Tag - us-congress

 
 

US CONGRESS

COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2013
Foley tribute has important lessons for Congress
The U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall last week became a lecture room for some lawmakers to learn about the secret of 'old school' success in bipartisan House leadership.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2013
'The Suit' squares a love triangle
In his seminal 1968 work "The Empty Space," Peter Brook wrote: "Certainly, we still wish to capture in our arts the invisible currents that rule our lives, but our vision is now locked to the dark end of the spectrum. Today the theatre of doubting, of unease, of trouble, of alarm, seems truer than the...
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 29, 2013
NSA bills let Congress choose: End amassing of phone records or OK it
After nearly five months of controversy and debate, the U.S. Congress may face a clear choice over the National Security Agency's program to collect the phone records of nearly every American: endorse it or shut it down.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Oct 27, 2013
Atomic waste piles higher at U.S. plants
U.S. lawmakers have debated for decades where to put all the spent fuel generated by the nation's nuclear power plants. The dithering means that an unintended site has emerged: Illinois.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2013
Tea party darling Cruz burnishes conservative credentials in Iowa
Sen. Ted Cruz used a series of long-scheduled appearances in Iowa over the weekend to cast himself as the natural leader of a burgeoning conservative movement that nearly derailed the new health care law.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 27, 2013
White House rallies Democrats in effort to shore up health site push
By the time President Barack Obama acknowledged on Monday that his signature health care program had serious problems, it was clear the political stakes had escalated for the White House.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 25, 2013
U.S. health site tests 'began too late'
Private contractors in charge of building the federal online health insurance marketplace testified Thursday that the administration went ahead with the Oct. 1 launch of HealthCare.gov despite insufficient testing.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2013
How much did the shutdown cost? Billions
Shutdowns aren't cheap. This year's closure, which ended Thursday, has probably cost the government and the economy billions of dollars, according to economists and policy analysts.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 20, 2013
House GOP has little to show while forcing one crisis after another
There was so much more they wanted to do.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 19, 2013
Top-two primary systems could counter American extremist tendencies
The latest game of political chicken that drove Washington to a government shutdown and the very edge of the debt ceiling gave new life to the omnipresent complaint of elder statesmen and centrist wise guys: If only congressional districts weren't so gerrymandered in the decennial redistricting process,...
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 17, 2013
U.S. debt deal sets up new risks to growth
The deal reached by Congress on Wednesday to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling would avert a financial catastrophe but leave the weakened U.S. economy facing new threats.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 16, 2013
Boehner's control of his caucus slipping
Republican House Speaker John Boehner started Tuesday with a last-ditch attempt to exert control over his restive caucus, proposing a new plan to open the government and raise the U.S. debt ceiling in an effort to give Republicans a bit of leverage.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 15, 2013
Some fear McConnell-Reid bitter rift could endanger U.S. fiscal deal
When Washington is in crisis and every other option has fallen to pieces — whether on rescuing Wall Street, rewriting national security rules or agreeing on a budget — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, are usually the ones who put it...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2013
Self-cast Senate moderates seek deal from the middle, for the middle
In the past few days, a bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators has come together to push both parties toward a compromise, hoping to reopen the federal government and raise the national debt ceiling all at once.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 15, 2013
Debt-ceiling breach to push U.S. economy into free fall, without safety net
The Obama administration will have to decide whether to delay — or possibly suspend — tens of billions of dollars in Social Security checks, food stamps and unemployment benefits if negotiations to raise the federal debt ceiling are not resolved this week.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 15, 2013
Senate leaders nearer deal on raising federal debt limit after flurry of talks
In a long-awaited breakthrough, Senate leaders close in on a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling and end a two-week-old government shutdown as Washington scrambled to avoid the nation's first default on its debt.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 13, 2013
Senate opens talks on end to shutdown
Senate leaders began negotiations Saturday aimed at reopening federal agencies and avoiding a government default after every other effort to end Congress' impasse crumbled in the previous 48 hours.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 10, 2013
Republican options tapering to 'surrender'
As the government shutdown and the threat of a federal debt default begin to merge into a singular Washington crisis, the only way out for House Speaker John Boehner may be something he disparaged earlier this week as "unconditional surrender."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Oct 6, 2013
Deep political divisions at root of U.S. shutdown
The government shutdown did not happen by accident. It is the latest manifestation — an extreme one by any measure — of divisions long in the making and now deeply embedded in the country's politics.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 5, 2013
'Obamacare' exchanges have trouble with success
"We're building a complicated piece of technology," U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said on the first day of the new Affordable Care Act — or "Obamacare," as it is otherwise known — "and hopefully you'll give us the same slack you give Apple."

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