The main sponsor of a House bill targeting online piracy announced Friday that he will postpone further action on the measure that has triggered fierce protests, blackouts from Internet sites and some rethinking among lawmakers. Read full article > >

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SOPA action delayed in House until ‘wider consensus’

Despite a campaign led by the activist Anna Hazare, the measure to create the Lokpal agency may be in limbo until the next session, in February.

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Anticorruption Bill Stalls as India Lawmakers Prepare to Adjourn

JERUSALEM — Israeli Cabinet ministers decided Monday to hold on to about $100  million in taxes owed to the Palestinians, an official said, despite warnings from Israel’s Defense Ministry that the measure could threaten the stability of the Palestinian government in the West Bank. Israel stopped transfer of tax funds as punishment for the Palestinian’s successful bid for admission to UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, which was part of a larger effort to gain admission as a state in the world body. Read full article > >

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Israel to hold $100 million in taxes owed to Palestinians

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has drafted a bill that would give the District more freedom to spend its own money — with a catch. The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has included in his measure a provision that would prohibit the District from spending its own taxpayer funds to pay for abortions for low-income women except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. Read full article > >

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Issa attaches abortion ban to D.C. budget autonomy bill

A bill to authorize the presentation of flags to the survivors of federal employees killed in the line of duty passed the House on Wednesday and now moves to the Senate. The Civilian Service Recognition Act passed on a 425-0 vote with the support of organizations representing federal employees and the American Legion, which initially objected to the measure as a move to equate civilian service with military service. Read full article > >

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Federal employee recognition bill clears House

A group of Prince George’s County residents who allege that the County Council secretly approved zoning legislation without a public hearing two years ago is engaged in a legal battle to overturn the measure. The residents say the council approved it without giving the public ample opportunity to state any objections. The bill, known as Subregion 5 Master Plan, included numerous sectional map amendments and would allow more development in some rural parts of the county, dramatically altering the area’s landscape. Read full article > >

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Prince George’s County residents say zoning measure approved without a public hearing

President Obama urged U.S. senators Thursday to pass his jobs bill and warned Republicans who oppose the measure that they will have to explain their opposition “to me, and more importantly, to their constituencies” at a time of mounting economic uncertainty. During a late-morning news conference , Obama emphasized the support that elements of his $447 billion job-creating proposal have received from both parties in the past. But he also issued an explicit warning to senators, particularly in the Republican Party, that he would make any “no” vote a political issue in the emerging 2012 campaign. Obama also said he was comfortable with a proposal by Senate Democrats to help fund the package through a surcharge on income above $1 million — a provision unlikely to pass. Read full article > >

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Obama challenges Republicans to explain opposition to jobs bill

A bill extending government funding through mid-November failed to pass the House Wednesday night in part because of objections by Democrats who believe the measure did not do enough to provide federal funding to the victims of recent natural disasters. With Congress still toiling over how to pay for federal disaster funding, reconstruction projects in 42 states totaling $447 million are on hold, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency records. Read full article > >

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With FEMA funding in limbo, what’s being held up?

New York’s state assembly approved a gay-marriage bill late Wednesday evening, setting up a showdown in the higher chamber. As of Wednesday, Senate Republicans were still undecided on how they would vote on the measure. “This issue has not been…

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NY Assembly Passes Gay Marriage

Another strike against Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget: The Democratic-controlled Senate forced a vote on the Republicans’ fiscal plan Wednesday, with the measure rejected by a 40-57 vote and the GOP caucus split on the issue. Five Republicans-Lisa Murkowski…

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Senate Shuts Down Ryan Budget

A Democratic measure that would have repealed tax subsidies for the five biggest oil companies failed to clear the Senate on Tuesday, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance in a near-party-line vote. The Senate rejected S.940, or the “Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act,” in a 52-to-48 vote. Three Democrats – Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.) and Mark Begich (Alaska) – joined nearly all Republican in voting against the measure, while two Republicans – Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) – voted “yes.” Read full article > >

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Senate rejects measure to end subsidies for big oil companies

The ongoing battle in Washington over addressing the country’s rising gasoline prices comes to a head in the Senate on Tuesday as the upper chamber votes on a Democratic measure that would eliminate $21 billion in subsidies for the country’s top five oil companies over the next decade. Democrats argue that the measure — S.940, or the “Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act” — would represent a “down payment” on addressing the country’s debt and would help to alleviate gas prices, which are nearing an average of $4 per gallon nationally. Read full article > >

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Senate to vote today on ending tax subsidies for oil companies

U.K. voters have rejected a revamp of the voting system for national elections. The overwhelming rebuke is a victory for conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who was against the measure. Nick Clegg, his Liberal Democrat deputy, supported it….

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U.K. Squashes Electoral Reform

Almost a year has passed since a Democratic majority in Congress responded to the financial crisis by passing sweeping legislation to tighten regulation of Wall Street , but the partisan conflict over the measure never ended. Now, with Republicans in control of the House, the fate of the overhaul is again in play. On Wednesday, splitting along party lines, the House Agriculture Committee voted to delay by 18 months implementation of rules governing derivatives, the kind of complex financial instruments that were blamed for putting the financial system in jeopardy. Read full article > >

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House panel’s Republicans vote to delay action on overhaul rule

Opponents of legislation designed to give college tuition breaks to illegal immigrants in Maryland say they are on track to collect the thousands of signatures needed to try to overturn the measure that passed the General Assembly last month. Del. Neil C. Parrott (R-Washington) and Del. Pat McDonough (R-Baltimore County) are leading the effort to give voters a say in whether to uphold the bill. Parrott said volunteers in most of Maryland’s counties are gathering signatures and spreading the word at grocery stores and community events that “our tax dollars are going to fund illegal aliens,” he said. “Now is not the time to be spending money on what is an unlawful program.” Read full article > >

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Opponents of Maryland immigrant tuition bill say referendum plan is on track