Shutdown wary U.S. Republicans likely to OK funding bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday fell in line behind a $1.1 trillion bill that would remove the threat of an imminent government shutdown while setting up new fights for early next year over President…
Ex-CIA officials say torture report is one-sided, flawed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group of former top-ranking CIA officials disputed a U.S. Senate committee’s finding that the agency’s interrogation techniques produced no valuable intelligence, saying such work had saved thousands of lives.
Pot backers oppose U.S. bill banning legal marijuana in Washington
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Marijuana advocates on Wednesday urged Congress not to use a spending bill to overturn a local referendum that overwhelmingly backed legalizing pot in the District of Columbia.
U.S. Congress will not pass IMF reforms this year
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Funding for the International Monetary Fund did not make it into U.S. spending legislation this year, another setback for historic reforms aimed at giving emerging markets more say in how the world lender is run.
Trade authorization deal faces test from U.S. legislators
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A push by the White House to woo free trade skeptics on Capitol Hill will help bills through the next Congress, but lawmakers are unlikely to simply wave through legislation that holds the key to deals covering two-thirds of the …
U.S. spending bill would expand allowed donations to political parties
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tacked at the end of the 1,603-page government spending bill released by the U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday is a provision that would enable wealthy individuals to make significantly larger contributions to political …
CIA paid Poland to ease qualms over secret prison: Senate report
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland threatened to halt the transfer of al Qaeda suspects to a secret CIA jail on its soil 11 years ago, but became more “flexible” after the Central Intelligence Agency gave it a large sum of money, according to a U.S. Senate repo…
U.S. Senate confirms ambassadors to Afghanistan, India
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate confirmed President Barack Obama’s nominees to be the next American ambassadors to India and Afghanistan on Tuesday, filling two of the country’s most important diplomatic posts days before leaving Washington for …
U.S. Treasury’s Lew urges terrorism insurance renewal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday called on lawmakers to reauthorize a federal terrorism insurance program, saying they should not tie its approval to consideration of proposed changes to unrelated Wall Street reforms.
Obama tells Latinos immigration policy shift won’t hurt them later
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought to reassure Latinos on Tuesday that signing up for deportation relief under his new immigration policy was safe and would not put them in jeopardy if his White House successor tried to overturn…
