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White House: In Speech At Wisconsin School, Obama Reflects On First Year

• "President Obama marked the anniversary of his election Wednesday by speaking in unusually personal terms with schoolchildren and educators in" Wisconsin, the Washington Post reports. "Obama used the occasion both to pitch his education reforms and to speak about his life in the White House -- as a father helping to oversee his daughters' studies, as a former community organizer who is now president -- a year after his election and a day after another one, which carried potentially ominous implications for his agenda."

• Obama "is scheduled to make good today on his campaign promise to host a White House Tribal Nations Conference," ABC News reports. "Leaders from 564 federally recognized tribes are expected to come to the Department of the Interior for an all-day forum, where they will meet directly with the president and representatives from the administration."

Health Care: House Nears A Rare Saturday Vote

• "The House is headed toward a rare Saturday evening vote as Democratic leaders scramble to placate party factions threatening to defeat the healthcare bill over hot button issues such as spending, immigration and abortion," The Hill reports. "House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said she expects the voting to either conclude by 6 p.m. Saturday, or start at 6 p.m., meaning voting would be over around 7 p.m."

• "Surgeons are becoming more and more vocal as they break from the physician pack in their protest of Democratic healthcare proposals, sending Senate leaders a warning letter Wednesday and aiming to stir the pot at this weekend's American Medical Association meeting in Houston," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The coordinated push" involves "the American College of Surgeons and 20 other surgeon groups."

• "The long-awaited Republican entry in the health care debate received its assessment late Wednesday from congressional budget analysts, who concluded that the proposal would barely dent the ranks of the uninsured," the Washington Post reports. "The measure would cover only 3 million additional people at a cost of $60 billion through 2019, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office." But "the costs of coverage would be more than offset by other provisions, reducing projected budget deficits by $68 billion by 2019."

Congress: A New Level Of Gridlock?

• "After 10 months in which Senate leaders touted success reaching agreements to vote on amendments despite broader disputes, the Senate has hit a new level of partisan gridlock that both sides warn could become the norm next year," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "Legislation that would provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees will soon be marked up by a House committee and could hit the floor by the end of 2009," The Hill reports. "Many companies in the private sector have long offered their employees those domestic partner benefits."

Politics: Fiorina Enters California Senate Race

• " Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in the California Republican primary, arguing that her business experience made her the only viable candidate to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer," the Los Angeles Times reports. "The charismatic former business leader could be Boxer's greatest challenge since her election to the Senate in 1992. But that's if Fiorina emerges the victor in what is likely to be a bruising Republican primary."

• "A rebounding Republican Party is savoring victories in two states that President Obama won last year, but as it tries to build momentum toward what GOP Chairman Michael S. Steele called a 'Republican renaissance,' it faces troubling ideological fissures within its ranks over how best to reclaim power," the Washington Post reports. "As the party turns toward the 2010 midterm elections, pitched battles between moderates and conservatives -- and between the Washington establishment and the conservative grass roots -- are underway from Florida to Illinois to California."

• "Elections this week left Democrats scrambling to renew the coalition that elected" Obama "after independent voters, whose power to determine U.S. elections is rising with their numbers, broke heavily toward Republicans," the Wall Street Journal reports.

• "Conservative grass-roots activists asserted Wednesday that third-party candidate Doug Hoffman's loss in a New York special election was no setback but, rather, signaled a victory for the burgeoning political movement," Politico reports.

National Security: Pentagon May Ask For More War Funding

• "The nation's top military officer said Wednesday that he expected the Pentagon to ask Congress in the next few months for emergency financing to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though President Obama has pledged to end the Bush administration practice of paying for the conflicts with so-called supplemental funds that are outside the normal Defense Department budget," the New York Times reports. "The financing would be on top of the $130 billion that Congress authorized for the wars just last month."

World: U.S. Seeking New Ties With Myanmar

• "Washington is ready to boost ties with Myanmar but will not lift sanctions until there is progress on democracy, a US diplomat said" today "after the highest-level talks with the ruling junta in years," Agence France-Presse reports. "US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel held a rare meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Prime Minister Thein Sein during their two-day visit which ended Wednesday."

• "Israeli officials tallied up hundreds of tons of weapons seized from a commandeered ship" today "as Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas denied Israeli claims that the arms were meant for them," AP reports. "Israeli naval commandos, acting on intelligence reports, boarded the Antiguan-flagged Francop before dawn in waters off Cyprus on Wednesday and discovered that the cargo included hundreds of crates of rockets, missiles, mortars, anti-tank weapons and munitions."

• "The United Nations said" today "it would pull about 600 staff members out of Afghanistan in the wake of a militant attack that killed five staff members and wounded nine," CNN reports.

Economy: Unemployment Benefits Extension And Homebuyers Tax Break Pass Senate

• "The Senate Wednesday approved a $24 billion package of unemployment insurance benefits and tax breaks for homebuyers and cash-strapped businesses on a 98-0 vote," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The agreement to bring up the measure for a final vote ended weeks of stalemate on the underlying bill, which would extend jobless aid for 14 weeks in all 50 states, with an additional six weeks in 27 high unemployment states."

• "With new unemployment numbers due out Friday, Democrats are rushing to send" Obama "legislation adding up to 20 more weeks of assistance for the jobless who have already exhausted their benefits," Politico reports. "Together with unemployment aid already provided from states, this means workers could get as much as 99 weeks in assistance -- a modern record that testifies to the grim economic situation for millions who are out of work."

• "Last week the Obama administration released reports from more than 130,000 recipients of stimulus money in which they claimed to have saved or created more than 640,000 jobs, but a review of those reports shows that some are simply wrong, while others contain apparently subjective estimates," the New York Times reports.

• Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., "is planning to release his draft for revamping the financial regulatory system on Monday without the support of" ranking member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., "who is complaining that Dodd is getting pressure from the White House and liberals to move ahead without a bipartisan consensus," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Shelby said Wednesday that the issues surrounding the overhaul are 'too complex' for the economy to rush through on Dodd's timeline."

Energy & Environment: Senate Climate Bill Expected To Pass Committee Today

• "Senate Democrats are likely to pass their climate bill out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee without amendments" today, "several sources familiar with the plan said Wednesday night," the Washington Post reports. "Facing an ongoing Republican boycott of the committee's markup of the bill, the panel's chairman," Boxer "is considering reporting out the measure with a simple majority, the sources said."

• "Four GOP Senators who are potential supporters of cap-and-trade legislation Wednesday joined the chorus from their party in pushing" Boxer "to give in to her panel Republicans' demands for more EPA analysis before the panel marks up a bill," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "Even before a Senate committee could begin marking up the 'Kerry-Boxer' climate bill, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) announced Wednesday a separate track of negotiations over climate policy that makes his original bill look somewhat irrelevant," the Washington Post reports. "Kerry said he, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) would work with business groups and the White House and seek a compromise that could get 60 votes in the Senate."

Lobbying: AARP To Endorse House Health Care Reform Bill Today

• "In a coup for House Democrats, AARP will endorse sweeping health care overhaul legislation headed for a history-making floor vote, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday," AP reports. "An endorsement from the seniors' lobby was critical when then-President George W. Bush pushed the Medicare prescription drug benefit through a closely divided Congress in 2003.... An announcement from the 40-million member group is expected Thursday, said officials with knowledge of the group's decision."

• "The House ethics committee is likely to exonerate five members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were accused of taking an improper trip to the Caribbean, according to sources familiar with the case," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The committee may also renew its complaint that the Office of Congressional Ethics is mishandling investigations."

• "With a White House decision on the direction of the war in Afghanistan still up in the air," and Obama "considering whether to send as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops, veterans groups on opposite sides of the debate are storming Capitol Hill this week to sway congressional opinion," Politico reports.

• "Business groups and unions are battling over a decision by a federal board that eases the rules for employees at airlines and railways to form unions," The Hill reports. "Though many airline and railroad employees covered by the Railway Labor Act are already unionized, the change could have a big impact on companies like Delta, JetBlue and Federal Express that have non-union workers."

Technology: U.S., E.U. To Team Up On Cybersecurity Issues

• "The United States and the European Union have agreed to treat cybersecurity, cyber crime and data protection as international issues, cooperatively developing polices based on shared values," Federal Computer Week reports. "Mary Ellen Callahan, chief privacy officer of the Homeland Security Department, called the recent joint statement on these principles by U.S. and E.U. officials a major milestone in data protection and data sharing."

• "The Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Transportation are teaming up to develop what they called high-tech solutions to the growing problem of distracted or inattentive drivers," Network World reports. "The DOT and FCC said they will set up a working group to evaluate technology-based answers to the distracted driving problem and will improve outreach efforts to educate the public about the dangers of texting or talking on cell phones while driving, and other distracting behavior that can lead to deadly accidents, the agencies stated."

Transportation: Toyota Dishonest In Gas Pedal Investigation, Government Says

• "Toyota Motor Corp. released misleading information about an investigation into problems with stuck gas pedals that led to a massive Toyota recall, the government said Wednesday, stressing the issue is still under review by federal safety regulators," AP reports. "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was still investigating the case and meeting with Toyota to hear about the company's plan to redesign the vehicles and fix 'this very dangerous problem.'"

• Toyota "posted a surprise quarterly profit on Thursday and became the latest Japanese auto maker to offer an improved outlook for the rest of the year, as cost-cutting and government car-buying incentives look to lift its prospects after nine months of losses," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "But the recovery at the world's No. 1 auto maker by sales volume appears to be trailing those of rivals Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., and the company still expects to report more than $2 billion in losses this fiscal year."

Commentary: Off-Off-Year Post-Mortem

• Earlybird's Pundits & Editorials section has wide-ranging opinion on whether the Tuesday elections were a referendum on the Obama administration -- and words of caution for both parties come 2010.

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