16 December 2011 Last updated at 03:42 GMT Disagreement over payroll tax cuts is the latest impasse to hit Washington in recent months Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress have agreed a compromise spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. The deal averts the possibility of US federal agencies shutting down because of a [...]
Tag: Congress
December 16, 2011
December 15, 2011
Net founders oppose piracy laws
15 December 2011 Last updated at 13:48 GMT Film studios are stepping up efforts to combat piracy The founders of Google, Twitter and eBay have signed a strongly worded letter criticising controversial US legislation ahead of a debate in Congress. The Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) aims to slash the amount of pirated content on [...]
December 15, 2011
Shutdown fear hijacks US tax row
15 December 2011 Last updated at 13:17 GMT Disagreement over payroll tax cuts is the latest impasse to hit Washington in recent months The threat of a US government shutdown is looming for the third time in 2011 amid division in Congress over how to resolve a payroll tax cut dispute. Funding for federal programmes [...]
December 15, 2011
Senate stalls on payroll tax vote
15 December 2011 Last updated at 00:29 GMT Disagreement over payroll tax cuts is the latest impasse to hit Washington in recent months Senate Republicans are rejecting calls for a quick vote on a payroll tax cut bill that passed the House on Tuesday. The House bill would tie an extension of the tax break [...]
December 14, 2011
US freezes $700m in Pakistan aid
13 December 2011 Last updated at 17:00 GMT Homemade bombs made in Pakistan are used in Afghanistan, it is alleged A US Congressional panel has frozen $700m (£450m) in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is tackling the spread of homemade bombs in the region. The move – the second such freeze this [...]
December 12, 2011
Rocky Anderson’s radical third way | Gary Younge
As a progressive former Democrat in Utah, the most reliably conservative state in the country, Rocky Anderson is no stranger to long odds or short shrift. Among other things, Anderson has been a fierce opponent of the Iraq invasion, supports gay marriage and is an ardent environmentalist. (Think former London mayor Ken Livingstone surrounded by [...]
December 10, 2011
December 8, 2011
Attorney general questioned in Fast and Furious inquiry
Washington (CNN) — A top GOP critic of President Barack Obama’s Justice Department cranked up the political heat Thursday on Attorney General Eric Holder, threatening possible impeachment over the handling of Operation Fast and Furious, a severely flawed and now discredited federal gun-sting plan. “Heads should roll,” Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner told Holder during an [...]
December 8, 2011
US politics live: Eric Holder faces ‘Fast and Furious’ questions in Congress
1.20pm: Virginia Tech is in lock-down after shots were heard near the campus: Virginia Tech says a police officer has been shot, and a possible second victim has been reported at a parking lot near the campus. Authorities are seeking a suspect. A campus-wide alert tells students and faculty to stay inside and lock doors. [...]
December 8, 2011
No US-Canada deal on Keystone XL
8 December 2011 Last updated at 03:20 GMT Harper and Obama describe themselves as friends and had a ‘candid’ discussion A controversial oil pipeline linking Canada and the US must be assessed for environmental impact, the US president has told Canada’s prime minister. Meeting Canadian PM Stephen Harper at the White House to sign a [...]
December 7, 2011
Obama: Economic Fairness is ‘The Defining Issue of Our Time’
President Barack Obama says restoring America’s prosperity and economic fairness is the defining issue of our time. The president went to the Midwestern state of Kansas Tuesday to restate his economic goals. In a nearly hour-long speech, President Obama stressed the importance of reforming the nation’s economy to give middle class Americans what he called [...]
December 4, 2011
Obama Urges Congress to Extend Payroll Tax Cuts
U.S. President Barack Obama is urging the public to persuade members of Congress to extend a payroll tax cut that saved a typical middle class family about $1,000 last year. The tax cut is set to expire on December 31. Obama’s message during his weekly address Saturday comes a day after Americans got news of [...]
December 3, 2011
November 28, 2011
Barney Frank not seeking re-election in 2012
Washington (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a prominent 16-term liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and arch-enemy of political conservatives nationwide, announced Monday that he does not intend to seek re-election in 2012. Frank, 71, said his decision to retire from Congress was prompted partly by changes made to the boundaries of his U.S. House district. [...]