Broker Regulation

A House Republican plan to make it easier for job seekers to learn skills by consolidating dozens of sometimes redundant job training programs is meeting resistance from Democrats who say it could leave some without critical assistance.

President Barack Obama said he had "a great conversation" with Senate Republicans on Thursday, the third stop in his ice-breaking tour of the Capitol this week on the budget and other topics.

A state legislator insisted Wednesday that a clause in the House budget plan forces South Carolina's unemployment agency to resume providing in-person help with unemployment benefits in 17 rural offices. But the governor's office is adamant that it does no such thing.

Missouri's Republican-led Legislature dealt a triple defeat Wednesday to a Medicaid expansion plan as Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon continued to travel the state trying to rally support for an enlarged health-care program for lower-income adults.

A Democratic lawmaker introduced a package of bills Wednesday to address an expected doctor shortage as California prepares to insure millions of new patients under federal health care reforms.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has rejected a Republican effort to attach the repeal of President Barack Obama's health care law to a government spending bill.