Congress

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** FILE ** Vice President Joe Biden gives a thumbs-up before President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (center), Arizona Democrat, is greeted by Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, before President Obama's State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

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President Obama embraces retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Democrat, as members of Congress applaud before his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb)

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Members of Congress read along as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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President Barack Obama embraces retiring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., as members of Congress applaud before his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb)

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House Minority Whip Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, says the new Congress is likely to be just as acrimonious as last year. "The only thing that we have on this week's agenda is a charade, a pretense, an abdication of responsibility." (Associated Press)

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Keeping the National Congress building clean and tidy goes on in Asuncion, Paraguay, even as Congress closed its doors in mid-December for more than two months of paid vacation. When lawmakers return to work in March, they are expected to have no interest in giving President Fernando Lugo anything on his wish list during his remaining 15 months in office. (Associated Press)

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Aftermath: Police inspect a crime scene where three teenagers were shot Thursday in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast Washington. (Andrew S. Geraci/The Washington Times)

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** FILE ** This undated handout photo provided by MGM Home Entertainment and the Library of Congress shows Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter in the 1991 film “Silence of the Lambs,” which was chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the world's largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings. (AP Photo/MGM Home Entertainment, Library of Congress)

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** FILE ** Then-Sen. Ben Nelson announces in 2011 that he will not seek a third term in Congress. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** An unidentified member of the Oodua People's Congress militia walks with a gun on a major street during a protest against the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, criticizes Republicans as being responsible for a "do-nothing Congress" during a news conference on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

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Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, one of several ex-members of Congress to become a successful lobbyist, is shown in this 2011 file photo. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

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** FILE ** Rep. Jeff Landry, Louisiana Republican, holds a sign during a speech by President Obama to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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** FILE ** Richard Cordray, assistant director of enforcement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), listens as Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner (not pictured) speaks to the media on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, in Washington, to encourage Congress to approve Mr. Cordray's nomination to head the CFPB. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives with European People's Party President Wilfried Martens for the 20th Congress of the EPP in Marseille, France, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

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** FILE ** In this Nov. 22, 2011 file photo, President Barack Obama gestures while speaking at Central High School in Manchester, N.H. The failure of Congress' supercommittee adds a new dimension to the 2012 political contests by drawing political battle lines around broad tax increases and massive spending cuts that are now scheduled to begin automatically in 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)