Senate, Congress | featured news

With time running out on the Senate calendar, the banking committee chairman says he wants the panel to begin considering the bill March 22, even though the GOP can block legislation.

With time running out this year for the Senate to deal with financial regulatory reform legislation, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said Thursday he plans to offer his own bill after lengthy bipartisan talks failed to produce a consensus.

A nearly $140 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits and a host of expiring tax cuts cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday in the Senate on a vote of 66-34, setting up passage of the bill possibly later in the day.

A measure backed by President Obama to pay 57 million elderly people, veterans, and disabled is nixed.

The Obama administration reasserted its commitment to banning proprietary trading by banks with draft legislative language on Wednesday, despite signs that Congress is unlikely to adopt such a rule.

Sarah Palin stormed the bestseller list last year with "Going Rogue"-a political memoir whose title coyly referenced the former GOP vice presidential nominee's supposed defiance of the consultants running the McCain campaign.

Just 8 percent of Americans want the members of Congress re-elected, according to a CBS News-New York Times poll taken nine months before roughly one-third of the Senate and the entire House face voters.

The Feb. 5-10 survey found 81 percent of respondents saying the lawmakers shouldn't receive another term.

A crucial vote to cut off debate is expected later Thursday. If that passes, a vote on confirmation could follow.

Former Florida legislator Marco Rubio has closed the gap in the race for the state's Republican U.S. Senate nomination and is in a virtual dead heat with Gov. Charlie Crist, according to a poll released Tuesday.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday she does not think the Senate's version of healthcare reform has enough support in the House to pass without changes.

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