Between redistricting and a growing number of retirements, the face of California’s 53-member Congressional delegation is set to get younger.

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California Congressional Delegation Braces for Change

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee over possible violations of insider-trading laws, according to individuals familiar with the case. Read full article > >

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Rep. Spencer Bachus faces insider-trading investigation

Washington had four breweries operating in the early 20th century before the city was dried up by Congressional fiat in 1916. With a little luck, we should exceed that mark in the coming year, as 3 Stars Brewing Co . joins DC Brau , Chocolate City Beer and the Gordon Biersch and District ChopHouse brewpubs. Read full article > >

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D.C. is fermenting a brewery culture

Reid Ribble , a Wisconsin roofing contractor-turned-Republican lawmaker, has helped change the way Washington talks about the national debt. That’s not to say he has done much about the debt itself. Nearly a year ago, Ribble and other newly elected House Republicans came to Capitol Hill on a single-minded mission to shove the federal debt to the top of the congressional agenda. They succeeded. At every opportunity, they demanded cuts in spending, forcing a series of white-knuckle showdowns that have kept the government in a state of perpetual crisis. Washington nudged close to a public conversation about the kind of government taxpayers want and what they are willing to pay for it. Read full article > >

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Washington’s year of drama leaves little done regarding debt

Showing a new conciliatory tone, Senate leaders opened Congressional business Thursday by suggesting that a bipartisan compromise may come soon on a spending measure to keep the government running past Friday and a bill to extend a one-year cut in the payroll tax rate paid by 160 million workers. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who has been holding up a $1 trillion spending measure that would fund much of the government through next September, said he believes both issues can be resolved “in the next few days.” Read full article > >

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Senate leaders say deal on spending, tax cut measures may come soon

The city of Aurora, Colo., hopes that being the center of a new Congressional district will help propel it from being just a Denver suburb.

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Aurora Journal: Aurora, Colo., Tries to Outshine Its Bigger Neighbor

WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee announced Friday it will continue its investigation into allegations Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. or someone acting on his behalf offered to raise campaign cash for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for a Senate appointment in 2008. The committee also released an initial report from the Office of Congressional Ethics that said there was “probable cause” to believe that Jackson either directed a third party or had knowledge of a third party’s effort to convince the since-convicted Blagojevich to appoint Jackson Jr. in exchange for campaign cash. Read full article > >

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House Ethics Committee will continue investigation into Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

A US Congressional report says Nigeria’s militant Islamist group Boko Haram is an “emerging threat” to the US.

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US warns of Nigeria’s Islamists

With the Congressional deficit-cutting committee’s inability to compromise, Americans say they are losing faith in the political system.

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Disgust, but No Surprise at Supercommittee Failure

No, the sun didn’t rise in the west this morning. No, Republicans on the congressional supercommittee didn’t offer meaningful concessions on raising new tax revenue. And no, “both sides” are not equally responsible for the failure to compromise. As usual, the two parties began with vastly different ideas of what it means to negotiate. Democrats envisioned meeting somewhere in the middle, while Republicans anticipated not moving an inch. This isn’t just my spin, it’s a matter of public record: Before the 12-member supercommittee ever met, House Speaker John Boehner warned that they had better not agree to any new tax revenue. Read full article > >

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Republican obstinacy doomed the supercommittee

Violent clashes continue in Cairo and spread to other cities; Congressional leaders concede that a sweeping deficit agreement is near failure; and Khmer Rouge leaders go on trial.

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TIMESCAST: TimesCast | November 21, 2011

Democrats on Friday rejected a last-ditch bid by Republicans to save the congressional supercommittee from failure, leaving the panel with no apparent path to compromise as the clock ticks toward a Thanksgiving deadline. Having concluded that agreement looks increasingly unlikely on a far-reaching plan to raise taxes and restrain social spending, Republican members of the supercommittee worked with House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to develop a smaller “Plan B” that would stop far short of the panel’s goal of $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. Read full article > >

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Debt supercommittee: Democrats reject last-ditch Republican offer

With just days remaining before their final deadline, members of a Congressional panel on deficit reduction reported no tangible progress towards an agreement.

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Congressional Deficit Panel Still at Loggerheads

Born during what is mistakenly called the debt-ceiling “debacle” last summer, the congressional supercommittee may die without agreeing to a 10-year, $1.2 trillion (at least) deficit-reduction plan. This is not properly labeled a failure. Committee Democrats demanded more revenue; Republicans offered $500 billion; Democrats responded with the one-syllable distillation of liberalism: “More!” So the committee’s work has been a clarifying event that presages a larger one — next November’s elections. Read full article > >

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Spending’s ascending — with or without a budget sequester

The Congressional deficit reduction panel is hoping to strike an accord on revenue levels but delay tough decisions on raising taxes until next year.

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Deficit Panel Seeks to Defer Details on Raising Taxes