In budget deal, a secret reward for Dems  —  The two-year budget deal approved by the House has hidden political benefits for Senate Democrats, Republicans charge.  —  Because it sets a top-line budget number for 2015, Democrats won't have to write and pass a budget resolution in the midterm election year.

NSA speaks out on Snowden, spying  —  The NSA gives unprecedented access to the agency's HQ and, for the first time, explains what it does and what it says it doesn't do: spy on Americans  —  The following is a script from “Inside the NSA” which aired on Dec. 15, 2013.  John Miller is the correspondent.

Honesty and Ethics Rating of Clergy Slides to New Low  —  Nurses again top list; lobbyists are worst  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans' rating of the honesty and ethics of the clergy has fallen to 47%, the first time this rating has dropped below 50% since Gallup first asked about the clergy in 1977.

Why Inequality Matters  —  Rising inequality isn't a new concern.  Oliver Stone's movie “Wall Street,” with its portrayal of a rising plutocracy insisting that greed is good, was released in 1987.  But politicians, intimidated by cries of “class warfare,” have shied away from making …

Report: House panel blasts Navigators  —  People responsible for helping consumers enroll in ObamaCare, known as navigators, were not required to undergo background checks, according to a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report obtained by Breitbart News.

Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Laws on Gun Control  —  GREELEY, Colo. — When Sheriff John Cooke of Weld County explains in speeches why he is not enforcing the state's new gun laws, he holds up two 30-round magazines.  One, he says, he had before July 1, when the law banning the possession …

Hillary Now More Than Ever |  Sen. Dianne Feinstein  —  In 2000, shortly after Hillary Clinton was elected to represent New York in the Senate, I was honored when she called seeking my advice.  —  When I first met Hillary in 1992 during Bill Clinton's run for the White House …

Secret Inside BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners  —  Photographer: Phelan M. Ebenhack/Bloomberg  —  Isabel Santamaria thought she finally caught a break in her effort to save her Florida home from foreclosure after nine frustrating months: She reached Bank of America Corp.'s Office of the CEO and President.

Vice President Joe Biden gropes White House reporter  —  Sure, he likely didn't mean anything overtly sexual by it.  But Vice President Joe Biden is a folksy kind of guy who has officially entered dirty old man territory and done something sure to elicit laughs within the White House Press Corps.

Kathleen Sebelius: The importance of health care navigators to Texas  —  Affordable Care Act navigator Andrew Moura helps Debbie Sands sign up for coverage in Irving.  A U.S. House committee is holding a field hearing Monday in Richardson on the navigators' role and training.

Climate change expert's fraud was ‘crime of massive proportion,’ say feds  —  The EPA's highest-paid employee and top expert on climate change engaged in “crime of massive proportions” by pretending to be working as an undercover agent for the CIA so he could avoid doing his real job for years …

Rand Paul-Backed GOP Senate Candidate Held Rally with Secessionist Group  —  Of all the tea party Senate contenders of 2014, Greg Bannon, who's running in North Carolina, is one of the most extreme.  —  gregbrannon.com  —  Of all the tea partiers running for Senate in 2014, Greg Brannon …

G.O.P. Firebrands Tone Down Their Message and Run Again  —  LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. — “My name is Congressman Bob Dold!” said the fleece-clad man making his way through a popular restaurant here.  —  Well, not exactly.  His name is Bob Dold, but he isn't a current member of Congress.

Machiavelli with malaprops  —  A quarter-century of covering Harry Reid.  —  When I heard late last week that Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander—a Republican who was apoplectic about Harry Reid's changing the Senate's hoary filibuster rules—had said the majority leader should have the words …

Peter O'Toole: He Loved Drink, Feared the Taxman  —  The great British actor Peter O'Toole has died at the age of 81.  —  Starting with the epic Lawrence of Arabia, he was nominated for eight Academy Awards but never won one.  When he was given an honorary Oscar a decade ago …