Sen. Reid: We've got votes on stimulus  —  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Thursday that he has enough votes to pass a more than $900 billion stimulus bill out of the Senate.  —  Reid said he believes at least two Republicans of “good will” would support the Democratic-crafted package.

The Action Americans Need  —  By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression.  Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished.

Husband of Rep. Solis, Labor nominee, settles tax liens  —  WASHINGTON — The husband of President Obama's Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon.

Nelson Backing Off Proposed Stimulus Cuts  —  Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, is backing off of cuts he recently proposed to the economic stimulus package.  —  A discussion draft prepared by Nelson's staff has been circulating and became public Thursday.

Ginsburg is hospitalized with pancreatic cancer … WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery Thursday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the court said.  —  Ginsburg, 75, had the surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

White House to Bypass Commerce on Census  —  The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.  —  The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary …

Sessions: GOP Insurgency “May Be Required”  —  Frustrated by a lack of bipartisan outreach from House Democratic leaders, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said House Republicans — who voted unanimously last week against the economic plan pushed …

Time to Play Hardball  —  The irony of President Obama's Blue Tuesday is that the wall-to-wall television interviews he granted were designed not to apologize for Tom Daschle's fall from grace but to fight back against the Republicans' success in tarnishing his stimulus package.

CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul  —  President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.  —  CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation …

Obama losing stimulus message war  —  At this crucial juncture in the push to pass an economic recovery package, President Obama finds himself in the most unlikely of places: He is losing the message war.  —  Despite Obama's sky-high personal approval ratings, polls show support has declined …

Bill Gates Unleashes Swarm of Mosquitoes on Crowd  —  Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at an elite technology conference to make a point about the deadly disease malaria.  —  “Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,” Gates said while opening …

Volcker Chafes at Obama Panel Delay, Strains With Summers Rise  —  Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Paul Volcker has grown increasingly frustrated over delays in setting up the economic advisory group President Barack Obama picked the former Federal Reserve chairman to lead, people familiar with the matter said.

Sen. Stabenow wants hearings on radio ‘accountability’; talks fairness doctrine  —  This morning, radio host Bill Press brought up the recent closing of liberal station Obama 1260 when speaking with Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, and talked about whether there needs to be a balance to right wing talk on the radio dial.

Raccoons Invade White House Grounds  —  A small band of masked intruders has broken into the secure White House grounds and has evaded capture by agents of the new Obama administration, officials said today.  —  The National Park Service is in pursuit of one very large raccoon …

White House Now Plans Limited Bank Aid Package  —  The Obama administration has decided on a new package of aid measures for the financial services industry, including a bad bank component, and is expected to announce them next Monday, according to a source familiar with the planning

McCain Claims FDR ‘Exacerbated The Great Depression,’ Calls For Counterproductive Balanced Budget Provisions  —  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a top Senate critic of President Obama's economic recovery plan, has been complaining that the package “has no provisions to put us on the path of a balanced budget.”

The GOP Has a Dumb Mortgage Idea  —  It contradicts the ideals of Republicanism and good economics.  —  Few philosophers have done more good than Locke and Montesquieu, whose advocacy of divided government inspired America's Founders.  Our history, and the less happy past of nations without checks …

DEA continues pot raids Obama opposes  —  President vowed to end policy  —  Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign promises to stop the raids.  —  The White House said it expects those kinds …

Sen. Klobuchar steals show at Congressional dinner  —  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) surprisingly caustic humor elicited belly laughs from much of the Washington press corps Wednesday night at the Washington Press Club Foundation's Annual Congressional Dinner.

A Cabinet Loss and Gain  —  In a striking repetition of the up-and-down pattern of the Democratic primaries a year ago, President Obama filled one Cabinet vacancy on Tuesday but saw another one embarrassingly come open.  —  I had just begun a column congratulating him on recruiting …

Sunni electoral disaster, part 2: Baghdad  —  Preliminary results from the Baghdad provincial council election have begun to filter out into the Iraqi press.  The lead story will probably be that Maliki's Rule of Law list won more than half the seats.  But the more important story …

VIDEO: UNION OFFICIALS AT RALLY CAN'T ANSWER SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT CARD CHECK  —  Yesterday afternoon, organized labor rallied on Capitol Hill in support of card-check legislation that would effectively end secret ballot elections for workers.  —  At the rally, at least one worker claimed …