Although largely unheralded amid rancor on other issues, the Senate healthcare reform package includes a provision that would directly cut the profit currently collected by insurers. The Senate legislation contains a measure that would require health insurance companies to put up to 85 percent of premiums (85 percent in the large group market, 80 percent in the small and individual group markets) toward actual health services, not administrative costs, marketing campaigns, or profits, according to a s... (more)

Responding to speculation that Mitt Romney may be interested in the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat, Politico reports that Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney's political action committee, said that the former one-term governor has no interest in campaigning to replace Kennedy. (more)

Republicans cleared the way Thursday for a Senate vote next month to confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, placing her firmly in line to become the first Hispanic justice. (more)

Judge Sonia Sotomayor said Wednesday neither President Barack Obama nor anyone else in the administration asked her views on abortion rights before she was nominated for the Supreme Court. (more)

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor defended herself Tuesday against charges that her speeches and rulings show racial bias, telling a Senate panel vetting her nomination that critics had misunderstood her record. (more)

As Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination began to get its hearing in the Senate, a campaign watchdog group says Sotomayor has a proven track record of taking on the issue of "big money in politics." The same group also took issue with the top Senate Republican's opposition to her nomination, saying Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell prefers to maintain a "pay-for-play" system in politics. (more)

Anti-abortion protesters disrupted the opening of Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination hearing on Monday. (more)

A Democratic official says Sen. Roland Burris will not run for a full Senate term in 2010. Burris was appointed to the seat in a controversial decision by disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. (more)

Democrat Al Franken says he's 'so thrilled' to finally be celebrating a victory after nearly eight months of recounts and courtroom fights in Minnesota's Senate race. (more)

A key Senate committee has laid down something of a legislative "down payment" on more comprehensive healthcare reform, a bill that has won support from at least one public health advocacy group. (more)