December 2009 Headlines
Congressional aides are already making preparations for next month's negotiations between Senate and House leaders to craft a final bill.
Some lawmakers are using the Christmas day terror plot to urge President Obama to reconsider closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.
The results of a White House investigation on last week's failed airliner attack come as Republicans are criticizing the president's handling of the plot.
AGs in 13 states say congressional leaders must remove Nebraska's political deal from the health care reform bill or face legal action.
Christmas Eve's foiled Northwest Airlines terror plot has led to a resurgence of the debate on security profiling.
A new poll indicates Sen. Ben Nelson's, D-Neb., decision to vote for the Senate's healthcare overhaul is hurting him badly with Nebraska voters.
Last week's failed plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines jetliner is raising serious questions about flaws in America's post 9/11 security procedures.
House Republicans are calling for the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight to be tried in a military tribunal.
Some top House Democrats are now saying they would support a healthcare bill that does not include a government insurance plan.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama offered Christmas wishes to the nation on Thursday.
The Senate has passed President Obama's landmark health care overhaul in a climactic Christmas Eve vote, extending medical insurance to 30 million Americans.
As Senate Democrats celebrate victory on health care, Republicans are planning their strategy for winning big in next year's midterm elections.
The First Family is trading snow for sand this Christmas.
The Senate's current healthcare plan could face some legal challenges as several top GOP are probing the constitutionality of what they're calling "The Nebraska Compromise."
President Barack Obama visited the Boys and Girls Club in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to deliver a message of why we celebrate Christmas.
Senate Democrats have scheduled the second of the procedural three votes Tuesday on healthcare reform.
Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith announced Tuesday he is leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican.
Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., fears all the "Happy Holiday" messages Americans are hearing threaten to suffocate the reason for the season.
Senate Democrats won a crucial test vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, putting them on track for passage before Christmas.
Adm. Mike Mullen is worried about 'the clock now running' on the Obama administration's efforts with Iran.
Outnumbered Republicans are pledging to delay passage of historic health care legislation after Democrats locked in Sen. Ben Nelson as the 60th and decisive vote.
President Barack Obama's attempt to overhaul health care has found the subject of abortion to be the latest major snag to tie up the measure in the U.S. Senate.
The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on the defense spending bill. However, the bill is full of billions of dollars for programs that the Pentagon does not want.
Insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan have intercepted live video feeds from Predator drones.
Christian leaders and conservative politicians hosted a webcast Wednesday evening to fight the health care bill.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a defense spending bill on Wednesday that includes $128 billion to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
President Obama's Democratic allies in the U.S. House of Representatives have pushed through a second stimulus plan.
The clock is running out for Senate Democrats who have pledged to pass a health care reform bill before heading home for the holidays.
The U.S. military is adding more drones and expanding its video surveillance in the skies over Afghanistan.
Christian leaders and conservative politicians hosted a webcast Wednesday evening to fight the health care bill.
Approving the defense bill was one of several major must-do tasks the House must address before its planned adjournment for the year at the end of the day.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is still scrambling to secure the 60 votes likely needed to pass health care reform.
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman said Tuesday he will not vote for their plan, unless the public option and Medicare expansion are stripped out.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., says he will join oppose the health care bill if it allows uninsured people starting at the age of 55 to buy in to Medicare.
President Obama summoned top bank executives to pressure them on offering more lending to small businesses and to help millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure by modifying their mortgages.
The Congressional Black Caucus is growing impatient with President Obama over what they say is a growing lack of targeted government assistance.
President Barack Obama is meeting with the top officials of some of the nation's biggest banks on Monday about failing to lend more money to small businesses.
A judge has ruled that Congress can not cut funding to the controversial community activist group ACORN.
The Senate on Sunday passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill with increased budgets for vast areas of the federal government including health, education, law enforcement and veterans' programs.
The legislation is designed to address the shortfalls that led to last year's calamitous financial meltdown.
A loophole in the Senate's health care bill is adding new life to the debate over death panels.
South Carolina's first lady announced Friday she will file for divorce from Gov. Mark Sanford, nearly six months after he publicly admitted having an affair.
Republican lawmakers are calling into question plans to try terror suspects in the U.S.
Building a capable police force is one of the keys to President Barack Obama's new Afghan strategy.
Democrats are muscling through a deficit-swelling $1.1 trillion spending bill.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told American troops in this oil-rich northern city that their mission in Iraq remains critical.
President Barack Obama accused Republicans of "stoking fear" against the administration's economic recovery plan.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is seen as a lightning rod within the GOP. She's fueled by the belief that the federal government needs real reform.
The president says he has a plan to put Americans back to work. But could his plan could come too, little too late?
Despite the Senate having defeated efforts to keep tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions in the health care legislation, the debate may not be over yet.
The U.S. office overseeing Afghanistan's rebuilding lacks leadership and focus, three senators told President Barack Obama on Tuesday.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is under fire for comparing opponents of health care reform to supporters of slavery.
The Senate rejected an amendment, Tuesday, that would have tightened rules on the use of federal funding for abortions.
The U.S. Senate is considering a new version of the public option in an attempt to pass its version of the health care bill.
This clears the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide, which is produced by cars, power plants and factories
As President Obama leans on Senate Democrats to pass healthcare reform, Republicans are still fighting the bill saying the public wants no part of the legislation.
President Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Monday.
Get ready for a tax on any nip and tuck. The U.S. Senate is considering a tax on cosmetic surgery.
The government is holding a workshop on openness for federal employees Monday. There's just one catch - it's closed to the public.
The Obama administration will lose $200 billion less than expected from the federal bailout program and is looking at using part of the savings to fund new job creation efforts.
Osama bin Laden may be slipping back and forth from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama is paying a rare visit to Capitol Hill to push his health care plan.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Americans should expect a significant U.S. military presence in Afghanistan for two years to four more years.
A Georgia elections board has certified the vote making former state Sen. Kasim Reed Atlanta's mayor-elect.
Democratic senators are taking aim at insurance industry executive pay as they jockey for advantage in a rare weekend session to debate President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was romantically involved with his current girlfriend when he recommended her for U.S. attorney, a spokesman said.
Analysts have reasons to hope companies will start hiring again soon as a new government report showed the jobless rate fell to 10 percent.
The House of Representatives voted Thursday to permanently extend an inheritance tax on estates larger than $3.5 million, also known as the "the death tax."
Thursday Senate Democrats rejected an effort by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on a vote of 58-42 to remove Medicare cuts from healthcare legislation.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived at NATO headquarters on Friday.
With health care having garnered most of the attention on Capitol Hill lately, President Barack Obama is putting the U.S. economy back into the spotlight.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has scheduled key votes Thursday on elements of the healthcare overhaul.
Anyone who watches TV knows that commercials can sometimes sound much louder than television programs, but one congresswoman hopes to stop that.
After the president unveiled his Afghan war strategy at West Point Military Academy, NBC's Chris Matthews dubbed the military academy "the enemy camp."
As top administration officials testify this week on the president's call for 30,000 new troops, the Democratic-controlled Congress is not thrilled with plan.
Senate Democrats and Republicans are digging in for a partisan fight over healthcare reform.
The race for Atlanta mayor appeared headed for a recount early Wednesday, with the two candidates separated by only 620 votes.
President Barack Obama warned that the threat in Afghanistan is real and requires increased action by the U.S. and its allies.
Washington D.C. is one step closer to legalizing same sex marriage after the City Council gave tentative approval to the measure Tuesday.
South Carolina legislators are discussing whether Gov. Mark Sanford should be impeached.
Having finally settled on a strategy for fighting the war in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama now has to sell the plan to the American public.
The U.S. Senate began a heated debate Monday on its version of health care reform.
A red ribbon has hung outside the White House since Saturday to signify America's commitment fighting the illness.