Iraqi forces surround Ramadi, but it could be a long siege
BAGHDAD — After months of sluggish progress, stalled advances and outright failures, Iraqi troops and militias backed by U.S.-led airstrikes have surrounded the key city of Ramadi and appear poised to...
View ArticleCongress reaches deal on 5-year transportation bill
WASHINGTON — The House and Senate have reached agreement on a 5-year, $281 billion transportation bill that would increase spending to address the nation’s aging and congested highways and transit...
View ArticlePuerto Rico makes debt payment, warns of dwindling funds
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico narrowly avoided a multimillion-dollar default Tuesday by announcing a last-minute bond payment while warning that a deepening financial crisis has forced the...
View ArticleVotes in Congress move to undercut climate pledge
WASHINGTON — Hours after President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday in Paris that the United States would be in the vanguard of nations seeking a global response to climate change, Congress approved two...
View ArticleSenate GOP pushes measure repealing health law
WASHINGTON — Republicans ignored a White House promise of a veto Wednesday and pushed toward Senate passage of legislation demolishing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and blocking Planned...
View ArticleHouse votes to rewrite ‘No Child Left Behind’
WASHINGTON — After years of failed efforts, the House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to sharply scale back the federal role in American education. But the bill would retain the testing requirement in...
View ArticleCongress overwhelmingly backs transportation bill
WASHINGTON — After years of stymied efforts to address the nation’s aging and congested highways and transit systems, Congress found the sweet spot for passage Thursday — a 5-year, $305 billion bill...
View ArticleSenate rejects more gun background checks after California attack
WASHINGTON — A polarized Senate voted Thursday against expanding background checks for more gun purchases, rejecting the proposal a day after the latest U.S. mass shooting left 14 people dead in...
View ArticleNational briefs: Senate OKs bill against Obamacare
WASHINGTON — Openly welcoming a preordained veto, Republicans drove legislation to Senate passage Thursday aimed at crippling two of their favorite targets: President Barack Obama’s health care law and...
View ArticleObama signs 5-year infrastructure spending bill
WASHINGTON — A 5-year, $305-billion bill to address the nation’s aging and congested transportation systems was signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama, who said it will put Americans to work...
View ArticlePuerto Rico gets top U.S. court review on debt restructuring
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider reinstating a Puerto Rico law that would let its debt-ridden public utilities restructure their obligations, agreeing to hear an appeal by the...
View ArticleHouse Freedom Caucus looking to flex its new muscle in 2016 races
In the early days of the House Freedom Caucus, the running joke among the secretive group of hard-core conservatives was that it was a lot like a congressional version of movie cult classic “Fight...
View ArticleNational briefs: Feds to investigate Chicago police
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice will open a wide-ranging civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department after the release of a video showing a patrolman’s fatal shooting of...
View ArticleWolf urges Eakin to quit seat on Supreme Court
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf said Sunday that a state Supreme Court justice embroiled in a risque email scandal should step down.
View ArticleJustices reject challenge to local assault weapons ban
WASHINGTON — Acting in the aftermath of the San Bernardino, Calif., mass shooting, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from gun owners who challenged a Chicago suburb’s ban on assault weapons.
View ArticleBill Clinton to host Pittsburgh fundraiser for Hillary
Former President Bill Clinton is set to host a fundraiser for his wife, Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in Pittsburgh this Thursday.
View ArticleGOP seeks curbs in Obama environmental agenda in bill
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are pressing for an end to the four-decade ban on exporting crude oil and further curbs on President Barack Obama’s environmental agenda as part of a sweeping...
View ArticleReport: U.S. donors pumping millions into Israeli settlements
JERUSALEM — Private American donors have pumped more than $220 million into Jewish West Bank settlements in recent years through tax-deductible donations, effectively subsidizing a policy opposed by...
View ArticleTrump calls for ‘complete’ entry ban on Muslims in U.S.
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. — Donald Trump called Monday for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” an idea swiftly condemned by his rival GOP candidates for president and...
View ArticleSyria says troops killed by U.S.-led strikes
BEIRUT — Syria on Monday accused the U.S.-led coalition of bombing an army camp in the eastern part of the country, killing three Syrian soldiers and wounding 13, but a senior U.S. military official...
View Article