Boehner cuts House members’ greatest perk

House speaker John Boehner speaking to reporters Tuesday (J. Scott Applewhite - AP) House Speaker John Boehner, citing the impending sequester cuts to the federal budget, Wednesday canceled all House congressional delegation (codel) travel on military jets, our colleague Paul Kane reported, citing GOP sources in the roomMembers may still be able to fly commercially however.Of...

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Washington’s a hard place to leave

Marine One takes off Feb. 6 from the South Lawn of the White House (Mandel Ngan - AFP/Getty Images) We kept hearing back in 2009 that Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and before that on the Clinton primary campaign — was leaving after a couple years to return to his home state of Minnesota and run for office.Sullivan, a Yale law...

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Obama’s legacy likely to be determined by upcoming battles

President Obama’s legacy ultimately could be determined over the next few months by a series of showdowns — both with Republicans, and, potentially, with fellow Democrats — slated to take place. Guns. Immigration. Climate change. Debt and spending. The matters that Obama is either moving on or has promised to move on are the sorts of big issues that the two parties (and their presidents)...

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Governors express frustration with Washington gridlock, sequestration

The nation’s governors had a message Saturday for Americans frustrated that Washington’s persistent partisan gridlock appears likely to trigger an across-the-board budget cut March 1 that could delay airline travel and result in hundreds of thousands of layoffs: They’re frustrated too. Meeting in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, state chief executives...

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Group releases list of 90 medical ‘don’ts’

Don’t use feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia. Don’t use drugs to aggressively treat diabetes in those older than 65. Don’t automati­cally use imaging technology for minor head injuries in children and headaches in adults. And don’t give antacids to babies with reflux. Those are among the 90 medical “don’ts” on a list being released Thursday by a coalition of doctor and consumer...

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Adam Laxalt: A look at the secret son of former Sen. Pete Domenici

Adam Laxalt has some serious political genes: Grandfather Paul Laxalt is a former senator and governor of Nevada, not to mention a best friend of Ronald Reagan; mother Michelle a high-profile Washington lobbyist. Former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on Capitol Hill last week. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) Now we know there’s more to the story: Retired New Mexico senator Pete Domenici,...

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Postmaster takes case for five-day mail delivery to skeptical senators

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe took his controversial plan for five-day mail delivery before a congressional hearing Wednesday, where he told senators that the Postal Service “needs your help.” Donahoe’s refrain was familiar. ●The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing $25 million a day.●Last year, the Postal Service lost $15.9 billion.●It defaulted on $11.1 billion...

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Obama urges a move away from narrow focus on politics of austerity

Just about every argument in Washington since the 2010 midterm elections, which returned control of the House to Republicans, has centered on reducing the federal deficit. On Tuesday night, President Obama leaned into his second term by declaring that a single-minded focus on deficit reduction would jeopardize the nation’s future. And he sounded an urgent call to rebuild. Reelected by...

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Obama should focus on deficit in State of the Union

President Obama is preparing to deliver his fourth State of the Union address on Tuesday at — or close to— the height of his political power. He has been reelected convincingly, won legislative showdowns with Republicans on debt and spending issues, and is basking in some of his highest approval ratings in years. Of course, modern political history has shown that political momentum can...

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Michelle Obama mourns slain teenager at Chicago funeral

CHICAGO — First lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral here Saturday of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who went to school only a mile from the Obama family home and was gunned down a few days after visiting Washington for President Obama’s second inauguration. Obama did not know Pendleton, nor did scores of other political dignitaries who filed into the Greater Harvest Baptist Church...

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Brennan defends drone strike policies

John O. Brennan, testifying at a confirmation hearing Thursday as President Obama’s nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency during his second term, defended drone strikes against terrorist targets but insisted that it was better to detain terrorists than kill them. Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Brennan also rebutted accusations that he did not follow...

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

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In revamped cafeterias, USDA gets a taste of its own medicine

Ken Choi, chief operating officer for I.L. Creations in Rockville, has a good idea of what federal workers like to eat. The food service company runs cafeterias at the Department of Energy, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the State Department, and while I.L. Creations has been touted for its healthful offerings, Choi knows that some of his most popular Western items include foods...

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VA study finds more veterans committing suicide

Every day about 22 veterans in the United States kill themselves, a rate that is about 20 percent higher than the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2007 estimate, according to a two-year study by a VA researcher. The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by...

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Bipartisan group of senators to unveil framework for immigration overhaul

A key group of senators from both parties will unveil on Monday the framework of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants. The detailed, four-page statement of principles will carry the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats, a bipartisan push that would have been unimaginable just...

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Artur Davis considers bid for Virginia Senate or Congress

RICHMOND — Former congressman Artur Davis, who represented Alabama as a Democrat before moving to Virginia and the Republican Party, is considering a bid for the Virginia state senate or Congress, according to three Republicans with knowledge of his thinking. Davis has met with a Virginia campaign consultant and several operatives to assess the viability of running for state Senate in...

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Update: Obama claim on background checks moved from ‘verdict pending' to 2 Pinocchios

(Larry Downing/Reuters) “The law already requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks, and over the last 14 years that’s kept 1.5 million of the wrong people from getting their hands on a gun. But it’s hard to enforce that law when as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check.” — President Obama, remarks on gun violence, Jan. 16,...

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Senate Democrats’ budget plan will reopen battle over taxes

Senate Democrats plan to draft a budget blueprint that calls for significantly higher taxes on the wealthy, oil and gas companies and corporations doing business overseas, reopening a battle over taxes Republicans had hoped to lay to rest with the “fiscal cliff.” For nearly four years, Senate leaders have ducked their legal duty to craft a comprehensive budget framework. Now, however,...

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Opposing views on Obama and future of the country split Ohio community

FREMONT, Ohio — On the same day, in the same county of northern Ohio, two new grandparents prepared to drive to the same factory for work. They had started their careers at Arm & Hammer in the same year, and for more than two decades they had stood together on a concrete floor and watched baking soda roll down an 80-foot production line. But, on this morning, what they saw looked nothing...

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Earl Smith is the man behind a military patch that President Obama prizes

AUSTIN, Tex. — That February morning in 2008 found Barack Obama decidedly out of sorts. He was locked in one battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination that showed no signs of ending — and another with a vicious cold that felt the same way. As he rode the service elevator in the backway of a convention hotel here, the snowy-haired African American operating it...

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