Fla. Senate candidate Mack says divorce is behind financial woes

U.S. Senate candidate Connie Mack explained Sunday for the first time why he spent more than he earned at times, pinning financial problems on his divorce. | 02/20/12 06:58:19 By - Katie Sanders

Sen. Graham adapts to the times, confident of re-election

These days, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham isn't deriding town hall hecklers as a bunch of "angry white guys" or branding as losers the conservative activists who criticize him at the state convention. | 02/19/12 00:01:00 By - James Rosen

Needing a win, Romney tries to tap his Michigan roots

Mitt Romney likes to tell people in Michigan he's one of them — and whether voters see him that way could be crucial in determining his political fate. | 02/19/12 15:22:00 By - David Lightman

Claire McCaskill digging in to keep Senate seat

A three-decade veteran of Missouri politics, Sen. Claire McCaskill knows that her ties to President Obama are just one of the reasons she’s on everyone’s list of most vulnerable Democrats. | 02/19/12 14:58:09 By - David Goldstein

Florida congressman, Mack, preaches penny-pinching, but has past of debt and liens

Congressman Connie Mack has made penny-pinching debt-reduction central to his U.S. Senate campaign, but privately he has struggled at times with borrowing and paying his own obligations, court records show. | 02/17/12 13:07:47 By - Marc Caputo

California water bill approved by key panel

San Joaquin Valley farmers would secure more water and an ambitious river restoration plan would be curtailed under a far-reaching California bill approved by a key House panel Thursday night. | 02/17/12 07:02:30 By - Michael Doyle

U.S. House OKs opening ANWR to oil drilling

The U.S. House once again passed a bill to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, voting 237-187 Thursday on a measure expected to die in the Senate. | 02/17/12 06:46:05 By - Lisa Demer and Richard Mauer

Congress' payroll-tax deal a rare bipartisan effort

Congress on Friday overwhelmingly approved extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers through the end of the year, probably the biggest accomplishment lawmakers will be able to savor in 2012. | 02/17/12 12:04:12 By - David Lightman

At religious freedom hearing on contraception: 'This is an issue worth dying for'

Religious leaders of different faiths stoked the national debate over contraception Thursday, converging on Capitol Hill and charging the Obama administration with attempting to violate their religious freedoms. | 02/16/12 18:30:00 By - Franco Ordonez

Indiana's new right-to-work law could prompt copycats

When Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed legislation this month making Indiana the nation's first new right-to-work state in more than a decade, it turned up the heat on a long-simmering debate about the true intent and impact of the controversial anti-union laws. | 02/16/12 15:47:41 By - Tony Pugh

Religious leaders continue to protest Obama administration's contraception ruling

Religious leaders of different faiths stoked the national debate over contraception Thursday, converging on Capitol Hill and charging the Obama administration with attempting to violate their religious freedoms. | 02/16/12 14:30:46 By - Franco Ordoñez

S.C. bill seeks to keep some crime details from public

A bill introduced in the S.C. House would give police, prosecutors and sheriffs broad freedom to keep secret any and all crimes and arrests from the public, critics say. | 02/16/12 13:16:36 By - John Monk

Congress nears deal to extend wage-tax cut, jobless benefits, 'doc fix'

Congress is calmly inching toward approving a payroll tax cut and other help for the struggling economy without the bitter rancor that's colored economic debates since President Barack Obama took office three years ago. | 02/15/12 17:21:00 By - David Lightman

Commercial banks spent record $62 million on lobbying in 2011

Commercial banks spent nearly $62 million last year on lobbying, another record total for an industry that has become one of the most active voices in the political arena. | 02/15/12 07:27:22 By - Andrew Dunn

Missouri ethics law struck down by court because of way it passed

In a unanimous opinion Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a 2010 ethics bill that banned the laundering of donations through campaign committees. | 02/15/12 07:21:58 By - Steve Kraske

Lines drawn in Alaska's oil tax debate

Battle lines are hardening in the Legislature over oil taxes, with Gov. Sean Parnell saying Tuesday that he remains firmly committed to his legislation rolling back taxes, and state senators just as sure that they are right to reject his strategy. | 02/15/12 06:46:11 By - Lisa Demer

Miami Judge Jordan likely to be confirmed for 11th Circuit, but in messy process

A dispute in the U.S. Senate over President Barack Obama's executive branch nominees threatens to snag the appointment of the first Cuban-born judge to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. | 02/14/12 06:58:35 By - Erika Bolstad

Proposal would prohibit foreign laws in South Carolina courts

A long list of S.C. lawmakers plan to send a message to Palmetto State courts: Don't apply foreign laws here. A proposed law, which a House panel will consider later this month, is part of a growing movement in legislatures around the country. | 02/14/12 07:29:06 By - Gina Smith

Kansas lawmaker proposes drug testing for welfare recipients

In a legislative session already flush with complex and divisive issues, Kansas lawmakers now want to take on their version of welfare reform: drug testing. | 02/14/12 07:06:50 By - Brad Cooper

Texas Republicans criticize Obama's budget plan

President Barack Obama's $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal year 2013 drew immediate rebukes from Texas Republican lawmakers for its price tag and higher fees and taxes, including more than $40 billion on oil and gas producers. | 02/14/12 07:34:43 By - Maria Recio

'Twilight' tribe wins land transfer for tsunami protection

Congress has signed off on a plan that will transfer 785 acres of federal parkland along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Washington state to the tiny Quileute Indian tribe, a move aimed at protecting the tribe's safety in case a tsunami ever strikes. | 02/14/12 13:52:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Obama's budget could impact California _ if it survives

California has a big stake in the debate begun Monday with release of the Obama administration's proposed fiscal year 2013 budget, even if the sprawling document has only a short lifespan. | 02/13/12 16:34:00 By - Michael Doyle

Democrats say they're being shut out of California water bill rewrite

Controlling California water can seem like a covert affair on Capitol Hill. If you're not in the club, you're left in the dark. | 02/13/12 12:05:31 By - Michael Doyle

California's state employee unions don't expect big contracts from Gov. Brown

Contract talks kicking off this month between the state and four employee unions present Gov. Jerry Brown with a political dilemma: How does he deal fairly with his key labor constituency without exposing himself to charges he's kowtowing to them? | 02/13/12 06:59:55 By - Jon Ortiz

Romney's good day; wins conservatives, Maine caucus

Romney's 38-31 percent defeat of Santorum in a straw presidential vote among thousands of activists at the annual convention of the Conservative Political Action Committee bolstered his claim that he can consolidate support among the Republican base. | 02/13/12 01:29:00 By - James Rosen

Obama budget projects $1.3 trillion deficit this year

President Barack Obama expects the federal budget deficit to reach $1.33 trillion this year, administration officials said Friday evening, the fourth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits. | 02/10/12 20:24:00 By - Steven Thomma

Alaska lawmakers plan to sell ANWR drilling during D.C. trip

A contingent of state representatives including House Speaker Mike Chenault are missing several days of the legislative session next week to head to Washington, D.C., and make a pitch — once again — for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. | 02/10/12 06:57:48 By - Lisa Demer

Kansas abortion debate gets heated over rubber stamp 'attack'

A Kansas abortion debate turned nasty Thursday when the leader of a women's group pulled out a rubber stamp and accused a House panel of routinely approving bills restricting the procedure. One lawmaker walked out in protest. | 02/10/12 07:11:34 By - Brad Cooper

S.C. Sen. DeMint: No compromises with Obama, Democrats

U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint kicked off a three-day gathering of conservative activists Thursday, telling thousands of cheering supporters that the divided Republican presidential contest is good for the party and will produce a stronger nominee to take on President Barack Obama. | 02/10/12 07:25:16 By - James Rosen

Farmers still fighting for immigrant guest-worker program

California and Southern farmers renewed their case Thursday for some kind of an agricultural guest-worker program, but they're sailing against the wind. Make that a hurricane. | 02/09/12 15:54:00 By - Michael Doyle

Former Kansas Rep. Dennis Moore reveals his Alzheimer's battle

There's a photo of Dennis Moore kneeling next to the hole in Iraq where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003. There he is with Fidel Castro, Gen. David Petraeus, Warren Buffett, Carole King — all images from a 12-year career in the U.S. House and all lining the basement study in his Lenexa home. | 02/09/12 07:14:27 By - Steve Kraske

House passes ethics bill after deleting one key section

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to curb insider trading by members of Congress and the executive branch, but not without the usual political acrimony that’s become a staple of Capitol Hill. | 02/09/12 14:06:32 By - William Douglas

California’s ‘Valleycrat’ a rare find

The California Valleycrat could be an endangered species. Or maybe it was mostly mythical all along. | 02/08/12 16:15:51 By - John Ellis and Michael Doyle

Charleston port project gets funding infusion

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday hailed the news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had allocated $2.5 million to expand its study on deepening the Charleston, S.C., port to accommodate a new generation of super-tankers. | 02/08/12 16:06:00 By - James Rosen

White House: 'Absolutely firm,' but willing to talk, on birth control

The White House insisted Wednesday that the president's commitment to contraceptive access for women is "absolutely firm," even as Republicans from Capitol Hill to the presidential campaign trail assailed the policy as an attack on religious liberty. | 02/08/12 18:40:00 By - Erika Bolstad and Lesley Clark

Judge: Disclose details on federal misconduct in Ted Stevens case

Calling the case a national symbol of what happens when prosecutors cross the line, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that an investigative report on misconduct by Justice Department attorneys in the prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens must be made public. | 02/08/12 16:04:45 By - Sean Cockerham

N.C. Rep. Myrick won't seek another term

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick's surprise announcement Tuesday that she'll leave Washington after nine terms sparked a scramble by would-be successors that reached halfway around the world — literally. | 02/08/12 07:19:32 By - Tim Funk and Jim Morrill

Planned Parenthood president says Komen controversy has had benefits

Speaking in Charlotte on Tuesday, the national president of Planned Parenthood said last week's angry reaction to a funding cut by the Susan G. Komen foundation not only benefited Planned Parenthood financially but raised awareness of its mission. | 02/08/12 07:16:10 By - Jim Morrill

Audit finds lax oversight of Alaska Native corporations contracting program

The debate over the sole source contracting privileges that Alaska Native corporations have used to make billions of dollars is flaring in Congress with a new government audit that found lax oversight of the program. | 02/08/12 06:44:21 By - Sean Cockerham

House OKs bill to help feds shed surplus property

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would speed the disposal of surplus federal property, a mundane-sounding but potentially significant money saver that's also a notable freshman-year success for its California author. The current surplus property list includes 1,151 federal properties in California. Many are in national parks or forests, including Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks. | 02/07/12 17:40:00 By - Michael Doyle

Report: Rep. Doc Hastings steered federal money for project near property he owned

For Republican Rep. Doc Hastings, it made good sense to secure a $750,000 earmark in 2009 for the city of Pasco, Wash.: It would help replace a deteriorating, 74-year-old underpass that had to be closed for repairs last year, a road so dangerous that school buses couldn't even pass through safely. | 02/07/12 13:25:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

California's gay marriage ban unconstitutional, Court of Appeals rules

In a landmark victory for gay rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued withering criticism of an electorate the court said used its "initiative power to target a minority group and withdraw a right that it possessed," violating the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. | 02/07/12 13:37:34 By - David Siders and Jennifer Garza

N.C. Sen. Burr defends 'no' vote on insider trading act

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr was one of just three senators who opposed a new bill that explicitly prevents members of Congress and their staffs from using nonpublic information for insider trading. | 02/07/12 07:18:31 By - Franco Ordoñez

Catholic leaders speak out against new contraception regulations

Lawmakers and politicians scrambled Monday to respond to a growing furor over the Obama administration's decision to require no-cost contraceptive insurance coverage — even in policies offered by religious employers. | 02/07/12 07:10:30 By - Dave Helling and Steve Kraske

VP Biden touts college tuition program in South Florida

Vice President Joe Biden was on his way to a prom years ago when he saw his father pacing outside. His father had just been turned down for a loan to pay for Biden's education at the University of Delaware. The anecdote, delivered in a speech Monday to students at Florida State University, was used to promote President Barack Obama’s new college affordability plan — which would reward states for keeping costs low. | 02/07/12 06:51:43 By - Kim Walmath

Rural Alaska air travel subsidies survive cost cutting in Congress

Subsidies for rural Alaska air travel survived the cost-cutting talk as Congress passed a four-year funding bill for the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday after years of dispute. | 02/07/12 06:40:52 By - Sean Cockerham

Bill seeks to limit OT for high-tech workers

High-tech workers could see smaller paychecks under an industry-led campaign to revise labor laws to limit overtime benefits. | 02/06/12 07:17:05 By - Franco Ordoñez and John Murawski

Florida's Rubio pushes back at contraception rules under health care law

Sitting in his pew at St. Louis Catholic Church in Miami one recent Sunday, Sen. Marco Rubio heard the same homily as other parishioners who were urged by church leaders nationwide to contact Congress about the use of contraceptives. | 02/05/12 13:11:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Lawmakers' homes: Location, location, politicization

Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has a ranch in Atwater, a residence in Turlock and his wife and children with him in Northern Virginia. His Democratic opponent has a family in Houston, while he seeks election in California's San Joaquin Valley. | 02/03/12 16:13:00 By - Michael Doyle

House panel derails California's high-speed trains

A key House panel late Thursday gave the back of its hand to California's embattled high-speed rail program. In another sign of high-speed rail's political travails, the House committee writing a massive transportation bill included an amendment that prohibits new federal funds from going to California's proposed $98 billion project during the five-year life of the bill. | 02/03/12 14:00:00 By - Michael Doyle

Unions lambaste pension overhaul plan from Calif. Gov. Brown

Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a detailed plan to alter California's state and local public retirement systems on Thursday – and immediately drew fire from his core labor constituency. | 02/03/12 06:46:55 By - Jon Ortiz

Republicans rip into Attorney General Holder at Fast and Furious hearing

House Republicans accused Attorney General Eric Holder of hiding information at a hearing Thursday over the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation, while Holder dismissed calls for him to resign and said he's not to blame for the scandal. | 02/02/12 18:14:00 By - Sean Cockerham

Obama says his religious values underpin his policies

President Barack Obama, who rarely speaks of his faith, defended some of his administration's policies Thursday by saying they reflect his religious convictions. | 02/02/12 18:37:00 By - Lesley Clark

S.C. Senate panel OKs end of abortion coverage for rape, incest victims

The South Carolina state insurance plan — which covers state employees, and teachers and local government workers who opt to join — would not pay for abortions in cases of rape or incest if a state Senate panel has its way. | 02/02/12 07:34:26 By - Adam Beam

Kansas' largest insurer declines participation in Brownback's Medicaid reform

The state of Kansas' largest insurance company has decided it doesn't want to participate in Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to move Medicaid patients into privatized managed-care programs. | 02/02/12 07:24:57 By - Dion Lefler

Fla. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen tees off on PGA, German insurer Allianz

A Miami congresswoman is again taking aim at a German insurer that is sponsoring a pro golf tournament in Boca Raton, urging the PGA to drop Allianz because it has refused to pay billions in life insurance claims to Holocaust survivors. | 02/02/12 07:12:12 By - Jay Weaver

Money pouring into California campaign chests

Some challengers are out-raising incumbents, while one is flipping loans to his own campaign like hotcakes, as millions of dollars pour into California congressional races. | 02/01/12 17:26:00 By - Michael Doyle

Judges press lawyers on Texas voting maps

In often lively exchanges with the lawyers, the three-judge panel overseeing the Texas redistricting case repeatedly questioned the state's position during closing arguments Tuesday and signaled a quick decision in the Voting Rights Act case. | 02/01/12 07:32:15 By - Maria Recio

South Carolina's unemployed are the focus of several bills in state Legislature

Some call it a business-friendly way to safeguard the ability of the state's unemployment system to pay benefits to jobless South Carolinians who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Others say the S.C. Legislature has declared war on the state's unemployed workers. | 02/01/12 07:21:16 By - Gina Smith

Lower 48 Indian tribes help fuel Alaska Rep. Young's campaign fundraising

Alaska Rep. Don Young nearly doubled his campaign fundraising in the last months of the year with help from Lower 48 Indian tribes and now has a lot of money and no established challengers emerging to take him on. | 02/01/12 06:47:04 By - Sean Cockerham

Brownback officials defend Kansas' new food stamp policy

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration on Monday fended off suggestions that it is trying to ferret out undocumented immigrants with a new Kansas policy that cuts food stamp benefits for anyone in the country illegally. | 01/31/12 07:02:23 By - Brad Cooper

Gay marriage supporters say they're seeing gains

With momentum building in several states to give same-sex couples the right to marry, and with legislators and voters alike rallying to their side, supporters of gay marriage feel good about 2012. But along with gains, there could be setbacks, and it's far from clear how the issue will play in a presidential election year. | 01/30/12 20:00:38 By - Curtis Tate

With earmarks banned, California must finagle transportation bill

California lawmakers and lobbyists must find new ways to steer federal transportation dollars to the state.

Earmarks are out, in the massive House and Senate transportation bills moving this week. Once famed for their pork, the transportation bills are now shorn of locally targeted funding. That means it's time to get creative. | 01/30/12 17:29:00 By - Michael Doyle

Two Kansas judges contributed to anti-abortion PAC

Campaign finance records show that at least two sitting Sedgwick County, Kan., judges have made contributions to the state's leading anti-abortion political action committee — after hearing cases involving abortion-related issues. | 01/30/12 07:18:02 By - Dave Helling

Calif. Gov. Brown rejects $100 billion high-speed rail estimate

California's high-speed rail project will cost far less than the state's current estimate of nearly $100 billion and environmental fees paid by carbon producers will be a source of funding, Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview aired in Los Angeles on Sunday. | 01/30/12 06:49:11 By - David Siders

Texas' wind power boom could head for bust if Congress doesn't extend tax credit

Texas remains the runaway leader in wind-power generation capacity among the 50 states. While only ninth in wind generation added during 2011, with 297 megawatts, it has nearly triple that amount under construction this year, the American Wind Energy Association said Thursday. | 01/27/12 07:29:33 By - Jack Z. Smith

Universal health care proposal stalls in California Senate

Legislation to create a universal health care system in California stalled in the state Senate Thursday ahead of a key legislative deadline, signaling it will likely fail to advance this year. | 01/27/12 07:00:22 By - Torey Van Oot and Jim Sanders

Rep. Rivera introduces modified DREAM Act for military

Inspired by a discussion about immigration during Monday night's Republican presidential-candidate debate, Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., has filed his own bill that would give young people who serve in the military a path to U.S. citizenship. | 01/26/12 18:56:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Find out what Chandra Levy jurors were thinking before trial

Meet the jurors who convicted Chandra Levy's killer. This week, following a protracted legal battle over public access to court documents, a trial judge released the jurors' questionnaires from the high-profile 2010 trial. | 01/26/12 11:49:00 By - Michael Doyle

Alaska film 'Big Miracle' premieres in nation's capital

"Big Miracle," the first major production subsidized by a state of Alaska film incentive program among the most generous in the nation, premiered in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as debate burns in Alaska over whether the program is worth the cost. | 01/26/12 11:32:59 By - Sean Cockerham

Perry's support in Texas has eroded, according to survey

Gov. Rick Perry's ill-fated bid for the presidency has apparently eroded his political base back home, dropping his Texas approval rating to a new low and raising doubts about his chances of victory if he seeks re-election in two years, according to a newly released poll conducted for the Star-Telegram and other major newspapers. | 01/26/12 07:32:21 By - Dave Montgomery

Obama's new mortgage-fraud unit met with skepticism

President Barack Obama's State of the Union pledge to create a special unit to punish fraud in mortgage finance met with skepticism Wednesday for coming so late in his term and amid signs that his administration is close to settling with large banks accused of shoddy mortgage-lending practices. | 01/26/12 01:08:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Improvements at Arlington Cemetery, but problems remain

Just a year and a half after condemning officials at Arlington National Cemetery for "heartbreakingly incompetent management," Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and members of the Government Accountability Office complimented leaders Wednesday for progress made. | 01/25/12 18:28:00 By - Emily Seagrave Kennedy

Calif. lawmakers to Obama: Do more to solve foreclosure crisis

Dissatisfied California lawmakers are pressing the Obama administration for more aggressive solutions to the foreclosure epidemic ailing the state. | 01/25/12 17:20:00 By - Michael Doyle

House passes bill to study park service honors for Buffalo Soldiers

The House on Wednesday saluted the Buffalo Soldiers who once rode through the San Joaquin Valley of California and protected Sierra Nevada public lands. | 01/25/12 13:42:00 By - Michael Doyle

Memo spoke of special session for Texas redistricting if 'bad' judges emerged

During questioning in federal court Tuesday of the Republican state senator in charge of redistricting, a lawyer for state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, revealed what Democrats call an explosive e-mail from state officials that suggested asking Gov. Rick Perry to call a special session of the Legislature if legal challenges drew "a really bad panel" of judges. | 01/25/12 07:42:21 By - Maria Recio

N.C. Rep. McHenry grills Cordray over CFPB's power

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry on Tuesday didn't shy away from his opportunity to condemn the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while questioning its new director. | 01/25/12 07:33:59 By - Franco Ordoñez

Sister Bertha goes to Washington for State of the Union

It's one of the biggest nights of the year in Washington's political culture. All of its glitterati are there: Congress, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, the military brass and the diplomatic corps.

But also crammed into the House chamber Tuesday night for the president's annual State of the Union address was a 75-year-old nun more accustomed to the company of Kansas City's homeless than the capital’s elite. | 01/25/12 07:27:46 By - David Goldstein

Kansas Gov. Brownback to review state's food stamp policy

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Tuesday that he would review a new policy that has eliminated food stamps for hundreds of low-income children who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are illegal immigrants. | 01/25/12 07:22:35 By - Laura Bauer

Environmental groups ask Kentucky lawmakers to consider coal's health impact

Kentucky's leaders should consider the health hazards of mining, moving and burning coal as they craft the state's energy policy, an environmental group said Tuesday. | 01/25/12 07:16:32 By - John Cheves

Obama taps career diplomat Pamela Ann White as Haiti ambassador

President Barack Obama has nominated Ambassador Pamela Ann White, a career diplomat with more than 35 years public service experience mostly in Africa, as the United States’ next ambassador to a quake-ravaged Haiti. | 01/25/12 07:05:13 By - Jacqueline Charles

Full text of GOP's State of the Union response

The full text of Gov. Mitch Daniels' Republican Address to the Nation, as prepared for delivery. | 01/24/12 22:45:09 By -

Full text of the State of the Union speech

Remarks of President Barack Obama, as prepared for delivery. | 01/24/12 21:05:15 By -

New consumer bureau chief still under fire from GOP

In his first congressional testimony as the official director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray faced tough questions on Tuesday from Republican lawmakers still seething over his controversial recess appointment. | 01/24/12 19:19:00 By - Tony Pugh

Obama frames his election-year vision in State of the Union address

President Barack Obama used an election-year State of the Union address Tuesday night to frame the national debate not as a referendum on him but as a pivotal decision on how to save the American dream. | 01/24/12 18:42:00 By - Steven Thomma

Report: Removing Klamath dams would help fish, provide jobs, cost millions

The ambitious proposal to remove four Klamath River dams would add jobs and aid fish, a new federal report asserts, but the idea still leaves California lawmakers badly divided. | 01/24/12 18:33:00 By - Michael Doyle

Congress opts for bipartisan seating for State of the Union speech

The partisan atmosphere in Congress has become so poisonous it's reached the point where Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and others are touting the fact they'll be sitting with a member of the opposite party when the president gives his State of the Union speech today. | 01/24/12 06:44:54 By - Sean Cockerham

Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength

It's a lonely world out there, black conservatives said Monday, especially as they try to recruit more African-American voters to their ranks. | 01/23/12 18:39:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Obama to frame re-election themes Tuesday in State of the Union address

President Barack Obama delivers an election-year State of the Union address Tuesday night at a moment when the country is worried about the economy and his own prospects for re-election are mixed at best. | 01/23/12 17:33:00 By - Steven Thomma

Georgia judge orders President Obama to appear in court over 'birthers' suit

A Georgia judge has ordered President Barack Obama to appear in court in Atlanta Thursday for a hearing on a complaint that says Obama isn’t a natural-born citizen and can’t be president. | 01/23/12 12:53:56 By - Chuck Williams

California bill would ban employers from screening out long-term unemployed

Job applicants sought — but only if they don't need work. The message in some job advertisements these days is pretty blunt: Don't bother sending a résumé if you're not bringing home a paycheck already. | 01/23/12 06:51:57 By - Jim Sanders

Southern cities launch series of civil rights exhibits

For the civil rights movement, 1963 was a pinnacle year. With the 50th anniversary around the corner, six mayors from Southern cities announced at a press conference in Washington on Friday a collaborative commemoration of the nation-altering events of that year. | 01/20/12 19:01:00 By - Rachel Roubein

Reaganomics guru Laffer praises Kansas Gov. Brownback's tax plan

Enjoying almost Republican rock star status, the man who designed supply-side economic policies for Ronald Reagan toured the capitol Thursday touting Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan to cut taxes. | 01/20/12 07:12:35 By - Brad Cooper

At Disney World, Obama touts tourism initiatives to boost jobs

Standing before a sun-splashed Cinderella’s castle, President Barack Obama on Thursday called for America to become the world’s top travel destination with a program that could significantly increase tourism to South Florida. | 01/20/12 07:09:07 By - Jane Wooldridge

Judge: Raw almonds must be treated

A federal judge has again upheld U.S. Agriculture Department rules requiring treatment of raw almonds, in the latest blow to organic farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley. | 01/19/12 17:39:00 By - Michael Doyle

As websites go black, Washington lawmakers react

In the vast universe of the Internet, some planets went temporarily dark Wednesday to protest government attempts to intrude on what's long been their anything-goes frontier. And there's evidence that it made an impact in Washington. | 01/18/12 19:01:00 By - David Goldstein

Obama rejects oil pipeline from Canada, triggering loud controversy

The Obama administration on Wednesday denied a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, touching off a torrent of criticism from Republicans — whom the White House blamed for forcing a decision. | 01/18/12 18:57:00 By - Renee Schoof and Lesley Clark

Alaska's 'bridge to nowhere' needs state cash to move ahead

The fate of a project nationally mocked as a "bridge to nowhere" when Congress earmarked money for it now hangs in the balance as the state of Alaska decides whether it's worth putting its own cash on the line. | 01/18/12 16:35:00 By - Sean Cockerham

Kansas Gov. Brownback's tax plan would hit poor the hardest

The numbers paint a stark picture of the haves and have-nots in Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s new tax plan.

More than a half million tax filers — earning less than $25,000 a year — will pay an average of $156 more in income taxes under the governor’s plan to overhaul the state tax code. By contrast, roughly 21,000 taxpayers — making more than $250,000 a year — will see an average cut of $5,200 a year in their tax bills. | 01/18/12 07:04:54 By - Brad Cooper

Websites plan to shut down to protest anti-piracy bills

Opponents of a congressional effort to curb Internet piracy gained their biggest ally yet Tuesday, as the search engine Google said it would join a protest of the legislation planned by dozens of websites, many of which will shut down Wednesday. | 01/17/12 18:10:00 By - Curtis Tate

Dismembered fetuses in Super Bowl ads? Maybe in Illinois politics

Angela Michael said Tuesday her first move as a candidate for Congress in Illinois' new 15th District will be to run a campaign commercial — during the Super Bowl pregame show -- that is likely to offend many voters. The spot will feature dismembered fetuses. | 01/17/12 18:16:45 By - Brian Brueggemann

California lawmakers try another 'single-payer' health care bill

California's "Medicare for all" bill goes before a key Senate committee today, the latest chapter in a long-running battle between universal health insurance supporters and business. | 01/17/12 06:53:30 By - Jon Ortiz

Holder decries states' efforts to restrict ease of voting

In his bluntest comments to date, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday that voting rights, particularly for minorities, are under assault in some states. Speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday event in Columbia, Holder said some states had sued to challenge provisions of the Voting Rights Act and had approved new laws that would make it difficult for some minorities to register and vote this year, five decades after King and other civil rights leaders fought for access to the ballot box. | 01/16/12 16:49:00 By - William Douglas

Does Occupy movement continue Martin Luther King's push for social justice?

"Yes, it will be a Poor People's Campaign. … This is America's opportunity to help bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots … we now have the techniques and resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will."

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s call to action – spoken four days before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 – resonates powerfully in the hearts and minds of many in the 99 percent. | 01/16/12 07:00:08 By - Stephen Magagnini

California Gov. Brown proposes big changes for welfare

As unemployed Californians struggle to find work, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed strict rules for parents on welfare: Get a job in two years or lose nearly half of cash aid along with training and child care. | 01/16/12 06:56:45 By - Kevin Yamamura

Huntsman to leave GOP race Monday and endorse Romney

The former governor of Utah never caught on with the Republican primary electorate, suspect for accepting President Barack Obama’s nomination to be his ambassador to China, and branded as too moderate for his acceptance of the science of global warming. Polls showed him tied for last place with Gov. Rick Perry of Texas in both South Carolina and Florida, which votes on Jan. 31 and where Huntsman once based his campaign. | 01/15/12 16:53:00 By - Steven Thomma and Gina Smith

Predicting the South Carolina GOP vote is a challenge

As the campaign for South Carolina's first-in-the-South Republican presidential primary enters its final week, many GOP activists and analysts in the state warn against portraying it as an ultraconservative bastion dominated by single-minded evangelicals. While true in some aspects, they say, such a simplistic depiction ignores a shifting swirl of demographic, religious and historical currents that belie pat predictions about the outcome of Saturday's voting. | 01/15/12 14:58:00 By - James Rosen

'Stop Romney' Christian conservatives decide to back Santorum

With South Carolina's Republican presidential primary a week away, former Sen. Rick Santorum on Saturday received the endorsement of 150 influential Christian conservative leaders who are hoping to prevent former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney from becoming the GOP nominee. | 01/14/12 16:04:00 By - William Douglas and Adam Beam

Proposal to ban abortion in Kansas splits pro-life groups

The chairman of a Valley Center, Kan., organization said Friday it has support from 25 House members for a bill that would let voters decide whether to ban abortion in the state. | 01/14/12 10:17:37 By - Brad Cooper

Romney's Bain made millions as S.C. steelmaker went bankrupt

Bain Capital spent $24.5 million to acquire GS Industries in 1993, according to an investment prospectus for the company. By the end of that decade, Bain Capital estimated its partners had made $58.4 million off its investment. During that time, the steel manufacturer cut more than 1,750 jobs, shuttered a division that had been around for 100 years and eventually sank into bankruptcy. | 01/14/12 09:48:09 By - David Wren

What was Haley Barbour thinking when he issued those pardons?

"Marsha and I are evangelical Christians, Presbyterians. Christianity teaches us forgiveness and second chances. I believe in second chances. And I try hard to be forgiving," former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a news conference Friday in addressing the furor he created with his grant of clemency to 215 convicts, including 17 murders. | 01/13/12 20:58:02 By - Anite Lee

Obama seeks power to streamline federal government

President Barack Obama is asking Congress for expanded power to streamline the tangle of agencies he oversees, a move he says would bring the federal government into the modern world. | 01/13/12 17:55:00 By - Lesley Clark

S.C. tea party to hold convention in Myrtle Beach before GOP debate

The South Carolina Tea Party Coalition is hosting its first-ever state Tea Party Convention in Myrtle Beach prior to the GOP presidential debate. | 01/13/12 07:50:10 By - Brad Dickerson

Kansas Gov. Brownback's tax plan ends mortgage deduction

Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday proposed a money-saving $14 billion budget for 2012-13 that he said would be a boon for Kansas businesses and taxpayers. | 01/13/12 07:12:24 By - Brad Cooper and Mark Davis

Staff of Alaska Sen. Murkowski wagered on wildfires

Severe criticism from the wildland firefighters association and the parents of a fallen firefighter have committee staffers for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski apologizing for an office pool on how many acres wildland fires will destroy. | 01/13/12 06:57:14 By - Sean Cockerham

Among Miss. Gov. Barbour pardons was teacher who had sex with boy

A former East Central High School teacher, Jennifer Joel Wilder, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexual battery of a student, is among those former Gov. Haley Barbour pardoned this week. | 01/12/12 22:24:38 By - Margaret Baker

Proposal would require Missouri schools to verify students' immigration status

Missouri could be the next battleground in a nationwide fight over tougher immigration laws.

State Sen. Will Kraus, a Lee’s Summit Republican, is sponsoring a bill that would mandate that all public schools verify the immigration status of enrollees. It also would require law enforcement officers to check immigration status on all stops when they have reasonable cause, and create a state misdemeanor for not carrying proper citizenship documentation. | 01/12/12 07:14:05 By - Jason Hancock

Internet piracy bill splits technology, entertainment industries

Legislation to thwart Internet piracy is dividing Capitol Hill lawmakers and has the entertainment industry facing off against the technology industry. At least one major social media website is planning a daylong blackout next week to protest the bill. | 01/11/12 18:57:00 By - Curtis Tate

For Dicks, a new year brings new effort to block automatic spending cuts

As Congress prepares to return to work next week, Washington state U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks offers a bold prediction: Even though a special supercommittee failed to prevent $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts in 2013, members of Congress will get the job done by the end of the year. | 01/11/12 15:35:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

South Carolina AG to fight feds over voter ID law

Three of South Carolina’s top political leaders announced Tuesday their plans to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to block the state’s controversial voter ID law. | 01/11/12 07:25:51 By - Noelle Phillips

North Carolina furniture maker to share his views on jobs with Obama

The Lincolnton, N.C., owner of a small specialty furniture maker will be President Obama's guest at the White House today. The president has asked Bruce Cochrane, owner of Lincolnton Furniture, and several other business owners to join him to discuss what can be done to encourage companies to keep jobs in the United States. | 01/11/12 07:09:32 By - Franco Ordoñez

Judge: Feds must justify secrecy of Alaska Rep. Young's investigation files

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department was wrong in categorically refusing to provide any of its criminal investigative files on U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to an anti-corruption public interest group. | 01/11/12 06:40:27 By - Richard Mauer

California Rep. Herger announces retirement from Congress

Rep. Wally Herger, R-Chico, Calif., announced his retirement Tuesday, ending more than three decades of representing the Sacramento Valley in Congress and the state Legislature. | 01/10/12 19:11:00 By - Michael Doyle

Supreme Court considers Texas redistricting case

The U.S. Supreme Court engaged in lively and sometimes divisive oral arguments Monday over Texas redistricting as justices argued with attorneys for the state and minority groups — and with one another — over how to resolve the state's congressional, Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives lines under the federal Voting Rights Act in time for this year's elections. | 01/09/12 19:37:00 By - Maria Recio

Budget director Lew to replace Daley as Obama’s chief of staff

President Barack Obama on Monday named his budget director, Jack Lew, to be his next chief of staff to replace William Daley, who’s leaving after a year in the job just as the White House begins to gear up for a bruising re-election campaign. | 01/09/12 14:25:00 By - Lesley Clark

N.C. Gov. Perdue challenged on labor data

A congressional committee wants answers from Gov. Bev Perdue about how she was able to release closely guarded labor statistics before their scheduled release. | 01/09/12 12:51:06 By - Franco Ordoñez

Supreme Court to hear Texas redistricting case

After more than a year of political and legal wrangling, the latest round of Texas redistricting reaches the U.S. Supreme Court today in a case that may help reshape the state's political landscape for years. | 01/09/12 07:40:01 By - Aman Batheja

N.C. could soon feel impact from lack of U.S. debt deal

The failure of Congress to slash the national deficit threatens to cascade from Washington straight into North Carolina's schools, stores and doctor's offices. | 01/09/12 07:22:31 By - Franco Ordoñez

Congress, rules keep Obama from closing Guantanamo Bay

The last two prisoners to leave the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay were dead. On February 1, Awal Gul, a 48-year-old Afghan, collapsed in the shower and died of an apparent heart attack after working out on an exercise machine. Then, at dawn one morning in May, Haji Nassim, a 37-year-old man also from Afghanistan, was found hanging from bed linen in a prison camp recreation yard. | 01/09/12 07:05:00 By - Carol Rosenberg

Romney takes his lumps at last New Hampshire debate

Republican rivals ganged up on front runner Mitt Romney in a nationally televised debate Sunday, their last high-profile chance to challenge his lead in New Hampshire and slow his momentum toward the nomination. "Pious baloney," one candidate sneered at Romney. | 01/08/12 16:30:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

New Hampshire voters take their time to make their minds

Don't tell a New Hampshire voter what to do.

These Yankee stoics will make up their minds about Tuesday's Republican primary when they're good and ready. They spent the weekend seeing and studying the candidates in their own deliberate way. And frankly, they'll tell you, none of 'em are all that impressive. | 01/08/12 15:22:00 By - David Lightman

GOP candidates still talking strong on immigration

When it comes to illegal immigration, Republican presidential candidates are talking like it's 1999.

Listening to the GOP White House aspirants, voters might not know that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States is down, attempted border crossings are at a 40-year low and President Barack Obama has deported undocumented workers at twice the rate as his predecessor. | 01/08/12 14:51:00 By - James Rosen

GOP candidates target Romney, each other, in spirited debate

Mitt Romney coolly defended his solid New Hampshire lead Saturday night in a high-stakes debate as his rivals took aim at each other as they struggled to emerge as Romney's main challenger. | 01/07/12 23:11:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Jobs news good for Obama, but when will public feel it?

The 200,000 new December jobs and the dip in the unemployment rate announced Friday are good news for President Barack Obama, whose chances of retaining the White House are lashed to improving the sluggish economy. | 01/06/12 18:59:00 By - Lesley Clark

Santorum will be in the spotlight at Saturday night's debate

Republican presidential candidates face off for their first debate in three weeks on Saturday night, a high-stakes showdown as Mitt Romney hints that he's poised to run away with the nomination and Rick Santorum grabs the spotlight for the first time in the battle to be the main anti-Romney. | 01/06/12 17:55:00 By - Steven Thomma, David Lightman and William Douglas

Obama outlines leaner military but gives few specifics

Even as the United States has withdrawn from Iraq, winds down its ground war in Afghanistan and prepares to make do with a leaner military budget, it faces an array of future threats and must still be prepared to fight several conflicts simultaneously, the Pentagon said Thursday in unveiling its latest defense strategy. | 01/05/12 19:03:00 By - Nancy A. Youssef

It's Romney vs. the field in New Hampshire, and he's way ahead

New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary campaign evolved Thursday into two different races: Mitt Romney trying to expand his huge lead, while everyone else scrambled to become the chief alternative to him. | 01/05/12 17:38:00 By - David Lightman and Steven Thomma

Washington Gov. Gregoire to support gay marriage bill

Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday she wants Washington to become the seventh state in the nation to make gay marriage legal. She said at a news conference she'll introduce legislation that, if passed, would allow same-sex marriage in Washington state. | 01/05/12 07:36:46 By - Rachel la Corte

Jack Abramoff discusses influence peddling with Kentucky lawmakers

Disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff explained political corruption Wednesday to rapt members of the Kentucky General Assembly. Abramoff, a Republican insider who made tens of millions of dollars influencing Congress before going to prison in 2006, was the featured speaker for an ethics class that is required of Kentucky lawmakers every winter. | 01/05/12 07:13:06 By - John Cheves

GOP, Democrats have competing visions of Calif. rail study

Lawmakers are now competing to influence the next big review of California high-speed rail, underscoring the project's new political vulnerability. | 01/04/12 17:16:00 By - Michael Doyle

Obama defies Senate, appointing consumer, labor officials

A defiant President Barack Obama sidestepped Congress on Wednesday and appointed a new consumer watchdog, locking horns with Republicans, who immediately accused the president of exceeding his authority to appoint a director to an agency they oppose. | 01/04/12 11:18:23 By - Lesley Clark and Tony Pugh

Farmers may feel impact of proposed child labor law changes

Recent proposals from the U.S. Department of Labor — the first to address youth labor in more than four decades — have stirred alarm and confusion among family farms, where children have been pitching in since mankind’s earliest harvests. Federal officials and workplace safety groups contend the rules are needed to protect youngsters engaged in one of the most dangerous industries in the nation. | 01/03/12 07:16:11 By - Rick Montgomery

Hastings, GOP target Endangered Species Act

The gray wolf hit a major milestone on Dec. 21, when the Obama administration said the wolf's population in the Great Lakes region had grown to the point where the animals no longer required federal protection. | 12/28/11 13:59:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Elizabeth Dole endorses Mitt Romney

Former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole has endorsed Mitt Romney in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. | 12/28/11 11:44:58 By -

Book examines America's turn from science, warns of danger for democracy

Americans have trouble dealing with science, and one place that's especially obvious is in presidential campaigns, says Shawn Lawrence Otto, who tried, with limited success, to get the candidates to debate scientific questions in the 2008 presidential election. | 12/26/11 13:42:00 By - Renee Schoof

Congress approves payroll tax cut, Obama signs it into law

Congress on Friday quickly and quietly approved a two-month extension of the Social Security payroll tax cut, ending a week of rancor and assuring that more than 160 million people will avoid a 2 percentage point payroll tax increase next year. But the calm, collegial legislative day was deceptive. When lawmakers return in January, they’ll remain far apart on agreeing to a longer-term deal. | 12/23/11 15:53:34 By - David Lightman

Lawmakers spend millions on foreign travel to more than 120 countries

Congressional foreign travel can take several forms, not all of them easily tracked. Sometimes, lawmakers travel courtesy of outside interests. Other trips are sponsored by congressional leaders or by individual congressional committees. | 12/23/11 14:23:00 By - Michael Doyle

Parts of S.C. immigration law blocked by federal judge

State and local police will not be checking for immigration documents on Jan. 1 after a federal judge on Thursday blocked portions of the South Carolina immigration law. | 12/23/11 07:23:25 By - Noelle Phillips

House GOP leaders capitulate, agree to 2-month tax-cut extension

House Republican leaders reversed themselves Thursday and agreed to a temporary two-month extension of a payroll tax break — after a week of pummeling from President Barack Obama and even some of their conservative allies. | 12/22/11 19:15:00 By - Lesley Clark

McConnell helps push payroll tax cut compromise

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stepped into the fractious payroll tax cut extension standoff between the Republican-controlled House and Democrat-controlled Senate Thursday — a move that upped the ante in the high stakes debate and pushed House GOP leadership toward a tentative resolution. | 12/22/11 14:22:33 By - Halimah Abdullah

Had House GOP been playing into Obama's hands on tax cut?

Republican leaders in the House of Representatives may have avoided steering their entire party toward political disaster in 2012 by giving up Thursday on their refusal to back a short-term Social Security payroll tax extension. But their weeklong obstinacy may still have given President Barack Obama an important boost. | 12/22/11 15:34:00 By - David Lightman

House Republicans getting heat over payroll-tax measure

President Barack Obama pressed House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio in a phone call Wednesday to break a stalemate over a payroll tax-cut extension or risk imposing a "holiday tax hike" on working Americans. But Boehner gave little ground, blocking a Democratic attempt to bring up the Senate bill on the House floor. | 12/21/11 18:53:00 By - Lesley Clark and David Lightman

Congress invokes 'Schoolhouse Rock' in debate, but misquotes it

During Tuesday's heated debate over whether the House of Representatives and the Senate need to form a conference committee to resolve their differences over an extension of the Social Security payroll-tax cut, lawmakers didn't just quote the Constitution: They invoked "Schoolhouse Rock" and "I'm Just a Bill." | 12/20/11 18:01:00 By - William Douglas

S.C. Rep. Clyburn takes Boehner, tea party to task over payroll tax cut

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said Monday he had nothing good to say about Kim Jung Il — the North Korean leader who died Saturday — so he was not going to say anything at all. But South Carolina’s lone Democratic congressman had plenty to say about U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and a controversial payroll tax cut extension during a Monday speech at the Columbia Rotary Club. | 12/20/11 07:31:09 By - Adam Beam

HHS rules, secrecy protect doctors with long histories of problems

Buried deep in a federal database is Practitioner No. 222117, perhaps the most frequently disciplined doctor in America. This doctor has been accused of violating drug laws, prescribing unauthorized medications, providing substandard care and obtaining licenses through fraud. | 12/20/11 07:20:19 By - Alan Bavley

Alaska lawmaker Tuck in feud with TSA over body scanners

Alaska state Rep. Chris Tuck is running TV ads telling people they can skip the new body scanners at Alaska airports and should call airport police if the Transportation Security Administration gets too frisky with the resulting pat-downs. | 12/20/11 06:51:37 By - Sean Cockerham

Once again, Speaker Boehner seems a prisoner of his caucus

Is Speaker John Boehner a pragmatic leader adept at keeping renegade Republicans unified — or is he being led by a band of staunch ideologues who are driving the party deep into a political ditch? | 12/19/11 17:17:00 By - David Lightman

Feinstein earmark quietly paves way for easier water sales

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein quietly used a $915 billion spending bill to accomplish a long-standing and, in some circles, controversial goal of easing Central Valley water sales. | 12/19/11 17:08:00 By - Michael Doyle

Sen. DeMint's deficit-cutting plan targets poor

A plan by Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina to slash the federal budget deficit would hit the poorest Americans especially hard, directing 70 percent of its $4.2 trillion in spending cuts at safety-net programs intended to help tens of millions of low-income people. | 12/19/11 15:03:00 By - James Rosen

Did Gingrich bend campaign laws with his 'independent' committee?

Newt Gingrich helped bankroll his resurrection from a has-been to a Republican presidential front-runner by exploiting a gap in federal campaign finance laws to create a political money machine that raised $54 million over five years. | 12/19/11 15:06:00 By - Greg Gordon

California man leads lobbying to halt U.S. aid to Egypt

Sacramento businessman Kais Menoufy will lead a national coalition of prominent Egyptian Americans to fight for democracy and against oppression in Egypt. | 12/19/11 06:51:59 By - Stephen Magagnini

Gingrich rails at courts, suggests ignoring rulings

Picking up where he left off in last Thursday's Republican presidential debate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Saturday continued to rail against the federal judicial system, accusing it of overstepping its constitutional role and arguing that the president and Congress can ignore court decisions. | 12/19/11 01:33:00 By - William Douglas

GOP rejects Senate deal on payroll tax

The fate of the two-month Social Security tax break extension suddenly became uncertain Sunday as House Speaker John Boehner said he and most Republicans were opposed to the plan. | 12/18/11 14:31:00 By - David Lightman

Iowa GOP race is wide open, and anyone might win

Hold on to your hats. The Republican presidential campaign in Iowa heads into its final two weeks with a wild race that's wide open. Almost anyone could win. | 12/16/11 17:53:00 By - Steven Thomma

Congress passes spending package but bigger money issues still loom

The House of Representatives on Friday approved a $915 billion spending package that will keep the government running through Sept. 30, but a separate agreement aimed at avoiding a Social Security payroll tax increase Jan. 1 remained elusive. | 12/16/11 17:31:00 By - David Lightman and William Douglas

GOP gets provision to curb ban on energy-sucking light bulbs

The Department of Energy won't be able to enforce rules that ban energy-wasting light bulbs when new standards take effect in January, thanks to a requirement slipped into the federal spending bill. | 12/16/11 17:26:00 By - Renee Schoof

$915 billion spending bill passes House

The House of Representatives Friday approved by a 296 to 121 vote a $915 billion spending package that will keep the government running through Sept. 30—but a separate agreement aimed at avoiding a Social Security payroll tax increase Jan. 1 remained elusive. The Senate is expected to approve the spending plan as soon as Saturday. | 12/16/11 14:00:45 By - David Lightman and William Douglas

Plan tightening Cuba travel dropped from budget bill

Congressional leaders dropped both a measure to restrict Cuban-American travel and remittances to the island and another to make it easier for Cuba to buy U.S. goods, putting some of the final touches Thursday on a compromise $1 trillion spending bill. | 12/16/11 07:00:20 By - Juan O. Tamayo

Gingrich comes under attack in last debate before Iowa caucuses

Republican presidential candidates tried mightily Thursday to strengthen their stature as the conservative best poised to beat President Barack Obama as they engaged in their final debate before voting for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination starts in less than three weeks. | 12/15/11 22:13:43 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Hearing highlights doubts about California high-speed rail

California's ambitious high-speed rail program re-ignited high-level skirmishing Thursday that crosses party lines and shows every sign of extending into the foreseeable future. | 12/15/11 16:29:00 By - Michael Doyle

Unemployed fear the worst if Congress doesn't extend benefits

Vicki Ziegler, 49, lost her apartment when she got laid off from her $13-an-hour sales assistant job in August, and now she and her 11-year-old son share a bedroom in her aunt's condo in Kent, Wash. | 12/15/11 16:07:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Newt Gingrich's mouth is famous as a verbal blowtorch

During his rhetorical bomb-throwing days in the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich once dissected the seemingly innocent movie "Forrest Gump" and turned it into a scathing critique of President Bill Clinton, Democrats and liberals. | 12/15/11 14:55:00 By - William Douglas

Election 2012 campaigns are all over Facebook

As more presidential candidates ask us to "like" them on Facebook, some campaign consultants argue that targeted Facebook political advertising will change the coming year's election map, from the presidential race to local elections. | 12/15/11 14:44:00 By - Laura Phelps

Nuclear commission chief 'abusive,' fellow members testify

The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission blows up in abusive anger, intimidates staff members and withholds information from the rest of the commission, all four of his fellow commissioners testified to Congress on Wednesday. | 12/14/11 18:33:00 By - Renee Schoof

Democrats think Obama's playing tax-cut extension fight well

A year ago, the holiday showdown between President Barack Obama and Congress ended with a White House compromise and a deal to extend Bush-era tax cuts, a move that left many Democrats infuriated. | 12/14/11 17:38:00 By - David Lightman and Lesley Clark

In Austin, Holder defends Voting Rights Act

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder vowed Tuesday to aggressively uphold the principles of the Voting Rights Act and charged that a Texas redistricting plan would create "precisely the kind of discrimination" that the 46-year-old landmark statute was designed to prevent. | 12/14/11 13:55:13 By - Dave Montgomery

N.C. Gov. Perdue vetoes Racial Justice Act repeal

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue today vetoed the bill that would gut the Racial Justice Act, the two-year-old law that allows death-row inmates to appeal their sentences based on statistical proof of racial bias. | 12/14/11 13:42:44 By -

North Carolina could play big role in GOP race, Sen. Burr says

While Republican presidential contenders traipse daily across Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, some North Carolinians are feeling left out. The first GOP primary is only three weeks away, but North Carolinians won't get to weigh in on the nominee until four months later. | 12/14/11 07:14:05 By - Franco Ordoñez

Florida Sen. Rubio's Aponte vote draws criticism from Hispanic leaders

Sen. Marco Rubio on Tuesday abruptly canceled a meeting with a high-level State Department official after learning that Democrats had described his vote Monday against the ambassador to El Salvador as an insult to the Puerto Ricans he represents in Florida. | 12/14/11 07:00:01 By - Erika Bolstad

Gingrich campaign aide Bergman quits over Mormon 'cult' comment

The Iowa political director for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign resigned Tuesday for suggesting that evangelicals stood ready to help God "expose the cult of Mormon." | 12/13/11 23:20:00 By - William Douglas and David Lightman

Congress is stymied, as usual, on year-end must-do list

President Barack Obama and a bitterly divided Congress have 18 days to figure out whether to continue a Social Security payroll tax cut, avoid a huge drop in Medicare payments to doctors and maintain many unemployment benefits. But Tuesday no one knew where the two warring political parties could find common ground. | 12/13/11 18:52:00 By - David Lightman

Iowa voters are deluged with campaign ads, some nasty

People in Iowa are getting to see a side of the Republican presidential campaign not nearly as visible to the rest of the country. Candidates and their allies are starting to air TV ads in Iowa as the state enters the final weeks before precinct caucuses on Jan. 3, which will kick off the voting for a 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Some ads match what the rest of the country sees in nationally televised debates; some are more blunt and critical. | 12/13/11 16:11:00 By - Steven Thomma

Study: Gingrich tax plan would give lion's share to the rich

Newt Gingrich's proposed overhaul of the tax code would cut taxes for all American taxpayers, particularly the wealthy, according to an analysis released Monday by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. | 12/12/11 18:36:00 By - Steven Thomma

Ron Paul is striking chords with Iowa GOP voters

Iowa Republican voters are taking Ron Paul very seriously.

So seriously, in fact, that few would be surprised if he finished a strong second — or even won — the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. | 12/12/11 14:40:00 By - David Lightman

Supreme Court to hear case on Arizona immigration law

The Supreme Court added another election-year blockbuster to its docket Monday, as the justices agreed to review Arizona's most controversial immigration law. | 12/12/11 13:14:00 By - Michael Doyle

GOP candidates go after Perry's supporters in Texas

The national spotlight is focused for now on Iowa and New Hampshire, where voters will have the first say in choosing a Republican presidential candidate. But, Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are holding fundraisers or meeting with prominent, wealthy Texans who have thrown their support to Gov. Rick Perry. | 12/12/11 07:22:33 By - Anna M. Tinsley

Gingrich hires former Rubio campaign chief Jose Mallea

Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich has hired U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s former campaign chief be his Florida director. | 12/12/11 06:54:43 By - Marc Caputo

Debate further boosts Gingrich's standing

Newt Gingrich is still standing. Three weeks before Iowa Republicans cast the first votes for a 2012 presidential nominee, the man who leads in Iowa and other early voting states such as South Carolina and Florida has emerged seemingly unscathed from a barrage of criticism from rivals in a fiery debate in Iowa. | 12/11/11 16:24:00 By - Steven Thomma

Obama to meet Iraq's Maliki on Monday, champion U.S. troop withdrawal

The White House this week plans to showcase the close of the war in Iraq, looking to highlight what it says is a 2008 campaign promise made good — and likely previewing a 2012 campaign theme. | 12/11/11 10:44:00 By - Lesley Clark

Democratic Sen. McCaskill finds House defense bill riddled with earmarks

House Republicans banned earmarks, a top symbol of congressional profligacy, after they won control of the chamber last fall in a wave of voter anger over excessive government spending. But more than half of the amendments to this year's House Department of Defense authorization bill were earmarks, according to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a leading congressional critic of the practice. | 12/11/11 12:01:00 By - David Goldstein

GOP rivals gang up on Newt Gingrich in Iowa debate

Republicans threw everything they could at Newt Gingrich in a fiery debate Saturday night, increasingly desperate to stop his momentum toward the 2012 presidential nomination in the final weeks before voting starts in less than 4 weeks. | 12/10/11 22:58:00 By - Steven Thomma and David Lightman

Ex-Rep. Doolittle, caught up in Abramoff scandal, now a lobbyist

Sacramento, Calif.,-area residents once called him Republican state senator, then congressman. Federal prosecutors once called him, ominously, Representative 5. Now, starting over at the age of 61, John Doolittle unashamedly calls himself a lobbyist. | 12/10/11 00:01:00 By - Michael Doyle

Murray wants to change Congress by electing more women

Sen. Patty Murray says that if Congress had more women, there might be a plan in place to deal with the nation's $15 trillion debt. While the supercommittee that she helped lead failed last month in its bid to offer a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction plan, Murray says "it may have come out very differently" if she hadn't been the only woman on the 12-member panel. | 12/09/11 16:49:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Romney faces uphill climb in wooing Iowa voters

Mitt Romney faces daunting challenges in this, the first state to vote for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Foremost is the sudden widespread support for Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives. Romney's campaign is taking a good guy-bad guy approach, leaving attacks on Gingrich to surrogates while the candidate stays above the fray. | 12/09/11 16:55:00 By - David Lightman

Armenian supporters skeptical of ties between Turkey, Indian tribes

The perennial political fighting between Armenian-Americans and Turkey has migrated to Indian country. In a diplomatically creative but controversial move, Turkey wants preferential access to start commercial ventures on selected U.S. tribal lands. In theory, tribes would get business and Turkey would gain friends. | 12/09/11 16:45:00 By - Michael Doyle

Protestors sought meeting with Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio

After three days of waiting for a meeting with Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a delegation that’s been lingering in the Florida senator’s office finally decamped for Miami. | 12/09/11 07:16:47 By - Erika Bolstad

Gay rights measure likely headed to Alaska ballots

Sponsors of an initiative to extend legal protections against discrimination to gay and transgender people in Anchorage on Thursday turned in a several-inch-high stack of petitions to the city clerk's office to put the measure on the April city election ballot. | 12/09/11 06:59:38 By - Rosemary Shinohara

Senate panel supports $415 million more for Lake Tahoe

The beloved cobalt-blue beauty of Lake Tahoe, a popular tourist destination on the border between California and Nevada, doesn't come cheaply. | 12/08/11 18:21:00 By - Michael Doyle

Two debates in the next week may be final frame for Iowa GOP voters

With Newt Gingrich virtually wearing a big target on his back, he and his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination square off Saturday night in the first of two debates in Iowa that could prove pivotal to the contest. | 12/08/11 17:08:00 By - David Lightman and Steven Thomma

Jobs bill would encourage new business startups, senators say

Debate over how to create jobs has, unsurprisingly, become mired in the politics of 2012. But two lawmakers on Thursday offered what they say is a bipartisan solution. | 12/08/11 16:57:00 By - David Goldstein