Congress, Bailouts | featured news

The U.S. Postal Service's net loss widened to $5.2 billion during the April through June period, and the cash-strapped agency warned on Thursday that without help from the U.S. Congress it will face low cash and be unable to borrow money this fall.

The government's giant bank bailout may well have averted a second Great Depression, economists say, but a lot of voters aren't buying it. Support for the program is turning into a kiss of death for many in Congress.

The sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial industry is President Barack Obama's answer to the nation's outrage over Wall Street bailouts. But come November if more Americans don't have jobs, Democrats in Congress could very well lose theirs, too.

The congressional audit would examine the Fed's emergency aid program and disclose previously secret recipients of bailout money.

The Senate voted 96 to 0 on Tuesday to authorize a congressional audit of the secretive Federal Reserve Board's emergency aid program and full disclosure of who got the money, a plan that could reveal more details about government help for embattled investment firm Goldman Sachs.

93-5 vote drops $50B fund to cover liquidation costs in winding down troubled financial firms.

A Senate committee on Wednesday passed a proposal aimed at helping protect the economy from future meltdowns and taxpayers from more Wall Street bailouts.

Obama administration officials have determined they can avoid asking Congress for more bank bailout funds by converting existing loans to the largest U.S. banks into common stock, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Postmaster General John Potter said Wednesday the financially strapped U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year without help from Congress.

The chief executive officer of failed insurance conglomerate AIG acknowledged Wednesday that the company's multimillion-dollar bonuses were "distasteful" to many and had provoked a firestorm of wrath.