Congressional gun rights supporters are showing a growing willingness to consider new gun-control legislation in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shootings.
House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a $633 billion defense bill that would tighten sanctions on Iran and give the Pentagon some leeway in developing alternative fuels.
The Senate is turning its attention to a $60.4 billion disaster aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims while President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner try to avert the fiscal cliff off spending cuts and tax increases.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told a U.S. Senate committee Hurricane Sandy caused $100 million in damages to the square-mile city across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Republicans are again demanding that President Barack Obama name specific cuts in government spending that he would support as part of any compromise aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff."
A bipartisan group of House members says any budget deal to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts should include "substantial defense savings."
Millions of unemployed Americans have another reason to worry about "fiscal cliff" budget talks that seek to avoid looming tax increases and dire spending cuts come January.