Reporter Audie Cornish joined NPR in October and covers a ten-state territory in the South, including many states still reeling from this year's hurricane season. Cornish will provide reports for NPR's award-winning Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition, as well as within NPR newscasts.
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The Senate has voted to extend unemployment insurance benefits for up to 20 weeks. The 24 billion dollar bill also expands an eight thousand dollar tax credit for first-time homebuyers. The legislation is expected to sail through the House.
Congress is trying to rewrite financial regulations to avoid the company failures and rescues of the last 18 months. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared Thursday before a key House panel to tout a plan that would allow federal regulators to unwind troubled financial companies, which are considered too big to fail. He got skepticism from both sides of the aisle.
Most state have laws protecting journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources. But efforts to get a federal version have been stalled for years. The Senate Judiciary Committee takes up the issue Thursday. Sponsors say the Obama administration is resistant to the measure.
After weeks of political infighting, the Senate voted Tuesday to take up a bill to extend unemployment benefits. House lawmakers passed similar legislation last month. Since then, 400,000 people had their benefits end. The Senate is scrambling to pass the provision this week before thousands more run out of benefits.
Congress moved forward on a major piece of the Obama administration's efforts to overhaul the financial industry. A key House panel approved a bill Thursday to set up a new agency to regulate consumer credit — everything from payday loans to debit cards. The proposal has taken some hits after intense lobbying from banks and other creditors.
President Obama did not invent policy czars, but he has contributed to their proliferation — by appointing some three dozen, critics say. Conservatives have been raising concerns for months, and now a Senate panel led by Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold is looking into whether these presidentially appointed managers are a way to get around the Senate's confirmation process.
With the holiday shopping season just weeks away, some on Capitol Hill are pushing to move up the start date of a law aimed at protecting credit card holders. It isn't scheduled to go into effect until February, but lawmakers say credit card companies are taking advantage of the lag time by lowering credit limits and raising rates.
The health care debate has slowed things down, but Congress is still working on new rules governing the financial industry. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testified on Capitol Hill Thursday about the need to protect consumers and rein in financial institutions. He wants lawmakers to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner agreed Wednesday to scale back provisions for a new agency to regulate consumer credit. Geithner testified on Capitol Hill, and said he agreed with House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, who has opposed the proposed agency's scope.
House lawmakers have voted to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks to people in states where the unemployment rate is at least 8.5 percent. That's about half the states. It affects about 300,000 workers whose benefits would otherwise run out this month. The Senate is working on a similar bill.
The House is expected to vote on a bill Thursday that would let students borrow directly from the U-S Treasury — instead of from private lenders subsidized by the government. House Democrats say this would save millions in the long run. But the bill has opponents in the loan industry — and obstacles in the Senate.
Nearly a week after Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) interrupted President Obama's speech on health care, shouting "You lie!" Congress has passed a resolution admonishing him. Democratic leaders had hoped he would apologize to the House body on his own, but that apology never came. Now he's the first member in the history of Congress to be formally chastised for heckling the president during an appearance on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, a member of the bipartisan gang of six, may be the one Republican who votes for a health care bill in the Senate. "What we have to do is develop a plan that's going to be available to people on an affordable basis, and, secondly, containing costs both for the American consumer and the American taxpayer," Snowe says.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) represents the smallest state in population but he has a big role to play in the negotiations to overhaul health care. Enzi is one of the "gang of six" senators crafting the Senate's health care bill. He says he won't vote for any measure that can't get the support of 75 to 80 senators.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the leader of the GOP on the Senate Finance Committee, has backed off his earlier commitments to bipartisan health care changes and become the prime obstacle to legislation. The apparent shift in position follows weeks of rowdy town hall meetings.
