Democrats, Congress | featured news

Democrats in the House of Representatives said on Saturday they had secured enough support to pass a sweeping healthcare overhaul and would dump a controversial plan to avoid a direct vote on the Senate bill.

Amid sinking poll numbers and a spate of retirements by veteran lawmakers, Democrats have one early advantage heading into November's congressional elections: money.

President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders insist they will push ahead with efforts to overhaul health care. They just aren't explaining how. Obama acknowledges running into a "bit of a buzz saw" of opposition. A top Democrat suggests Congress slow down on health care, a sign of eroding political will in the wake of Republican upset in the Massachusetts Senate race Tuesday.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday congressional Democrats were close to agreement on merging their healthcare bills but still faced challenges in blending the two approaches.

Southers, a former FBI agent, has described inconsistencies in his accounts to Congress as "inadvertent" and the result of poor memory of an incident that dates back 20 years. He said in a Nov. 20 letter to key senators obtained by The Post that he had accepted full responsibility long ago for a "grave error in judgment" in accessing confidential criminal records about his then-estranged wife's new boyfriend.

As lawmakers take a recess, several Dems ready to give in if it means getting the trillion-dollar bill to Obama quickly.

Former Representative William J. Jefferson, a New Orleans Democrat, was sentenced for using his office to try to enrich himself and his relatives.

Seven House members said the director of the Central Intelligence Agency told them that the agency concealed “significant actions” from Congress since 2001.

As a spending bill loaded with pork makes its way through Congress, President Obama is getting pushback from members of his own party who are questioning his vow to end wasteful spending.