Lawmakers on Thursday put off a much-anticipated debate on a bill to repeal the law that forbids recognition of gay marriage at the federal level.

Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked the committee to “hold over” the Respect for Marriage Act to allow for more study, as is the committee’s tradition for new bills.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, agreed to the delay, and suggested that the bill to repeal the 15-year-old Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) be brought up again Nov. 10.

Mr. Leahy and other Democrats used Thursday’s session to express their convictions that DOMA would soon be repealed. The law, which defines marriage in federal law as the union of one man and one woman and gives states the right not to recognize out-of-state gay unions, is the subject of numerous lawsuits as well as Democrat-led repeal efforts in Congress...

Republican opposition is steadily growing against controversial University of California-Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu, President Obama's nominee for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, potentially imperiling a judicial appointment for the first time in his presidency.

Senior Republicans launched an all-out push to quash the nomination, urging their conference colleagues to support a GOP-led filibuster.

"(Liu's) record reflects a carefully honed and calculated philosophy that he developed and advanced over the course of his brief career in the ivory towers of academia and which threatens the American tradition of limited constitutional government," Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa, top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and senior panel member Jeff Sessions of Alabama, wrote in a letter, obtained by Fox News, to their GOP colleagues Wednesday...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s waivers to temporarily exempt certain companies, unions, and charities from rules established by the new health care law are a “perfect example of special interests” having influence in the administration and will be looked into by Congress, Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee told CNSNews.com.

"You’re going to find out that by the president doing that with the secretary of HHS, he violated one of his main principles when he ran for office--and that was that special interests were not going to have an in in his administration,” said Grassley. “And this is a perfect example of special interests having an in in his administration when they get those waivers”...

(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking Dr. Donald Berwick, who now heads the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to disclose any conflicts of interest arising between his new role and his old one as the CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

In a July 29 letter, Grassley -- the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee -- asked Berwick to honor promises he made to Grassley while his nomination was still pending in the Senate. Berwick was recess-appointed by President Obama on July 7 while Congress was on its July 4 break.)

Now that Berwick has been recess-appointed, Grassley wants the doctor – who defends health care rationing and has praised Britain’s government-run National Health Service – to keep his promise and allow the Senate to examine the books of IHI, as well as the list of donors it gave to the Internal Revenue Service...

With Congress gridlocked on an immigration bill, the Obama administration is considering using a back door to stop deporting many illegal immigrants - what a draft government memo said could be "a non-legislative version of amnesty."

The memo, addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas and written by four agency staffers, lists tools it says the administration has to "reduce the threat of removal" for many illegal immigrants who have run afoul of immigration authorities.

"In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, USCIS can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole-in-place, deferred action and the issuance of Notices to Appear," the staffers wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican....

A veteran Republican senator believes President Obama's "stimulus" package is continuing to destroy economic growth and private sector employment.

The Labor Department reported yesterday that the number of people who joined the unemployment lines went up again last week as the number of those applying for unemployment benefits rose by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 460,000.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says the Obama administration's job-creation efforts are not working...

Senator Chuck Grassley believes Congress should start from scratch on healthcare reform because the current legislation being pushed by the majority party fails to take on rising healthcare costs and premiums, but instead gives $400 billion in direct payments to insurance companies.

Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) notes that even though healthcare costs are increasing at an unsustainable rate, especially for people buying insurance through an individual policy, the pending healthcare legislation that could be pushed through Congress in the next few weeks would make health insurance premiums go up even more than they already are.

"That's not according to Chuck Grassley, that's according to the Congressional Budget Office," the senator clarifies. "On top of that, the healthcare bills passed by the House and Senate, and now the president's version of those bills, would give $400 billion in direct payments to the insurance industry. read more »

(CNSNews.com) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted to the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday that the deficits the federal government will run in the foreseeable future are “alarmingly high,” but said the administration would still like to make some provisions of the stimulus bill permanent.

“There are limits to what the government can do now. Our deficits, as everybody says, are alarmingly high. read more »

An organization affiliated with ACORN is still eligible for charitable donations through a federal program for government employees, despite complaints that the program violates recent legislation targeting the now-scandalized community group.

The affiliate organization, the ACORN Institute, will not be barred from participating in the Combined Federal Campaign, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said. The program encourages federal employees to give to local charities.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, raised concerns earlier this month over the government's refusal to omit the ACORN Institute from the campaign. But Personnel Management Director John Berry said in a letter delivered to Grassley that the institute is legally eligible to receive donations through the program...

The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee says the healthcare legislation currently working its way through the Senate will dramatically drive up healthcare costs and further increase the strain on the budgets of American families.

Now that the Senate Finance Committee has passed its version of healthcare reform, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is working to merge it with the HELP Committee bill and get a final package to the floor in two weeks.

The ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, warns that since the HELP Committee bill contains a public health insurance option, the merged bill will contain even more government involvement in healthcare than the final Finance Committee bill...