Obama urges feuding Congress to avoid shutdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sternly warned the Congress on Friday against a government shutdown on October 1 as lawmakers struggled to pass an emergency spending bill that Republicans want to use to defund Obama’s healthcare reform la…
Obama to House Republicans: Don’t burn down the house over fiscal fight
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama warned congressional Republicans on Friday they were on the brink of triggering a government shutdown and a historic debt default and urged them not to “burn down the house” to try to extract budget concess…
Government shutdown would hit Pentagon civilians – again
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Defense Department will put half its 800,000 civilian employees on unpaid leave next week and halt military activity not critical to national security if Congress fails to resolve a looming funding crisis, Pentagon offic…
Analysis: U.S. farm bill, a year overdue, still rolling on slow track
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new U.S. farm bill, already a year behind schedule, is on the congressional equivalent of a slow freight train – rolling from acrimony to limbo with a layover in stalemate. And Washington’s disputes over the federal budget an…
U.S. Treasury official named lead on Detroit bankruptcy
DETROIT (Reuters) – The executive director of President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness was named on Friday to manage more than $300 million in federal, state and private aid packages given to Detroit, which has filed for bankruptcy….
House Republican says has big support for Obamacare delay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A conservative Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday said that he and 61 colleagues will push for a one-year delay in Obamacare as part of a government funding measure the chamber will consider this weekend.
Obama, Iran’s Rouhani hold historic phone call
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a historic phone call on Friday, in the highest level conversation between the estranged nations in more than three decades.
Obama speaks by phone to Iran’s Rouhani, sees chance for progress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke by phone on Friday, the highest-level contact between the two countries since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and a sign that both sides are serious about reaching …
Fiscal gridlock may leave Iraqi translators stranded
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives working for the American military and are waiting for special visas to move to the United States could remain in limbo for months because of Congress’ inability to reach a budget agreeme…
NSA staff used spy tools on spouses, ex-lovers: watchdog
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least a dozen U.S. National Security Agency employees have been caught using secret government surveillance tools to spy on the emails or phone calls of their current or former spouses and lovers in the past decade, according …
