In Podesta, a Keystone skeptic returns to White House
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Podesta’s return to the White House could dim prospects for the Keystone XL pipeline’s approval, environmentalists said Wednesday, as the Democratic Party elder and Keystone critic crafts policies to curb climate change.
Former President George H.W. Bush joins Twitter
(Reuters) – George H.W. Bush has joined Twitter and in his first tweet the former U.S. president said he wished he could have attended the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
New York’s next mayor de Blasio to live in Gracie Mansion
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A 214-year-old mansion that has served as the official residence for New York City mayors since World War Two will welcome its first full-time occupants in 12 years when Bill de Blasio is sworn in as mayor in January.
Stubborn U.S. gender pay gap narrows, but worries remain: survey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The pay gap between U.S. men and women is closing but younger women face lingering uncertainty about their future earning power, research released on Wednesday showed.
Smooth sailing at Senate panel for Obama’s nominee to head IRS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Republican on the U.S. Senate’s tax-writing panel on Wednesday endorsed President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next chief of the Internal Revenue Service, smoothing the path for what will likely be a prompt Senate con…
U.S. budget deal could usher in new era of cooperation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan budget deal announced in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, though modest in its spending cuts, would end three years of impasse and fiscal instability in Washington that culminated in October with a partial government sh…
Boehner: no acceptable White House plan to extend U.S. unemployment
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Wednesday he has not seen an acceptable plan from the White House to extend long-term unemployment benefits that are due to expire on December 31.
U.S. health secretary calls for probe of Obamacare website launch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday asked the department’s inspector general to investigate the performance of private contractors in the flawed launch of the Obamacare website.
Democrat Clark wins congressional election in Massachusetts
BOSTON (Reuters) – Eastern Massachusetts voters elected a Democratic state senator as their newest representative in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday in a special election to fill the seat formerly held by now-Senator Edward Markey, according to local medi…
U.S. finalizes Volcker rule, curbing Wall Street’s risky trades
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. banks will no longer be able to make big trading bets with their own money after regulators finalized on Tuesday a rule shutting down what was a hugely profitable business for Wall Street before the credit crisis.
