A slideshow including images of a bronzed Department of Veterans Affairs employee in a sleeveless muscle shirt, a beach on Italy’s Amalfi coast and what appeared to be each serving of a nine-course meal at “Trattoria Arleste” in Cirella, Italy,...
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Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images
A soldier with Blackfoot Company 1st Battalion 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment has Thanksgiving dinner while standing watch in a guard tower in Matakhan, Afghanistan, in this file photo.
VA’s Muscle-Shirted Italian Tourism — Private Business, Agency Explains
Beating the Fiscal Cliff Skews Dividend Yields
Many companies are keeping shareholders away from the fiscal cliff by declaring special dividends, payable before year-end. Costco Wholesale announced a $3 billion dividend today. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands has a $2.3 billion payout coming up. The rush...
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Photograph by Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle/AP Photo
Houston homebuilder Bob Perry.
Perry Gave $1 Million Before Election to Senate-Focused Super-PAC
Point to any active Republican super-political action committee in the 2012 campaign, and there is a good chance Bob Perry was helping to fund it. The Houston homebuilder gave millions of dollars to Republican super-PACs during the campaign, including $1...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Timothy F. Geithner, U.S. treasury secretary.
Geithner Going to the Hill: Fiscal Cliff
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, has complained about President Barack Obama operating more in campaign mode than negotiating gear in the fiscal cliff talks. The president summoned middle-class Americans to the White House grounds today, and implored them to...
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Photograph by Win McNamee/Getty Images
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, leaves the Capitol after meeting with members of the senate on Nov. 28, 2012 in Washington.
Rice Remains in Question: Collins ‘Very Troubled’ After Meeting
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was still on Capitol Hill today, still explaining her statements about the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack, and still not allaying Republican lawmakers’ doubts. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she was “very troubled” after an...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Hillary Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, during day two of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
2008 Shadows Hillary Clinton, Even as 2016 Beckons
She put in eight years as first lady, another eight as a U.S. senator from New York, and now she’s wrapping up a challenging stint as secretary of state. But a blemish on that impressive resume — her failed bid...
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Photograph by Joel Kowsky/Bloomberg
An Barack Obama 2012 election campaign application at campaign headquarters in Chicago.
Obama’s #My2K: Tweet Your Congressmen, the President Asks
The president has prepared a new hashtag for Americans supporting his tax relief for households earning less than $250,000 a year, calling on them to tweet their congressmen: “#My2K” “Not Y2K,” the president said of the Year-2000 hysteria. “My2K.” “Tweet,...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Union Station in Washington.
Amtrak CEO Running on Lame-Duck House Chairman’s Borrowed Time
Rep. John Mica may not be able to yank the Transportation Security Administration’s chain during his final month as chairman of the House transportation committee. But he’s still got Amtrak. Mica, the Florida Republican who ceded his bid to remain...
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Photograph by Olivier Douliery/Pool via Bloomberg
President Barack Obama signs into law an $858 billion bill extending the Bush-era tax cuts for two more years on Dec. 17, 2010.
Cole: One Republican Ready to Deal
Count Tom Cole among the congressmen ready to cut a deal. The Republican representative from Oklahoma says he has advised fellow Republicans that they should accede to President Barack Obama’s demand that Congress extend the Bush-era tax cuts for American...
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Photograph by Dave Martin/AP Photo
Demonstrators chant during a protest march in Tampa, Fla.
Americans Want Taxes to Go Up for Wealthy: Poll
Six in 10 Americans want wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes in order to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, according to a poll out today. The ABC News/Washington Post survey found 60 percent of respondents supported higher taxes on incomes...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Stephanie Green
is a writer and photographer for Bloomberg Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. She has also written for The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and The Washington Times. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
