Osama Bin Laden was killed Sunday in Pakistan. The leader of Al Qaeda was responsible for terrorist attacks that killed some 3,000 Americans in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. In Washington, Bin Laden’s death refocused attention on the war in Afghanistan. With the repressive Taliban government that had provided a safe haven for Al Qaeda deposed, Sen. Bernie Sanders has said U.S. troops should be brought home as soon as possible. Also on Capitol Hill, Congress returned from an Easter recess during which Republicans got an earful from upset constituents. Town meetings erupted with opposition to a House-passed budget that would decimate Medicare and Medicaid and give $1 trillion in new tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.  

Osama Bin Laden — "I hope the death of Osama bin Laden and the growth of democratic movements in the Muslim world marks a momentous turning point, which leads the region toward peace and prosperity," Sanders said in a statement issued after President Obama announced that U.S. forces had carried off the operation in Pakistan.  On Capitol Hill, the death of Bin Laden triggered renewed calls for the United States to speed up its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the nation that harbored Al Qaeda before 9/11.  Sen. Sanders was asked about Bin Laden and Afghanistan at an event Tuesday at Busboys & Poets, a Washington, D.C. bookstore. "My view didn't really change the day before he was killed or the day after," Sanders said. "After 10 long years, I believe that the time now is to bring our troops home as quickly as we possibly can."

Pakistan — How could the world's most wanted man hide in plain sight? "The fact that Bin Laden was located in a mansion almost adjoining a military installation in a large city in Pakistan maybe suggests to us that our friends in that country have not been as vigorous as they have suggested in pursuing him and terrorism in general," said Sanders. On Tuesday, the top U.S. counterterrorism official said that the U.S. would "get to the bottom" of whether the Pakistani government helped Bin Laden avoid detection. John Brennan told National Public Radio that "we're not accusing anybody at this point, but we want to make sure we get to the bottom of this."

Budget — House Republicans on Thursday backed away from a proposal to overhaul Medicare.  The retreat came after Republicans members of Congress heard from outraged constituents at town meetings during the Easter recess. The House-passed budget bill also would do away with Medicaid as we know it. Sanders spoke at a press conference in the Capitol on Tuesday that focused on the proposed Medicaid cuts. He called the idea of slashing health care coverage "a death sentence for God knows how many thousands of Americans." Sanders cited a Harvard University study in 2009 that found 45,000 Americans die each year because they don't get to a doctor or hospital in time.  

Jobs — Employers added more jobs than expected in April, but more than 13 million remained unemployed and the official jobless rate rose to 9 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The 244,000 jobs created last month all came from private employers.  Cash-strapped governments cut 24,000 jobs last month, mostly at the local level.