House Democrats release bill for Budget markup Monday  —  House Democrats on Sunday night set into motion what they hope will be the final steps on healthcare reform.  —  The House Budget Committee on Sunday evening released text that will serve as the base legislation for the changes the House will seek to the Senate bill this week.

Rielle Hunter speaks for the first time in GQ interview about John and Elizabeth Edwards, Andrew Young, and the big-money donors  —  Rielle Hunter at her home in Charlotte, N.C. (Photo by Mark Seliger / Courtesy of GQ)  —  For more than two years after Rielle Hunter emerged at the center …

Contractors Tied to Effort to Track and Kill Militants  —  KABUL, Afghanistan — Under the cover of a benign government information-gathering program, a Defense Department official set up a network of private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help track and kill suspected militants …

Gitmo's Indefensible Lawyers  —  Legal counsel to some of the detainees went far beyond vigorous representation of their clients.  Doesn't the public have a right to know?  —  On the evening of Jan. 26, 2006, military guards at Guantanamo Bay made an alarming discovery during a routine cell check.

Israel envoy: U.S. ties at their worst in 35 years  —  Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of “business as usual.”

Millions Spent to Sway Democrats on Health Care  —  WASHINGTON — The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes …

Taking On China  —  Tensions are rising over Chinese economic policy, and rightly so: China's policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, undervalued has become a significant drag on global economic recovery.  Something must be done.  —  To give you a sense of the problem …

March 14: Axelrod, Clyburn, Durbin, Rove, roundtable  —  MR. TOM BROKAW: This Sunday: Critical condition.  President Obama delays his trip overseas to push hard for healthcare reform.  —  PRES. BARACK OBAMA: It's time to vote!  Tired of talking about it.  —  MR. BROKAW: Will he finally succeed on this top priority?

Peter Graves, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Star, Dies at 83  —  Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television's “Mission: Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane!” movie farces, died on Sunday.  He was 83.

Democrats, Forever Changed  —  Hungry Beast Giving Beast Women in the World  —  Blogs and Stories  —  By pressing ahead on health care, President Obama is ending a decades-long internal debate within his party—and the Democratic Party will never be the same.

Robert Gibbs: Health Care Will Be ‘Law Of The Land’ Next Week; Axelrod To GOP: ‘Make My Day’  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  The White House is beginning its final push on health care this week, with senior adviser David Axelrod and press secretary Robert Gibbs making the rounds …

Rove Falsely Claims Bush Administration Never Said Iraqi Oil Revenue Would Help Pay For War  —  In his new book and in recent media appearances promoting it, former top Bush aide Karl Rove has been revising the history of the Iraq war, particularly regarding the issue of Saddam Hussien's alleged weapons of mass destruction.