Democrats, Congress | featured news

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.

President Barack Obama sent Congress today a package of small business measures he said would expand tax relief and unlock capital to boost the economy and create jobs.

A judge agrees to delay the campaign-finance trial of John Edwards after his attorney presented two letters detailing a life-threatening condition that will require surgery. A cardiologist for the 58-year-old ex-North Carolina Senator wrote two letters about his condition to Judge Catherine Eagles who talked about them Friday during a hearing to consider whether the trial would go on later this month. She delayed it until at least March 26.

Leaving behind a year of bruising legislative battles, President Barack Obama enters his fourth year in office having calculated that he no longer needs Congress to promote his agenda and may even benefit in his re-election campaign if lawmakers accomplish little in 2012....

With most lawmakers gone for the holidays, President Obama took full advantage of the empty stage, appearing with everyday Americans to make the case that House Republicans need to relent and pass a payroll tax cut extension that would mean an extra $1,000 a year to a typical family.

Democrats backed away from their demand for higher taxes on millionaires as part of legislation to extend Social Security tax cuts for most Americans on Wednesday as Congress struggled to clear critical year-end bills without triggering a partial government shutdown.

Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts does not intend to seek re-election in 2012, his office said Monday, closing out a career of more than three decades in Congress capped by last year's passage of legislation imposing new regulations on Wall Street.

Senate Democrats who back gay marriage have decided now is the time to repeal a federal law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Bill Clinton’s new book, “Back to Work,” is really several books in one slender volume. It’s a lucid one-man rebuttal of the Tea Party’s anti-government agenda. A series of shrewd talking points for Democrats trying to hold on to the White House and battling for control of Congress in the midst of a sour economy and growing voter discontent. A self-serving reminder of the prosperity the country enjoyed during Mr. Clinton’s tenure in the White House, meant to burnish his legacy. And a practical set of proposals — some borrowed and some new, some innovative and some highly sketchy — for restoring economic growth and creating jobs.

Senate Democrats proposed Friday tax incentives for businesses hiring veterans as well as job training for all service members leaving the military. The measure was unveiled as the next piece in President Obama's jobs bill and as a remedy to unemployment among veterans.