Breaking News

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Once BP’s runaway Macondo well is killed, it will no longer be considered part of oil spill reponse and the Department

Last night, the U.S. Senate attempted to move on the House’s version of a war-funding bill, providing much-needed funds to the Pentagon for Afghanistan and Iraq

In a recession, can President Obama make the case for immigration?

Under the auspices of the Center for Victims of Torture, two former officials have compiled a list of questions to set expectations for the Obama

Peter Orszag’s New York Times opinion piece has set off a flurry of discussion about whether to extend tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and how the

Earlier today, we previewed an effort by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to require insurance companies to dedicate a minimum share of premium revenues to health

Some Mexican politicians are not happy with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comments yesterday comparing Mexico’s drug cartel problem to an insurgency and

American Future Fund — a nonprofit with numerous ties to Gov.-elect Terry Branstad and based out of a P.O. Box in Des Moines — spent $9,599,806 in 2010, ranking 7th nationally in spending by outside political organizations , according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics. Because the group is registered as a 501(c)4 nonprofit, it is not regulated by the Federal Elections Commission or the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board

Other judges will not be bound by the decision, but there are reasons for advocates to be hopeful.

One of the early casualties of massive budget cuts is state funding of nonprofit crisis pregnancy resource centers, according to the first draft of the Texas

As Congress jousts over the effectiveness of the stimulus package to stir economic activity, it’s worth noting that homeowners -- whose troubles are at the root

Until now, the Senate’s health reform debate has been largely partisan, with Republicans blasting the various reform bills as a step toward socialized medicine,

When Rep. Michele Bachmann’s office declined to rule out a 2012 bid for the Republican nomination for president , religious right leaders responded with glee at what they say could be the next Ronald Reagan — except “swap boots for pumps.” Bachmann has long had a strong relationship with the religious right, and one of the first Iowa Republican caucus polls to include Bachmann show her taking away from two traditional religious right favorites: Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee.

I know Attorney General Eric Holder just announced that he plans to investigate only the CIA interrogators that went beyond what the law allowed, as it was

Personhood USA co-founder Keith Mason (Pic via personhoodusa.com) Undaunted by the failure of similar initiatives across the country, Virginia legislator Bob Marshall has introduced a bill that would define life as beginning at the moment of conception.

The recent news that the Obama administration is considering sending some Guantanamo detainees to a maximum-security prison in Michigan, plus all the attention

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee, which makes key interest-rate decisions, announced it plans to take no action this go-around. The pace of

I’ve poked fun at State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood before, so it’s only right that I say that he strikes a pleasing tone about the reported death

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) isn’t sponsoring too many ballot initiatives attempting to ban same sex marriage during this election cycle, but

The Jan. 3 Iowa Caucuses will give Iowa Republicans a leg up heading into legislative races in 2012, a leading political observer says. Steffen Schmidt, professor of political science at Iowa State University, said the Republican Party of Iowa will be more organized going into 2012 thanks to the competitive race for the GOP presidential nomination playing out in Iowa

The Senate Armed Services Committee just released its summary text of the defense authorization bill it marked up last night. And look what the bill does, just

The hype around the Florida Senate race was focused on Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio, who sparred for the GOP nomination before the former was forced to go