James Clyburn

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, so it was fitting that her statue unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama in the US Capitol depicts her in the position from which she launched a civil rights revolution.

US Republicans vowed to dismantle President Barack Obama's landmark health care reforms regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on Thursday, saying they would repeal the contentious law "lock, stock and barrel."

Barack Obama may have made his name peddling hope and change, but his aspirational politics concealed a ruthless streak now being turned on the man who wants his job: Mitt Romney.

South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn is the latest Democrat to express support for gay marriage following President Barack Obama's backing. House Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn is the latest Democrat to express support for gay marriage following President Barack Obama's backing. Appearing on MSNBC, Clyburn, who in 1996 voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which forbids federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples, said that he had also ?evolved? on the issue. ?I, like the president, have evolved to a point of marriage equality,? Clyburn said. ?I have not always been there. I grew up in a parsonage, a fundamentalist Christian parsonage, and I grew up with that indoctrination. And I have grown to the point that I believe that we have evolved to marriage equality.? But the South Carolina Democrat disagreed with Obama on his approach to the issue. ?If we consider this to be a civil right ? and I do ? I don't think civil rights ought to be

MARION, South Carolina (Reuters) - Amid the flurry of campaigning before Saturday's South Carolina Republican presidential primary, not a single candidate has shown up in Marion County, a sleepy rural stretch that represents the bottom of the U.S. economy.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - The state that fired the first shot in the Civil War is once again battling the U.S. government in a racially charged conflict that is drawing heated rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It didn't seem like mission impossible just two weeks ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It didn't seem like mission impossible just two weeks ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic lawmakers aim to present a dramatic show of support on Tuesday for a congressional "super committee" racing against the clock to agree on a deficit-cutting plan.

Spurred on by President Barack Obama, a US Congress "supercommittee" faced gloomy prospects Monday of reaching a deal to rein in the country's galloping deficit just 10 days before a key deadline.

WASHINGTON/HONOLULU (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged U.S. lawmakers on Sunday to "bite the bullet" and make the compromises needed for a deficit-reduction deal they need to reach this month to avoid triggering automatic federal spending cuts.

WASHINGTON/HONOLULU (Reuters) - President Barack Obama urged U.S. lawmakers on Sunday to "bite the bullet" and make the compromises needed for a deficit-reduction deal they need to reach this month to avoid triggering automatic federal spending cuts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional "super committee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on deficit-reduction, but lawmakers said on Sunday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by this month's deadline.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional "super committee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on deficit-reduction, but lawmakers said on Sunday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by this month's deadline.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional "super committee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on deficit-reduction, but lawmakers said on Sunday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by this month's deadline.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional "super committee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on deficit-reduction, but lawmakers said on Sunday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by this month's deadline.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional "super committee" is at a difficult point in negotiations on deficit-reduction, but lawmakers said on Sunday they had not given up on reaching an agreement by this month's deadline.

For now, Republican leaders say that won't happen for any legislation that includes a tax increase. Democratic leaders say it won't happen for anything that doesn't.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats are proposing to slash huge budget deficits by up to $3 trillion, aiming high to repair the country's fiscal mess even as Republicans show early signs of resisting the proposals.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats are proposing $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion in measures to reduce the budget deficit, including revenue increases and significant cuts to Medicare, congressional aides told Reuters.