THE SENATE
The Senate is not in session.
THE HOUSE
The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. and recess soon thereafter until 6:30 p.m. |
Obama To Meet With House Republicans:
President Barack Obama, who failed to attract much bipartisan support in his first year in office, has agreed to meet with U.S. Republican lawmakers as he starts his second year, a party leader said on Tuesday.
"House Republicans are grateful that the president of the United States has accepted our invitation" for a meeting this month, said House Republican Conference chairman Mike Pence.
"House Republicans look forward to presenting the president with our proposals to protect our nation, create jobs, control federal spending, lower the cost of health care, achieve energy independence and strengthen families," Pence said in a statement.
Obama will speak at the House Republican retreat, set to be held in Baltimore, on January 28-30, a Pence aide said.
A White House aide confirmed that the Democratic president had agreed to meet with opposition Republicans.
Republicans have complained that Obama has failed to reach out to them; Democrats in Congress accuse Republicans of being members of "The Party of No" and refusing to cooperate.
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Democratic Leadership Scheduled For White House Health Discussions: 
House and Senate Democratic leaders are scheduled Wednesday morning to meet with President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss health care reform, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
Democrats are racing to reconcile competing health care bills approved last year by each chamber, hoping to give Obama a bill to sign by February. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to attend the meeting in person.
Having decided to sidestep the traditional conference committee, Democratic leaders are working to merge the Senate's $871 billion package with the House's $1.2 trillion bill.
Sources familiar with the negotiations say one compromise being considered is the creation of a federally run insurance exchange to deliver health coverage. The Senate bill proposes state run insurance exchanges, while the House legislation calls for a public insurance option, a nonstarter in the Senate.
Also at issue is the overall cost of the bill. Anything costing more than $900 billion could be problematic. As one Democratic source said, if the price tag creeps up it would be billed as "almost $1 trillion," which is likely to make Senators "nervous,"
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Thurmond's Son Considering SC Congressional Bid:
The son of late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond says he may run for an open congressional seat in South Carolina.
Republican Paul Thurmond, 34, said Tuesday he's forming an exploratory committee to consider a run in the district reaching from the Charleston area along the coast to the North Carolina state line. His father was 100 when he left the Senate in 2003 after 48 years in Washington. He died later that year.
Carroll Campbell III, the son of former Gov. Carroll Campbell, is already in the race and Tuesday picked up endorsements from three former state GOP chairmen.
Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Brown said last week he will not seek re-election. Brown will have served a decade in Washington when his term ends.
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