U.S. Congress News

CINCINNATI - President Bush reminded Americans Monday that his eight years of appointing conservative judges will affect the nation for decades, hoping to secure his legacy but also help fire up Republicans in must-win Ohio a month before the presidential election.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Ted Stevens told wealthy businessman Bill Allen they needed to stick together and "really lay low" to beat an FBI investigation into their cozy relationship, according to audiotapes played Monday at the senator's corruption trial.

As the 110th Congress comes to a close, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's feeling pretty good about the work he and his colleagues accomplished.

WASHINGTON - Three days after providing a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, Congress is holding its first hearing into what caused the nation's financial markets to collapse last month.

TULSA, Okla. - The political ad begins with classical music playing, then a picture of Republican U.S. Rep. John Sullivan.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Republican Sen. Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken exchanged barbs in their first Senate debate Sunday night over the ailing economy and the war in Iraq, while a third-party challenger seat kept both on their toes.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Although all eyes are on the White House race, hundreds of other elections will be taking place around the country on November 4 as US lawmakers battle to hang onto their seats in the Congress.

NEW ORLEANS - Indicted U.S. Rep. William Jefferson had a quarter of voters on his side as he overcame scandal to come in first in Louisiana's Democratic primary.

Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John McCain's supporters escalated attacks on Senator Barack Obama's patriotism and his acquaintance with a Vietnam-era radical as polls show the Republican nominee losing ground a month before the election.

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama counterattacked on Sunday against a new Republican tactic by saying rival John McCain was more interested in a smear campaign than fixing the U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON - Bill Allen affectionately referred to the outings as "boot camp."

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (AFP) - Barack Obama hammered Republican White House rival John McCain Sunday for wanting to "turn the page" on the US economic crisis and engage in low-blow personal attacks a month from election day.

The possibility that Democrats will build a muscular, 60-seat Senate majority is looking increasing plausible, with new polls showing a powerful surge for the party’s candidates in Minnesota, Kentucky and other states.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Democrat Barack Obama sharply criticized Republican John McCain's health care proposals Saturday, saying they could force millions of Americans to struggle to buy medical insurance.

There is no surer way to earn the devotion of one's party than to give it a vast sum of money, as Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts did this week, transferring $1 million from his Senate campaign account to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

It's a nightmare scenario: The votes are counted on Election Night four weeks from now, and Barack Obama and John McCain have each secured 269 electoral votes, one fewer than the majority the Constitution requires to be elected president -- and throwing the election to the House of Representatives to decide.

WASHINGTON - The bill got better — for some lawmakers. And back home, folks got scared after Monday's stock market plunge. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain stepped up the pressure, as did Capitol Hill bosses like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

WASHINGTON - Millions of taxpayers, thousands of businesses and groups as diverse as solar power developers and natural disaster victims will see tax relief with the House vote Friday to approve and send to the president a $700 billion financial rescue plan.

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The White House race turned back to the ailing economy on Friday, with Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain praising the vote in Congress to pass a Wall Street bailout but pushing for further action.

WASHINGTON - Note to Main Street: Congress loves you.

WASHINGTON - The financial rescue plan signed by President Bush on Friday extends a program that pays rural counties hurt by federal logging cutbacks.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration announced plans Friday to sell up to $6.5 billion in arms to Taiwan, a decision sure to anger Taiwan's rival China and one that could complicate stalled North Korean disarmament efforts.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush Friday signed an economic rescue bill just hours after the US House of Representatives reversed course and approved the historic 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout.

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain commended the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday for passing a $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill but said further action was needed to help boost the struggling economy.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Retired doctor Parker Griffith's campaign to keep a north Alabama congressional seat held by Democrats for generations was going smoothly until his opponent released 20-year-old documents that accuse him of manipulating his cancer patients' radiation doses.

WASHINGTON - They're tired of the zingers.

WASHINGTON - Sixty lawmakers Friday switched from their previous position on the huge Wall Street bailout measure. Fifty-eight switched from "no" to "yes," one switched to oppose the measure and a lawmaker who was absent on Monday voted "yes." Here's the breakdown by party and state:

WASHINGTON - The House voted Friday to extend unemployment benefits to those who have exhausted their current benefits. The vote came hours after learning that the nation's payrolls were continuing to shrink and after the House had approved a massive financial rescue plan for Wall Street.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives on Friday voted to give long-term unemployed workers at least seven weeks of extra jobless benefits.