Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is the latest Obama administration appointee to abruptly pull his name out of contention. In a statement issued late today, Gregg cited what he termed irresolvable conflicts with the President's handlin...
Senators have announced a deal on a 789-billion-dollar economic stimulus bill, though House and Senate negotiators delayed the planned meeting to approve the measure. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the bill one that creates more jobs than...
The Senate has passed the 838-billion-dollar economic stimulus bill, sending it to a House-Senate conference. The vote was 61 to 37. NPR's Audie Cornish reports. The Senate passed its bill with the backing of just three Republicans who had considera...
President Obama continues to press Congress aggressively to pass his economic stimulus plan. NPR's Mara Liasson reports. With an increasingly aggressive tone toward his Republican opponents in Congress, President Obama is using every tool in his kit...
One of President Obama's top economic advisors Lawrence Summers warns that any delay by Congress in passing economic stimulus legislation could have serious consequences for the economy. He called on lawmakers to transcend politics and act quickly d...
Hundreds of fishermen were stranded on Lake Erie today, when a huge slab of ice on which they were fishing broke away from the Ohio shoreline. The Coast Guard and others have rescued more than 100 people so far, but one person died after falling int...
President Barack Obama said today with an estimated 3.6 million people losing their jobs since the start of the current recession, there is no time to waste in getting the economic stimulus plan through Congress. President's remarks coming as Senate...
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hospitalized today after undergoing cancer surgery in New York. The 75-year-old Justice had surgery in New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center after a routine exam and follow-up turned up a smal...
President Barack Obama at this hour is signing a bill that will provide government-sponsored health coverage to an estimated four million children. The State Children's Health Insurance Program dubbed SCHIP was approved by a 290-135 vote in the Hous...
A difficult day for Obama administration nominees: the president's pick for health secretary, former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, withdrew his nomination amid ongoing controversy over his taxes, and Nancy Killefer is bowing out from her app...
After years of big spending, Americans continue to pull back. Consumer expenditures fell for a sixth straight month that's according to the Commerce Department. NPR's Frank Langfitt reports. Consumer spending was down 1% in December. Amid all the re...
Key Senate Democrats say they are willing to consider changes to their economic stimulus proposal. Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois. We're very open, very open to this. For instance, some of the Republicans have been saying to us, 'Put more money...
Across Iraq today voters cast ballots in provincial elections that were seen as a test of whether their country can build on its security gains and work to forge new political coalitions. NPR's JJ Sutherland reports the voting was peaceful. Iraqi el...
