Debt ceiling crisis

Rich people ain't so bad. Just ask them nicely, and they'll pay more taxes.

Grab a bottle of Night Train and cut your last Prozac in half so you can make your journey through America's psyche go a little smoother.

"The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone."

Carl Paladino is back and he's slamming Obama!

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who voted "no," said in a statement, "This deal...is an unbalanced approach that cuts deeply into discretionary spending while being overwhelmingly stacked in favor of large corporations."

The House passed the bill to raise the debt ceiling, but the star of the evening was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, making her first appearance there since being shot in the head in January.

Joe Biden and House Democrats called tea party Republicans "terrorists" in a closed-door meeting today to rally support around the debt-ceiling compromise.

President Obama announced that Republicans and Democrats have come to a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid the country defaulting. But the two parties need to pass it through both houses of Congress.

Reid has approved of an agreement signaled earlier today by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that would cut the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion and raise the debt-ceiling limit through 2013.

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."

President Obama said, "I urge Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan" to raise the debt ceiling and prevent default.

In a closed-door meeting with his caucus this morning, Boehner ordered his far-right colleagues who have resisted any increase in the debt ceiling to "get your ass in line" behind his proposed bill.