WASHINGTON – Pentagon and Homeland Security officials assured a House subcommittee Tuesday that they can continue border security despite a reduction in the National Guard from 1,200 to 300 soldiers, who will focus on support for aerial border surveillance.

Ben Quayle topped fellow first-term Congressman David Schweikert in their first campaign finance reports of the year, but the candidates’ overall fundraising is still nearly even when it comes to money that can be spent in the Republican primary for Arizona’s 6th Congressional District.

The U.S. Department of Justice today announced it has approved Arizona’s proposed congressional redistricting plan, despite a last minute appeal by some Republicans who said minority voting rights could have been strengthened.

This week’s most outstanding quips, jibes and utterances.

The intraparty war between congressional Republican leadership and the conservative Club for Growth appears to have simmered down for now, even while the race between U.S. Reps. David Schweikert and Ben Quayle is growing fiercer.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner this week agreed to give Schweikert a contribution from his PAC to compensate for a contribution he made earlier to his primary rival Quayle.

A conservative advocacy group is warning GOP leaders to stay neutral in an Arizona congressional race featuring two Republican incumbents a�� Reps. David Schweikert and Ben Quayle.

Quayle said accusations that he stole a Dem congressman’s jobs bill are “absurd” and “ridiculous.” He said U.S. Rep. Jim Himes’ (D-CT) HR1965 and his own HRHR4088, also known as the Capital Expansion Act, which passed two weeks ago as part of the JOBS Act, are substantially different.

Paradise Valley Town Councilman Vernon Parker will make a “major announcement” on Wednesday and is expected to jump into the GOP primary for Arizona’s 9th Congressional District.

Republican members of Arizona’s congressional delegation gathered at the state Senate to excoriate the Obama administration and the federal government over policies on forest management, the environment and a host of other issues they say are hurting the economy and hampering job creation.

When Quayle cleared out of the CD9 race and opted instead to seek re-election in CD6, many observers thought the Republican field in the new urban district would fill out quickly, as potential GOP candidates had largely stayed on the sidelines until that point.