WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – What will Harry Reid do?

As President Barack Obama’s gun-control package heads to the
U.S. Congress, one of the big questions hanging over Capitol
Hill is how Reid – a fellow Democrat and the Senate majority
leader – will manage the most ambitious proposal for gun
restrictions since the 1960s.

In the political drama likely to play out over guns, Reid is
hardly the gun-control advocate from central casting. Like many
Republicans and several fellow Democrats from conservative
states, Reid, 73, has often opposed limits on gun owners.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s proposals to curb gun violence face a difficult path through a sharply divided U.S. Congress, where the biggest gun-control fight in decades looms on an issue that has long been one of the most divisive in American politics.

Obama’s plan sets up a showdown between a gun-control movement re-energized by the massacre of 20 children and six adults last month at a Connecticut school, and a powerful gun-rights lobby led by the National Rifle Association, which has blocked new action on gun control for almost two decades.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s proposals to curb gun violence face a difficult path through a sharply divided U.S. Congress, where the biggest gun-control fight in decades looms on an issue that has long been one of the most divisive in American politics.

Obama’s plan sets up a showdown between a gun-control movement re-energized by the massacre of 20 children and six adults last month at a Connecticut school, and a powerful gun-rights lobby led by the National Rifle Association, which has blocked new action on gun control for almost two decades.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will nominate former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be his defense secretary and an announcement could come on Monday, a Democratic congressional aide said.

The choice will likely set up a confirmation battle in the Senate over whether the former Nebraska senator and Vietnam veteran is a strong enough supporter of key U.S. ally Israel and over his past calls for military cuts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It began so optimistically.

On November 16, after their first “fiscal cliff” session with President Barack Obama, the four leaders of Congress had stood in the driveway of the White House shoulder-to-shoulder for what is a rare photo these days, Republicans and Democrats together, smiling.

There they were at the microphone, talking about a “framework” for tax reform and deficit reduction.

WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) – It began so optimistically.

On Nov. 16, after their first “fiscal cliff” session with
President Barack Obama, the four leaders of Congress had stood
in the driveway of the White House shoulder-to-shoulder for what
is a rare photo these days, Republicans and Democrats together,
smiling.

There they were at the microphone, talking about a
“framework” for tax reform and deficit reduction.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Despite a rocky few weeks during the “fiscal cliff” fight, John Boehner won re-election as speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday and will again lead Republicans as they take on the White House over federal spending.

Boehner defeated House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi 220-192 in a vote on the opening day of the 113th Congress and vowed to use his second term to shrink the national debt of $16 trillion to prevent it from “draining free enterprise.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Despite a rocky few weeks during the “fiscal cliff” fight, John Boehner won re-election as speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday and will again lead Republicans as they take on the White House over federal spending.

Boehner defeated House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi 220-192 in a vote on the opening day of the 113th Congress and vowed to use his second term to shrink the national debt of $16 trillion to prevent it from “draining free enterprise.”

WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Despite a rocky few weeks
during the “fiscal cliff” fight, John Boehner won re-election as
speaker of the House of Representatives on Thursday and will
lead Republicans as they take on the White House over federal
spending.

Boehner beat Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi by
220-192 in the speakership vote on the first day of a new
Congress.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought “fiscal cliff” deal narrowly averted devastating tax hikes and spending cuts.

The agreement, approved late on Tuesday by the Republican-led House of Representatives, was a victory for Obama, who had won re-election in November on a promise to address budget woes, partly by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.