WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States moved closer to the possibility of the first-ever default on the government’s debt Sunday as Speaker John Boehner adamantly ruled out a House vote on a straightforward bill to boost the borrowing authority without concessions from President Barack Obama. With no resolution in sight, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned […]
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Washington gridlock stems from GOP’s civil war
We’re used to brinkmanship in Washington resulting from conflict between Democrats and Republicans. But this shutdown is different. It’s a fight between Republicans and Republicans — or, more specifically, Republicans and the Tea Party. In 1995 and 1996, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., proudly led Republicans into their shutdown fight with President Bill […]
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Congress likely to give shutdown workers back pay
WASHINGTON (AP) — A partial government shutdown enters its fifth day, with Congress convening for a session that promises no progress in breaking the impasse but will at least offer back pay to furloughed federal workers. The GOP House is scheduled Saturday to vote on legislation backed by the White House and congressional Democrats that […]
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Congress: Divided, discourteous — taking a break
WASHINGTON (AP) — The accomplishments are few, the chaos plentiful in the 113th Congress, a discourteous model of divided government now beginning a five-week break. “Have senators sit down and shut up, OK?” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out on Thursday as lawmakers milled about noisily at a time Sen. Susan Collins was trying […]
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Battle of mandates: GOP demands more time on health care law
WASHINGTON (AP) — If businesses get an extra year to meet a new health care mandate, why not everybody else? Republicans, seizing on the White House delay for employers, are demanding that the Obama administration give individual Americans an equal break. But the White House says that’s just a thinly disguised gambit for dismantling the […]