AP - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

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.

AP - By the time the jury box was full Wednesday in Sen. Ted Stevens' corruption trial, it was clear the Senate's longest-serving Republican was a long way from home. Stevens failed in his bid to transfer the trial to Alaska, where he has been a figure in politics for generations and where he is known fondly as "Uncle Ted."

AFP - The government economic rescue plan presented by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is "not acceptable" in its current state, Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd said Tuesday.

AP - Gulf Coast officials asked lawmakers on Tuesday for fast federal money for hurricane recovery and a minimum of bureaucratic red tape.