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.
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.
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.
For the ninth year in a row, nurses topped the list of professions that Americans consider the most ethical, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday. Who do Americans trust least? Car salesman and members of Congress.
While most people support extending at least some of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts due to expire this year, a new Gallup/USA Today survey finds that Americans are deeply divided on which cuts should continue -- and for how long.
After dismissing a request for a delay from Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a House of Representatives ethics committee panel on Monday began a hearing on whether Rangel committed financial and fundraising misconduct. Deliberations will continue Tuesday.
Grab a cup of java and listen to this short video of Hilary Kramer, editor of GameChangerStocks.com. Now that the elections are over and the Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, Kramer says that trillions of dollars on the balance sheets of corporations will be put to good use. Here's how you can profit.
The money-laundering trial of Tom DeLay, former U.S. House majority leader, opened Monday with prosecutors accusing him of illegally channeling corporate money into Texas legislative races. Defense attorneys say no corporate money made its way to Texas candidates.
