S.A. Miller

Pelosi’s mouse slated for $30M slice of cheese

UPDATED: Talk about a pet project. A tiny mouse with the longtime backing of a political giant may soon reap the benefits of the economic-stimulus package.

February 12, 2009

Historic stimulus deal reached

The White House and Democrat-controlled Congress struck a deal Wednesday for a $789 billion stimulus package.

February 12, 2009

Stimulus has $30M to save Pelosi’s harvest mouse

House Republicans are challenging Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that the massive stimulus spending bill contains no pet projects after uncovering in the bill more than $30 million for wetlands conservation in her San Francisco Bay area district, including work she previously championed to protect the salt marsh harvest mouse.

February 11, 2009

Tentative deal keeps stimulus bill at $789 billion

Congressional leaders and the White House struck a tentative agreement to keep the price of the economic stimulus bill at about $789 billion, which should preserve a few key Senate Republican votes needed for the final passage.

February 11, 2009

Congress works to preserve fragile stimulus

UPDATED: Congressional leaders began hurried negotiations Tuesday to merge House and Senate versions of an economic rescue package, struggling to keep the price tag low enough to preserve a few key Senate Republican votes while satisfying House Democrats eager for more spending.

February 11, 2009

Struggle begins on stimulus bills

Congressional leaders began hurried negotiations Tuesday to reconcile House and Senate versions of an economic-rescue package, struggling to keep the price tag low enough to preserve a few key Senate Republican votes while satisfying House Democrats eager for more spending.

February 11, 2009

Congress works to preserve fragile stimulus

UPDATED: Congressional leaders began hurried negotiations Tuesday to merge House and Senate versions of an economic rescue package, struggling to keep the price tag low enough to preserve a few key Senate Republican votes while satisfying House Democrats eager for more spending.

February 11, 2009

Conservatives rip stimulus’s GOP backers

A conservative political action committee Tuesday vowed to pour money into primary challenges against any Republican who votes for President Obama's economic rescue package.

February 11, 2009

Senate pares stimulus for GOP votes

UPDATED: Senators from both parties worked feverishly Thursday to cut up to $100 billion from President Obama's economic recovery package.

February 6, 2009

Reid predicts pared-down stimulus will pass

Senators from both parties worked feverishly Thursday to cut up to $100 billion from President Obama's economic recovery package, seeking to win over Republican lawmakers and a public increasingly pained by what it sees as a bloated spending bill short on stimulus.

February 5, 2009

Obama prods senators on stimulus

President Obama met individually with several senators seeking to cut billions of dollars from the economic recovery bill, even as the Congressional Budget Office said the legislation could leave the economy slightly worse off.

February 5, 2009

STD, no-smoking cash still in bill

Senate Democrats, mocked over trying to stimulate the economy with $475 million to fight smoking and sexually transmitted diseases, removed the programs from the economic recovery package on Tuesday. But the money remains.

February 4, 2009

Senate votes down add to stimulus

The Senate voted down an amendment Tuesday that would have added $25 billion to the stimulus for more transportation project, a popular economic remedy that fell to Republican concerns over the $885 billion bill's ballooning price tag.

February 3, 2009

White House dismisses GOP on stimulus bill

The White House on Monday embraced the economic stimulus drafted by congressional Democrats and belittled Republican objections to excessive spending in the bill, saying it added up to just $699 million - chump change in Washington.

February 3, 2009

McConnell: Democrats breaking with Obama

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Capitol Hill Democrats, not Republicans, are breaking with President Obama over his call to trim excessive spending and add tax cuts in the economic stimulus.

February 2, 2009

Constituent gets ‘rant’ at Obey’s office

A Wisconsin voter from House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey's district says he was "ranted at" and "bullied" when he asked the Democratic congressman's aide about a Washington Times report. The report said national parks got more than $2 billion in the stimulus bill, and Mr. Obey's son is the chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association.

January 31, 2009

GOP promoting own stimulus plan

House Republicans, leery of being labeled naysayers after rejecting the $819 billion economic rescue bill, are launching a district-by-district message campaign to promote their own stimulus bill and highlight the huge taxpayer debt amassed by the Democrats' spending plan.

January 30, 2009

EXCLUSIVE: Stimulus has plum for lawmaker’s son

EXCLUSIVE: A top House Republican is demanding an investigation into whether the more than $2 billion for national parks in the House economic recovery package is proper in light of the fact that the chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association is the son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey.

January 29, 2009

Democrats kill bill that honored troops

House Democrats blocked a measure that would have required new roads, bridges and schools funded by the $825 billion economic stimulus to be named after U.S. armed forces members killed in action.

January 29, 2009

Critics say Obama’s economic bill lacks stimulus

UPDATED: From $400 million for NASA climate-change research to $650 million for digital TV converter-box coupons, the unprecedented spending in President Obama's economic stimulus plan is provoking questions about whether it can create jobs and jolt the country out of recession.

January 27, 2009