Politics - McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Army Lt. Col. Dominic "Rocky" Baragona was killed in Iraq on the very day that he was going home.

WASHINGTON — Republican senators confronted Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday over his decision to try the Sept. 11 terrorism suspects in civilian court.

WASHINGTON _Senate Democratic leaders planned to unveil an $849 billion health care plan Wednesday night that would cut the federal budget deficit by an estimated $127 billion over the next 10 years, according to preliminary Congressional Budget Office estimates.

SEOUL, South Korea — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he was still weeks away from deciding how many more U.S. troops to send to Afghanistan and that he'd like to fire officials who'd leaked details of his deliberations to the news media.

WASHINGTON — China's rebuff this week of President Barack Obama's call to stop controlling the price of its currency sparked renewed calls for legislation to allow U.S. retaliation against Chinese-made goods.

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The morning air at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan was crisp and clear, with a chill to it, and Sgt. Jeffrey Sherwood was excited.

WASHINGTON — Citing a wide belief that "Wall Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the creation of a sweeping state-federal task force to uncover crimes contributing to the recent financial crisis or threatening to cause one in the future.

WASHINGTON — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wanted to take a pretend pig farm with real pigs to Capitol Hill to protest how the animals are treated in big corporate hog farms.

WASHINGTON — Stung by constituents' concerns about their vanishing or vulnerable jobs, congressional leaders launched a strong push Tuesday to pass a "jobs creation" package by the end of this year.

BEIJING — President Barack Obama on Wednesday wraps up a three-day visit to China that's left him keenly aware of the limits of his administration's leverage over this economic powerhouse on issues from currency exchange rates to human rights.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao agreed Tuesday that U.S. and Chinese scientists and engineers will work together to speed the widespread use of electric cars, buildings that need far less energy and coal-fired power plants that don't pump out gases that cause global warming.

WASHINGTON — Requiring employers to offer most workers health insurance has long been seen as a crucial piece of Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system, but legislation that the Senate's expected to consider soon is unlikely to include any such mandate.

BEIJING — President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet Tuesday to talk privately about issues ranging from North Korea's nuclear threat to currency and trade disputes. U.S. policy advocates also expect the leaders to announce new joint projects on clean energy.

WASHINGTON — Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have contributed nearly $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against the island, a new report shows.

WASHINGTON — By now, nearly everyone with a television has seen the teases for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance Monday on Oprah Winfrey's show. (Will Levi come to Thanksgiving dinner? Stay tuned!)

SHANGHAI — President Barack Obama kicks off his visit to China with a town-hall meeting Monday in Shanghai, a rare chance for the Chinese people — university students in the audience and people of all ages who sent questions via the Internet — to communicate directly with a Western leader.

WASHINGTON — There are zero-book children, 1,000-book children, the summer slide, Early Readers, Reading First, Striving Readers and programs, methods and studies with names and acronyms that won't quit. It's all part of the effort to teach the nation's children to read.

WASHINGTON — California Democratic Rep. Joe Baca wants to count all Latinos in the 2010 census, including millions of noncitizens. Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter wants only legal citizens included in the official count.

SHANGHAI — When President Barack Obama lands here Sunday night in China's largest city, he'll find many of its 20 million people intrigued by him and welcoming, but hardly deferential, and some openly skeptical of his promises of change.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to prosecute confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four alleged underlings in civilian courts ignited a debate Friday about whether the trial would invite new attacks on New York and if the proceeding would be stymied by legal wrangling over the defendants' rights.

WASHINGTON — Leaders of a congressional commission investigating the causes of the recent financial crisis are threatening to publicly identify any company or government agency that stalls in voluntarily producing requested documents.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder, rejecting concerns about security risks, announced Friday that confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged underlings will face a federal court trial in New York just blocks from the scene of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON — In a shakeup, White House Counsel Greg Craig abruptly announced his resignation Friday, just weeks after telling reporters that he had no plans to leave.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has ordered a high-level review of how U.S. officials handled warning signs that might have pointed to the eventual killing spree at Fort Hood, Texas, allegedly by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

WASHINGTON — Consumer advocates love the new consumer protection agency included in the financial industry overhaul that Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., proposed this week.

WASHINGTON — Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd's sweeping new financial overhaul legislation, which proposes to strip the Federal Reserve of its authority to regulate banks, threatens the central bank's time-honored independence and its premier international standing, experts warn.

WASHINGTON — As job losses continue to slow the nation's economic recovery, labor experts and economists are urging Congress and the Obama administration to boost funding for a little-known program that 17 states are using to avert layoffs and keep workers in their jobs.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan. 22 was followed by a series of mistakes and missteps by his administration that will delay the prison's closure for months, according to a report from a policy organization with close ties to the White House.