Political News

WASHINGTON—House Republicans have introduced their version of a bill to ban insider trading by thousands of federal officials and prevent lawmakers convicted of a crime from collecting their government pensions.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The Senate was scheduled to take up a bill to extend federal highway and transit programs later this week even though Democrats were still struggling Tuesday to find a way to pay for the programs.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The prospects for an extension of President Barack Obama's signature payroll tax cut, once considered a slam dunk on Capitol Hill, now seem far less certain as House-Senate talks have deadlocked over finding ways to pay for it.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The Homeland Security Department has appointed a public advocate to handle complaints and questions about its immigration enforcement policies.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that seniors who receive Social Security cannot reject their legal right to Medicare benefits, in a rare case of Americans suing to get out of a government entitlement.   Full Story

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON—Adm. Bill McRaven said Tuesday that special operations forces in Afghanistan are preparing for a possible expanded role as overall U.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—A senior U.S. military commander will visit Pakistan this month in what could be an important step in healing the rift between the two nations, officials said Tuesday.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—A political adviser to President Barack Obama said Tuesday the administration didn't intend to "abridge anyone's religious freedom" with its regulation requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their workers.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran's economy, coming as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will stress the importance of science and technology education Tuesday when he hosts the second White House Science Fair.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The Homeland Security Department has appointed a public advocate to handle complaints and questions about its immigration enforcement policies.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The Center on Education Policy says after last school year's rough budget cuts for schools, states are predicting a brighter outlook on spending for K-12 this school year.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The United States on Monday eased one of its many sanctions against Myanmar as a reward for political reforms after five decades of direct military rule.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—After five years of legislative struggling, 23 stopgap measures and a two-week shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, Congress finally has passed a bill aimed at prodding the nation's aviation system into a new high-tech era in which satellites are central to air traffic control and piloted planes share the skies with   Full Story

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON—Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff spent two hours dispensing advice in one of Washington's temples of good government Monday, telling soldiers in the cause of cleaning up corruption they have a lot of work ahead of them.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The FBI has been paying closer attention to 'sovereign citizen' extremists around the country out of concerns that they will react violently when they interact with government officials.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee suggested on Monday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta rushed a decision to develop the Marine Corps version of the next-generation strike fighter jet despite new technical problems with the troubled program.   Full Story

(AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

WASHINGTON—Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran's economy, coming as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama has ordered new sanctions on the Islamic republic, including its Central Bank, in a move to enforce a law he signed in December.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama says one of the toughest parts about being president is that his wife has been dragged into the "political realm.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration has closed the U.S. Embassy in Damascus and pulled all American diplomats out of Syria.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice says China and Russia are running of risk of suffering the same sort of international isolation as Syria's Bashar Assad because of their decision to block a U.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is keeping up the Obama administration's pressure on Egypt to release 19 Americans facing trial on allegations of encouraging unrest in the country.   Full Story

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama's call to shrink the military, shut bases and cancel weapons to meet the demand for budget cuts tests the resolve of lawmakers who came to Washington determined to slash the deficit.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said the U.S. has a "very good estimate" of when Iran could complete work on a nuclear weapon, but cautioned that there are still many unanswered questions about Tehran's inner workings.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—A developing Senate plan that would bolster the government's ability to regulate the computer security of companies that run critical industries is drawing strong opposition from businesses that say it goes too far and security experts who believe it should have even more teeth.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—A second term for President Barack Obama would allow him to expand his replacement of Republican-appointed majorities with Democratic ones on the nation's appeals courts, the final stop for almost all challenged federal court rulings.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama isn't picking sides this Super Bowl Sunday. In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer before the championship game, Obama would only say he expects a "great game.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama says he deserves re-election, despite the nation's economic troubles.   Full Story

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Sunday he does not think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran over its disputed nuclear program, a standoff that has the Middle East on edge.   Full Story