All DC Decoder
- Caught on video: Ted Cruz's father wants to send Obama 'back to Kenya'In the video of a 2012 speech to Texas tea partyers, Rafael Cruz sounds like a birther 鈥 ironic, given that his son, Canadian-born Sen. Ted Cruz, faces potential birtherism if he runs for president.
- Obamacare and you: When does Obamacare start?There's a lot of political banter about the health-care reform law, but also a lot of confusion about what it does. Here, we answer your questions about key deadlines for Obamacare.
- How much do you know about President John F. Kennedy? Take our quiz.
Over fifty years after his assassination in Dallas, John F. Kennedy remains one of the most famous and admired Americans of the 20th century. US voters routinely rank him among the best of the nation鈥檚 presidents, though historians remain split over the import of his thousand days in the Oval Office. Revelations about his philandering and health problems have darkened his image but not dimmed public fascination with him and his family, if the steady stream of JFK books, movies, and other media material is any guide. Today it is clearer than ever that his murder was a hinge of history. At dusk on Nov. 22, 1963, America was a different country, less innocent than it had been at sunrise.
Do you think you know John F. Kennedy, what鈥檚 real about him and what鈥檚 myth? Match wits with D.C. Decoder and rate your knowledge of the 35th president of the United States.
- HealthCare.gov: Five questions about the problem-riddled rollout (+video) Nobody, including President Obama, is sugarcoating the problem-riddled launch of HealthCare.gov, where uninsured Americans can buy health coverage. Here are five questions about what鈥檚 happened.
- Obamacare on trial: 'You deserve better. I apologize,' Sebelius says.Testifying before a House committee, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pledged to fix the HealthCare.gov site. She said her agency still has no reliable enrollment data on Obamacare.
- Obama in Boston: Does Massachusetts prove Obamacare will work?On Wednesday, the president will defend Obamacare at Faneuil Hall in Boston 鈥 the site where in 2006, then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed similar health-care reforms into law for Massachusetts.
- It's budget crunch time. If lawmakers say no 'grand bargain,' then what?A 'grand bargain' that cuts entitlement programs and raises revenues, thus whittling the deficit in a big way, is not a likely outcome of House-Senate budget negotiations that begin Wednesday. The best hope is for a modest deal that averts another government shutdown. Is that doable?
- Obamacare fiasco: Was building HealthCare.gov really that hard?Many experts say the Obamacare website HealthCare.gov, in many ways, is trying to do something unprecedented: unveil an enormously complicated site all at once and in the media spotlight.
- Obamacare website: Is one month enough time to fix it?The Obamacare website will work 'for the vast majority of users' by Nov. 30, the White House says. No one's saying that's impossible, but hitting the deadline will be a tough task, it seems.
- NSA revealed: When a spy agency comes under public scrutinyFor years, the National Security Agency did its spy work out of public view. Now, with revelations and allegations coming almost daily, that鈥檚 no longer true for the NSA.
- Kathleen Sebelius prepares to face the music on ObamacareDozens of Republican lawmakers have demanded that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resign over Obamacare glitches. She'll appear before a congressional panel this week, where she's likely to stand her ground.
- With computer glitches, has GOP finally found a way to kill Obamacare?Since it first was proposed, Republicans have been saying they'd 'repeal and replace' the Affordable Care Act. Massive computer problems with Obamacare's roll-out may have given them their best chance to do that.
- Obamacare website: Does it violate privacy rights?At a congressional hearing Thursday, Republicans implied that the Obamacare website violates a federal privacy law 鈥 a characterization that prompted one Democrat to say, 'I will not yield to this monkey court!'
- Obamacare 101: Enroll by March 31 to avoid penalty, White House clarifies'If you sign up for insurance by the end of March, you will not face a penalty,' the White House said late Wednesday. Originally, the Obamacare law had been interpreted as giving people until Feb. 15, 2014, to have health coverage. Calls mount, including by Democrats, to give folks more time.
- Obamacare Web troubles: what鈥檚 known so far 鈥 and what big questions remainLawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are likely to ask some pointed questions Thursday about why the rollout of Obamacare website has gone so badly.
- Obamacare 101: Seven ways you can sign up, despite Web woes On Oct. 21, President Obama acknowledged the technical problems with the Obamacare website. Although he talked about the importance of fixing it, he also emphasized that Americans have other ways of signing up for insurance. Here are seven options you may want to know about.
- HealthCare.gov woes: Will Obama throw Kathleen Sebelius under the bus?President Obama said Monday 'nobody's madder than me' about the problems with HealthCare.gov. But he didn't mention Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who faces calls for her resignation.
- McConnell vows no more government shutdowns. Does tea party agree?Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that government shutdowns were a bad idea not consistent with conservative ideals. But it's unclear whether other Republicans agree.
- 'Best and brightest' techies drafted to fix Obamacare computer glitchesRepublican lawmakers are demanding that HHS Secretary Sebelius tell them how and why the Obamacare rollout got bogged down with computer problems. HHS says it鈥檚 getting expert help.
- Republicans acting like Democrats 鈥 fighting with themselvesAfter the tea party-led government shutdown and threat of default, the Republican Party is trying to figure out how to reunify. With the GOP polling at historic lows, it won't be easy.