Alan Fram

Last ditch effort to avoid fiscal cliff under way

By David Espo, Jim Kuhnhenn | December 28, 2012

The end game at hand, the White House and Senate leaders launched a final attempt at compromise Friday night in hopes of preventing a toxic blend of middle-class tax increases and spending cuts from taking effect at the turn of the new year.
White House meeting a last stab at fiscal deal

By Jim Kuhnhenn | December 28, 2012

President Barack Obama was preparing to present a limited fiscal proposal to congressional leaders at a White House meeting Friday, a make-or-break moment for negotiations to avoid across-the-board tax increases and deep spending cuts at the first of the year.
Obama back from Hawaii

By David Espo | December 27, 2012

President Barack Obama returned to the White House on Thursday from a vacation shortened by government gridlock while Democrats and Republicans snarled across a partisan divide and showed no sign of compromise to avoid year-end tax increases and spending cuts.
Over the fiscal cliff

By Connie Cass | December 26, 2012

Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.
Fiscal cliff efforts ongoing

By Jim Kuhnhenn, Julie Pace | December 18, 2012

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner pushed ahead on negotiating a broad deal to avert the "fiscal cliff," even as the GOP leader readied a backup plan Tuesday to pressure the White House with little time left to avoid a double hit on the economy.
Fiscal cliff talks vexing official Washington

By Andrew Taylor | December 13, 2012

Five weeks after President Barack Obama won re-election and gained more leverage to make GOP conservatives bend on taxes, the new balance of power is proving vexing for both sides.
Ryan votes for budget larger than he prefers

By Philip Elliott, Associated Press | September 14, 2012

Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Thursday went along with a stopgap spending bill in the House that avoids a government shutdown but carries a price tag $19 billion higher than the budget he wrote in his role as a congressman.
Obama and Romney: Where they stand on the issues

By Calvin Woodward, Associated Press | September 10, 2012

A look at where Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney stand on a selection of issues
GOP signs off on hard-line platform

By ALAN FRAM and PHILIP ELLIOT,Associated Press | August 28, 2012

Republicans emphatically approved a toughly worded party platform at their national convention Tuesday that would ban all abortions and gay marriages, reshape Medicare into a voucher-like program and cut taxes to energize the economy and create jobs.
House votes to kill health reform

By David Espo | July 11, 2012

Pressing an election-year point, Republicans pushed yet another bill through the House on Wednesday to repeal the nation's two-year-old health care law, a maneuver that forced Democrats to choose between President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement and a public that is persistently skeptical of its value.