U.S. Senator Larry Craig of the northwestern state of Idaho announced his resignation Saturday after being arrested in June in an undercover sex sting.

The Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for withholding documents subpoenaed by his panel. The administration did not meet a Monday deadline for handing over information about the legal justification for its wiretapping program, as VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved the re-authorization for an additional five years of conservation programs for African elephants, Asian elephants, rhinos and tigers.

The state Senate is expected to vote on a bill Thursday that would give the cash-strapped Roosevelt school district an interest-free loan to cover its $8-million deficit, Newsday reported.

Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have rejected a handful of amendments that could have derailed a controversial immigration reform plan. By a vote of 66-29, senators rejected an amendment by Republican Party legislator David Vitter to eliminate a provision that offers legal status to most of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

The U.S. Senate has approved $100 billion in new funds for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without a timetable for withdrawing combat troops. Just hours earlier, the House of Representatives also approved the bill. U.S. George. W. Bush is expected to sign it into law promptly.

The debate over a compromise immigration reform plan negotiated by President Bush and senators from both parties is expected to heat up this week, as the Senate takes up the issue Monday.

The U.S. Senate has rejected a measure that would end funding for U.S. combat operations in Iraq by April 1 of next year. The White House praised the vote, but some Senate Democrats say support is building for the effort to limit funding for the unpopular war.

Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate say they will not try to block passage of an Iraq war-spending bill, even if it includes a troop withdrawal deadline. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says his party's goal is to pass the bill quickly, because he knows President Bush will veto it. He predicts Democrats will then be forced to redraft the bill without conditions.