Senate Republicans Threaten Tax Dispute Blockade  —  WASHINGTON — Not even 24 hours after President Obama met with senior Republican Congressional leaders and expressed hopes for a “new dialogue,” renewed partisan fury engulfed the Senate on Wednesday, as Republicans threatened to block …

Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion In Earmarks  —  Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.

Fed wants to strip a key protection for homeowners  —  WASHINGTON — As Americans continue to lose their homes in record numbers, the Federal Reserve is considering making it much harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures and escape predatory home loans with onerous terms.

GOP to upend spending process  —  House Republicans seem intent on blowing up the staid appropriations process when they take power in January — potentially upending the old bulls in both parties who have spent decades building their power over the federal budget.

'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Hearings: Live Updates From Washington  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? … The Senate Armed Services committee is holding hearings for the military's controversial “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy on Thursday.  Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who in November urged Congress …

It took a guy to do this?  House Speaker-elect John Boehner orders a change to benefit just 71 members  —  For some reason it took a male Speaker of the House to accomplish this:  —  The nearly six dozen female members of the incoming House of Representatives will have a new restroom …

RTC  —  Receiving / paying for stolen property IS a crime.  Once the official request to not release classified information was issued the release IS a crime.  In the US the maximum penalty for that crime is death.  —  Mark Anthony  —  Why haven't British police arrested WikiLeaks boss …

A strange way to honor the founding fathers  —  Republicans gained control of the House last month on a promise to “restore the Constitution.”  So it is no small irony that one of their first orders of business is an attempt to rewrite the Constitution.  —  On Tuesday, Rep. Rob Bishop …

Fox is quickly becoming the second-chance employer for fiery figures  —  Don't panic.  Fox is hiring.  —  The leading cable news network and its business news offshoot, Fox Business Network, have made a habit of signing up reporters and media personalities who've found themselves on the wrong side in employee-employer spats.

The Republican case for ratifying New START  —  Republican presidents have long led the crucial fight to protect the United States against nuclear dangers.  That is why Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush negotiated the SALT I, START I and START II agreements.

Nigeria to Charge Dick Cheney in Pipeline Bribery Case  —  Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) — Nigeria will file charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and officials from five foreign companies including Halliburton Co. over a $180 million bribery scandal, a prosecutor at the anti-graft agency said.

Andy Stern takes on America's second deficit  —  “Do we really need another deficit-reduction plan?”  I ask Andy Stern.  I like this stuff, but even I'm getting exhausted by the endless parade of plans, each just slightly different than the last, and none with an obviously supportive constituency in Congress.

Sen. Alexander: “Most Of The People” Hit By Schumer's Tax Plan “Live On Wall Street”  —  2 hours and 44 minutes ago — Matt Finkelstein  —  With members of Congress fighting over the fate of the expiring Bush tax cuts, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has put forward a compromise that would maintain …

Midwestern senators counter colleagues' bid to kill expiring ethanol tax break  —  A bipartisan group of Corn Belt senators — led by Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Finance Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — are calling on Senate leaders …

GOP Will Retain House Control in 2012 — Guaranteed.  —  Control of the House of Representatives after the 2012 elections will still belong to the Republicans.  IF Barack Obama stages a political comeback (which is certianly within the realm of possibility), Democrats will start the presidential coattails drumbeat.

Obama and GOPers Worked Together to Kill Bush Torture Probe  —  A WikiLeaks cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan.  —  Post Comment  —  In its first months in office …

DeMint Sets Sights On Four Dems  —  South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R) is turning his attention to 2012 and using the vote this week on an earmark moratorium to pick his Democratic targets.  —  DeMint sent an email to the supporters of his Senate Conservatives Fund early Wednesday highlighting four Democrats …

Kasich: Don't Count Obama Out in 2012  —  Does last month's election suggest that President Barack Obama is toast in 2012, particularly in key states like Ohio?  Many Republicans think so.  But that state's next governor, Republican John Kasich, isn't among them.

On World AIDS Day, Larry Kramer, who first warned of epidemic, rips ‘Do-nothing’ Obama  —  On World AIDS Day, the man who first sounded the alarm about the AIDS epidemic and shamed the government into action for a decade, had some choice words for President Obama.

DeMint blesses fiscal commission's tax reforms  —  Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) gave his blessing on Thursday to the series of tax reforms called for by President Obama's fiscal commission.  —  DeMint, an influential conservative, said he was intrigued by the tax proposals made on Wednesday by the fiscal panel …

Romney calls Palin ‘powerful force’ within GOP; ‘attractive, too’  —  In a late night Wednesday appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had some words of praise for potential 2012 rival Sarah Palin before taking a couple of veiled shots at the former Alaska governor.

Kentucky Creationism Theme Park Set To Open In 2014 Will ‘Include Dinosaurs’  —  Kentucky's Democratic governor Steve Beshear announced yesterday that a creationism theme park — dubbed “Ark Encounter” — is expected to open in the state in 2014.  The governor boasted that the park …