It has not been lost on many that Ted Kennedy's death came at a moment when the cause he described as the greatest one of his public life — universal health care — seems to be stumbling just short of the goal line. Kennedy's absence has been felt all year on Capitol Hill, and there are many on both sides who believe that health reform might be closer to becoming a reality if he had been in any shape ...

It's been a decade and a half since anyone in Congress has attempted to put together a major overhaul of the health care system, and no one on Capitol Hill or the White House these days is under any illusions that it will come easy. But as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday becomes the first to begin the process of formally drafting a bill — one that members will call the Affordable Health ...

The more often Americans go to church, the more likely they are to support the torture of suspected terrorists, according to a new survey. More than half of people who attend services at least once a week -- 54 percent -- said the use of torture against suspected terrorists is "often" or "sometimes" justified. Only 42 percent of people who "seldom or never" go to services agreed, according to the analysis released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & ...

House Republicans on Thursday said they have come up with an alternative proposal to the president's budget, following criticism from Democrats that they have become the "party of no." "Two nights ago the president said, 'We haven't seen a budget yet out of Republicans.' Well, it's just not true because -- Here it is, Mr. President," said House Minority leader Rep. John Boehner, as he held up a booklet that he said was a "blueprint for where we're going." ...

Barely a day goes by on Capitol Hill without some politician expressing a good measure of righteous indignation. It's less common for virtually every member of Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, to have the same target for his or her carefully calibrated anger. But when all that talk actually gets channeled into immediate action, then you know that something really historic is happening in Washington — and that Congress may well come to regret it. The unprecedented productivity on ...

Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG's impending $160 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is 10 days before Treasury staffers say they first learned "full details" of the bonus plan, and three days before the Administration launched a new $30 billion infusion of cash for AIG. ...