WASHINGTON (AP) — Letters sent to President Barack Obama and a Mississippi senator tested positive for poisonous ricin in preliminary checks Wednesday, and authorities chased reports of other suspicious mail at a U.S. Capitol already on edge.

2. Record Crop Insurance Payout Stirs Subsidy Debate - Monday, March 25, 2013

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Farmers will be paid a record $16 billion in crop insurance claims for 2012 because of the widespread drought, a staggering amount that has critics calling for changes to what they say is an inefficient taxpayer subsidy the government cannot afford.

3. GOP Leaders Hope for Agreement on Payroll Tax Cut - Friday, December 09, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate rejected dueling Democratic and Republican plans for extending the Social Security payroll tax on Thursday as partisan skirmishing continued over a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's plan for breathing life back into the American job market.

4. Congress Sputters on Deficit Cuts, Spending Bills - Wednesday, November 09, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – A sputtering Congress enveloped in an atmosphere poisoned with politics and distrust enters its final weeks of the year struggling to complete a lengthy to-do list on the budget.

5. House Nears Vote on GOP Debt Bill; Dems Oppose - Monday, August 01, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Partisan to the core, Congress groped uncertainly Friday for a way to avoid a government default threatened for early next week. "We are almost out of time," warned President Barack Obama as U.S. financial markets trembled.

6. GOP Seeks Leverage in Talks Over Debt Ceiling Hike - Thursday, May 12, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – It was a tough-talking House Speaker John Boehner who warned Wall Street this week that Congress won't raise the government's debt ceiling without massive spending cuts that most Democrats oppose.

7. Pentagon Budget Hits New Record in Spending Bill - Thursday, September 25, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Wednesday took up a $630 billion-plus spending bill awarding the Pentagon a record budget while giving generous help to U.S. automakers and victims of hurricanes and floods.

8. Congress Sends Bush Bill Restoring Highway Funds - Monday, September 15, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two months after the White House called a highway trust fund rescue plan a "gimmick" and threatened a presidential veto, President Bush is expected to sign legislation infusing $8 billion into the financially teetering fund that supports road and bridge projects around the country.