By
Frank Oliveri
| June 14, 2013, 4:28 p.m.
When the House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved an amendment directing the president to remove all combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, it was far more important in reflecting the nation’s current mood toward the Afghanistan war — and war generally — than in having any practical effect on administration policy.
By
David Harrison
| June 14, 2013, 4 p.m.
Republicans are preparing a border security amendment to the bipartisan Senate immigration bill and plan to release it as early as next week.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| June 11, 2013, 11:52 a.m.
With the Senate voting Tuesday afternoon to begin consideration of its immigration overhaul measure, President Barack Obama pushed Congress to send him a bill to sign into law by the end of the summer and not miss an opportunity to deal with a problem that has festered for decades.
By
Nathan Hurst
| June 10, 2013, 2:40 p.m.
Driverless cars remain a rare novelty, but it might surprise motorists to discover that much of the technology that will make them work is already available in the new cars they’re buying today.
By
Nathan Hurst
| June 10, 2013, 2:31 p.m.
No longer confined to the realm of science fiction, driverless vehicles are beginning to show up on American highways, with California, Nevada and Florida already legalizing their use.
Leslie M. Proll
| June 7, 2013, 5 a.m.
When a lawyer enters the courtroom to argue before the entire U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, she faces the intimidating specter of 11 chairs elevated above the lone podium and microphone. When the judges enter the courtroom, three of those chairs remain empty. That is because three of the 11 seats on the D.C. Circuit are vacant. The most important appellate court in the country, with its special jurisdiction for reviewing federal agency actions on environmental, labor, consumer and national security issues, is missing almost a third of its judges. As President Barack Obama has stated, if a third of the seats on the Supreme Court were empty, “we would rightly consider that a judicial crisis.”
By
Nathan Hurst
| June 6, 2013, 5 a.m.
The House’s 3-year-old ban on earmarks may be put to the test in the coming weeks, as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee writes its authorization of flood control, navigation and environmental restoration programs.
By
Melissa Attias
| June 5, 2013, 5 a.m.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that she made five phone calls in connection with Enroll America, a nonprofit helping with outreach and education for the health care law. Two of the calls were fundraising solicitations, she said.
By
Niels Lesniewski, Steven T. Dennis
| June 5, 2013, 4:05 a.m.
President Barack Obama has pivoted back to playing hardball with Republicans after a spring spent attempting to woo Senate Republicans over collegial dinners and White House visits.
By
Lauren Gardner
| June 4, 2013, 1:57 p.m.
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to the summer driving season — and in recent years that has meant steadily rising gas prices. But for the second consecutive year, drivers filling their tanks for holiday road trips paid less at the pump on average than a year earlier.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 31, 2013, 4:50 p.m.
Three months into the sequester, the White House still doesn’t want more flexibility in how it implements the across-the-board cuts, with the administration still banking on a broader summer budget deal instead.
By
Humberto Sanchez
| May 23, 2013, 11:41 a.m.
Senate Majority Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tangled over nominations for the second day in a row Thursday, with Reid raising the possibility of changing the filibuster rules on a simple majority vote to speed action.
By
Nathan Hurst
| May 22, 2013, 6:20 p.m.
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx sidestepped persistent questioning Wednesday about how to fill revenue shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund, telling senators weighing his confirmation as Transportation secretary that he would “bring together a wide variety of stakeholders”
By
Sam Goldfarb
| May 21, 2013, 5:58 p.m.
The IRS official in charge of the division accused of improperly targeting conservative groups will invoke her Fifth Amendment rights against compelled self-incrimination at a committee hearing Wednesday, a sign of concern that the political controversy is heading into the criminal arena.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 20, 2013, 5:47 p.m.
Top White House staff, including Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, knew that a potentially damaging inspector general’s report on the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party groups was looming but decided not to inform President Barack Obama.
By
Cristina Marcos
| May 17, 2013, 2:25 p.m.
Last year, Congress reauthorized the Food and Drug Administration’s user fee system for drugs and devices made to address human needs, and this year lawmakers are working on similar legislation for the growing industry of animal pharmaceuticals.
By
Emily Ethridge
| May 17, 2013, 1:40 p.m.
The Food and Drug Administration is able to do its work in part because of a symbiotic relationship with the industries it regulates. But recently that relationship has been knocked off balance.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| May 16, 2013, 2:53 p.m.
President Barack Obama defended his administration’s effort to stamp out national security leaks amid the controversy over the seizure of Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department.
Melanie Sloan
| May 15, 2013, 3:44 p.m.
Everyone can agree it is unacceptable for the IRS to target particular organizations based on political ideology. If that’s what agents at the IRS were up to, they were wrong and there should be consequences. The real problem, however, is not that the IRS is overly aggressive but that it has sat by idly while an ever-increasing number of groups blatantly violate the laws governing 501(c)(4) organizations. Where is the outrage over that?
By
Daniel Newhauser
| May 15, 2013, 10:55 a.m.
Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio said on Wednesday that somebody deserves go to jail as the investigation begins into why the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative-leaning groups.
