House of Representatives

It has been a long, confusing summer for the federal budget: The FAA shutdown, the debt ceiling crisis, the Deficit "Supercommittee." But all of that was just prelude to the battles ahead over the 12 major appropriations bills to fund the government's "discretionary" spending.

A study published this year found that stocks purchased by House of Representatives members from 1985 through 2001 "earn[ed] statistically significant positive abnormal returns," outperforming the market by more than six percentage points a year. And senators, it appears, have done even better.

Unless lawmakers can agree on budget legislation to keep the federal government running, a shutdown at midnight Friday looms. If it happens, there will be a few clear winners, some who break even and a whole lot of losers.

Approximately 60% of first-year U.S. senators and 40% of House of Representatives freshmen are worth at least $1 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That makes them far richer than most of the Americans they represent: Just 1% of the country's population has reached the $1 million mark.

Republicans in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to eliminate the Obama administration's "car czar," as well as the "pay czar" who oversees compensation at companies bailed out with TARP money, and seven other presidential advisers.

The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a massive reform bill governing food safety that overhauls the nation's hodgepodge of laws that have been put in place over the last 70 years. The bill now goes on to President Obama for his signature -- and he has promised to sign it into...

Now that President Obama has signed a sweeping tax bill into law, many Americans want to know how they'll be affected. The compromise deal extends Bush-era tax reductions on income, capital gains and dividends through 2012. But there were also some changes.

About six in 10 Americans approve of a tax package passed by the Senate on Wednesday that extends George W. Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy as well extending unemployment benefits and cutting payroll taxes, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The Senate presented the final price tag of $858 billion for President Obama's tax deal Republican leaders and began debating the package Thursday night. The Senate aims to vote on the bill Monday, a week after it was first announced, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is expected to clear the...

For the fifth time this year, Congress has voted to postpone steep Medicare pay cuts for doctors. The latest vote gives doctors a year's reprieve from the 25% pay cut, which some have said would keep them from accepting new Medicare patients.