President Barack Obama’s political clout was on the line Tuesday as Virginia and New Jersey chose governors in contests that could serve as warning signs for Democrats about the public’s mood heading into an important midterm election year.

After months of struggle, House Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation Thursday to extend health care coverage to millions who lack it and create a new option of government-run insurance. A vote is likely next week on the plan patterned closely on President Barack Obama’s own.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her.

A U.S. House of Representatives’ panel voted Thursday to regulate for the first time privately traded derivatives, the kind of exotic financial instruments that helped bring down Lehman Brothers and nearly toppled American International Group.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed to Russian university students Wednesday that their country’s prosperity was dependent on its willingness to cultivate core freedoms, including the freedom to participate in the political process.

With support from a lone Republican, a key Senate committee Tuesday approved a middle-of-the-road health care plan that moves President Barack Obama’s goal of wider and affordable coverage a giant step closer to becoming law.

The Obama administration is shelving an Eastern European missile defense plan that has been a major irritant in relations with Russia, a U.S. ally said Thursday. The Pentagon confirmed a “major adjustment” of the system designed to guard against Iranian missiles.

Trying to shake off a summer of setbacks, President Barack Obama summoned Congress to enact sweeping health-care legislation last night, declaring the “time for bickering is over.“

Taxpayers face losses on a significant portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry, an oversight panel said in a report to be released Wednesday.

President Barack Obama and his family are trying again for a little rest and relaxation.

President Barack Obama is taking a break from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation today to offer Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke another four-year-stint at running the central bank.

President Barack Obama has moved more forcefully than ever to abandon Bush administration interrogation policies, approving creation of a special White House unit for questioning terrorism suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder weighs a Justice Department recommendation to reopen and pursue prisoner abuse cases.

Myanmar’s government-controlled newspapers today lauded the visit of Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who secured the high-profile release of a jailed American, as “the first step” toward improving relations with Washington.

A U.S. senator who called for a “new approach” to dealing with Myanmar said Monday that the country’s detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi indicated she would not oppose the lifting of some U.S. sanctions on the junta.

President Barack Obama is willing to embrace insurance cooperatives over a government-run plan as the White House faces mounting opposition to its broad overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade, arrived in the military-ruled country’s remote capital Friday to meet junta leaders, officials said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney believes his old boss, President George W. Bush, gradually turned away from his advice during their second term in the White House, showing a surprising independence as he started taking more flexible positions on a range of issues, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The State Department struggled Tuesday to explain Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s face-off with a Congolese student and suggested that the questioner’s nervousness sparked the outburst with the mention of her husband’s name.

President Barack Obama is turning his eyes West and hitting the Web as he steps up his counteroffensive against critics of a proposed health care overhaul.

Conservative activists are vowing to keep up their fight against President Barack Obama’s health care plans, even as the Democratic Party pushes back hard, accusing Republicans of organizing angry mobs.

The Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor Thursday as the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., plans to visit five nations in Asia and meet with government officials and industry leaders.

Senate Republicans are lining up to criticize Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as unfit for the bench while Democrats offer effusive praise of the judge whose confirmation this week as the first Hispanic justice is all but assured.

Facing a White House deadline, Senate Democrats are struggling to win over enough reluctant Republicans to pass a $2 billion extension of a popular rebate program that gives consumers up to $4,500 to trade in their old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

With the “cash for clunkers” program essentially running on fumes, the Obama administration served notice on the Senate that it must pour in $2 billion more to keep it on track.

Two of President Barack Obama’s economic heavyweights said middle-class taxes might have to go up to pare budget deficits or to pay for the proposed overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives went along with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ plans to kill the over-budget F-22 fighter jet but has rejected his efforts to cut off several other big ticket items.

Health care legislation advanced slowly Thursday in the last of three House committees to consider the measure as the Senate’s top Republican accused Democrats of cutting Medicare to finance a “massive new government-run plan.“

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice over nearly solid Republican opposition, paving the way for a historic confirmation vote next week.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington-based organization, has filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, with the House Office of Congressional Ethics.