Steny Hoyer

WASHINGTON -- On this, her 25 th anniversary year in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), has been feted from coast to coast - including a party with U2 singer Bono earlier this week - but the celebration arrived briefly Thursday on the House floor. The moment was both tender and awkward as House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) noted the milestone for the Californian, who had been the nation's first female speaker - until his party's election gains in 2010 booted her from the job. “The gentle-lady and I have differing political philosophies and we have had some real battles here on the floor,” Boehner said.

WASHINGTON -- On this, her 25 th anniversary year in Congress, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), has been feted from coast to coast - including a party with U2 singer Bono earlier this week - but the celebration arrived briefly Thursday on the House floor. The moment was both tender and awkward as House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) noted the milestone for the Californian, who had been the nation's first female speaker - until his party's election gains in 2010 booted her from the job. “The gentle-lady and I have differing political philosophies and we have had some real battles here on the floor,” Boehner said.

Even Nancy Pelosi is kicking poor Rick Perry when he's down. The Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful had sent a letter to Pelosi, the House's top Democrat, challenging her to a debate next week over his “Overhaul Washington” plan that calls for a part-time Congress of citizen-legislators. For Perry, the move was straight out of the conservative playbook. Down in the polls, mocked by late-night comedians, his contributions drying up, he picked a fight with Pelosi, the bete noire of the American Right.

Even Nancy Pelosi is kicking poor Rick Perry when he's down. The Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful had sent a letter to Pelosi, the House's top Democrat, challenging her to a debate next week over his “Overhaul Washington” plan that calls for a part-time Congress of citizen-legislators. For Perry, the move was straight out of the conservative playbook. Down in the polls, mocked by late-night comedians, his contributions drying up, he picked a fight with Pelosi, the bete noire of the American Right.

President Obama travels to North Carolina on Wednesday dogged by poor economic news, threats of resistance on the Hill, sagging poll numbers and Democratic losses in a pair of special House elections. If September, and more specifically the president's jobs speech, was intended to be the start of a new phase of Obama's presidency, there is precious little indication as of yet that anything at all has changed. FOR THE RECORD: Obama tour: An earlier version of this online article misstated the White House's assertions regarding any intended connection between President Obama's tour promoting his jobs package and his reelection campaign.

Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying to be her second-in-command have long histories of earmarking, close relationships with corporate interests, and using their positions to raise millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Pelosi's choice for the job, Rep. John P.

Filling a key leadership post, House Democrats today will choose a new party whip in a contest between a pragmatic Capitol Hill veteran from Maryland and a Californian seeking to become the first woman in congressional history to hold such a high partisan office. On one level, the race between Reps. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is an insider's game. The chief job of the minority whip, the No.

After the Senate overwhelmingly voted to advance the tax-cuts package, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer acknowledged Tuesday the urgency in passing the legislation to avoid a tax hike on Jan. 1. The bill could clear the Senate late Tuesday or early Wednesday, pressuring reluctant House Democrats to act on the deal the White House struck with the GOP. The $858-billion package extends tax cuts from the George W. Bush administration for two years...

Every politician worthy of the name knows that the easiest policy changes to put over are those that don't kick in until well into the future. The idea, of course, is that by the time their dire ramifications become evident, they'll be someone else's problem. That must be why it has become so fashionable in Washington to propose raising the Social Security retirement age. This nostrum is an element of the "Roadmap for America's Future" promoted by GOP Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin (who calls it, with Orwellian duplicity, "modernizing" the retirement age)

House Democratic leaders will complete work as soon as Monday on a $500-billion spending package that will include billions of dollars for the war effort in Iraq without the timelines for the withdrawal of combat forces that Presi- dent Bush has refused to ac- cept, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday.

President Obama travels to North Carolina on Wednesday dogged by poor economic news, threats of resistance on the Hill, sagging poll numbers and Democratic losses in a pair of special House elections. If September, and more specifically the president's jobs speech, was intended to be the start of a new phase of Obama's presidency, there is precious little indication as of yet that anything at all has changed. FOR THE RECORD: Obama tour: An earlier version of this online article misstated the White House's assertions regarding any intended connection between President Obama's tour promoting his jobs package and his reelection campaign.

After the Senate overwhelmingly voted to advance the tax-cuts package, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer acknowledged Tuesday the urgency in passing the legislation to avoid a tax hike on Jan. 1. The bill could clear the Senate late Tuesday or early Wednesday, pressuring reluctant House Democrats to act on the deal the White House struck with the GOP. The $858-billion package extends tax cuts from the George W. Bush administration for two years...

Though incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promises to push through ethical reforms in Congress, both of the Democrats vying to be her second-in-command have long histories of earmarking, close relationships with corporate interests, and using their positions to raise millions of dollars in campaign contributions. Pelosi's choice for the job, Rep. John P.

Filling a key leadership post, House Democrats today will choose a new party whip in a contest between a pragmatic Capitol Hill veteran from Maryland and a Californian seeking to become the first woman in congressional history to hold such a high partisan office. On one level, the race between Reps. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is an insider's game. The chief job of the minority whip, the No.

Democratic and Republican leaders in the House struggled today to persuade their members to vote for large tax increases, little more than one week before congressional elections. The taxes are part of a five-year, $500-billion deficit reduction package that was expected to come to the House floor late today or early Saturday.

House Democrats, responding to Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that his office is exempt from certain national security disclosure requirements, said they would try to strip his office's funding. The proposal to eliminate funding for Cheney's office could come up Thursday as an amendment to an annual spending bill, said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).