Nancy Pelosi

The Senate on Wednesday cleared the way to provide $10 billion to states and local school districts to prevent teacher layoffs and an additional $16 billion in federal aid to cash-strapped states, and the Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said she would summon House back from its summer recess to grant final approval to the bill.

WASHINGTON (AP) — African-American slaves sweated in the summer heat and shivered in the winter’s cold while helping to build the U.S. Capitol.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are trying to prevent a political disaster along with the environmental one taking place in the Gulf of Mexico as they try to convince Americans frustrated by the ongoing oil spill that BP and Republican coziness with the oil industry are to blame.

Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel, has been a strong and outspoken critic of presidential law-breaking.

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.

Democratic leaders in Congress sidetracked legislation to bail out the auto industry Thursday and demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable.