Seth McLaughlin

Retreating lawmakers leave long ‘to do’ list

Congressional Democrats decamped from Washington this week for the campaign trail, saying they've checked off most of the boxes on their legislative wish list: health care, the stimulus package and new rules of the road for Wall Street.

September 30, 2010

U.S. ends contracts to foreign-owned firms

Stung by criticism that American taxpayers are footing the bill for China-owned companies to expand their influence overseas, a government development agency has said it will no longer award contracts to businesses owned by foreign governments.

September 29, 2010

Big ‘08 win boomerangs on Democrats

In Washington, where short-term political gain often morphs into long-term political pain, the breakthrough victories of President Obama and the Democrats in 2008 are coming back to haunt them in 2010.

September 29, 2010

Hoyer, GOP spar over history of tax cuts

A top House Democrat is pushing to rebrand the looming expiration of tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush as a "Republican tax increase," arguing that the GOP deserves the blame because the tax cuts were originally written to run out at the end of the 2010.

September 28, 2010

House Democrats OK small-business bill

House Democrats on Thursday pushed through a plan to ease credit and cut taxes for struggling small businesses, in what was likely their last best bet to improve the jobs picture before the November midterm elections.

September 23, 2010

GOP cash fills coffers of ‘tea party’ hopefuls

Eager to present a unified front before the midterm elections, the GOP's congressional campaign committees say they are rallying their financial and political muscle behind "tea party" candidates who knocked off some of their hand-picked Republicans in the primaries.

September 22, 2010

Obama: Skepticism of government ‘healthy’

Democratic leaders have repeatedly tried to cast "tea party" candidates as extremists, but President Obama on Monday said the movement exhibits some of the "healthy skepticism about government" that led to the American Revolution and that is now part of "our DNA."

September 20, 2010

Bill would lift military abortion ban

The National Defense Authorization bill includes an amendment from Sen. Roland Burris that would strike language that bans nearly all abortions in military hospitals.

September 19, 2010

McCain rips defense bill amendments

The Arizona Republican on Thursday sharply criticized Democratic leaders for trying to piggyback policies regarding gays in the military and illegal immigrants onto a defense bill that authorizes spending for national security programs.

September 16, 2010

Reid citizenship plan called an election ploy

Republicans were quick to dismiss the Senate majority leader's plan to grant citizenship to some illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were children as a political ploy aimed at wooing voters and pro-illegal-immigrant groups before the November election.

September 15, 2010

Hoyer, other Dems hint of willingness to extend all tax cuts

President Obama on Wednesday clobbered Republicans for holding "hostage" tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans just hours after a top House Democrat, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, signaled a willingness to compromise on an issue that has become the ultimate political football ahead of November's elections.

September 15, 2010

Senate OKs small-business aid

The Democrat-led Senate on Tuesday overcame months of Republican resistance to push President Obama's small-business assistance bill toward passage, but it failed in a bid to reduce a costly tax-reporting provision on businesses in the new health care law.

September 14, 2010

GOP leader nixes talk of taxing

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday vowed to block income tax hikes on any American next year, daring Democrats and the White House to raise taxes on wealthier taxpayers as the economy limps along.

September 13, 2010

N.Y. imam regrets furor over mosque plan

The imam behind the proposed Muslim mosque and community center near ground zero said Sunday that he would have drawn up different plans if he had known the level of Islamophobia generated by the proposal.

September 12, 2010

Boehner willing to limit tax cuts

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner signaled Sunday that he is prepared to support President Obama's plan to extend tax cuts for just the lower and middle classes — even if it does not include Republican-backed cuts for wealthier Americans.

September 12, 2010

Cruel ‘summer’ for Dems pitching recovery

Heading into Memorial Day, Democrats were banking on "Recovery Summer" and a public rebranding of their health care overhaul to set right their political fortunes. But coming out of Labor Day and into the home stretch before November's congressional elections, that bet hasn't panned out.

September 5, 2010

GOP wary of peaking too soon, despite lead

The caution of appearing overconfident comes despite polls released this week showing voters think Republicans are more fit to handle most of the country's pressing issues and that the GOP holds an "unprecedented" lead over Democrats in a new Gallup Poll.

September 2, 2010

Similarities superficial in Pa. Senate race

They're both Catholic, middle-aged, Harvard-educated white men - but the similarities end there between the two candidates running for Arlen Specter's U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

August 30, 2010

Glenn Beck calls on crowd to turn to God

The popular conservative talk show host turned preacher Saturday, telling a large crowd gathered on the National Mall that in order to restore America's honor, it must "turn back to God," as he stood on nearly the same marble steps from which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago.

August 28, 2010

Hagel bucks party lines to endorse Sestak

Former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel crossed party lines again yesterday to endorse Democrat Rep. Joe Sestak, casting the former U.S. Navy admiral and U.S. Senate candidate as someone who is not afraid to buck party leaders on Capitol Hill.

August 24, 2010