According to Spectrem Group’s data, “families with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding primary residences, rose to 7.8 million in 2009,” an increase of 16 percent: The millionaires’ club in the U.S. grew by 16 percent in 2009, following a 27 percent decline in 2008.

The United States announced Monday that the Palestinians and Israelis have begun indirect peace negotiations, the first of any talks held since Israel's brief war in Gaza in December 2008.

The Republican National Committee plans to raise money this election cycle through an aggressive campaign capitalizing on “fear” of President Barack Obama and a promise to "save the country from trending toward socialism."

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will suggest that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial "reconciliation" rules

President Barack Obama is offering $900 million in grants to states and school districts to turn around low-performing schools -- but recipients would have to take drastic action, such as replacing principals, reopening schools as charter schools or closing them outright.

The Senate on Wednesday approved a $15 billion package of tax breaks and highway spending that aims to bring down the country's stubbornly high unemployment rate. By a vote of 70 to 28, the Senate approved the bill and sent it on to the House of Representatives

Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.  Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing the upper chamber to make final changes

Barack Obama, US president, has lost control of the political narrative and needs to make more use of his cabinet in order to regain it, says John Podesta, the man who headed the president’s transition team. “My friends in the White House would agree with this, that they lost the narrative,” Mr Podesta said

Senate Republicans have used parliamentary tactics to hold up the confirmation of critical administration nominees to an unprecedented degree. Yesterday, Obama warned that “if the Senate does not act,” he would be forced to make recess appointments to fill critical jobs, because “we cannot allow politics to stand in the way of a well-functioning government.”