Boehner: The Nation Will Be On ‘The Path’ To Default If Obama Doesn't Accept GOP Demands  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said the nation would default on its debt later this month if President Obama does not agree to GOP's demands to cut spending and change parts of the Affordable Care Act.

200 House Democrats Send Letter to Speaker Boehner to #DemandAVote on Bill to Reopen Government  —  Washington, D.C. - Today, 200 Members of the House Democratic Caucus, led by Congressmen Timothy H. Bishop and Patrick Murphy, sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner demanding a vote on behalf …

Mugged by a Mug Shot Online  —  IN March last year, a college freshman named Maxwell Birnbaum was riding in a van filled with friends from Austin, Tex., to a spring-break rental house in Gulf Shores, Ala. As they neared their destination, the police pulled the van over, citing a faulty taillight.

CBS Host Takes Apart GOP's Shutdown Argument  —  Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) was unable to explain why Republicans needed to threaten economic disaster to try to get their way on Obamacare during an interview on CBS's Face The Nation on Sunday.  —  Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation's host …

GOP congressman: We stumbled into war over Obamacare  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL OBAMACARE REPUBLICAN PARTY HARRY REID JOHN BOEHNER  —  On Thursday afternoon, as the government shutdown entered its third day, a Republican member of the House sat down with a group of reporters in an office building not far from the Capitol.

A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning  —  WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy.  Their push to repeal …

Cuccinelli shuns Cruz limelight  —  RICHMOND, Va.— That was awkward.  —  In the clearest sign yet of the potent effect of the government shutdown on the Virginia governor's race, Republican Ken Cuccinelli avoided being photographed with Ted Cruz at a gala they headlined here Saturday night …

Getting Older, Growing Poorer  —  The basic outlines of poverty in America are sadly familiar.  At last count, 46.5 million people were poor — 15 percent of the population.  Women and children, especially in single-mother families, were, as always, hit hardest.

Where's sense of crisis in a 17% government shutdown?  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL CONGRESS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN  —  Everyone knows the phrase “government shutdown” doesn't mean the entire U.S. government is shut down.  So in a partial government shutdown, like the one underway at the moment …

U.S. forces strike in Libya, Somalia, capture al Qaeda operative  —  (CNN) — In two operations in Africa nearly 3,000 miles apart, U.S. military forces went after two high-value targets over the weekend.  —  One operation took place early Saturday in the Libyan capital of Tripoli …