MANISTEE, Mich./WACO, Texas/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Tea Partiers say they can pinpoint the precise moment when they made it clear to the Republican Party they had no intention of being its lapdog.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the House of Representatives on Thursday predicted weekend passage of a sweeping healthcare overhaul that budget analysts said would cut the U.S. deficit over 10 years and dramatically expand health coverage.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former political fundraiser for leading Democratic Party politicians, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding three major banks out of $292.2 million in loan transactions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama signed into law a $17.6 billion jobs bill on Thursday and sounded an optimistic note about the U.S. economy, saying it may soon begin adding jobs instead of losing them.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday scrapped his trip to Indonesia and Australia scheduled for next week to focus on the final push for a U.S. healthcare overhaul, the White House said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tension level in the debate on U.S. financial reform rose on Thursday as Democrats slapped back at a Republican leader's comment about "punk staffers" and a pivotal vote neared in the Senate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Thursday against two firms in Gaza -- Islamic National Bank and Al-Aqsa Television -- for their ties to the ruling Hamas movement.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday criticized Russia's plans to start up a nuclear power station in Iran, describing them as premature given uncertainty about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York authorities, agencies, and local governments that pay public workers some of the highest salaries and benefits in the state must explain how they are calculated, the attorney general said on Thursday in a new bid to root out abuses.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An American political odd couple is leading a charge to crack down on what critics see as China's unfair trade practices.