Congress, House Of Representatives | featured news

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a tax break for small businesses, giving voters a stark alternative to President Barack Obama's politically popular "Buffett Rule" surtax on the wealthy.

Rep. Barney Frank , D-Mass., said he advised President Obama against taking up health care reform following a special election in 2010 that changed Democrats' fortunes in the Senate, saying that he should have instead turned his focus to financial reform.

Republicans are ready to ram through the House an election-year, $3.5 trillion budget that showcases their deficit-cutting plan for revamping Medicare and slicing everything from food stamps to transportation while rejecting President Barack Obama's call to raise taxes on the rich....

Ron Barber, an aide to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), will run for the House seat she just left. Barber, 66, was Giffords’ district director until she retired last month. He was shot twice, once in the face and once in the leg, in the massacre that left six dead and nearly killed his boss.

The Republican-led House is trying Wednesday to give President Barack Obama the line-item veto, a constitutionally questionable power over the purse that has been sought by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a new bill that would freeze the salaries of federal employees, lawmakers and congressional staffers for another year.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House floor one final time as her colleagues approved her bipartisan border security bill on the day she officially stepped down from office.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) announced Wednesday morning that she will run for her fourth term in 2012. “I’m looking forward to coming back and bringing a strong, powerful voice to Washington, D.C.,” Bachmann told the Associated Press. The former presidential candidate’s future plans had been in some doubt. Redistricting could make her 6th district seat more competitive, and she spent much of the year in Iowa proclaiming herself “an Iowa girl” — not so helpful for winning an election in Minnesota.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago.

House of Representatives Republican Speaker John Boehner has agreed to accept a bipartisan deal to extend a payroll tax cut, in an abrupt U-turn. He had refused a vote on the bill, which was passed by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate last Saturday. Correspondents say the move amounts to a cave-in by House Republicans, and victory for President Barack Obama.