President Barack Obama vowed Monday to bypass Congress and pursue unilateral changes to the country's immigration system, Fox News reports. The president said he is forced to go it alone because the House has failed to act on a comprehensive overhaul. In a written statement, House Speaker John Boehner called the announcement "sad and disappointing," and said executive orders "can't and won't fix these problems." Obama’s actions today direct the attorney general and director of Homeland Security to move "available resources" to the border and ask a team to "identify additional actions” he can take within existing legal authorities. Those recommendations are due back by the end of the summer.

The president also wrote to congressional leaders today asking for more flexibility to deal with the surge of undocumented immigrant children along the border, increased penalties for those who smuggle vulnerable immigrants and emergency funding to deter additional border crossings.

Sen. Bob Corker introduced legislation yesterday to bolster the government’s ability to help parents rescue children abducted overseas, the Tennessean reports. The bill, introduced by the Tennessee Republican along with Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, is named the Sean and David Goldman International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act. David Goldman was a New Jersey parent who waged a five-year battle to get his son Sean back from Brazil.

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday defeated an amendment to zero out the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) by a vote of 116 to 290. Three of Tennessee's representatives – Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn and Scott DesJarlais – voted for the amendment. When the amendment was last offered in 2012, there were 122 votes in favor of zeroing out. The House bill contains $350 million for the agency. The Senate takes up its appropriations bill next week, and then the two chambers will have to conference on final legislation. View the transcript of the House's consideration.

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved an amendment from Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, that would transfer $5 million in federal money to a grant program to help local governments reduce their backlog in testing of rape kits. The amended bill, which funds the Department of Justice, awaits final approval in the House, the Commercial Appeal reports.

In an alleged deal with Georgia’s two Republican senators to fill seven federal court vacancies in the state, President Obama nominated Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. But opposition among the president’s party has grown over the last few weeks with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and members of the Congressional Black Caucus opposing Boggs. In a rare occurrence, strong feelings over the nomination also led some members of the Black Caucus to attack civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who at first called for the nomination to be withdrawn, but reportedly was telling colleagues he could support Boggs as part of a package deal. After the firestorm this week, Lewis reaffirmed his opposition to the nomination. The Washington Post, Huffington Post and Fox News report on the issue.

A House Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has approved $350 million for the agency in fiscal year 2015. Of that amount, $319.6 million is for basic field programs, while the rest funds technology grants and student loan repayment assistance for legal aid lawyers. The subcommittee funding represents an increase of $50 million over what it approved last year, though it is short of the $430 million requested by the president.

Every female senator signed a letter to President Barack Obama calling for international sanctions against the terrorist group that abducted more than 200 girls in Nigeria last month, Roll Call reports. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Maryland. and Susan Collins, R-Maine, led the group of women pressuring the administration to implore the U.N. Security Council to add Islamic militant group Boko Haram to its al-Qaida sanctions list. The Senate passed a resolution by voice vote yesterday afternoon condemning the kidnapping.

Democrats in the U.S. House today opened an “inquiry” into whether Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration might have violated federal labor law by attempting to tie state incentives for expansion of the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant to the outcome of an election over representation by the United Auto Workers union. The probe is yet another chapter in the ongoing debate over whether Republican officials, including Haslam and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, may have interfered in the February election in which workers voted 712-626 to reject the UAW, the Tennessean reports.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has filed cloture on six nominations for federal judgeships, including that of Sheryl H. Lipman to be U.S. District judge for the Western District of Tennessee, the Senate Democrats website reports. The first cloture vote is expected to occur on April 29. If cloture is invoked on any of the district judges there would be up to two hours for debate equally divided prior to a vote on confirmation of the nomination.

Apparently exasperated with the slow progress of federal judicial nominations and other Senate business, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday that the Senate would not recess until a confirmation vote had been held for Ninth Circuit Court nominee Michelle T. Friedland. “We’re not punting,” Reid said in response to questions about whether the vote on Friedland would be delayed until after a two-week Easter recess. But in the end, he agreed to let Senators depart, delaying the vote until after the break, Gavel Grab reports. An analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice found that recent changes to Senate rules have not resulted in the progress supporters had hoped for in filling court vacancies.