Politics Audio/Video - NPR

In a 47-page assessment paid for by the community-organizing group, former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger said there was no criminal conduct by employees caught on videos offering advice on how to hide assets and falsify lending documents. He said the videos were the result of longstanding management weaknesses.

Sandwiched between his speech on the Afghanistan troop build-up last week and two international speeches later this week, President Obama will deliver an economic policy address Tuesday. Patience with the pace of government action is running short on Capitol Hill, and many Democrats fear the public is starting to question whether Obama feels their pain.

Projections of bigger savings from the financial bailout fund are setting up a fight over how to use the anticipated $200 billion windfall. The president is likely to push for a new jobs program while congressional Republicans insist the money go to cutting the budget deficit.

The idea, still sketchy, would be for the federal Office of Personnel Management to contract with private insurers for a national health plan in the place of a directly run government program.

Democratic leader Harry Reid kept senators in Washington for a rare weekend session. They debated amendments and held votes on the sweeping health care legislation. President Obama went to Capitol Hill Sunday to give a private speech and pep talk to Democrats. Lawmakers are set to begin debating a particularly divisive issue in the bill: abortion.

The Obama administration plans to cut its estimate of the projected costs of the government bailout program by more than $200 billion and is looking at using part of the savings to fund new job creation efforts. A Treasury official said Sunday that the administration now believes the cost of the financial rescue program will be at least $200 billion below the $341 billion estimate it made in August.

Despite the attention being paid to the Copenhagen climate talks beginning Monday, public opinion of the urgency of climate change continues to sink. Some social scientists say the issue is so daunting, many people decide to shut it out of their thoughts. Will this affect a climate change treaty?

Casting health care overhaul as a legacy for the American people and failure as politically unthinkable, President Obama on Sunday rallied Senate Democrats to deliver on their party's half-century quest to expand the social safety net by providing access for all.

Just as in Iraq, the U.S. eventually will turn over provinces to local security forces, allowing the United States to bring the number of troops down steadily, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

As representatives from around the world gather this week to discuss climate change in Copenhagen, host Liane Hansen talks with former Colorado congressman and senator Tim Wirth. He's president of the United Nations Foundation, an organization which, in part, advocates for environmental issues.

President Obama jets off to Copenhagen to address the global conference on climate change, then on to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize. Back home, Congress wrestles with overhauling the health care and financial service industries and administration officials continue their sales job on the president's plan for Afghanistan. Host Liane Hansen talks to Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving.

Baucus benefiting his girlfriend by nominating her to a plum government job may or may not end up hurting his effectiveness as a leader on Democratic efforts to pass health care overhaul. But it certainly won't do much to improve the public's low estimation of Congress.

As Democrats push to make headway on their huge overhaul, GOP pushes just as hard to slow it.

A few years before her death, Barack Obama's mother completed her doctoral dissertation. Nearly two decades later, S. Ann Dunham's fieldwork has been published — a fulfillment of her dream, courtesy of her daughter.

The Senate opens a rare weekend session to debate Obama's health care overhaul.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was romantically involved with a former staffer when he recommended her earlier this year to become the next U.S. attorney for Montana, a spokesman said.

Despite any number of ads and awareness campaigns launched by the government, advocacy groups and corporations that have turned "green" into a superlative, the number of Americans who believe climate change is a serious problem has been declining, according to a recent study by Pew Research. Host Scott Simon talks to Ed Maibach, director of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication, about the challenges of launching public awareness marketing campaigns about climate change.

President Obama on Friday abruptly altered the timing of his upcoming appearance at an international climate summit in Copenhagen, hoping to capitalize on steps by India and China and build a more meaningful political accord, a White House official told The Associated Press.

This week President Obama announced he was sending 30,000 troops to Afghanistan as part of his strategy for the country. Political commentators E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and David Brooks of The New York Times offer their insight.

Business executives, financial experts and economists gathered Thursday with President Obama at the White House to swap ideas about how to jumpstart the economy. But critics say the president's job summit was a public relations stunt, and are skeptical that it will do anything to spur the economy along or encourage employers to start hiring again. New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing talk about the needs of their constituents and what they hope to see come out of this summit.

On Capitol Hill Thursday, senators questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at his confirmation hearing. President Obama has nominated Bernanke for a second term. The hearing was heated, humorous and at times dull. But the underlying pretense was who can we blame for the financial crisis?

As the health care debate continues in Washington, some states are taking steps to limit or block changes. In Arizona, voters are being asked to ratify a legislative move that gives residents the right to opt-out of any health-care system.

If you listen to Congress, you might think most people owe a lot of taxes when they die. Republicans like to call the inheritance tax the "death tax," while Democrats say it hits only the very rich. But, as is often the case, the truth is more complicated.

Glenn Richardson, the first Republican to become speaker since Reconstruction, resigned Thursday after a suicide attempt and allegations by his ex-wife that he carried on an affair with a lobbyist.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke faced tough questions from the Senate Banking Committee about the Fed's failures leading up to the financial crisis and the role it played in the bailout of Wall Street firms. While Bernanke is ultimately expected to be reconfirmed, the hearing may influence the Fed's future role in an overhauled financial system.

The head of the Secret Service says the security breach at last week's White House state dinner was an aberration. But Mark Sullivan told a House panel the president was never at risk.

After a half-day brainstorming session with some of the nation's top CEOs, small-business leaders, union reps and economists, Obama said he'd heard many "exciting ideas and proposals." He said there were some ideas that could be put to work almost immediately and others that would become part of legislation for Congress to consider.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told NPR that establishing military teams from both countries is the key to successfully stabilizing the country.

Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski's measure would expand coverage of women's health care, allowing the government to require insurers to cover preventive care and screenings for women at little or no cost to them.

A new generation of U.S. bishops is both more conservative on social issues and more vocal. They are irked by the new political landscape: Abortion remains legal, President Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research, and a few states are allowing same-sex marriage.

Even without a filibuster, Republicans have plenty of parliamentary tools to delay the Senate's consideration of health care overhaul legislation.

Before Desiree Rogers was Social Secretary and Special Assistant to the President, she was a Queen. Twice.

Ben Bernanke is widely credited with helping keep the "Great Recession" from becoming a second Great Depression. But the Federal Reserve chairman faces anger from both Congress and the public for bailing out Wall Street, while ordinary Americans are struggling under the crush of high unemployment, stagnant incomes and rising foreclosures.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. He is seeking confirmation for another four years as head of the nation's central bank. Bernanke may find himself under fire for decisions he made during the bank bailout from angry lawmakers who are looking to limit the Fed's powers.

Efforts are under way to expand the scope of evidence-based medicine as part of an attempt to rein in health care costs. Congress is still meddling in medical decisions, such as the new guidelines on mammograms. Wednesday's discussions by a House panel on routine mammograms got tangled with the issue of health care overhaul.

Three top administration officials are making the case for how the war in Afghanistan can be won. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Admiral Mike Mullen, the nation's top military officer, are making the rounds on Capitol Hill. Their mission: sell the president's new strategy for Afghanistan.

Attorney General Eric Holder has said he is not a proponent of capital punishment. But by Oct. 3, he had authorized death penalty prosecutions at a pace comparable to that of his immediate predecessor.

The White House is hosting a jobs summit Thursday to collect ideas about how to put people back to work. Since pushing for the stimulus package earlier this year, the president has been hesitant about spending a lot more money to create jobs. He's caught in a tug of war between those worried about rising unemployment and a rising federal deficit.

On the eve of a hearing to confirm a second term for the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said Bernanke should have done more to help struggling Americans. The Senate needs 60 votes to override Sanders' "hold" on the nomination and move forward with a vote.