Speaking at a university in Connecticut mere miles from where the December Newtown school shootings took place, Vice President Joseph R. Biden urged legislators across the country Thursday to move on gun control, warning that "there's a moral price to be paid for inaction."

Mr. Biden, who Mr. Obama tapped ...

Despite President Obama's dire warnings of "brutal" budget slashing if automatic spending cuts hit March 1, federal agencies do have some wiggle room to soften the brunt of the cuts.

Budget analysts say the government can take steps to postpone the impact of the so-called sequester budget cuts — such ...

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is returning $600,000 to the U.S. Treasury that he saved by scrimping in the past year at his Senate office.

"It's the only budget I control. ... It's not enough, but it's a start," the senator told reporters at a conference in downtown Louisville.

The Courier-Journal ...

The Obama administration should — and has the legal authority to — use its executive power to begin lifting the decades-old embargo on trade with Cuba, according to two papers this week issued by an influential Latin America think tank and a leading Cuban exile group.

The New York-based Council ...

In one month's time, Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez's favor with constituents fell by 15 percentage points, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

"U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez took an overseas trip and the poll numbers he left behind in New Jersey are dreadful — down 15 points in less ...

Vice President Joseph R. Biden's advice to his wife during a public Facebook video chat Tuesday would likely land her in jail.

"I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the ...

The allegations are already flying after MSNBC and NBC News hired President Obama's former White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, and the president's top campaign adviser, David Axelrod.

But the pair has denied they have anything to do with pushing a pro-Obama agenda and even claimed the mantle of "independent ...

Republican Sen. Richard C. Shelby said Thursday he will support Chuck Hagel's bid to become secretary of defense, nudging the contentious pick to the verge of confirmation even as 15 Republicans senators were urging President Obama to abandon his pick to run the Pentagon.

The senator from Alabama intends to ...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Wednesday night that he will be seeking a sixth term in 2016.

"Sure, why not?" he told the Reno Gazette-Journal when asked if he would seek re-election at at the Nevada Legislature.

Mr. Reid shrugged off his possible competition by Republican Gov. Brian ...

The White House is coming under increasing pressure from climate change activists who want to see President Obama hold true to his pledge to confront the issue during a second term.

On Thursday, a broad coalition of lawmakers, leaders from the world of business and religion, high-ranking retired military officers ...

Former President Jimmy Carter, who touts one of the lowest average approval ratings among all U.S. chief executives for his 1977-1981 term of office, said President Obama's biggest problem is Congress.

Mr. Obama "hasn't been able to accomplish very much" because of the "most uncooperative Congress" in history, he said ...

The Democratic National Committee reported donations of $4.3 in January — but that's significantly less than the amount needed to pay off its debt.

The Democratic Party finished 2012 $21.5 million in the red, Federal Elections Commission filings show, according to a Politico report. They paid roughly $700,000 of after-election ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer says Congress must "put aside ideological constraints" and resolve differences over taxes, budget and spending.

Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, says such an accommodation would help restore both consumer and business confidence.

Mr. Hoyer told MSNBC in an interview Thursday that "managing ...

Vice president Joseph R. Biden, fresh off his comment encouraging Americans to "buy a shotgun,'" speaks on gun violence Thursday at conference being hosted just down the road of the December school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

The conference is set for Western Connecticut State University, in ...

President Obama may formally interject the power of the White House into a Supreme Court case involving California's ban on same-sex marriage, with the filing of an amicus brief about Proposition 8.

Proposition 8 was a ballot initiative approved by California voters in 2008, banning gay marriage in the state. ...

President Obama helped spur a run on firearms and ammunition by people looking to stock up before proposed gun controls take effect -- and the impact is being felt even in unlikely places. Like Russia.

And Serbia.

A scroll through the website of Midway USA, an online gun supply clearinghouse, shows ...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday became the latest Republican to green-light the expansion of Medicaid under the President Obama's health-care law, a move that follows in the footsteps of other state leaders who opposed the president's reforms and then accepted federal dollars to insure more low-income residents.

Mr. Scott ...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday became the latest Republican to green-light the expansion of Medicaid under President Obama’s health care law, a move that follows in the footsteps of other state leaders who opposed the president’s reforms and then accepted federal dollars to insure more low-income residents.

Mr. Scott ...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott has announced that he will expand Medicaid to an estimated 900,000 additional Florida residents under President Obama's health care overhaul. The decision is a surprise since Scott has been a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act.

The Republican governor said Wednesday that ...

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., holding back tears, entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He faces 46 to 57 months in prison, and a fine of $10,000 to ...