Boehner and many Republicans scoff at the idea.

But the House’s rejection on Tuesday of a bipartisan Senate plan to extend the tax cuts for two months has raised questions about Boehner’s efforts to lead compromise-resistant House Republicans who have helped ratchet up the tension in Congress.

The House’s move drew blistering criticism from President Obama, Democratic leaders and even some Senate Republicans, many of whom called the House vote a symbol of the dysfunction that has plagued Congress this year.

Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said the House vote reflected how Boehner has allowed Tea Party-backed conservative Republicans to overrun bipartisan agreements.

Van Hollen said that has been a constant theme in this congressional session.

And Scott Brown, a Republican senator from Massachusetts, called the House move “irresponsible and wrong.”