Politics News

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Lawmakers get tentative deal on payroll tax, jobless benefits 8:52pm EST

WASHINGTON - U.S. lawmakers reached a tentative deal on Tuesday on legislation aimed at boosting the economy by extending a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers through this year and continuing long-term jobless benefits, congressional aides said.

Recent Politics News

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U.S. clarifies Iran sanctions bill enforcement

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Tuesday clarified how it would enforce recently passed Iran sanctions including how the United States would determine if another country has significantly reduced oil purchases from Iran.

4:06pm EST

Lawmakers skeptical of cuts in 2013 defense budget

WASHINGTON - Skeptical lawmakers questioned the Pentagon's 2013 spending plan at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, challenging everything from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's decision to cut 100,000 troops to his proposal to study closure of more U.S. military bases.

5:18pm EST
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Obama plan would end dozens of business tax breaks

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's corporate tax reform plan would end "dozens and dozens" of tax breaks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday as he defended the White House's election-year call for higher taxes on the wealthy.

8:38pm EST

Romney calls for quick end to auto bailout

WASHINGTON - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called on the government on Tuesday to quickly sell its stake in General Motors, a move that could lock in about $14 billion in losses for U.S. taxpayers.

7:20pm EST

Drug shortage bill may ride highway legislation

WASHINGTON - The recent shortage of a critical medicine for childhood cancer has prompted Senator Amy Klobuchar to attach her bill on drug shortages to transportation legislation under discussion in the Senate, the lawmaker said on Tuesday.

2:44pm EST

Special Reports

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Special report: Jerry Brown's California budget nightmare

SACRAMENTO, California - Last summer, just days before California was required by law to pass a state budget, Republican State Senator Tom Harman got word that he'd been summoned to meet Governor Jerry Brown "right now." Harman, a veteran legislator from conservative Orange County, hurried downstairs to the Horseshoe, the governor's suite of offices in the state capitol building. | Video

12 Jan 2012
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Special report: Romney's steel skeleton in the Bain closet

The young men in business suits, gingerly picking their way among the millwrights, machinists and pipefitters at Kansas City's Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill. Gaping up at the cranes that swung 10-foot cast iron buckets through the air. Jumping at the thunder from the melt shop's electric-arc furnace as it turned scrap metal into lava.

Special Reports, Barack Obama, Election 2012 06 Jan 2012
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Special report: Callista Gingrich - The ultimate running mate

CHARLESTON, South Carolina - Last summer, Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, hosted a band reunion for alumni. Callista Gingrich attended and took a place among 25 French horns. As the band practiced for its concert on a bright July weekend, her husband, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, sat patiently in the hallway outside.

Special Reports, Barack Obama, Election 2012 07 Dec 2011

Tales from the Trail

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Washington Extra – Post script

You've heard about the income divide and the digital divide. Now, get ready for the postal divide.

» More from Tales from the Trail

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U.S. deficit projections