Congressional budget crunchers said  the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least 20 years, an assessment that gave supporters hope as the Senate moved gingerly toward  debate.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of a sweeping U.S. Senate health care overhaul at $849 billion over 10 years, a senior Senate aide said on Wednesday.

A senior House Democrat says the government didn't force Bank of America to take over Merrill Lynch, but a bank board member said much pressure was applied and Republicans charged that a committee inquiry was covering up the role of an Obama administration official.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina says she'll run for the U.S. Senate seat held by California incumbent Barbara Boxer.

The House health care bill released Thursday raises most revenue by taxing individuals making $500,000 or more, but also tightens rules for corporate accounting and takes aim at foreign companies working in tax havens.

A Florida congressman tried to make sure a health care town hall meeting he hosted Monday night didn't turn into a debate about his recent remarks that Republicans want sick people to "die quickly."

The stock market may be up, U.S. service industries may be recovering, banks may be lending again and housing prices holding. But one major piece of the recovery puzzle is still missing: a brighter employment picture.

Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief after a positive cost report on health care overhaul gave them a chance to rally around a Senate plan that significantly expands coverage while trimming the federal deficit.

Barack Obama has pushed closer than any president in generations to creating a basic health care safety net, yet the fate of legislation is far from certain.

Tougher financial rules have been stymied by industry lobbying, government turf battles and a stabilizing banking system. Some analysts fear another crisis is inevitable.

The national Republican Party has mailed a fundraising appeal suggesting Democrats might use an overhaul of the health care system to deny medical treatment to Republicans.

Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, a leading figure in the liberal wing of his party, said Monday he doubts there can be meaningful health care reform without a direct government role.

President Obama said Sunday he's confident his drive to overhaul health care will succeed. The president writes in Sunday's New York Times about "health insurance reform" and says his attempt to overhaul the system is closer to reality "than we have ever been."

President Barack Obama is using political tactics and rhetorical devices honed in his White House campaign to regain the upper hand in the health care debate over increasingly vocal and organized critics.

President Barack Obama's campaign for a health care overhaul is an intense installment in a long-running story, dating to Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.