Social Issues

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"This is a plan to grow the paychecks of all, not just the wealth of a few. This proposal attacks the chronic problem of stagnant middle-class incomes from both directions it promotes bigger paychecks and lets workers keep more of what they earn," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, said in a speech announcing House Democrats' "action plan' at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. (Associated Press)

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Bill de Blasio, Democratic nominee for New York mayor, leans over to listen to a woman after he spoke at a march and rally highlighting immigration reform Saturday, Oct. 5, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

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File-This Aug. 25, 2014, file photo shows Kristy Lewis, director of the Paducah Preschool Head Start Program handing out snacks Keegan Walker, a student at Clark Elementary at Robert Coleman Park in Paducah, Ky. Head Start programs have been shown to help poor children do better in school, but they may also help them fight obesity, a study suggests. During a year of Head Start preschool, obese and overweight children were much more likely to slim down than comparison groups of kids. (AP Photo/The Paducah Sun, Ellen O'Nan, File)

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Sen. John Hoeven, North Dakota Republican and sponsor of the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline bill, made his case last week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The legislation could pass the Senate as early as Monday. (Associated Press)

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National Edition News cover for January 11, 2015 - Same-sex couples’ children tell court of harm: Most of the children of gays and lesbians who have filed court briefs in gay marriage cases say their parents' inability to marry has deprived them of legal protections and hampered them from living their otherwise-typical lives. (Associated Press)

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Most of the children of gays and lesbians who have filed court briefs in gay marriage cases say their parents' inability to marry has deprived them of legal protections and hampered them from living their otherwise-typical lives. (Associated Press)

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HIV infections acquired at health care jobs are now very rare in the United States, the federal government said Thursday. Of the dozens of known U.S. health care workplace-acquired HIV infections, most involved an accidental needle stick. (AP Photo/Luis Romero)

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In this photo provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, tabulators in Washington record the information from the more than 120,000 enumerators who gathered data for the 1940 U.S. Census. The days of the census taker with a clipboard in hand may be numbered. Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is testing digital means of counting Americans this year, from asking people to fill out their forms on the Internet instead of through the mail to giving their employees smartphones instead of paper to complete their counts. (AP Photo/National Archives and Records Administration)

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FILE- In this June 26, 2013 file photo, gay rights advocate Vin Testa waves a rainbow flag in front of the Supreme Court in Washington. The Supreme Court has quietly engineered a dramatic increase in the number of states that allow gay and lesbian couples to wed _ at the same time raising the likelihood the justices soon will definitively settle the legal debate. Some justices had expressed reluctance about directly confronting the issue when more than half the country prohibited same-sex unions, but 36 states now allow them, nearly twice as many as three months ago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, joined other pro-life leaders Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to announce a new project of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign that will focus on grandparents, siblings, clinic staff and others impacted by abortion. (The Washington Times)

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Retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North speaks at the 2014 Values Voter Summit in Washington on Sept. 26, 2014. Prospective Republican presidential candidates are promoting religious liberty at home and abroad at a gathering of evangelical conservatives, rebuking an unpopular President Barack Obama while skirting divisive social issues that have tripped up the GOP. (Associated Press) **FILE**

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Rep. Robert Aderholt, Alabama Republican, has introduced legislation to counter President Obama's executive amnesty proposal. (Robert Aderholt)

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FILE - This Nov. 12, 2014 file photo shows the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, on a laptop screen, shown in Portland, Ore. Sign-ups under President Barack Obama's health care law grew slowly but steadily over the New Year's holiday. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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Jeff Bennion and his wife Tanya kiss in front of their home near Salt Lake City. He and other husbands will appear in a new reality TV show, "My Husband's Not Gay." They say they're fulfilled in their relationships with their wives even though they're attracted to other men. Gay rights groups have lambasted the show since it was announced by the TLC network last month. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

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Carmay Albano cuts a paper star for the Center for Victims quilt, an event to raise awareness of domestic violence in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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Give and Take: House Speaker John A. Boehner took the gavel and gave a kiss to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi during the opening session of the 114th Congress.

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Despite national media fixation on white-on-black police shootings, a new study finds "significant bias favoring blacks where decisions to shoot were concerned.” (Associated Press)

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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat and staunch defender of the health care law, is firmly opposed to the measure. "This will be the 54th time the GOP votes to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, and Leader Pelosi is against the bill," spokesman George Evangeline said. (Associated Press)

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FILE - This Sept. 28, 2014, file photo shows New Orleans Saints linebacker Junior Galette sitting on the bench during the second half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. Junior Galette has been arrested in Kenner, La., in a domestic violence case in which a woman says her face was scratched and her ear bloodied after an earring was ripped off. Police say Galette is being booked on misdemeanor simple battery stemming from the disturbance at the player's house. (AP Photo/Tim Sharp, File)