Politics : NPR

HUD Study Examines Rise In First-Time Homelessness

March 31, 2010 • As more families find themselves displaced by the recession, the face of homelessness in America is changing. HUD recently released a study that offers solutions for dealing with the growing problem. Host Michele Martin talks with Secretary Shaun Donovan about the report.

CNN's Ratings Slide While Fox News Gains

March 31, 2010 • In the battle for cable news ratings, Fox News Channel can claim a decisive victory. It's the only network that saw its ratings grow during the first three months of 2010. NPR's media correspondent David Folkenflik talks about what the ratings free fall means for CNN, and what Fox is doing right.

Female Politicians 'Too Busy' For Affairs

March 31, 2010 • Many male politicians have been embroiled in salacious scandals, but rarely are female politicians caught behaving badly. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says that they just don't have the time. NPR Senior News Analyst Cokie Roberts concurs.

Firms Say Part Of Health Law Will Cost Them Millions

March 31, 2010 • Under the newly passed health care law, companies still get a subsidy for offering prescription coverage, but they'll no longer get a related tax deduction. Some say the change will cost them millions of dollars, and they may have to drop drug coverage altogether.

Obama Ends Ban On East Coast Offshore Drilling

The Discoverer Deep Seas drill ship sits off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico in this 2006 photo. President Obama's plan expands eastward the area of the Gulf where drilling is already permitted. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

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Alex Brandon/AP

Energy

Obama Ends Ban On East Coast Offshore Drilling

March 31, 2010 • The president announces policy changes that would allow drilling on tracts as close as 50 miles to the Virginia shore, and end a longstanding moratorium on drilling from Delaware to Florida. Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico would be expanded eastward, and swaths north of Alaska would be opened up.

National

Should Welfare Recipients Get Drug Testing?

March 31, 2010 • Legislators in several states want to impose drug-testing requirements on people who get welfare benefits. Critics say their bills are not just mean-spirited but unconstitutional.

Obama's Recess Appointments Put Focus On Holds

March 30, 2010 • President Obama made over the weekend his first use of the presidential power to install appointees on his own when Congress is in recess. Some senators are objecting to the move, but others say it may be a time to put a hold on the holds that senators place on some nominations.

RNC Spending Questions Go Beyond Recent Headlines

March 30, 2010 • The Republican National Committee is doing damage control after its financial report was filed that included a $1,900 tab at a topless club. But beneath that furor lies a deeper problem: The RNC is spending more money than it's raising.

Tracking The Overhaul

Obama Selects Health Care Scholar To Head Medicare

March 30, 2010 • President Obama picked health quality guru Donald Berwick to head the agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid. In normal times, it's one of the biggest non-Cabinet appointments any administration makes, but with passage of the new health care law, this is no ordinary time.

News

Obama Signs Health Care, Student Loan Measure

March 30, 2010 • The legislation makes a variety of small changes to the recently signed health care law and also makes the government the issuer of all federal college loans, ending a program that paid a fee to private lenders to offer student loans.

Congress Fails To Fund Settlement For Black Farmers

In 2002, five years after a group of black farmers sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these men traveled from Manning, S.C., to join a protest outside the USDA. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption

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Mark Wilson/Getty Images

National

Congress Fails To Fund Settlement For Black Farmers

WFAE

March 30, 2010 • The president vowed to pay $1.25 billion to thousands of black farmers who complained of discrimination by the Department of Agriculture. But Congress left for its spring recess before approving money for the payments.

Palin: The Next Oprah, Or Next Oval Office Occupant?

Sarah Palin speaks at a Tea Party rally in Searchlight, Nev., on Saturday. Thousands of Tea Party activists were in attendance. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images