Outspent but hardly outgunned, online and high-tech companies triggered an avalanche of Internet clicks to force Congress to shelve legislation that would curb online piracy.
Congress on Friday approved a two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions, handing President Barack Obama a convincing victory for his jobs agenda.
The House Tuesday rejected a plan backed by President Barack Obama to extend a 2 percentage point payroll tax cut for two months to buy time for talks on a full-year renewal.
Partisan to the core, Congress careened toward a holiday-season standoff Monday on legislation to prevent a Social Security payroll tax increase for 160 million workers on Jan. 1.
It's just about over for a special deficit-reduction supercommittee, which appears set to admit failure on Monday in its quest to sop up at least $1.2 trillion in government red ink over the coming decade.
Senate Democrats are scrambling to rewrite portions of President Barack Obama's jobs bill, even as Obama tries to blame Republicans for Congress' failure to act.
Ending weeks of political brinkmanship, Congress finessed a dispute over disaster aid Monday night and advanced legislation to avoid a partial government shutdown this weekend.
For the second time in nine months, lawmakers are bickering and posturing over spending plans. The difference this time is that everyone agrees on the massive barrel of money to keep the government running for another seven weeks.
Congress' latest must-pass bill is prompting a new House-Senate showdown, highlighting a partisan rift so raw that an effort to help disaster victims has become mired in disputes over jobs, the national debt and the discredited Solyndra solar energy company.
President Barack Obama is keeping up his appeal for public support of his $447 billion proposal to boost jobs and consumer spending by urging Americans to press Congress to pass the legislation. "No more division or delay," he said.
A vintage World War II-era fighter plane plunged into the edge of the grandstands Friday during a popular air racing show, killing three people, injuring more than 50 spectators and creating a horrific scene strewn with body parts and smoking debris.
Fights large and small await Congress as it gets back to business, with jobs and budget cuts topping a contentious agenda that also includes a lengthy roster of lower-profile but must-do items that also are potential victims of partisan gridlock.
A gunman wielding an AK-47 opened fire on a table of uniformed National Guard members at an IHOP restaurant on Tuesday in an outburst of violence that killed five people, wounded seven others and put Nevada's capital city on high alert.