Washington braced Tuesday for a replay of last summer’s tense battle over the burgeoning national debt as House Speaker John A. Boehner threatened again to block an increase in the federal debt ceiling without significant new cuts in spending. Read full article > >

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Boehner threatens another debt-ceiling fight

Uncle Sam isn’t as flush as he used to be, but he still has enough money to pay individual private contractors as much as $763,029. That’s the federal cap on reimbursement to executives of private firms doing government work. The cap was raised in April, from $693,951, by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Read full article > >

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Top federal contractors get 10 percent raise

At issue is whether states can regulate immigration or whether that’s the exclusive role of the federal government.

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Supreme Court takes up Arizona’s immigration law

Since it began a decade ago , the federal government’s massive investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks has been plagued by missteps and complications. Investigators initially focused on the wrong man, then had to pay him a nearly $6 million settlement . In 2008, they accused another man, Bruce E. Ivins, who killed himself before he could go to trial. Read full article > >

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Justice Dept. takes on itself in probe of 2001 anthrax attacks

Women dressed in heels and fine fur coats started lining up in the cold outside Zion Baptist Church shortly after sunrise Sunday in hopes of worshiping with President Obama and his family. It is a scene that has been repeated each year on the eve of the federal holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. since the Obamas moved into the White House. Read full article > >

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Obama worships in D.C. before MLK Day, but first family has never chosen one church

Updated and corrected 5:54 p.m. ET Tens of thousands of firefighters employed by the federal government battled flames last year that scorched more than 8 million acres and caused billions of dollars in damage. And what were the Capitol Hill staffers responsible for their fates doing? Playing games — literally. Read full article > >

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Congressional wildfire ‘office pool’ angers firefighters

It was an acrimonious and at times downright dysfunctional year in Washington, but those of us who track the nuts and bolts of the federal government for The Washington Post couldn’t let the year go without pointing out some of the things we think the government did well in 2011. Let’s take a brief look: Read full article > >

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Some things the government got right in 2011

The Post asked John Palguta , vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service , to weigh in on the year for federal workers and what 2012 may bring. Palguta had a 34-year career in the federal government as a human resources and policy specialist, as a senior official with the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management , among other agencies. Read full article > >

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Federal workers: 2012 could be as tough as 2011

The owner of the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia, where 29 men died in an explosion last year, has agreed to pay $209 million in civil and criminal penalties and promised to make major safety improvements to its mines, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. The deal between the federal government and Alpha Natural Resources, which acquired the Upper Big Branch coal field when it bought out Massey Energy in June, is the largest settlement in a criminal investigation of a mine disaster in U.S. history, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Read full article > >

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W.Va. coal mine to pay historic $209M settlement in blast that killed 29 miners

U.S. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) has returned to an issue that not only hits close to home but also long ago put him on a path to politics: leaky oil tanks. Last week, Connolly introduced a bill that would require the federal government to shut down any petroleum storage facility that repeatedly leaks oil in a residential area or contaminates its groundwater. Read full article > >

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Connolly introduces bill to crack down on leaks at tank farms

The congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit is poised to admit defeat as soon as Monday, and its unfinished business will set up a year-end battle over emergency jobless benefits and an expiring payroll tax holiday. Those provisions are among a host of measures set to lapse at the end of December. During nearly three months of negotiations, the “supercommittee” had been weighing whether to extend at least some of them as part of a broader plan to shave a minimum of $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Read full article > >

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Supercommittee likely to admit defeat on debt deal

Congressional negotiators made a yet another push Friday to carve $1.2 trillion in savings from the federal debt, but remained stuck in their entrenched positions on tax policy even as the clock was running down on their efforts to reach a deal. Running from one small huddle to the next, lawmakers on the special deficit committee continued trying to reach a compromise before a Wednesday deadline. After that, the panel loses special legislative advantages that could help its recommendations win congressional approval. Read full article > >

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‘Supercommittee’ at impasse as deadline approaches

“Saturday Night Live” devoted its opening sketch last night to Wednesday’s CNBC Republican debate , and unsurprisingly, focused on Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s now-famous “oops” gaffe . During the debate, Perry was unable to name all three of the federal departments he says he would eliminate as president. Read full article > >

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‘SNL’ lampoons Rick Perry’s ‘oops’ moment

Not all 12 jurors were ready to acquit Maryland Sen. Ulysses Currie on bribery and other charges when deliberations began, and at times things got pretty heated. But in the end, the group agreed that prosecutors had fallen short of proving a criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. That account was provided late Tuesday night by Seth Binfield, Juror No. 12 in the federal case against Currie (D-Prince George’s) and two grocery chain executives. Read full article > >

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Juror No. 12 recounts deliberations in Currie case

A California Democrat wants to ban smoking in and outside all federal buildings across the country, reigniting a years-long attempt to ban smokers from lighting up on, near and in sight of federal property. The bill, introduced late Friday by Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), would ban smoking in and 25 feet around all properties owned or leased by the federal government. Smoking areas — located inside or just outside some federal properties — also would be shuttered. Read full article > >

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Bill would ban smoking at federal buildings