Take some time Sunday and catch up on all your political happenings. Oh, wait …. 1. Inslee climate bill gets hearing 2. GOP bill to kill Bertha and the tunnel project gets … killed 3. Push in Olympia to broaden ban on using smartphones while driving 4. After fiery “kids-these-days” speech, Minimum wage bill passes out…

WASHINGTON — He’s called it a “witch hunt” that has already wasted millions of taxpayers’ dollars. And on Tuesday, U. S. Rep. Adam Smith of Bellevue used the third public hearing of the Select Committee on Benghazi to once again excoriate House Republicans for their ongoing investigation into the 2012 attacks at the U.S. diplomatic…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene has been named to President Obama’s Export Council, making the Medina Democrat the second member of Congress from Washington to serve on the advisory panel. The appointment, announced by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, makes DelBene one of about 50 corporate chiefs, administration officials and lawmakers who advise the…

While you were obsessing over the State of the Union or Deflategate, Washington state politics moved forward. Here’s what you may have missed: 1. Seattle City Councilmembers Nick Licata and Tom Rasmussen to retire 2. Truth Needle: GOP leader is right, Inslee polluter list tags UW, WSU 3. On Muslim Lobby Day, Muslim residents march through…

Updated at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 23 with comment from Herrera Beutler: WASHINGTON — The anti-abortion bill yanked from a floor vote in the House Thursday still has the support of the chamber’s highest-ranking Republican woman. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Spokane reiterated her support for the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” which bars terminating pregnancies after…

Updated at 7:52 a.m. with Sen. Murray’s new subcommittee information: WASHINGTON — The shrunken House Democratic Caucus on Tuesday voted to give a spot on the House Appropriations Committee to  Rep. Derek Kilmer, a move that would give the sophomore lawmaker from Gig Harbor a more direct voice on federal spending decisions. The vote by the…

WASHINGTON — President Obama hasn’t signed it into law yet. But that didn’t stop U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer Tuesday from trying to strip a controversial provision inserted into the 2015 federal spending bill allowing wealthy donors to give vastly larger sums to national political parties. Kilmer, a freshman Democrat from Gig Harbor, jumped on the widespread outrage over new campaign…

You’d think it would be a slow week for politics, and yet: 1. Seattle City Council OKs budget with added social-services spending, Socialist Kshama Sawant votes against it. 2. Gov. Inslee pushes incentives for electric cars. (Phuong Le/AP) 3. NRA intends to lobby against new background-check law. 4. Viet Shelton will be Seattle mayor’s new…

The Associated Press SPOKANE — Republican U.S. House candidate Clint Didier has dropped his federal lawsuit against a volunteer for his opponent’s campaign over an alleged misuse of state resources. Didier had originally sued opponent Dan Newhouse, also a Republican seeking the House seat from central Washington, plus Newhouse’s campaign and volunteer Christopher Voigt, who is the…

What should have been a friendly radio chat flipped into a PR headache on Thursday for Republican congressional candidate Pedro Celis. Celis, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene in the 1st Congressional District, went on KIRO radio yesterday to try to explain his vague answers in a KIRO news story about…