Politics

Follow PBS NewsHour’s complete coverage of politics, Congress, the Supreme court and the presidency.

The House of Representatives passed hotly-debated legislation Friday to bail out the troubled financial industry by a 263-171 vote, agreeing to the Senate bill that passed on Tuesday and sending it to the White House for President Bush's signature.

Hours after angrily chiding federal prosecutors for an evidence-withholding mistake, a federal judge in Washington rejected a request on behalf of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens to dismiss corruption charges or declare a mistrial Thursday afternoon.

Stocks dropped early in trading Thursday after the government reported that the number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose to a seven-year high and that orders for manufactured goods dropped by 4 percent in August.