Alec Hamilton

Charlie Rangel's birthday bash fundraiser was a bit like an encyclopedia of Democratic New York politics.

Present at the Plaza Hotel ballroom were Assemblyman (and CD-9 hopeful) David Weprin, Queens Party boss Congressman Joe Crowley, and former NYC mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins.

Onstage, Dinkins referred to the small group of protesters standing in front of the Plaza, calling for the resignation of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (also present). Dinkins said it reminded him of last year's party, when people protested Rangel.

Congress has named the first few picks for the deficit reduction “super committee.” It’s A Free Country takes a look at some of the people charged with determining where to cut $1.5 trillion out of the nations budget over the next ten years.

The always irrepressible Charlie Rangel is holding a fundraiser and birthday bash tonight, headlined by Aretha Franklin. It's A Free Country caught up with the Congressman for a few words in a coffee shop at Rockefeller Center, where he had just finished an appearance on MSNBC.

Does a fundraiser mean ...

Presidential candidate Jimmy McMillan, who ran for governor of New York because "the rent is too damn high," says he's being evicted from his rent-stabilized Manhattan apartment because his rent is too damn low.

The election that will determine the next mayor of New York City may not be for two years still, but the fundraising has already begun. As the races heat up, one huge player in New York City election financing will be the public matching funds program. But what is that program exactly?

It's A Free Country breaks down the massive undertaking that is the New York City Campaign Finance Board's public matching funds program.

Oregonian Representative David Wu formally announced Wednesday that he is resigning from Congress.

Where I come from, sixty-forty is a pretty significant victory, so I’d be very happy to get sixty percent. — Democratic candidate David Weprin for CD-9, on The Brian Lehrer Show.

At the last second and after weeks of contentious partisan posturing, the president and Congress have agreed on a deal to raise the public debt ceiling and reduce future deficits. But what does the bill actually do? Who's going to be affected and what's in line to get cut? 

President Obama and Congress reached a deal on raising the debt ceiling today, averting a potential debt default just hours ahead of midnight deadline.

The framework for the deal, which was announced on Sunday by Congressional leaders, raises the debt ceiling in two stages - an initial $1 trillion now to stave off the threat of immediate default, and a second, $1.4 trillion to be proposed by a newly created congressional committee that would have to agree upon cuts.

You’re going to see a lot of sound and fury from Tea Party groups and Republicans who have an edge in opposing the deal… The guys who want an advantage want to look more ideological,...

The House on Friday approved the plan put forward by House Speaker John Boehner to raise the debt-ceiling. The two-stage plan called for $3 trillion in cuts to government spending in order to lift the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2, and another vote on the issue toward the end of 2012.

It began when I asked a neighbor who is involved in politics who was running against Mr. Weiner and whether he was getting a free ride, and I was told no one— but I would be more than...

Democratic Congressman David Wu of Oregon will resign immediately following the debt ceiling debate, the Oregonian is reporting.

Debate now, in this country, is stultified, and the best example would be the budget debate going on up in Washington, on Capitol Hill. These people are locked in by extremists positi...

This is one of those times that stay the course, hold tight, all those theories make a lot of sense… You can’t time the market, you can’t figure out what’s going to happen next, so th...

When people started looking at these cuts, they were getting angry like I was...People see this as mean-spirited, cruel, honestly it’s heartless. Look, if you want to fight with me, f...

Longtime couple Erika Karp and her wife, Sari Kessler, were among the first same-sex couples to be wed on Sunday as hundreds lined up outside the Manhattan clerk's office to get their marriage license on the first day gay marriage became legal in New York.

PHOTOS. Hundreds of same-sex couples in New York were expected to wed by the end of Sunday — the first day gay marriage became legal in the state. In New York City, happy couples lined up outside the clerk's office in Lower Manhattan.

The question is often trying to figure out what kind of situation you’re in, because even when you’re in a long-term relationship, you’re still trying to decide who gets how much of t...