WASHINGTON  – The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is proposing a fee on insurance companies to help pay for health coverage for uninsured Americans.
Sen. Max Baucus is circulating his proposal among the five other members of a bipartisan group trying to craft a bill. It is not clear whether the idea will win the [...]

WASHINGTON – The White House environmental adviser under fire for inflammatory statements made before he joined the administration resigned after what he called a “vicious smear campaign against me.”
Van Jones “understood that he was going to get in the way” of President Barack Obama’s agenda, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Sunday.
The resignation was disclosed [...]

BOSTON  – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced Thursday she will run as a Democratic candidate in the special election to succeed the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
The 20-year prosecutor said she can continue to be “an effective voice for the people of Massachusetts.”
Kennedy died last week of brain cancer at age 77.
Coakley said at a [...]

BOSTON  – Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he has “some interest” in running for the late Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat.
The longtime Republican supporter wrote Wednesday on his blog that while his family and gaming company are priorities, he does have some interest in a campaign.
He says doing the required work to [...]

WASHINGTON  – Slightly more than one-third of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Democratic-led Congress, a new poll said Wednesday in a clear warning to the majority party.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press said the 37 percent expressing a positive opinion represents a decline of 13 points since April.
The favorable [...]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – An odd couple of Republican senators have hit the road, arguing for a go-slow approach to President Barack Obama’s push to revamp health care.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain are headlining the GOP’s answer to the raucous town hall meetings of August in which congressional
Democrats had [...]

WASHINGTON – Another Kennedy just might occupy the Kennedy seat in the Senate.
Amid the emotional public outpouring over the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, talk of a successor has focused on his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph Kennedy II, the 56-year-old former congressman who could return to politics after a decade’s absence.
“Even [...]

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.  – Vice President Joe Biden fondly recalled playing youth baseball in Pennsylvania while being honored at the Little League World Series.
Biden was enshrined into Little League’s Hall of Excellence before Sunday’s title game between California and Taiwan.
Accompanied by three granddaughters, Biden told the crowd he started out in Little League as an [...]

BOSTON  – Mourners gathered Thursday at both ends of a 70-mile route that was to carry the body of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy from the Cape Cod home where he spent his final days to the presidential library bearing the name of one of his slain brothers.
The late senator’s loved ones began arriving shortly before [...]