US Politics News

Despite the complaints of her critics that she supports same-sex "marriage" as well as previously endorsing polygamous relationships, the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Chai Feldblum to be one of five commissioners on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and sent her nomination to the Senate for a full confirmation.

“At this time of challenge, Americans need committed, capable public servants working full time on their behalf,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Thursday. “These nominees will serve Americans by protecting workers from discrimination, facilitating public service and preserving our rich national traditions in the humanities. I am pleased to move their nominations forward.”

The nominations for all the EEOC members were not considered by the HELP committee indivually but were instead voted on "en bloc," according to a press release.

Senator Max Baucus gave the director of his Montana office a nearly $14,000 raise as they were becoming romantically involved last year, a spokesman for the senator said yesterday.

A draft memo leaked to a conservative Web site is an encouraging sign the government intends to transfer Guantanamo terrorist suspects to Illinois, Sen.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii says he's resigning from Congress. The longtime Democratic congressman, who has been planning to run for governor, said in a statement Friday the decision was a difficult one for him.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12 (see trends).

Just 36% now believe that the president is doing a good or an excellent job handling the economy while 45% rate his performance in this area as poor. Seventy-one percent (71%) of Democrats say he’s doing a good or excellent job on the economy while 74% of Republicans say poor. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 52% give the President poor marks when it comes to the economy.

Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.

House Democrats head into the final stretch on a long-awaited Wall Street regulation bill with two crucial and contentious votes looming before they can declare victory on one of President Barack Obama's legislative priorities.

With a Nobel Peace Prize in hand, President Barack Obama is returning to the grind of governing, refocusing on his top domestic priority as the Senate moves toward a pivotal moment on legislation to remake the nation's health care system.

Dec. 10 -- U.S. Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, talks with Bloomberg's Lori Rothman and Peter Cook about Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's extension of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

A bipartisan group of senators have agreed on a framework for climate change legislation and sent it to President Obama ahead of his trip to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a $447 billion bill that boosts funding for a large part of the U.S. government and reflects priorities of Democrats who control Congress and the White House.

State lawmakers made it clear they want Gov. Mark Sanford to resign, but wouldn't recommend ousting him over his travels and trysts with an Argentine mistress.

An unexpected surge in college enrollment has created an $18 billion shortfall in the Pell Grant program, the biggest in its history.

The Federal Reserve System isn't perfect, but it could be worse. They all laughed at Fulton and his steamboat, Hershey and his chocolate bar ... George Gershwin WASHINGTON And at Rep.

President Barack Obama has announced new multibillion-dollar stimulus and jobs proposals and says the U.S. must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" until more Americans are back at work.

The House voted Wednesday to extend $31 billion in popular tax breaks, including an income tax deduction for sales and property taxes, to be financed with a tax increase on investment fund managers and a crackdown on international tax cheats.

Progress against the insurgency in Afghanistan probably will be slower than during the buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq two years ago, and the war will be "harder before it gets easier," a top U.S. general said Wednesday.

Massachusetts Republicans are getting back the political spotlight they've lacked for the past three years in the special election to fill Edward Kennedy's Senate seat.

White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, recently ridiculed a Gallup poll which showed the President's approval ratings at a record low for this stage of his presidency, for seemingly no other reason than they showed the President in a negative light. Gibbs referred to the Gallup polling organization as a wildly fluctuating EKG, labeling their results as the equivalent of ‘a 6-year-old with a crayon.'

Predictably, this administration has managed to throw a temper tantrum at every instance of failure that has defined them. The only surprise here, being that Gibbs was capable of taking the pacifier out of his mouth long enough to make the analogy.

On the other hand, it was mere months ago that Gibbs himself used Gallup poll numbers to demonstrate support for President Obama's economic stimulus plan - a stimulus plan that a 6-year-old with a crayon would have voted ‘no' on.

Police said that Vandals and thieves have destroyed or stolen Christmas lawn decorations at a slew of houses in Clinton Township.

After days of secret talks, Senate Democrats tentatively agreed Tuesday night to drop a government-run insurance option from sweeping health care legislation, several officials said, a concession to party moderates whose votes are critical to passage of President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.