WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected cutting agency budgets below levels agreed to in last summer’s budget and debt pact with President Barack Obama as a key committee kicked off action on a round of 12 annual spending bills totaling more than $1.1 trillion.
WASHINGTON — The Senate killed Republican-backed attempts to overturn several of President Barack Obama’s environmental and energy policies Thursday as lawmakers worked against a March 31 deadline to keep aid flowing to more than 100,000 transportation construction projects around the country.
WASHINGTON — Taking sharply different stands, President Barack Obama urged pressure and diplomacy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized his nation’s right to a pre-emptive attack. Even in proclaiming unity on Monday, the leaders showed no give on competing ways to resolve the crisis.
WASHINGTON — After quarreling for months, President Barack Obama and the top two Republicans in Congress expressed optimism Wednesday about finding a common jobs and energy agenda, prodded by political reality to show results in an election year.
WASHINGTON — Democrats are playing defense in governors’ races in 2012, protecting eight seats — some in conservative states like North Carolina and Montana — while Republicans are safeguarding just four. But one of those is in Wisconsin, where a recall effort against incumbent Scott Walker has emerged as a national test of the confrontational measures many GOP governors have taken to balance state budgets.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Caving to a massive campaign by Internet services and their millions of users, Congress indefinitely postponed legislation Friday to stop online piracy of movies and music costing U.S. companies billions of dollars every year. Critics said the bills would result in censorship and stifle Internet innovation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barely beating Santa’s sleigh, Congress delivered a last-minute holiday tax-cut extension to 160 million American wage-earners on Friday, just when it looked like they and millions of unemployed workers were going to be left with coal in their stockings.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Mitt Romney refused to be pinned down Wednesday on how Congress should break an impasse that threatens to raise taxes for 160 million workers — the latest pressing policy debate the Republican presidential hopeful has sidestepped. Rival Newt Gingrich, in contrast, castigated Congress for “an absurd dereliction of duty.”