No matter how the Supreme Court rules on the challenge to the health care law, it will only be a matter of minutes after that ruling is announced before attention shifts back across the street to the Capitol and to what happens next there.
The Senate, in the latest round of political maneuvering on a popular campaign issue, Thursday rejected competing Democratic and Republican proposals to prevent student loan rates from doubling to 6.8% in July.
The House will vote Friday to extend current rates on federally funded college loans for one year, Speaker John Boehner announced on Wednesday in what is seen as an attempt to blunt President Barack Obama's momentum on an issue popular with young voters.
With just four days left before the federal money runs out for highway construction projects across the country, House Republicans abruptly postponed a vote on a two-month extension Tuesday, throwing into question how a standoff between Senate Democrats and House Republicans over the transportation bill will get resolved.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi tells CNN's John King that Democrats are ahead of schedule and they have momentum to control the House.
Just 15 months after taking a thumping in the 2010 midterm elections, House Democrats have seized on the current anti-Washington fervor and are confident they can win the 25 seats they need to regain control of the House.
House Democratic leaders went to the House floor Friday morning in an effort to embarrass House Republicans for not coming back to work right after the holidays.
Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska announced Tuesday that he will not run for re-election next year.
In the first sign of progress in days of stalemate over the payroll tax extension and a government funding bill, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell met privately for about an hour in the Capitol Wednesday night.
Congress will agree to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires at the end of the year, two leading conservative Senate Republicans said Sunday.
Ensuring a pre-holiday collision course with the Senate, House Republicans Friday ignored criticism from President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats and formally unveiled a bill that extends the payroll tax cut and benefits for jobless Americans, but ties those items to a provision that clears a path toward approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
White House press secretary Jay Carney says payroll tax cuts would negatively impact less than 1% of small businesses.
Are Democrats beginning to reconsider their vote in the 2008 Democratic primary?
The Obama administration and the GOP continue to push different job strategies. CNN's Shelby Lin reports.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday appointed Reps. James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra and Chris Van Hollen to the special congressional committee on deficit reduction, completing selection of the 12-member bipartisan panel created under last week's debt ceiling agreement.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi's picks for the 'super committee' complete the 12-member debt panel
The House and Senate broker a bipartisan compromise to keep FAA employees from getting furloughed.
Congressional leaders reached a deal Thursday to temporarily resume funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, ending an impasse that put thousands of federal employees out of work and halted activity on 200 airport construction projects.
After weeks of bipartisan negotiations, President Barack Obama said congressional leaders agreed to a plan that would lift the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling and avoid an unprecedented default on the nation's debt -- if, that is, members of Congress vote to approve the agreement.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer talks to Ali Velshi about what Sunday's deal means.
House Speaker John Boehner's plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling and slash government spending narrowly passed his chamber on Friday and then was blocked by Senate Democrats, setting up a weekend of negotiations to seek a deal that would avoid a potential federal default next week.
House Speaker John Boehner says he has stuck his neck out to get a debt deal and wants Democrats to work as well.
CNN's Richard Quest says the rest of the world views the U.S. as a "vacuum cleaner sucking up huge amounts of capital."
House Republicans called off a vote Thursday on Speaker John Boehner's plan that would raise the nation's debt ceiling and enact sweeping cuts in government spending, but the possibility remained that the measure could come up on Friday.
The burst of enthusiasm for the "Gang of Six" debt reduction plan as a way out of the debt ceiling crisis has appeared to fade as Democratic and Republican lawmakers studied and found fault with the details of the proposal.
Congressional Democrats, frustrated that President Obama is including entitlement changes in debt negotiations, pushed back Friday, insisting they will not support any benefit cuts to Medicare or Social Security.
Anthony Weiner's woes began last month, when a lewd photo appeared on the New York Democrat's Twitter account. At the time, the seven-term congressman was considered one of the leading liberal voices in the House. Now, he's out of a job.
Embattled Congressman Anthony Weiner is said to be "on the fence" about resigning his House seat. Mary Snow reports.
Rep. Anthony Weiner took a two-week leave of absence from the U.S. House on Monday to consider calls by Democratic leaders -- and a strong hint from President Barack Obama -- that he should resign over a "sexting" scandal and his subsequent lies about it.
Democratic leaders call for the resignation of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner following communications with women online.
By now, people in the United States and elsewhere in the world are familiar with the Tea Party, but there's a new social movement on the political block -- it's called the "Tequila Party," and its leaders say the group is serving as a wake-up call to the Latino voting bloc.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida said Tuesday that she is President Barack Obama's choice to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.
A three-week extension of government funding won approval Tuesday from the U.S. House, with Democratic support overcoming opposition by some conservative Republicans.
Joe Lieberman, Jane Harman and Jim Webb have all recently announced they will be retiring from Congress. Add to this the news that funding for the Democratic Leadership Council has dried up and it will be closing its doors, and that the self-described moderate Blue Dog coalition of House Democrats has dwindled from 54 members last year to 25 this year and we can draw a lamentable conclusion: It's the end of the moderate Democratic party.
House Democratic leaders got to a chance to gloat after Republicans failed on Tuesday to pass a bill extending key provisions of the Patriot Act that are due to expire at the end of the month.
Top Democrats are dismissing Republicans' plans to ram a repeal of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul through the House of Representatives in the opening days of the new Congress, portraying the move as little more than a hollow nod to the GOP's conservative base.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans worked together grudgingly during an unexpectedly productive lame-duck session, clearing several major pieces of legislation, while setting aside concerns that partisan animosity and legislative gridlock would define the short post-election work period.
President Obama encourages the House of Representatives to act quickly on his tax cut proposal.
Both President Obama and Sen. John McCain seem to have contradicted themselves in their recent talk on tax cut plans.
The Senate approved a controversial $858 billion tax cut package Wednesday, overwhelmingly voting to extend the Bush-era tax reductions despite a series of objections from both the left and the right.
Senators made speeches into the evening Tuesday on the tax and benefits package negotiated by President Barack Obama and Republican leaders, while House Democrats argued about whether they will change the measure after expected Senate approval.
CNN's Candy Crowley asks White House senior adviser David Axelrod if Congress will pass tax extensions this week.
The hotly contested tax deal negotiated by President Barack Obama and Republican leaders cleared a key Senate procedural hurdle Monday, with both parties strongly supporting a motion to end debate on the measure.
House Democrats will allow a vote on the tax compromise reached by President Barack Obama and Republicans but will try to change the deal, especially an estate tax provision they believe is beneficial to the wealthy, one of their leaders said Sunday.
Howard Kurtz talks to Matt Lewis, Jon Aravosis and Julie Mason about liberal pundit reaction to the proposed tax deal.
Candy and her team watch the other Sunday morning talk shows so you don't have to.
Here are some of the most quotable sound bites from the Sunday morning shows:
House Democrats voted Thursday against considering the tax package that President Barack Obama negotiated with Republicans, raising questions over the president's influence in his own party.
In the months leading up to the midterms, President Barack Obama and Democrats tried to label Republicans the "party of no."
After meeting with the Polish president, President Obama answers reporters' questions.
Unable to secure needed Republican support, Senate Democrats decided Wednesday to postpone a planned make-or-break vote on starting debate on repealing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars openly gay and lesbian soldiers from the military.
Senate Democrats decided Wednesday to postpone a planned vote on "don't ask, don't tell." CNN's Anderson Cooper reports.
House Democrats vented their frustrations with President Barack Obama's tax proposal at a closed-door meeting Tuesday night, with rank-and-file members slamming the White House for leaving House Democrats out of final negotiations, and agreeing too quickly to a GOP proposal on the estate tax.
CNN's John King takes a look at the new developments regarding the tax deal framework announced by President Obama.
The fault lines beneath the Democratic Party have been rumbling between the left and the center. Now with President Obama's compromise on the Bush taxes, they threaten to erupt entirely.
President Barack Obama on Monday announced a deal with Republican leaders that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years and unemployment benefits for 13 months while also lowering the payroll tax by two percentage points for a year.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that New York Rep. Steve Israel will take over as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the 112th Congress.
House Democrats voted to make Speaker Nancy Pelosi their leader for the 112th Congress.
House Democrats voted Wednesday to make Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, their leader for the 112th Congress, overcoming objections from moderates who argued that she was partly responsible for the party's overwhelming defeat at the polls two weeks ago.
The top Democratic and Republican Senate leadership will remain the same for the incoming 112th Congress.
Sen. Harry Reid announces he has been re-elected as Senate majority leader by his Democratic colleagues.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has struck a deal that ends the leadership fight for the number two slot in the new House minority, multiple senior Democratic sources tell CNN.
One week removed from the great "shellacking" of 2010, Democrats at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue are still picking through the ashes of their lost House majority and debating the best way forward.
House Democrats engaged in a furious internal debate Monday about the future direction of their party -- a direction made more uncertain in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's unexpected decision to seek another term despite the party's massive losses in last week's midterm elections.
CNN's Don Lemon talks to Mark Preston about House speaker Nancy Pelosi's future in the political world.
It wasn't quite a presidential endorsement, but it was warm enough that outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will take it.
CNN's Dana Bash confirms Rep. Nancy Pelosi will run for minority leader after the Dems lost the majority in the House.
Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Friday she will run for minority leader in the new Congress, appears to be getting tacit support from the White House.
Democratic Congressman John Hall, D-NY, knows all about election year waves. Four years ago he rode one into office, unseating a six-term Republican in his suburban New York district.
Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Kendrick Meek says he is not dropping out of the Florida race.
The point that many people seem to be missing in the Florida Senate saga is that this whole mess actually has very little to do with Rep. Kendrick Meek or the Sunshine State -- it's all about a much broader fear among senior Democrats that they may be about to lose control of the chamber.
President Obama will wake up in San Francisco, California, on Friday amid a five-state, four-day tour aimed at propping up embattled key Senate incumbents.
With just over two weeks before the election, Pres. Obama rallied voters at an event for Washington Sen. Patty Murray.
Latino support for Democratic candidates remains strong, with 65 percent of registered Hispanic voters saying they plan to vote for the Democrat in their congressional district in next month's midterm elections, the Pew Hispanic Center said in a report Tuesday.
Democrats know they are going to lose congressional seats in the November elections. The question is what can they do to minimize the damage?
It was the fall of 1995, and there was open warfare in Washington over the Republicans' Contract with America.
The U.S. Supreme Court vacancy this spring created a buzz of excitement among many liberal activists who hoped President Barack Obama would use the opportunity to name an outspoken, politically savvy, consensus builder.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Friday she has not ruled out a pre-election vote in the House of Representatives on extending the Bush tax cuts for families making less than $250,000.
Senate Democrats will not vote on extending Bush-era tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year before the upcoming congressional elections, the spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Thursday.
With Democrats divided on tax cuts, a Senate vote before the election on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class is looking less likely, multiple Senate Democratic sources tell CNN.
Facing the prospect of losing control of Capitol Hill in the midterm elections, congressional Democrats return to Washington this week for one final month-long legislative push they hope will persuade voters to keep them in power.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer leaves the door open on a compromise on tax cuts.
The smart money in Washington and Chicago, Illinois, says it's all but a certainty that within weeks Rahm Emanuel will throw his hat into the ring to replace retiring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. So the parlor game over who will replace Emanuel as White House chief of staff has already kicked into high gear.
A wave of weak economic reports has prompted some Democrats to embrace a short-term extension of the Bush tax cuts -- even for the rich.
Vice President Joe Biden had a strong message for fellow Democrats on Friday: After Election Day, expect to keep a majority in Congress.
Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a DNC meeting urging support for Democrats in the upcoming elections.
U.S. Senate nominee Alvin Greene, a political unknown who became the surprise winner of the South Carolina Democratic primary, was indicted Friday by a grand jury on obscenity charges.
U.S. Senate races in Kansas and Missouri and a ballot measure seen as a referendum on President Obama's health care reform highlighted Tuesday's primary elections.
U.S. Senate races in Kansas and Missouri and a ballot measure seen as a referendum on President Obama's health care reform are among Tuesday's primary elections.
Veteran Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York confirmed Tuesday that his lawyers are discussing a possible settlement with lawyers for the House ethics committee that would avoid a public hearing this week on ethics allegations against him.
House Democratic leaders preached patience Monday in awaiting an ethics committee report on veteran Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, but rumblings emerged from House members for Rangel to somehow deal with the issue before a public hearing later this week.
House Democrats face tough times in Maryland as Republicans try and regain majority. CNN's Brianna Keilar reports.
House Democratic leaders met with President Barack Obama on Wednesday night to discuss legislative priorities in the run-up to the November mid-term election, but one topic was bypassed -- the weekend assessment by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs that Republicans could win back the chamber.
CNN's Jessica Yellin takes a look at polls showing President Obama is losing support among liberals and independents.
With less than four months until this year's midterm Election Day, the Obama administration is defending its record in response to criticism from liberals and progressives who are increasingly saying the president has not been aggressive enough in pursuing their preferred agenda.
South Carolina's top law enforcement agency announced Friday that it will not file charges against Democratic Senate nominee Alvin Greene.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, became the first member of the Senate Democratic leadership on Tuesday to suggest that Gen. Stanley McChrystal should resign.
How did an unknown candidate win the South Carolina Democratic Senate primary race? Jessica Yellin looks for answers.
CNN's Barbara Starr looks at plans to vote to repeal a policy that restricts gays and lesbians in the military.
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