Analysts say Obama is all but certain to get the measure on his desk eventually, but Democrats hopes of sending him a bill to sign into law by the July 4 Independence Day holiday were dashed.
The death of Democratic Senator Robert Byrd and cold feet among Republican allies has complicated efforts to round up the [...]
But the Senate has rejected several attempts to extend jobless benefits amid worries about record budget deficits, and it is not scheduled to address the issue again until mid-July.
For every job available there are five unemployed workers, said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin. This issue is fundamentally an emergency for our country [...]
They hope to pass the measure through the Senate by the end of the week so Obama can sign it into law by the July 4 Independence Day holiday, but they could see final action slide into mid-July.
Senator Christopher Dodd, the Democrats point man on the issue, said on Tuesday that it was doubtful the [...]
Democratic backers of the bill scrambled on Monday to replace a crucial vote of support that was lost when Byrd, 92, passed away, with the bills fate turning on the views of a handful of swing-vote senators.
In the give-and-take of securing their support, reform advocates warned the bill could be further watered down.
If they have [...]
Byrds spokesman Jesse Jacobs said the 92-year-old senator was initially admitted to a Washington-area hospital late last week for what doctors thought was a heat-related illness.
However, upon further examination by his doctors, other conditions have developed which has resulted in his condition being described as serious, Jacobs said in a statement.
Byrd was first elected to [...]
But at least a few members of the opposition party are expected to join Democrats and approve his nomination of Kagan, 50, to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, 90, the courts leading liberal.
Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee that will hold the hearings, made it clear that Kagan can [...]
He issued the statement after negotiators from the Senate and House of Representatives emerged from a marathon session early Friday morning with a final compromise on a bill that would bring about the most sweeping financial rules revamp since the 1930s.
The legislation would set up a new financial consumer watchdog, create a protocol for dismantling [...]
This was a very good day for consumer protection, said Democrat Christopher Dodd, the top senator on the panel. We withstood the amendments that would have undercut that.
But lawmakers on a Senate-House of Representatives panel backed away from their toughest proposals as they pressed to finish their work before President Barack Obama discusses financial reform [...]
The former president helped Senator Blanche Lincoln overcome anti-incumbent fervor and win a bruising Democratic primary in their home state of Arkansas on June 8.
Last month, Clinton provided a hand in snuffing out Republican hopes of picking up a seat in the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania by stumping for Mark Critz, the Democrat who [...]
The bill would have extended popular business tax breaks, stopped a 21 percent Medicare pay cut for doctors treating elderly patients and extended extra Medicaid money to cash-strapped states. Democratic leaders failed to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome solid Republican opposition to the bill, which would have added about 55 billion to the [...]