The House voted 237 to 170 Wednesday night in favor of the $15 billion rescue, but the fate of the measure was uncertain because of shaky support among Republicans in the Senate.
AP - A $14 billion rescue package for the nation's imperiled auto industry sped to approval in the House Wednesday night, but the emergency bailout was still in jeopardy from Republicans who were setting out roadblocks in the Senate.
AP - His career in shreds, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich clung defiantly to power Wednesday, ignoring a call to step down from President-elect Barack Obama and a warning that Senate Democrats will not let him appoint a new senator from the state.
AP - Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. said Wednesday he openly sought appointment to Barack Obama's Senate seat but denied offering favors in return to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and said he was not involved "whatsoever in any wrongdoing."
President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, sources tell CNN. Chu won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics and is highly respected. But some Democrats have privately expressed concern that he has no political experience as he takes on the task of selling a landmark energy reform bill early next year.
President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday called for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign. Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on federal corruption charges, including trying to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat. "Under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
According to prosecutors, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich knew very well how much leverage he had as the person who would appoint President-elect Barack Obama's Senate replacement. But in a criminal complaint that gives details of conversations Blagojevich is said to have had with potential Senate candidates, the candidates are identified only by numbers.