Tonight, the Senate passed the $700 billion bailout package, with 75 votes for and 24 votes against (the bill needed 60 votes to pass; Ted Kennedy, who has been battling cancer, was absent). The NY Times reports the passage left "backers optimistic that the easy approval, coupled with an array of popular additions, would lead to House acceptance by Friday and end the legislative uncertainty that has rocked the markets." President Bush was pleased......

The Senate will vote on the $700 billion bailout plan (or the Economic Rescue Plan, as the White House calls it) tomorrow. The NY Times, which described it as a "surprise move," reports that Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said, "It has been determined, in our judgment, this is the best thing to move forward. This is good for the country.” The package will reportedly have "new provisions-including raising the FDIC insurance cap to......

After four decades controlling the New York State Senate, political analysts expect Republicans to lose their majority to Democrats this November. And that possibility has real estate executives “really scared,” as one Manhattan developer told the Times, because most Senate Democrats support changes to the rent laws, which were diluted by Republicans in 1997 to favor landlords. Now the real estate industry is scrambling to get the Democrats in their pockets by throwing lots of......

Photograph of Hillary Clinton greeting people outside Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. by Susan Walsh/AP Senator Hillary Clinton returned to her day job yesterday and was welcomed like royalty. Politico found that she was greeted by "a crowd of adoring interns, a phalanx of Senate staff, hugs from Democratic colleagues and an ovation from a closed luncheon of Democratic senators." While she only said she would fully support former rival and Democratic candidate Senator......

When an "icon," "liberal lion" and member of one of the country's most famous political dynasties falls ill, it naturally becomes front page news, especially when it's someone whose life has had as many ups and downs as Senator Edward Kennedy's has. The NY Daily News says the 76-year-old is is in the "final fight of his life against a malignant brain tumor that never loses." The NY Post goes glass-half empty with a......

Doctors for Senator Edward Kennedy tell the AP the 76-year-old has a malignant brain tumor. He had suffered a seizure on Saturday, and the tumor was discovered when the doctors performed tests and is believed to be the cause of the seizure. His family rushed to his side at the Massachusetts General over the weekend, including niece Caroline Kennedy. The Senator and Caroline Kennedy notably threw their support behind Barack Obama's presidential nomination bid in......