Barack Obama is heading to Capitol Hill to push for quick action on a broad economic stimulus package that congressional leaders are saying won’t be ready until mid-February at the earliest — almost a month later than the president-elect wanted.

Barack Obama probably cannot fix every leaky roof and busted boiler in the nation’s schools. But educators say his sweeping school modernization program — if he spends enough — could jump-start student achievement.

Home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate on record in October and there are no signs the housing pain is over, according to a closely watched index released Tuesday.

A top adviser to President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday that the country’s slowing economy won’t keep the new administration from fulfilling its plans for a middle-class tax cut.

A trio of reports due out Tuesday are expected to paint a bleak picture of the nation’s housing market and the broader economy, as the deepening recession sends more companies lining up for a piece of the government’s $700 billion bailout fund.

It’s something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where’s the money going? But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

From Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic Monthly: Obama has a lot to face starting January 20th. Where the discussion isn't going is the possibility that the first foreign policy crisis the administration will face will be the complete economic collapse of a large, unstable nation.

A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit’s automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate.

A government “car czar” with the power to force U.S. automakers into bankruptcy would dole out $15 billion in emergency loans to the failing industry under an emerging deal between the White House and congressional Democrats.

A bailout plan for the failing U.S. auto industry could include a Cabinet-level oversight board and a provision to withdraw the money if the overseers decide the companies are failing to take steps to overhaul themselves.

Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama’s refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country.

Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.