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• House passes GOP budget plan vowing deep cuts

  By Andrew Taylor  |  March 22, 2013

  Moving on two fronts, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to keep the government running for the next six months while pushing through a tea-party flavored budget for next year that would shrink the government by another $4.6 trillion over the next decade.

• Senate Dems, GOP plan votes on rival cuts

  By Andrew Taylor  |  February 28, 2013

  Across-the-board spending cuts all but certain, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate are staging a politically charged showdown designed to avoid public blame for any resulting inconvenience or disruption in government services.

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  First lady’s anti-obesity campaign prompts change

  By Darlene Superville, Mary Clare Jalonick  |  February 27, 2013

  Wal-Mart is putting special labels on some store-brand products to help shoppers quickly spot healthier items. Millions of schoolchildren are helping themselves to vegetables from salad bars in their lunchrooms, while kids' meals at Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants automatically come with a side of fruit or vegetables and...

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  Budget cuts blowback

  By Alan Fram  |  February 15, 2013

  What does smaller government look like? The budget standoff between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans means Americans may soon find out, and the picture the Obama administration sketches is downright scary.

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  Obama seeks to avoid sequester with short-term fix

  By Jim Kuhnhenn  |  February 5, 2013

  President Barack Obama will ask Congress to come up with tens of billions of dollars in short-term spending cuts and tax revenue to put off the automatic across the board cuts that are scheduled to kick in March 1.

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  GOP lawmakers see automatic cuts as leverage

  By Andrew Taylor  |  January 30, 2013

  Driven by frustration over deficits and debt, Republican conservatives are pushing a politically risky move to permit painfully large automatic spending cuts to strike the Pentagon and domestic programs alike in an effort to force Democrats into making concessions on the budget.

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  House GOP seeks to defuse debt crisis

  By Andrew Taylor  |  January 23, 2013

  With tacit support from President Barack Obama, House Republicans were moving Wednesday to try to defuse a potential debt crisis with legislation to prevent an economy-rattling fiscal crisis for at least three months.

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  Boehner, White House vow to press ahead

  By Andrew Taylor  |  December 21, 2012

  House Speaker John Boehner signaled on Friday he's still open to negotiations with President Barack Obama on avoiding across-the-board tax increases set to hit taxpayers Jan. 1, but sounded pessimistic about reaching a grand deal with the president.

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  House GOP plans vote on fiscal cliff ‘Plan B’

  By Andrew Taylor  |  December 20, 2012

  The Republican-controlled House pushed ahead Thursday with a bill that would raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year as hopes faded for a pre-Christmas deal between President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.”

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  Obama Social Security offer at odds with top Dems

  By Stephen Ohlemacher  |  December 19, 2012

  President Barack Obama's offer to slow the growth of Social Security benefits would force fellow Democrats in Congress to abandon promises to shield the massive retirement and disability program from cuts as part of negotiations to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff.