US Politics News

The “gang of three” — liberal Republican Sens. Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins — who handed President Obama the stimulus bill he so desperately needed, apparently sacrificed billions in tax cuts during final negotiations over the measure in order to reduce its cost.

The compromise bill — which may be ready for President Obama’s signature as early as Monday — also stripped America’s ailing businesses of tax benefits and other incentives.

For lobbyists, the cost of a $789 billion economic recovery package can be measured in sore thumbs, lack of sleep and delayed vacations.

Rarely, if ever, has a bill consumed the influence industry as much as the stimulus package, the largest government intervention in the market since the New Deal.

Leading House Democrats were smiling on Thursday, but some of them are furious with the Senate on its handling of the economic stimulus bill.

Even though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised the $789 billion conference legislation, talks between the chambers have clearly left some battle scars.

The Rev. Al Sharpton criticized Democrats on Wednesday for "diluting" education portions of the economic stimulus bill in order to get re-elected. In a speech at Middlebury College, the civil rights leader also encouraged collegians to become vocal advocates for change.

In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.

“[I] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said.

For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.

State Sen. Steve Goss says slanderous comments posted online can irreparably damage a reputation, but critics say his bill could restrict First Amendment rights.

Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire has withdrawn as Obama's Commerce secretary-designate, citing "irresolvable conflicts" over the stimulus and the Census.

Capt. Roger Hill is in danger of receiving a less-than-honorable discharge from the Army and it is flat-out, over-the-top wrong.

In 2003, I wrote a column in defense of Lt. Col. Allen West. West had been targeted by politically correct myopics for having fired his pistol over the head of a combative enemy prisoner (Read Here).

The American Civil Liberties Union has released previously classified excerpts of a government report on harsh interrogation techniques used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. These previously unreported pages detail repeated use of "abusive" behavior, even to the point of prisoner deaths.

Senator Gregg Statement on His Withdrawal for Consideration of U.S. Commerce Secretary

Sen. Gregg stated, “I want to thank the President for nominating me to serve in his Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. This was a great honor, and I had felt that I could bring some views and ideas that would assist him in governing during this difficult time. I especially admire his willingness to reach across the aisle.

“However, it has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me. Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) said Thursday that President Obama should pull his nomination of GOP Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) as Commerce secretary or give Gregg oversight of the Census Bureau.

Obama nominated Gregg to run the Commerce Department last week, but quickly announced the White House would oversee the Census Bureau, which is under Commerce. The bureau is responsible for collecting data that helps distribute congressional seats to states, among other functions.

Even as Americans struggle with two wars and an economy in tatters, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds majorities in favor of investigating some of the thorniest unfinished business from the Bush administration: Whether its tactics in the "war on terror" broke the law.

The judge who presided over the ethics trial of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has called for a special hearing Friday to determine whether a new trial is in order after an FBI agent’s revelations that another agent improperly concealed evidence from both the court and Stevens’ defense team.

The “rush” that hurts us all is — not Rush Limbaugh — but rushing into a massive almost-$800 billion spending bill without the proper hearings, time to consider and debate.

Yes, the so-called stimulus is almost the law of the land. But that does not make it the best possible stimulus bill to help revive a sick economy.

Imagine if George Bush had done this.

When addressing families of terror victims regarding his decision to suspend military tribunals of suspected terrorists, President Obama "clearly didn't do his homework" according to the Washington Times. His own legal counsel Greg Craig admitted the President made mistakes when discussing details about terrorism and made a key error when he tried to explain the law to the families.

The column points out that terror suspects want as much information as they can so they can inform terror networks about the methods and people used by our government to track down terror suspects. This is one reason they dismiss their lawyers: they alone can receive these disclosures without having to go through the "filter" of a lawyer.

It is not true that grown men don’t cry. I’m grown and I’m on the verge of tears. The Republic I have loved all my life is being is being murdered, and the crime is an inside job.

If you hear a whirring sound in the background, it is my dad Ronald Reagan, who loved and served this nation, spinning in his grave as his latest successor plunges a carving knife into America’s vital organs.

Bernard Goldberg's new book reports on media love-in that shows little sign of ending soon.

Anyone who doesn’t believe the media fix was in for Barack Obama during the last presidential campaign doesn’t need a book by Bernard Goldberg to convince them.

They need an honesty transplant.

But Goldberg is back all the same with a new tome encapsulating the media love-in that cushioned Obama’s ascent to the Oval Office.

Members of the US Congress re-introduced bipartisan "state secrets" legislation on Wednesday, aimed at protecting executive privilege while ensuring judicial review.

The introduction of the bill comes as Obama administration lawyers on Monday urged a federal appeals court in San Francisco to continue the policy of the previous White House and invoke state secrets privilege in a case about CIA clandestine detentions and rendition.

To understand the question, you probably have to remember the current ad campaign by Microsoft is "I'm a PC." And you also also have to know that President Barack Obama called Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini upon hearing of Intel's $7 billion investment in U.S.-based manufacturing facilities, and telling Otellini that "he sees the Intel logo every morning when he opens his laptop."