House Democratic leaders hoping to pass a health care reform bill by the Easter congressional recess face increasingly difficult odds, as several of the party’s rank-and-file have come out against the Senate’s plan.

House Democrats said Wednesday that they will ban earmarks directed to for-profit companies.

Some 65 years after their service, a group of former civilian women pilots whose unheralded work was key to helping the U.S. effort in World War II are honored with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says it is difficult to have any negotiations with Israel unless it revokes plans to build new homes on disputed land in Jerusalem, Abbas’ top negotiator said Thursday.

Steve Hildebrand, one of the top advisers who helped put President Obama in office, has a stark warning for his old friends at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

Simmering tension between the White House and U.S. Supreme Court spilled into public this week when Chief Justice John Roberts labeled the political atmosphere at this year’s State of the Union address “very troubling.”

President Obama will announce Thursday new details of his free trade agenda that is intended to grow the economy, a White House official said.

President Obama is set to turn up the heat on private health insurers again Wednesday, taking his increasingly populist health care overhaul pitch on the road to the political battleground state of Missouri.

President Obama met Wednesday with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

The United States will hold both Israel and the Palestinians responsible for any steps that make peace between them more difficult, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday.