Some lawmakers later described the surveillance techniques as entrapment.

These lawmakers described the bill as the thin edge of a wedge that could later be used to attack abortion rights in general.

It forecast a long-term partisan debate during the coming session that could delay any response to what several lawmakers described as a crisis.

The new attitude in the suburbs is one that state lawmakers of both parties describe with one word: anxiety.

One lawmaker described it as a warm-up drill for the coming fiscal year's budget, which some officials say may have a deficit of up to $3 billion.

In Springfield as in Washington, lawmakers describe the conflict in predictable ways.

A prominent Democratic lawmaker described their approach to the governor this way: "We're cutting ourselves and bleeding all over him."

In speech after speech, lawmakers described their own personal strategies for dealing with telemarketing calls.

In what many lawmakers themselves described as the least productive session in memory, officials also left most of the other major tasks they faced unfinished.

Parliament in Malawi recently banned the show from its public station because of what lawmakers described as its corruptive nature.