The Department of Veterans Affairs has been scrambling to fix its backlog, which has reached 584,308 claims that have been pending for 125 days or more. About 873,680 veterans have filed claims and that number continues to grow. Read More
Obama tries to refocus on legislative agenda

It's a pivotal moment for the president who needs to keep his second term moving forward. The IRS scandal is still simmering, and the national security speech didn't assuage all his critics--or even his supporters. Read More
The woman who brought us the IRS scandal
For over a year before the IRS controversy broke, one well-connected Washington insider led the charge to stoke the story. And she has no intention of letting up. "There's a very good chance that it will lead to people who are very highly placed politically," Cleta Mitchell tells MSNBC. Read More
Voices
Vincent Warren1:11 PM on 05/24/2013
Still time to change course on Gitmo and drones
While the president made some worthwhile proposals on Friday that would put the nation on a better path, Obama's speech was heavy on rhetoric and process, but woefully short on commitment to immediate action. … Read More
Jon Soltz3:37 PM on 05/22/2013
Senate bill to arm Syrian rebels must be rejected
A new bill seeking to arm and train rebel groups in Syria just cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a move that could undermine everything America sacrificed in Iraq. … Read More
Editor's Picks
Preteen girl tells McDonald’s CEO: Stop advertising to me
Jane C. Timm, Morning Joe
WATCH: Heckler interrupts Obama drones speech
Morgan Whitaker, Politics Nation
Boy Scouts vote to let in gay kids, but not gay adults
Emma Margolin, Thomas Roberts
Republicans begin early state stops ahead of 2016
There may still be over 1,200 days until the 2016 presidential election, but you wouldn’t know it from all the action in early primary states, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker heading to Iowa and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stopping in New Hampshire. Read More
Obama decries military sexual assault in address to Navy grads
President Obama commencement address to the U.S. Naval Academy urged graduates to "constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust." Read More
New Jersey boardwalk makes comeback in time for Memorial Day
Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the Seaside Heights boardwalk is ready for business. Take a look at this time-lapse video, which condenses 1,560 hours of construction into two minutes. Read More
Top Democrat: ‘Fresh leadership’ needed at IRS
Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen says he's glad the embattled IRS official has been placed on administrative leave, calling her departure the right step as investigations continue into the agency's targeting of conservative groups. Read More
How partisanship matters in political comeback attempts
First Mark Sanford, now Anthony Weiner. In political rehabilitation after scandals, political makeup often reigns supreme. We've got a list of other comeback stories to watch in the next election cycle. Read More
Too Young to Die: Nigel Hardy
As a first-time cheerleader when he moved to the West Coast last November, Nigel Hardy learned in a week what other athletes take months to perfect. Read More
IRS official Lerner placed on administrative leave
Lois Lerner, the Director of Tax-Exempt Organizations at the Internal Revenue Service, now on administrative leave, took the 5th on Wednesday at a House hearing about the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups. Read More
Obama’s speech leaves human rights questions unanswered
The president evoked the suffering of detainees at Gitmo and the moral hazard of continuing to hold them----but didn't offer a real plan to close the prison or promise to end the practice of indefinite detention. Read More
Gun safety: Progress—and then pushback
A bill that designates school employees to act as armed school marshals on public campuses advances in Texas, while gun rights advocates file a lawsuit in federal court against Connecticut's new gun control law. Read More
Obama defends drones: They are ‘effective’ and ‘legal’
The remarks come as Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged on Wednesday for the first time that the U.S. killed four Americans in drone strikes in Yemen in Pakistan, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. Read More
America’s teen birthrate takes another dive
The rate has fallen by half since the early 90s, and racial gaps are shrinking. Yet, American teens give birth at five to 10 times the rate of their peers in Scandinavia and Western Europe. Read More
Pro-gun coalition sues Connecticut over landmark gun legislation
A coalition of gun owners and gun rights groups are suing the governor of Connecticut and other state officials, contending that sweeping gun control laws passed in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school are unconstitutional. Read More
Anti-abortion bill goes before all-male House panel. Déjà vu, anyone?
A bill that would institute a nation-wide on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on Thursday went before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, which has no female members. Haven't we seen this before? Read More
Abandon ship: Budget cuts force Fleet Week to skip NYC
Missing from the streets of New York City this week: A sea of men in uniform. The city's famed Fleet Week, scheduled to run May 23-30 this year, was canceled due to sequestration. Read More
Sen. Ted Cruz: ‘I don’t trust Republicans’
Sen. Ted Cruz brought Republican Party infighting to the public stage on Wednesday, slamming his colleagues as untrustworthy on the matter of spending. Read More
Time scores Obama’s 1979 Hawaiian prom photos
Time has obtained exclusive photos of President Barack Obama at senior prom. And they definitely don't disappoint. Read More
Germany’s Angela Merkel named world’s most powerful woman in 2013
First lady Michelle Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also made the Forbes list, which is comprised of 100 women from around the world. Read More
Watch: Oklahoma Sen. Coburn argues for cuts to fuel disaster aid
Oklahoma’s Sen. Tom Coburn believes any aid given to his state following the deadly and destructive tornadoes that devastated his home state must be offset by spending cuts. Read More
Over a thousand activists sign full-page ad to close Guantanamo
More than 1,300 activists and politicians signed a call to close the Guantanamo internment camp in an ad featured in Thursday's New York Times on the morning of the president's national security speech. Read More





