Zach Carter

WASHINGTON -- Two major United Nations organizations warned world leaders on Thursday to avoid restrictive free trade agreements that may threaten public health, amplifying international pressure against President Barack Obama's controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.

A report issued by the U.N. Development Program and the anti-AIDS UNAIDS detailed a...

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ended up defending Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday during TV appearances in which the Democratic politician was supposed to be serving as a surrogate for President Barack Obama. Patrick, who has a history of ethically questionable connections to financial firms, applauded Boston-based...

WASHINGTON -- A change of heart from the Obama administration may pave the way to a groundbreaking global deal to provide lifesaving medications to developing nations. But hardline American opposition to a related treaty has delayed talks to lower the price of AIDS drugs and other critical medications in poor...

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...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has alarmed global health experts by opposing a new international fund that would fight disease in the developing world. The new fund would require other countries to share a cost burden currently borne predominantly by United States taxpayers, but has nevertheless generated ideological opposition from...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation late Wednesday to protest the Obama administration's refusal to share information about controversial trade negotiations with the senator.

The administration's blockade against Wyden, who chairs a subcommittee on international trade, conflicts with its prior statements to the press, and raises concerns...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is promoting a new plan to encourage the development of better, cheaper prescription drugs: an innovation fund rewarding companies for inventing important new HIV and AIDS medications. In exchange for accepting an innovation award, drugmakers would agree to sell their new medicines at low...

WASHINGTON -- House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has taken the unprecedented step of leaking a secret U.S. trade document, in hopes of pressuring President Barack Obama's administration into disclosing the details of a major trade deal with far-reaching implications on everything from "Buy American" contracting rules...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's response to JPMorgan Chase's spectacular trading failure underscores a persistent tension in his presidency -- the need to win favor from a public still angry with Wall Street's risk renegades, while courting those same, ever-so-sensitive financiers for campaign cash. It's most often been a lose-lose...

WASHINGTON -- A video of Republican Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra vowing to end all federal student loan programs has surfaced on YouTube, putting the Michigan conservative on the radical fringe of a hot-button 2012 campaign issue.

Speaking before a Tea Party audience in January, the newly surfaced video shows Hoekstra...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) lit into Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Sunday, when both appeared on ABC's "This Week."

The show started off civilly, with Frank responding to host George Stephanopoulos' questions about the political implications of President Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage. But when...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) defended President Barack Obama on Sunday from Republican charges that he has "flip-flopped" by speaking out in favor of marriage equality rights for same-sex couples.

When asked whether Obama had made a political calculation in endorsing gay marriage, Feinstein rejected the idea.

"I don't...

WASHINGTON -- When asked Sunday whether he would accept an invitation to run as vice president on the ticket with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said that "you never rule out opportunities or options" in political life.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Thune said that...

Activists from Occupy Wall Street, the environmental movement and labor unions, along with victims of home foreclosures, have begun massive demonstrations at Bank of America's shareholder meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday morning.

(Above, video from Wednesday's protests)

Occupiers have characterized the event as a test run for...

Dozens of good-government groups, Occupy Wall Street contingents, environmental activists, struggling homeowners and institutional investors are descending on Charlotte, N.C., to protest Wednesday's Bank of America shareholders' meeting. Occupiers characterize the event as a test run for activism targeting September's Democratic National Convention, and expect thousands of...

WASHINGTON -- As the Securities and Exchange Commission considers requiring corporations to disclose their political spending to shareholders, a coalition of institutional investors and public interest groups are seeking to make next week's Bank of America shareholder meeting a flashpoint for getting corporate money out of politics.

Consumer watchdog Public...

WASHINGTON -- A group of 68 House Democrats and one Republican sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Thursday urging him to reconsider an element of the controversial free trade agreement currently being negotiated by the administration. If approved in its current form, the pact would effectively

The city of Charlotte, N.C., has announced broad restrictions on protests planned for a May 9 Bank of America shareholders meeting, citing safety concerns. The restrictions are prompting fears that constitutionally protected civil liberties may be suppressed, and that the preemptive bans for demonstrators could serve as a preview of...

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) blasted congressional Republicans on Thursday, including fellow North Carolinian Rep. Patrick McHenry, comparing them to the notorious Keating Five, five senators disgraced for intervening to protect financial fraud felon Charles Keating from regulatory scrutiny in the 1980s.

Miller's consternation comes after the Nation

WASHINGTON -- On Tuesday, congressional Democrats announced plans to introduce legislation that would extend the current low interest rates on government-subsidized student loans, responding to the major public relations push from President Barack Obama. But while the issue has ginned up cable news chatter and drawn attention to...