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Lynn Sweet biography

Lynn Sweet is the Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief. She writes a column, a blog and files on Twitter. Find and follow her at http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet …Read More

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Sen. Kirk walks in to next stage of career

WASHINGTON — With much tenderness, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin helped Sen. Mark Kirk take off his coat, no easy task for a recovering stroke victim, much less one coming back to work Thursday for the first time in almost a year. …

President Obama after fiscal-cliff drama: ‘The deficit is still too high’

The drawn-out fiscal cliff drama ended late Tuesday with the House sending President Barack Obama legislation that averts tax hikes that would have socked every earner in the nation. The bill passed the House on a 257-167 bipartisan vote, coming with only hours to spare since the new Congress is being sworn-in at noon on Thursday.

  • Senate OKs deal to avert ‘fiscal cliff’ tax hikes, spending cuts

    WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 89-9 to approve a fiscal cliff deal early Tuesday morning in an unusual New Year’s Eve session, sending the measure to an uncertain fate in the House. “This historic vote protects working families from an income tax increase and spares our economy from a devastating political disaster,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said.

  • Biden to greet Kirk at Senate return

    WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), absent from the Senate almost a year because of stroke, plans a triumphant return next Thursday, walking up the steps of the Senate to be greeted by Vice President Joe Biden, the Sun-Times has learned. Unless there is a …Read More

  • Fiscal cliff: Progress, but no promise of deal that could pass House, Senate

    WASHINGTON — Congress returns to work Monday — with only hours to go until the looming year-end “fiscal cliff” deadline — with some progress Sunday, but no promise of a deal that could pass the House and Senate. Almost all of the action Sunday was in the Senate — behind the scenes, on the Senate floor and in closed-door separate meetings for Democratic and GOP senators.

    • Sun-Times exclusive: Obama urges Illinois Legislature to legalize gay marriage

    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is urging the Illinois General Assembly to legalize gay marriage in his home state as lawmakers are poised to take up the measure as early as this week in Springfield. “While the president does not weigh in on every measure …

    Senate takes stab at averting cliff

    WASHINGTON — The House and Senate will be in session on Sunday to try to avoid the looming Monday fiscal cliff deadline as President Barack Obama is daring GOP senators to filibuster a Democratic-drafted bill. Obama said after meeting with the four top congressional leaders …

    Frustrated Obama pushes Senate vote to break cliff logjam

    WASHINGTON — After meeting with the four top congressional leaders, President Barack Obama said Friday he was “modestly optimistic” a deal could be made to avoid the looming Monday — New Year’s Eve — fiscal cliff deadline. “The American people are watching what we do …

    Congress poised to miss fiscal cliff deadline

    With Congress poised to miss the Dec. 31 fiscal cliff deadline — and no viable compromise on the table — President Barack Obama is meeting Friday with the four top congressional leaders. There are only hours left to make a deal.

    Fiscal cliff vote hinges on House Speaker Boehner

    WASHINGTON — With President Barack Obama back in Washington on Thursday, cutting short his Hawaii vacation to deal with the looming fiscal cliff crisis, the most important question is not over taxes and spending. The first and most important hurdle: Is House Speaker John Boehner …

    Gutierrez crosses aisle for immigration reform

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is quietly building bridges with two key Republicans who may run for president in 2016 — Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan — to forge bipartisan immigration reform legislation. While Congress is consumed with highly partisan fiscal cliff …

    NRA’s Wayne LaPierre ignores realities of gun violence in cringe-worthy assessment of school massacre

    WASHINGTON — A week after the Sandy Hook school massacre, National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre’s answer to the latest gun tragedy in the nation was a call to arms. At a press conference on Friday, LaPierre, who runs the powerful gun rights lobby, urged …

    Rahm Emanuel has mixed record on gun control

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call Monday to renew an assault weapons ban demonstrates his situational pragmatism. In Chicago, Emanuel cited how he stood by the side of former President Bill Clinton when the assault weapons provision was signed into law in 1994, when he was a White House adviser. Attempts to renew the ban — it expired in September 2004 — have gotten nowhere in Congress. Emanuel omits where he stood when he was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

    Sweet: President faces new call to action on gun control

    WASHINGTON — There is no way that I am going to predict that outrage over the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School will lead to more gun control — even as President Barack Obama on Friday pledged “meaningful action” in the wake of another …

    Obama gets emotional

    WASHINGTON — Reacting as much as parent as president, an emotional President Barack Obama said “our hearts are broken today” in the wake of the Friday shootings at a Connecticut elementary school as he also took note of gun violence in Chicago. Obama, tearing up, …

    Obama’s loss: Susan Rice gives up

    WASHINGTON — Embattled U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice took the hit on Thursday, asking President Barack Obama to not nominate her for secretary of state because she would face a bruising confirmation fight — a headache Obama did not need. Rice phoned Obama before sending him …

    Obama’s second-term swearing in will be open to media

    WASHINGTON — The American public will be able to witness President Barack Obama getting sworn in for a second term; the Presidential Inaugural Committee said Wednesday that the unusual Sunday ceremony will be open to media coverage. This should not even have been a question …

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