The Senate, in the latest round of political maneuvering on a popular campaign issue, Thursday rejected competing Democratic and Republican proposals to prevent student loan rates from doubling to 6.8% in July.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would replace looming Pentagon spending cuts opposed by the GOP with a series of domestic program reductions opposed by congressional Democrats.
Richard Mourdock explains why he "doesn't think there's going to be a lot of successful compromise" in the Senate.
With longtime Republican Sen. Dick Lugar going down in defeat, Democrats were quick to paint the conservative candidate who beat him in Indiana's primary as "too extreme."
Senate Republicans will block Democrats from taking up a White House-backed bill to cap rates on some student loans unless Democrats allow a vote on a GOP alternative, the second-ranking Senate Republican said Monday.
The U.S. government is the largest financial entity in the world. Nothing else comes close.
As this election season unfolds, we are watching an age-old dream in politics go horribly smash. It isn't good for politics, and it sure isn't good for the country.
Last week, the "Republican War on Women" morphed into the "Democrat War on Mommies." The shots that started both wars were fired by two commentators, Rush Limbaugh and Hilary Rosen. Whose words were worse?
President Bill Clinton once famously said, "The most difficult job in the world is not being president. It's being a parent." As mothers, we both know this well, but we wonder if President Clinton's fellow Democrats share his respect for parents, particularly those who choose to stay home with their children?
You may have heard that a group of Republicans in Congress -- including GOP rock star and possible vice presidential pick Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- are getting ready to introduce their version of the DREAM Act.You also may have heard that Democratic lawmakers and liberal advocacy groups despise the Republican alternative and derisively label it "DREAM Act Lite."
There are plenty of ways to game the upcoming Supreme Court decision on health care reform, and they've all been said: President Obama loses in court, he wins with his base. Or it's a severe blow, potentially fatal. Or Republicans benefit if they win, because they were "right" all along. Or the GOP loses, because it has to figure out what to offer for health care instead.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday passed the GOP leadership's 2013 budget plan -- a measure that has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate but creates a clear contrast between the two parties on a number of critical tax and spending issues ahead of the general election.
Two years after President Barack Obama signed health care reform legislation -- and with the U.S. Supreme Court about to consider a challenge from several states trying to overturn it -- supporters and opponents of the controversial law are gearing up for a message war like it's 2009.
In a series of floor speeches Thursday, a group of mostly Democratic women senators made a high-profile and at times emotional appeal to Republicans to support an expanded Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). In doing so, they suggested Republicans were blocking the bill because it would extend its protections to illegal immigrants as well as gays and lesbians.
The primary process is good for the Republican Party?and our country.
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy endorses Mitt Romney at campaign stops in Alabama and Mississippi. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.
Anytime James Carville, Paul Begala and David Axelrod hold hands and jump for joy, it's worth pondering how to turn their joy into tears.
Know your caucuses from your primaries? Your superdelegates from your Super PACs? As Republican presidential hopefuls battle to win the right to take on Barack Obama in November, we've defined the array of words and acronyms that will define this year's election.
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to kill a controversial proposal pushed by Republicans that would have allowed employers to opt out of providing health care coverage they disagree with on moral grounds.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is running as the "authentic conservative" in the Republican primaries. As his campaign has gained steam moving into the Michigan and Arizona contests, the entire tenor of the Republican debate has changed dramatically.
The outcome of the election of 2012 is becoming even tougher to predict, since there are many political landmines facing both parties.
The Senate and the House of Representatives passed a bipartisan deal Friday extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits while also avoiding a Medicare fee cut for doctors for the rest of the year.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, defended Wednesday the decision to move forward with a roughly $100 billion payroll tax cut extension that is not paid for, arguing that it was the only way to prevent a tax hike.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans escalated their rhetorical war Thursday over a pending federal rule requiring religiously affiliated employers to provide full contraception coverage to women -- one day after hints emerged of a possible compromise between the White House and conservative religious critics.
Memo to the Republican Establishment, Part II.
CNN contributor LZ Granderson urges Democrats to avoid partisan bickering and not fight a sensible bill.
I believe it was the great American philosopher Kenny Rogers, who, while meditating on the nuances of Darwinism, gave the world this piece of advice:
Democrats say a House committee has found no evidence showing that top Justice Department officials were behind a gun-trafficking investigation that let hundreds of high-powered weapons reach Mexican drug cartels.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi tells CNN's John King that Democrats are ahead of schedule and they have momentum to control the House.
Just 15 months after taking a thumping in the 2010 midterm elections, House Democrats have seized on the current anti-Washington fervor and are confident they can win the 25 seats they need to regain control of the House.
At a forum this week focused on recruiting more black Republicans, the message was clear: "We have a sales and marketing problem."
The fight over extending a payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits resumes Tuesday as Congress returns to work after its winter break.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling tells CNN's Erin Burnett the Democrats are stalling the payroll tax vote.
As the South Carolina primary approaches, Mitt Romney has been struggling to respond to the blistering attacks from Newt Gingrich and a super PAC that supports his candidacy.
Mitt Romney says he created 100,000 jobs while at Bain Capital. Anderson Cooper is "Keeping Them Honest."
House Democratic leaders went to the House floor Friday morning in an effort to embarrass House Republicans for not coming back to work right after the holidays.
Latino voters strongly support President Barack Obama and his Democratic Party, despite dissatisfaction with the administration's deportation policies, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.
A last minute deal may have ended the standoff between Democrats and Republicans, but it is still hard to know whether to laugh or cry over this latest adventure in political theater.
Who says Republicans and Democrats can't agree on how to pay for extending the Social Security tax break?
Ensuring a pre-holiday collision course with the Senate, House Republicans Friday ignored criticism from President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats and formally unveiled a bill that extends the payroll tax cut and benefits for jobless Americans, but ties those items to a provision that clears a path toward approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
As Democrats struggle to retain control of the Senate and retake control of the House, they are searching for issues to frame their campaigns. This is not easy, since the Democrats are in a difficult position.
A top Republican leader agreed Thursday with President Barack Obama and Democrats that extending the payroll tax cut would help the economy, but the parties remained divided over how to pay for the move.
No one ever said tax reform would be easy. But the failure of the super committee points up just how hard it will be in the next year.
Uncertainty lingered Tuesday about what the continued fallout would be from the failure of the congressional "super committee" to forge a deficit reduction deal.
CNN's Lisa Desjardins reports on what's supposed to happen next If the super committee doesn't reach a deal.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders traded blame Monday for the failure of the congressional "super committee" to forge a deficit reduction deal, but they also called for Congress to work out an agreement before painful automatic budget cuts take place in 2013.
Barring a miracle, the experiment is over.
Members of Congress's so-called super committee huddled in small groups behind closed doors on Capitol Hill on Friday, battling growing pessimism over their seeming inability to meet a now-imminent deadline for a bipartisan deficit reduction deal.
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin explains how the Supreme Court views voting districts based on race.
Outside Independence Hall, ask a graduate student in line to see the Liberty Bell what he thinks of gerrymandering, and you might get this answer:
Brooke Baldwin talks to Bob Cusack of "The Hill" about the supercommittee's deadline for a plan to cut $1.2 trillion
A week before their deadline, Democrats and Republicans on a special joint deficit committee blamed each other for a failure to compromise on how to reform the tax code and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
Wednesday could prove to be the pivotal day for the congressional deficit reduction super committee as it struggles to reach a deal with only one week to go before its statutory deadline.
Americans are skeptical that a congressional super committee will reach a deficit reduction agreement by next week's deadline, according to a new national survey.
They have been meeting for two months, poring over concepts and ideas already hashed out by three other groups over the past year.
This week's election was more than a victory for public employee unions, immigrant rights advocates and reproductive justice activists. This election marks the victory of a new politics in America, an emerging populism that is neither left nor right, Republican nor Democrat, but is fiercely pro-worker, pro-community, pro-opportunity and pro-American dream.
Youngstown State University's Paul Sracic explains how a vote on public unions in Ohio could have political consequences.
Mississippi voters Tuesday rejected a controversial amendment that would have defined life as beginning at conception while Ohio voters repealed a law that limited the collective bargaining rights of public workers, CNN projects.
John Kerry got Swift-boated. Jimmy Carter had his re-election chances decimated in the Iranian desert. Then there was Michael Dukakis and that tank photo.
A group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to a big job-hunting website this week, asking the company to quit running help-wanted ads from companies that bar the unemployed from applying for jobs.
Republicans and Democrats are holding conferences in Las Vegas this week and seven of the leading GOP contenders are participating in a CNN debate here Tuesday -- evidence, activists in both parties say, that the state could play a pivotal role not only in the race for the Republican presidential nomination but also in the general election.
Whenever there is an uprising among the people of this country in the form of protests and organized dissent, especially with a presidential election 13 months away, the discussion inevitably shifts to what it will mean for one of the nation's two political parties.
Members of the GOP leadership discuss the Senate's rejection of the jobs bill and the need for parties to work together.
Partisan bickering over President Barack Obama's failed $447 billion jobs plan intensified Wednesday, with Republicans accusing Democrats of political gamesmanship and Democrats charging Republicans with costly obstructionism.
Are Democrats beginning to reconsider their vote in the 2008 Democratic primary?
The Obama administration and the GOP continue to push different job strategies. CNN's Shelby Lin reports.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says it would be fun if New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie jumped in the GOP race.
Washington is stifled by gridlock. As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in his speech at the Ronald Reagan Library, "We drift from conflict to conflict, with little or no resolution."
You would think that a black man born and raised in Georgia, who was a teenager during the civil rights movement, would understand the transition of African-Americans from voting overwhelmingly Republican to strongly supporting the Democratic Party.
What is the first step toward making a disaster plan that could save your life? FEMA Director Craig Fugate explains.
In a major blow to the Republican leadership, the U.S. House on Wednesday defeated a temporary spending measure that would have required spending cuts to offset additional money for federal disaster relief efforts.
Jewish voters, a typically reliable bloc for the Democratic Party, are now the focus of Democrats intent on keeping their support and Republicans who see an opportunity to pull them in after New York's recent special congressional election.
The president's approval numbers have sagged again, to just about the lowest point in his presidency. He's trailed below 50% since the spring of 2010; now he's sunk to 43%.
America's poverty rate is now the worst since 1993, according to a shocking report last week from the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is a war going on in Washington, and the politicians waging it can't even agree on what kind it is.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham says President Obama's plan for a new tax rate for millionaires amounts to "class warfare."
Rep. Steve Israel says the loss of Anthony Weiner's seat is not a sign of bad news ahead for Democrats in 2012.
Republican Bob Turner won the special election for the New York House seat vacated by Democrat Anthony Weiner.
Republican victories in both special congressional elections Tuesday night either signal a major shift in the national electorate or are really no big deal. It all depends on who you talk to.
The House majority leader strikes a milder tone but still disagrees with Obama on how to create jobs.
As it considers President Barack Obama's $447 billion jobs plan, many members of a divided Congress appeared Friday to be in a compromising mood, seemingly eager to placate voters sick of infighting and inaction when it comes to jump-starting the economy.
CNN's Don Lemon interviews members of the Tampa Tea Party prior to Monday's candidate forum.
For politicians seeking public office, a stop at the iconic Cafe Versailles is a must.
In the days following the horrendous attacks against the United States on 9/11, all the talk in Washington was about the need for bipartisanship. Republicans and Democrats promised that they would work together to protect the home front and capture those who were responsible.
On the anniversary of 9/11, F-16s scramble during security disturbances on multiple commercial flights.
Congress returns this week from its summer recess, and its agenda for the rest of the year can be summarized in one word -- jobs.
CNN's Jim Acosta looks at how recent issues have some thinking the tea party is fracturing in the midst of controversy.
Two Democratic state senators in Wisconsin defeated Republican challengers to hold on to their seats in a recall election Tuesday, news media in the state reported.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday appointed Reps. James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra and Chris Van Hollen to the special congressional committee on deficit reduction, completing selection of the 12-member bipartisan panel created under last week's debt ceiling agreement.
Neel Kashkari explains what major reforms are needed in order to bring long-term economic growth to the U.S.
Republican leaders on Wednesday named fiscal conservatives for their six picks for a new congressional "super committee" charged with crafting a plan to reduce the country's mounting deficits.
Republicans retained four of the six state Senate seats that were in jeopardy in Tuesday's recall elections in Wisconsin, news media in the state reported.
If there is any silver lining to the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, it might be that it adds more motivation for the special congressional committee tasked with drafting a long-term solution to the nation's mounting federal deficits.
CNN's John King is joined by panel members to discuss the U.S. credit downgrade and Afghan attack.
Polls closed Tuesday night in Wisconsin's recall elections as six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to hobble public employee unions fought to hold onto their seats.
When Sen. Ted Kennedy died in August 2009, many Democrats wondered who would replace him as the voice of modern liberalism. With a Democratic president who was then fighting for an ambitious health care program, many felt Barack Obama would be that voice.
At a DNC fundraiser, President Obama says there's no time to play politics when there's work to be done on the economy.
The cycle of incitement continued this week as Democrats frustrated with the debt-ceiling deal equated the tea party with terrorists, just weeks before the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Lawmakers on Wednesday appeared far from a deal to extend funding authority for the Federal Aviation Administration -- leaving some 4,000 federal employees and thousands more construction and support staff workers off the job.
President Obama has signed into law a bill that raises the debt ceiling and cuts spending. Democrats are reeling because revenue increases were not part of the first round of the debt-limit deal. The initial roughly $1 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years will come entirely from caps on discretionary spending, both defense and domestic.
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