Members of the U.S. Senate unanimously accepted an amendment to the Farm Bill that would bar convicted rapists, pedophiles and murderers from receiving food stamps for life.

Citing rampant fraud and abuse by telephone service providers, GOP Senator from Louisiana David Vitter called on the U.S. Senate last Tuesday to end the welfare subsidy for cellular phone service in the federal Lifeline Program that cost Americans nearly $2 billion in 2012.

Evangelical Christians are not as bad as you think, Tom Krattenmaker tells his fellow progressives, secularists and religious liberals in his new book, The Evangelicals You Don't Know: Introducing the Next Generation of Christians.

A new report, called "Rich States, Poor States," issued by the American Legislative Exchange Council on state economies, shows states mostly governed by Republicans outperform states mostly governed by Democrats.

Among the myriad of scandals currently rippling throughout the Obama administration, one has been particularly jarring to the U.S. press corps due to its potential to impact the work of reporters themselves. Fox News reporter James Rosen was named a "co-conspirator" by the Justice Department for, essentially, doing the job of a reporter -- investigating information, following leads and asking questions.

Two former U.S. diplomats are reporting that whistleblowers are getting ready to reveal information that might turn the simmering Benghazi scandal into an explosive fiasco for both former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Evangelical left leader Jim Wallis and Republican Congressman Frank Wolf (Va.) discussed how politics can serve the common good at a Thursday panel at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. While the panel was called, "Competing Visions of the Common Good: Rethinking Help for the Poor," Wallis and Wolf talked more about where they found common ground than where their visions were in competition.

Texas' "Merry Christmas Bill," which is intended to defend free speech on the issue of "traditional holidays," reached Governor Rick Perry's desk on Wednesday, and he is expected to sign it despite critics saying that the bill violates the separation between church and state.

Families who adopted orphans and claimed the adoption tax credit were, like conservative and pro-life groups, targeted by the Internal Revenue Service. In 2012, 90 percent of those families were asked to provide additional information and 69 percent of them were audited. There is no evidence, though, of widespread fraud with the adoption tax credit.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said in a recent interview that she maintains hope that President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," will be repealed before 2016, saying she believes God will ultimately perform a miracle.