After the failure by both parties to advance their catastrophe-sparing legislation to raise the debt ceiling beyond the House of Representatives, Senator Mitch McConnell told reporters this afternoon that a default on U.S. debt "is not going to happen," and that he's "confident and optimistic" of an "agreement within the very near future," based on his recent telephone conversations with President Obama and Vice President Biden. Speaker Boehner agreed, telling CNN, "In spite of our differences, we're dealing with reasonable, responsible people." HAHA he'll be here all weekend, people! more ›

Are you a veteran, receiving Social Security, a government contractor, or of one of the recipients of the 70 million checks the federal government mails out every month? Your payments may be drastically affected (along with the American economy) next month if the debt-ceiling limit isn't raised in 10 days. more ›

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is one of the few House Democrats to accept the open invitation to the "Ground Zero" mosque party, which many Republicans hope to keep raging all the way to election day in November. Speaking to a San Francisco radio station yesterday, Pelosi said, "Speaking of urban development in my district, I have an opinion on almost every subject, but in New York, I'm sure the New Yorkers would like to make their own urban development decisions themselves." But then she did something special and "flipped it" on right-wingers like Rick Lazio, who has demanded that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo investigate the funding for the Islamic community center planned for Lower Manhattan. more ›

Eric Massa's alleged tickling, groping and cruising hobbies have gained some FBI attention. The Feds have joined the investigation against the former Representative after the House Ethics Committee announced yesterday that they would look into how Nancy Pelosi's office handled complaints against Massa. The Committee said in a statement that they are investigating whether Massa was "offensive, inappropriate [and] created a hostile work environment," and whether "monies or other payments may have been misappropriated or otherwise fraudulently or improperly distributed or received." more ›

Now that's he's blasted both Bill O'Reily and Sarah Palin, ripped Congress Republicans a new one and had a bona-fide terrorist threat at his office, Rep. Anthony Weiner may ride his new star all the way to Gracie Mansion. "There isn't a day that I go to work in this job that I'm not thinking about how I can fight for my city. I'm sure I'll still feel that way in 2013," Weiner told the Daily News. more ›

The White House says that health care legislation will pass, but it's unclear if the votes are there. The Washington Post reports, "The rosy predictions of success, combined with the difficult realities of mustering votes, underscore the gamble that the White House and congressional Democrats are poised to make in an attempt to push Obama's health-care plans across the finish line." more ›

The House voted 402-1 to urge its ethics committee to continue investigating allegations of sexual harassment involving former Democratic Rep. Eric Massa. Republicans accused top-ranking Democrats of ignoring the allegations against the resigned southwestern New York representative who purportedly groped and tickled male staffers and interns, used "inappropriate" words in conversations with aides, and attempted to "snorkel" a former roommate. more ›

This morning—after last week's admonishment for an ethics violation involving a trip to the Caribbean—Harlem representative Charlie Rangel announced he'd temporarily step down from his powerful post on the House Ways and Means Committee. Despite a bad attitude throughout the process, he claimed that from the "very very beginning" he had "offered" to give up his chairmanship, but that now he had "sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her to grant me a leave of absence." As justification, Rangel said he was taking leave in order “to avoid my colleagues having to defend me” during their campaigns. He didn't take questions. more ›

A House Republican joined 219 Democrats to vote for the landmark health care reform bill last night in the House of Representatives, enabling the bill to pass 220 votes to 215. Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan), who has"> introduced national health insurance in every Congress since taking office 1955, said, "It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it." more ›

The ongoing ethics investigation of local Congressman Charles Rangel appears to be going nowhere in a hurry. Today's Post talks to the head of an ethics watchdog group who says, "Four months after the investigations started, there is no investigative subcommittee, no public hearings, and no sign of any progress whatsoever." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had expected members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigating by the end of the session which ended earlier this month. But since that did not happen, the process will only be delayed further now that three of the four members looking into were rotated off with a new session of Congress in place. The Post sounds eager to see the probe take place in swift fashion, possibly because they've played no small role in prompting the investigation to begin with. more ›

After key lawmakers felt a bailout plan agreement would be reached, talks "imploded" as the day progressed. Here's how the NY Times reports what happened:

The day began with an agreement that Washington hoped would end the financial crisis that has gripped the nation. It dissolved into a verbal brawl in the Cabinet Room of the White House, urgent warnings from the president and pleas from a Treasury secretary who knelt before the House speaker and appealed for her support. more ›

After reports yesterday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Representative Charles Rangel to step down as the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, his fate is unclear. NY1 reports he's keeping the chairmanship, while Politico reports that Pelosi says no decision has been made. more ›

Just now, Representative Charles Rangel, who is also the chairman of the House's Ways and Means Committee, gave a press conference to discuss his rent-stabilized apartments, forgetting to pay taxes on rental income on his villa in the Dominican Republic, and using Congressional letterhead to solicit donations for a City College center named after him. With his homespun wisdom and bowtie, Rangel claimed ignorance about the rental income situation in the D.R. (he said he called for more info, but they kept talking Spanish!), blamed the Republicans in Congress for being overly partisan and said he'll weather through it. more ›

Representative Charles Rangel's Dominican Republic villa continues to be scrutinized as it's now reported the interest on his mortgage was waived. This comes a day after his lawyer also revealed the powerful Chairman of the House's Ways and Means Committee did not report $75,000 in rental income (over the past 20 years) from the villa. more ›

Everyone's favorite potential candidate for something, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, tried to quiet rumors of more years in public office by telling reporters, "One of the things I would love to do is spend some time traveling the state. There are some wonderful places all through the state. I used to be a Boy Scout. I used to really spend a lot of time outdoors. I'd love to do that again, but not as a candidate, and not as governor. I'd like to do it as a tourist." more ›

President George Bush gave his final State of the Union address, sounding positive about his leadership but also noting that there's still more to do: "From expanding opportunity to protecting our country, we have made good progress. Yet we have unfinished business before us, and the American people expect us to get it done." (You can read the entire text here.) more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is seeking the dismissal of a civil suit against her filed by Council Member Charles Barron's former chief of staff Viola Plummer. Quinn gave Plummer the boot when the councilman's aide refused to sign a pledge to compose herself while the City Council was in session. more ›

Last Sunday and Monday a collective of activists, journalists, retired government officials and theater makers gathered at The Culture Project to begin mock impeachment proceedings against President Bush. The “trial by theater” arose in part out of frustration with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s pledge to leave impeachment “off the table” when her party seized the House majority. The month long series, called A Question of Impeachment, is intended to spark debate and, participants hope,... more ›

A Ghost, by Squid Ink. more ›

Last night, former mayor Rudy Giuliani had his NYC fundraiser at the Sheraton. The theme was baseball, and guests paid $2,300-a-plate to eat Crackerjack, ice cream and hot dogs. (Maybe there were other things; the entire menu was not disclosed.) The Post reports that Giuliani stood before a faux-Yankee Stadium backdrop and said, "I think we make a mistake when we call it the war on terror, because it is their war on us... I have come face to face with America's soul, and I have been sustained by it - I got through Sept. 11 not because of me, but because of other people." more ›

Note to all politicians: If you need a shot of adrenalin at one of your events, get subway superhero Wesley Autrey on board. Because when President Bush cited Autrey's amazing rescue of another subway rider who had fallen into the tracks, we feel that Autrey brought down the house. Bush said:

Three weeks ago, Wesley Autrey was waiting at a Harlem subway station with his two little girls, when he saw a man fall into the path of a train. With seconds to act, Wesley jumped onto the tracks, pulled the man into the space between the rails, and held him as the train passed right above their heads. He insists he's not a hero. He says: "We got guys and girls overseas dying for us to have our freedoms. We have got to show each other some love." There is something wonderful about a country that produces a brave and humble man like Wesley Autrey.

Towards the end of the year, it becomes sport to wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be. It's sort of like wondering who will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated or who People's Sexiest Man Alive is (both are also Time Inc. publications, as it were). Time tried to get its readers excited, asking them to vote online for who they thought should be the Person of the Year, with choices being George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Kim Jong Il, Al Gore, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Nancy Pelosi, and The YouTube Guys. Well, if you bothered to vote, you never had a chance - Time decided to make "You" the Person of the Year. more ›

WCBS brands police shooting “50 Shots” then sanity prevails
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Thanks to the Democrats' victories and their new control of the House of Representatives, Congressman Charles Rangel of Harlem will be the next chairman of the Ways & Means Committee in January. And he's already eying the real estate:

"Mr. Cheney enjoys an office on the second floor of the House of Representatives that [has] historically been designated for the Ways & Means Committee chairman. I talked with Nancy Pelosi this morning and I¹m trying to find some way, kind and gentle, to restore the dignity of that office to the chair."

Since many of New York State's elections were runaways, the real election action was seeing how the House and Senate would turn - with the Democrats taking control of the house, which makes Nancy Pelosi possibly the first female Speaker of the House. The control of the Senate is still in question - votes are being counted and re-counted in the Virginia and Montana races (Democratic challenger John Tester has a narrow lead over incumbent Conrad Burns in Montana; Senator George Allen trails Democrat Jim Webb by just 6,000 votes). In one of last night's too-close-too-call elections, with incumbent Jim Talent conceding to Democrat Claire McCaskill. more ›