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Senator Charles E. Grassley said, “Given the events of this week, it’s important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system.”

Federal agents arrested a Mississippi man suspected of sending letters that showed evidence of ricin in initial testing to President Obama and a Republican senator, according to two officials.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, broke his long faith with the National Rifle Association on Wednesday and said he would vote for a ban on assault weapons.

Powder on a letter for Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi at a mail center in Washington tested positive, but was undergoing further F.B.I. analysis.

After months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight senators is poised to offer a sweeping bill to rewrite the nation's immigration laws this week, taking advantage of a changed political alignment that, for the first time in nearly a generation, appears to have opened the way for comprehensive legislation.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. taxpayers and ultimately get a shot at citizenship, a significant step for the Tea Party favorite amid growing Republican acceptance of the idea.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his sons is gay. Ohio's junior senator disclosed his change of heart in interviews with several Ohio newspapers and CNN. In an op-ed published Friday in The Columbus Dispatch, he said the decision came after a lot of thought.

Ever since her victory in November, Tammy Baldwin has almost downplayed the historic significance of her winning a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In a widely expected move, independent Senator-elect Angus King of Maine announced Wednesday that he will join the Democratic Senate caucus, bringing the Democrats to a 55-senator majority in the new Congress, which convenes in January.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was discharged from the hospital less than three hours after an apparent rear-end crash Friday afternoon on a Las Vegas freeway, a hospital spokeswoman said.