As expected, the House has passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), despite objections from the Obama administration. The bill allows private companies and the federal government to share information in order to prevent cyber-attacks. (You can read Adrian Chen's far more eloquent explanation here.)

Hurrah! Thanks to a bipartisan Senate agreement over disaster funds, government will not shut down at the end of the week! Instead, it will probably shut down in November.

Remember that possibly-looming government shutdown we told you about? Well! Today the House "defeated a routine bill to finance the government through mid-November[.]" I might put that October trip to the Smithsonian down in my address book in pencil.

This particular class of legislators is, we can all agree, an exceptionally stupid group of people. But they are more than just stupid! They are also widely hated: A new poll has congress' disapproval rating at 82 percent—the lowest since the poll was first taken in 1977.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House of Representatives on Monday, receiving a standing ovation and enthusiastically greeting her colleagues after casting her vote (her first since being shot in January) for the debt ceiling bill, which passed 269-161.

House Republicans proved that they hate Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D - Nev.) sufficiently by calling a vote and rejecting his debt ceiling proposal before the Senate even got a chance to vote on it. [NYT]

As Rep. Anthony Weiner (presumably) gets a stern talking-to from his wife, Democratic leaders are planning to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of stripping the congressman of his seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Elizabeth Warren, the consumer advocate and Harvard professor who's heading up the brand-new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its infancy, stopped by the House of Representatives today for a hearing called — seriously — "Who's Watching the Watchmen?" It got kind of intense!

Dan Adler, a former Disney executive running for Congress in L.A., has released the Jim Belushi SNL skit of campaign ads. In a bid to reach Asian constituents, Adler, a Democrat, saunters into a laundromat where a Korean lady screams, "I HAVE ISSUES! MEDICARE! I'M KOREAN!" Then, some unusually straightforward race-pandering:

Things narcissists do to embarrass themselves on the internet: post embarrassing self-portraits on Facebook, beg websites to use cuter pictures of them, and edit their own Wikipedia pages.

The House of Representatives passed a two-week stopgap spending measure, cutting (against Democratic objections) $4 billion in spending but—assuming passage of an identical measure in the Senate—averting a government shutdown until March 18. The White House had proposed a 30-day extension with $8 billion in cuts in the hopes of creating some breathing room for budget negotiations; Republicans, eager as always to prove their intractability, preferred the two-week extension as a way to keep pressure on the Democrats to accept their budget, which cuts $61 billion in spending. Today's measure passed 335 to 91, with a majority of both parties voting "yea"; "some Republicans," according to the Times, voted against today's spending measure because it didn't defund the Affordable Health Care Act. Your government in action, folks!

A reauthorization of the Patriot Act was defeated on Monday night after 26 Republicans voted against the measure.

After a typically insane floor debate, for which Rep. Anthony Weiner made drinking game suggestions, the House voted to repeal Democrats' health care reform law, 245-189. The "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" will now die in the Senate.

Well, well, well. Here we all were, excited for today's unabridged, complete reading of the Constitution on the House floor. But it's not going to happen: All of the original language preserving slavery (the good stuff) will be cut. Boo!

The House of Representatives just approved the $858 billion tax package brokered between Republicans and President Obama! How will Americans in the lowest, highest, and median income brackets be spending that money? We break it down in a handy chart.

A lot happened in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night! In the House, representatives passed President Obama's huge tax package, while in the Senate, Republicans embarrassed Democrats, again. Let's take a look at the fortunate and the unfortunate:

The House of Representatives voted to overturn "don't ask, don't tell" this afternoon. Your turn, Senate.

Are you worried about global warming? Don't be! According to Illinois Rep. John Shimkus—candidate for chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—climate change isn't a big deal. How does he know? Because of the Bible!

Sorry, but Alec Baldwin was only kidding when he said he'd run for a House seat if his congressman lost to a Republican.

On Tuesday, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) gave a speech about domestic violence on the floor of the US House of Representatives. Behind Poe sat his grandson, who repeatedly dozed off—even after being slapped by an aide! Watch inside.