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A burning sugar cane field (Pic by skatoolaki, via Flickr) The 2012 Farm Bill will be hotly debated in Congress in coming months, as members look to cut spending from the federal budget. But recent reports detail a move to include major agricultural cuts in the deficit reduction plan to be developed by the so-called congressional “Super Committee,” as a way to ensure that legislators don’t make even more drastic cuts when they write the forthcoming farm legislation.

The Wall Street Journal files from that parallel universe today: Thanks to the financial crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon must make

Investing in new education programs or hiring more teachers are worthy goals, but school construction is better suited for the stimulus package.

Two reports from the Mortgage Bankers Association today -- one mixed, one troubling. First, mortgage loan applications -- measured by the MBA’s purchase

Have Illinois legislators read the draft stimulus bill? They might want to: None of the funds provided by this Act may be made available to the State of

Iowa partisans are going about the business of recruiting or nominating candidates for a special election in Iowa Senate District 18, but what’s at stake goes far beyond the boundaries of the small region in eastern Iowa. Republican Gov. Terry Branstad announced last week that he was appointing Sen.

At a Saturday barbecue for the Leavenworth County, Kans., Republican Party, former Bush administration lawyer and current secretary of state candidate Kris

The District of Columbia’s HIV/AIDS numbers are not looking good, and the city’s efforts to fight the rate of infection are even worse, according to a report

Congressman John Conyers says he is ready to run for re-election in 2012.

Republicans are fuming at the thought, and some Democrats say it can’t pass in this stormy economic climate, but Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) today told CNN that

The Christmas-time apprehension after Flight 253 landed in Detroit was more ad hoc and chaotic than the administration has portrayed, according to Dennis Blair.

A review board voted unanimously to recommend that Gov. Snyder appoint an Emergency Manager for the city of Flint and the Treasury Department says the governor agrees with that recommendation.

<p>As I have no experience in a <a href="http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/blending-the-best-of/">previous marriage</a>, I’d

Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s successor will face a host of strategic questions, ones that McChrystal himself will still have to confront if he stays in command.

Ret. Adm. Dennis Blair just refused to answer a very easy question, asked by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.): Is waterboarding torture? I would say that there will

Two years ago, SurveyUSA polled a hypothetical head-to-head contest between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain. Here’s the resulting electoral

Senator Richard Durbin , D-IL re-introduced on Wednesday the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, one day after President Obama’s speech on immigration reform. # The DREAM Act – proposed every year since 2000 – would grant people who entered the U.S.

When South Carolina’s legislative session resumes in January (just before the state hosts the “First in the South” Republican presidential debate), one of

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman’s new radio ad parodies the catastrophic decision of GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava’s husband to call the cops on The

The Pitkin County commissioners have rekindled the idea of taking a much tougher regulatory stance on natural gas drilling in the Thompson Divide area west of Carbondale, according to the Aspen Times .