WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Eric Cantor, the often combative second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, sought Tuesday to rebrand himself and his party, voicing hope that they can work with President Barack Obama for the sake of all Americans.

While not wavering from his conservative principles and focus on taming the record U.S. debt, Cantor departed from his usual themes and expressed an eagerness to help the needy in such areas as education, healthcare and immigration.

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Eric Cantor, the combative
second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives,
launched a major rebranding of his party on Tuesday, saying he
hoped Republicans and President Barack Obama could “set
differences aside” in the interest of helping ordinary
Americans.

While giving no ground on any of the outstanding differences
between House Republicans and Obama in a speech prepared for
delivery to the American Enterprise Institute, the change in
tone from one of the most partisan leaders of the House was
striking.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Completing a major Republican retreat from another messy showdown with President Barack Obama, the U.S. Senate on Thursday passed legislation to allow the government to keep borrowing money at least through May 19.

The measure has already passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and its next stop is Obama, who is expected to sign it into law.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bill allowing the U.S. government to borrow money beyond its record $16.4 trillion debt limit won final congressional approval on Thursday, clearing the way for President Barack Obama to sign it into law.

The Democratic-led Senate passed the bill, 64-34, a week after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved it, 285-144.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea on Wednesday for Congress to take action to curb U.S. gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said new gun laws “have failed in the past and they’ll fail again.”

Speaking haltingly, Giffords implored lawmakers to “be bold, be courageous” as she opened testimony at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the December 14 massacre in which a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 mass shooting, made an emotional plea on Wednesday for Congress to take action to curb gun violence, but a National Rifle Association executive said new gun laws “have failed in the past and they’ll fail again.”

Speaking haltingly, Giffords implored lawmakers to “be bold, be courageous” as she opened testimony at the first congressional hearing on gun violence since the December 14 massacre in which a gunman shot dead 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. astronaut Mark Kelly pushed for gun-control measures on Wednesday by recalling in chilling detail the massacre that nearly killed his wife, former Democratic congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee just after Giffords called on lawmakers to “be courageous” and do more to reduce gun-related violence, Kelly gave a moment-by-moment account of the mass shooting in a supermarket parking lot near Tucson, Arizona, on January 8, 2011, that left six people dead and 13 wounded.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Six weeks after the massacre of 26 people at a Connecticut school ignited new calls to fight gun-related violence, the issue reaches the U.S. Congress on Wednesday amid questions about whether lawmakers will be able to agree on significant legislation.

In hearings that begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Barack Obama and other Democrats are seeking what would be the most robust gun-control package in decades.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-led U.S. Senate changed its rules on Thursday in a bid to ease partisan gridlock blamed for turning the chamber into a legislative graveyard.

Approved on back-to-back votes of 78-16 and 86-9, the changes fell far short, however, of what many of President Barack Obama’s Democrats had wanted.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate leaders reached a deal on Thursday aimed at easing gridlock by modifying rules that have been blamed for making their bitterly partisan chamber a legislative graveyard.

But the accord falls far short of what some reformers wanted by preserving the right of a minority of senators to stop legislation with procedural roadblocks known as filibusters.