Ryan Grim

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), a leading voice in the argument over the future of Social Security, has agreed to debate progressive critics who argue that the program can be reformed and strengthened without reducing future benefits.

The debate challenge was issued by a collection of young...

WASHINGTON -- In early 2009, El Paso Rep. Sylvestre Reyes (D) warned city council members that, if they approved a resolution calling for a debate on marijuana legalization, the city would jeopardize its federal funding.

Instead, what turned out to be at risk was Reyes' seat in the House of...

Republican House Speaker John Boehner and GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney have, in the course of the past week, pushed starkly different approaches to fiscal policy and economic recovery, a window into a broader rift within the GOP between the Tea Party and less absolutist conservatives.

Boehner, carrying the Tea...

The national debate over private equity so far has hinged on the question of whether experience in the field qualifies Mitt Romney, the former Bain Capital executive, for the presidency. But a more vexing, and largely unanswered, question lies just beneath the surface: How is it, exactly, that an investment...

WASHINGTON -- Under a withering assault from the industry, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko is stepping down, effective upon the confirmation of his successor, according to a statement from Jaczko.

The resignation follows months of bureaucratic knife-wielding by the four industry-backed members of the five-person panel. Like something out...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) accused House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday of "want[ing] to go over the edge" when it comes to negotiations to keep the government from defaulting on its debts.

The federal government will hit its debt limit sometime around the November election, but...

WASHINGTON -- Eduardo Saverin's decision to renounce his United States citizenship in order to avoid paying taxes on his Facebook stock was "absolutely outrageous," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told ABC's George Stephanopolous on "This Week."

Boehner said that his move was "already against the law," likely referring to...

WASHINGTON -- Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) struck a confident chord Sunday in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

"If the election were held today, you think the Democrats would win?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"Yes, I do," Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader, said. Pelosi noted that current House Speaker...

Mitt Romney will campaign Friday in New Hampshire, looking for his own "bridge to nowhere." The Romney camp thinks they have found it in a 19th century bridge no longer used for traffic that was restored with state and federal funds.

Romney's attack on the $288,000 bridge restoration will run...

WASHINGTON -- The House Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, which has been decried by women's rights groups as a dramatic rollback of protections for domestic violence victims, has picked up the backing of a group that may prove to be an unhelpful ally: the National Coalition...

Ned Simons reported from London, Alexandre Phalippou from Paris, and Ryan Grim from Washington.

When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ventured to the Senate last Thursday for a closed-door gathering, he found a nervous Democratic caucus. One senator put their anxiety into words: How worried should we be about Europe?...

WASHINGTON -- Peter Peterson, a Wall Street billionaire who has been calling for cuts to Social Security and other government programs for years, is hosting a "fiscal summit" Tuesday that brings together Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former President Bill Clinton, Rep. Paul Ryan, House Speaker John Boehner, Tom...

WASHINGTON -- Presidents of both parties, over the past several decades, have shown a willingness to interpret Senate resolutions in the broadest imaginable way when it comes to war, whether it's to launch a 10-year land-war in Southeast Asia or Afghanistan, to torture detainees picked up in foreign countries or...

WASHINGTON -- Leading members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are coming to the defense of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California after former Sen. Russ Feingold challenged her commitment to protecting Social Security and Medicare.

"Let's remember that we are on the same team," reads a...

In its official party platform, the Colorado Democratic Party endorses the legalization of marijuana.

In March, 56 percent of the Denver County Republican Assembly voted to support legal and regulated pot, a question which will be on the November ballot.

And the state's Department of Revenue has announced...

WASHINGTON -- The House Republican version of the new Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) would dramatically roll back confidentiality protections for abused immigrant women, make it more difficult for undocumented witnesses to work with law enforcement officials, and eliminate a pathway to citizenship for witnesses who cooperate with police on...

WASHINGTON -- A top Republican lobbying shop lost major business over the past few years because clients thought "Obama was going to be dictator," and only firms closely aligned with the administration would have access, Ed Rogers, the head of BGR Group, said in a deposition taken in January.

WASHINGTON -- A leading national progressive figure is taking a rare step on Thursday, challenging House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on her commitment to protecting Medicare and Social Security.

Russ Feingold, the former senator from Wisconsin, said in an email to supporters that Pelosi "has signaled a disturbing...

Solutions to the ongoing foreclosure crisis are virtually absent from the national political debate, but in Florida, one of the states hardest-hit by the housing crunch, several homeowners who have seen crisis firsthand are running for local office on anti-Wall Street platforms.

Lisa Epstein, a foreclosure victim-turned-activist, has

WASHINGTON -- Harry Reid, as majority leader of the United States Senate, has done "a terrific job," according to the most celebrated historian of the institution in a generation. Robert Caro, author of "Master of the Senate," the Pulitzer Prize-winning volume of his Lyndon Johnson biography, said that Reid's opponents...