The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service sought Wednesday to tamp down concern over wide-scale cuts, revealing it will seek to keep thousands of rural post offices open with shorter hours. At a news briefing, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the mail agency was backing off its plan to close up to 3,700 low-revenue post offices [...] [...]
Congress has passed legislation renewing a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more, backing the main items on President Barack Obama’s jobs agenda in a rare burst of Washington bipartisanship. The Senate approved the $143 billion measure by a bipartisan 60-36 vote. That tally came minutes after the House [...] [...]
Most Americans want Congress to vote to continue the payroll tax reduction, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll that comes as Democrats and Republicans wrestle over whether to extend the cut through 2012. It’s the latest instance in which lawmakers on Capitol Hill have allowed partisan sniping to hold up action that polls show [...] [...]
Seeking to circumvent congressional opposition, President Barack Obama will promote a series of executive branch steps aimed at jumpstarting the economy this week, beginning with new rules to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages. The White House said changes to the two-year-old Home Affordable Refinance Program will help homeowners with little or [...] [...]
Congress and the White House face the choice of continued fighting or a shift toward bipartisan bargaining after the Senate voted to kill President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan. They’re likely to do both as they seek to produce results sought by a discontented public while also drawing bright political lines for voters as [...] [...]
Winter athletes and ski executives from Colorado are in Washington to talk about climate change. Coloradans including Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler are scheduled to lobby Wednesday for carbon regulation. Earlier this month, President Barack Obama scrubbed a clean-air regulation that aimed to reduce health-threatening smog. The athletes are part of a group called “Protect Our [...] [...]
For the dozen lawmakers tasked with producing a deficit-cutting plan, the threatened “doomsday” defense cuts hit close to home. The six Republicans and six Democrats represent states where the biggest military contractors — Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Corp., Raytheon Co. and Boeing Co. — build missiles, aircraft, jet fighters and tanks while employing tens of [...] [...]
The 2012 appropriations bill – still being debated in Congress – has substantial cuts both to NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, prompting calls of concern from aviation and aerospace groups. [...]
Senators would have to push their own elevator buttons. House members would go without their free gym. Food on Capitol Hill would be sparse. And the lawmakers’ restrooms? Perhaps not as fresh. Congress would feel the pinch of a government shutdown, but nowhere near the pain that would be inflicted on the massive federal workforce [...] [...]
The Pentagon is preparing for a possible government shutdown Friday night, just in case Congress can’t come to an agreement on this year’s budget. The deadline to approve the budget is April 8, and follows several continuing resolutions that have kept the government functioning as Congress wrangles over budget cuts. “While the administration believes that [...] [...]
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