congress – Page 10 – 4VF News

Travel leaders, lawmakers rally behind ‘blacklisted’ cities

Business isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Las Vegas, Nevada, or Orlando, Florida, but these two entertainment capitals are also the top business meeting and convention destinations in the United States. One of the nation’s largest employers has discouraged its employees from booking meetings and conventions in the cities where Mickey Mouse lives and Wayne Newton sings. In an e-mail between a Federal Bureau of Investigation employee and a Las Vegas hotel, the FBI employee explained why the agency would not hold an upcoming business meeting in the city

Obama on Health Care: Pragmatism Over Principle

Six months into the Obama Administration, a clear pattern of legislative pragmatism has emerged: focus on winning the big votes and don’t fret too much about losing some of the details.

Rights groups question Nigerian hard-line Islamic leader’s death

Human rights groups in Nigeria are questioning how a fundamentalist Islamist sect leader died.

De facto Honduran president changes course, calls for envoy

Honduran interim President Roberto Micheletti’s hard-line stance against the return of ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya has softened, he said, but the signing of a proposed agreement to end the country’s political crisis remained uncertain. In a statement released late Wednesday, Micheletti said an agreement presented by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias “is the best path toward the achievement of consensus in Honduras.” Micheletti’s announcement was an apparent change of position, given that it was accompanied by a call to Arias to send a special envoy to Honduras to persuade political and business leaders to embrace the agreement, too. In the month since Zelaya’s ouster, members of Micheletti’s government have repeatedly stated that Zelaya’s return is an unacceptable condition

A Brief History of Blue Dog Democrats

Every political coalition needs a catchy name.

Obama Health-Care Interview: On His Push for Reform

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here’s an excerpt of the full transcript, which will be published on TIME.com on July 30.

Deputy leader killed as Nigerian military raids Islamic sect

Nigeria’s military has claimed it raided the compound of a fundamentalist Islamic sect and killed one of its top leaders, as the battle intensified between government troops and Islamist forces in the country’s north Thursday. At least 400 rebels, civilians and troops have died since the fighting began Sunday, triggered by the arrest of some members of the sect, known as Boko Haram.

TIME’s Exclusive Interview with President Obama

TIME senior writer Karen Tumulty sat down with President Barack Obama on Tuesday afternoon to talk about his work both in public and behind the scenes to push a health-care-reform measure through Congress. Here’s the full transcript. TIME: I thought I’d talk to you a little bit about just sort of the whole degree to which this is really a test of leadership, health care is, as much as anything

House Democrat holdouts agree to move forward on health care

An agreement announced Wednesday between four fiscally conservative House Democrats and the chamber’s Democratic leadership allowed committee debate to resume on a bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system. However, the deal put off a vote by the full House on President Obama’s top domestic priority until after the August recess. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, announced that the Energy and Commerce Committee would begin debate later Wednesday on the health care bill and pass it by the end of the week.

Nigeria: Hundreds die during battles with militants

About 300 people have been killed in a spate of violence in northern Nigeria, the president of a human rights group said Tuesday. The violence has pitted Islamic militants against government police and troops in the north-central part of the nation, officials said. Attacks continued Tuesday in the suburbs of the northern city of Maiduguri, said Shehu Sani, president of the Civil Rights Congress, a human rights organization based in northern Nigeria.