Stories

John Patrick Bedell, who shot and wounded two police officers near the Pentagon earlier this month, bought at least one of his 9 mm guns at a Nevada gun show, The Associated Press reported yesterday.
Law enforcement officials say Bedell, a man with a history of severe psychiatric problems, had been sent a letter by California [...]

Among the myriad criticisms that opponents of the Democrats’ health reform bills have leveled at the legislation, perhaps none resonates as strongly as the emotionally charged claims about how the proposals approach abortion coverage. For almost 35 years, federal law has prohibited the federal funding of abortions, and the critics of this year’s reform proposals [...]

As Democrats in Washington, D.C., consider proposals to pull the country out of its huge deficit hole, they’re repeatedly running into a formidable impediment: themselves.
On issues as diverse as health care and student lending, provisions designed to rein in deficit spending have all run smack into the ubiquitous inclination of lawmakers to protect their home [...]

Temporary safety net or permanent entitlement program? That’s the question some conservative voices are asking as Congress eyes yet another filing extension for federal unemployment benefits.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., didn’t mince words Thursday in calling for the repeal of the long-standing ban on gay men donating blood.
“Not a single piece of scientific evidence supports the ban,” Kerry wrote today in Bay Windows, a New England-based gay and lesbian newspaper.

If anyone doubted the willingness of the White House to stick its neck out for health care reform this year, President Obama likely put those questions to rest Wednesday afternoon. Speaking at the White House to promote his newly tweaked reform proposal, the president rejected the Republicans’ “tinker around the edges” approach, instead calling on [...]

After a five-day standoff, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., conceded defeat, and the Senate Tuesday night approved a short term measure extending COBRA benefits, funding for doctors who treat Medicare patients, federal highway money and the filing deadline for unemployment insurance.

A few weeks ago, Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, came together in rare bipartisan fashion to propose an $85 billion bill designed to tackle the nation’s employment crisis.
Don’t expect the same cooperation surrounding the latest jobs proposal.

There’s been a great deal of confusion surrounding the Democrats’ proposals to extend the filing deadline for unemployment benefits, which came and went yesterday. And it’s easy to see why. A number of media outlets have reported that the Democratic bills include “an extension of UI benefits,” or some variation thereof. (The Associated Press, for [...]

Democrats in the U.S. Senate tried to pass a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits (among other things) Friday morning, designed to allow the upper-chamber more time to crunch the details of a longer-term fix.
It didn’t happen.