WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Sunlight Foundation, a money in politics watchdog group, reveals that members of the newly formed Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction are no strangers to high-dollar corporate lobbying.

As part of a series exploring lobbying influence on members of...

WASHINGTON -- The debate over the Keystone XL oil pipeline reached a fever pitch this week as activists led by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben called on Barack Obama to deny presidential approval to the TransCanada project, which would stretch from tar sands in Canada to oil refineries...

All eyes in Washington are on the 12 members of the new congressional supercommittee charged with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reductions over a decade. So who are those lawmakers beholden to? According to a Center for Responsive Politics report posted Wednesday, the members have received...

WASHINGTON -- Human rights groups have wasted little time calling on Vice President Joe Biden to focus on human rights abuses as he meets with high-level Chinese officials during a four-day stay in China this week.

"Vice President Biden should speak clearly and publicly about human rights activists...

WASHINGTON-- The White House may have failed to get much of what it wanted out of this month's debt ceiling deal, but you wouldn't know that based on the deficit reduction sales pitch Vice President Joseph Biden plans to give during an upcoming trip to China.

According to Lael...

As Iowans descend on the town of Ames to bravely cast their ballots for the GOP presidential candidate they feel most deserves a momentary fundraising boost from an otherwise meaningless straw poll, it's hard not to marvel at the spectacle of American democracy at work. Amidst barbeque smoke-filled tents hung...

One of the best features of the "debt ceiling deal" is that no one seems to be able to agree who won or who lost. Maybe everyone won! Maybe everyone lost! Maybe we'll never know. One would imagine that it would be a useful thing to be able to say...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) blasted the deficit-cutting frenzy sparked by the need to raise the nation's borrowing limit by Aug. 2 in a fiery Wall Street Journal op-ed on Friday.

Congressional Republicans "have been fanatically determined to protect the interests of the wealthy and large multinational...

The months-long effort to raise the nation's debt ceiling has felt like an unprecedented political debate to redefine the government's role in society for years to come. As a country, however, we've experienced this before.

The current debate is remarkably similar to mid-1930s fight over Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal --...

WASHINGTON -- In the midst of tense negotiations over the nation's debt ceiling, an all-star cast of Republican lawmakers addressed a Tea Party rally held adjacent to the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, calling for GOP leaders to "hold the line" against plans without a balanced budget amendment.

The rally, organized...

WASHINGTON -- Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been driven to sarcasm as Congress and the White House continue to move forward with plans to cut Social Security, Medicare and other social programs in the name of deficit reduction. In a statement entitled "Congratulations Coburn, Crapo and Chambliss," Sanders,...

WASHINGTON -- A key liberal insider and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) indicated on Sunday that the final debt ceiling deal will likely resemble something akin to what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unveiled earlier this week, despite bipartisan derison of the plan.

John Podesta, who runs the...

WASHINGTON -- Archconservative Rep. Jim Jordan (R-S.C.) on Sunday dismissed warnings from financial professionals that failing to raise the debt ceiling could spark a financial calamity, claiming that the economy is far more threatened by increasing federal debt levels.

"Everyone understands that in two to three years we're going to...

So, humanity's first "Twitter town hall" is now in the books. Was it everything you hoped it would be? My wish is that if we all agree to behave ourselves, there won't be any more of these things. As someone who grew up thrilling to history lessons on subjects like...

WASHINGTON -- Prominent Social Security advocates expressed deep concern Friday at news that lawmakers may change the way the government measures inflation for taxes and federal benefit programs, weighing such a move as part of a last-minute deal to raise the nation's statutory debt limit while simultaneously cutting...

Debate over raising the debt ceiling is proving to be a hot topic for discussion among the pack of Republican candidates vying for their party's nomination to run against President Barack Obama in the next election cycle.

Some GOP contenders have sought to capitalize on the fiscal issue...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's campaign got off to a rocky start after the Republican hopeful announced his candidacy for president of the United States in May. Below, a timeline tracking key developments and the ups and downs of Gingrich's political pursuit ahead of 2012.

WASHINGTON -- Social Security advocates are furious with AARP for signaling it might support reducing benefits as part of a deal to maintain the solvency of the Social Security trust fund.

In response to a Friday Wall Street Journal article detailing openness to considering benefit...

The question of international intervention in Libya has, for perhaps the first time since the height of the Bush administration, placed some of the most well-respected U.S. foreign policy thought leaders on opposite sides of a debate over new, proactive military engagement in the Islamic World. On one side, those...

Kurt Bardella, the now former Deputy Communications Director for House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrel Issa, has accomplished a very rare feat for Washington; angering both his politician boss and the media at the same time.

In the story broken Monday by Politico, Bardella,...