Fiscal cliff: House will come back on Sunday  —  House Republican leaders are bringing the House back into session on Sunday, lawmakers were told in a Thursday conference call.  —  one day before the nation reaches the fiscal cliff.

Federal Court Won't Rescue the Senate From Its Own Incapacity  —  Senators must tame the filibuster or it will destroy them — and the Congress they serve in.  —  Joshua Roberts/Reuters  —  Federal Judges rarely play Santa Claus, and U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan declined to brighten the holiday for Senate Democrats.

US Rep. Markey to run in Senate special election  —  US Representative Edward Markey, dean of the state's Washington delegation, will run in 2013 for the US Senate seat expected to open with the nomination of US Senator John Kerry to head the State Department.

E.P.A. Chief to Step Down, With Climate Still Low Priority  —  Lisa P. Jackson is stepping down as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency after a four-year tenure that began with high hopes of sweeping action to address climate change and other environmental ills but ended …

Free David Gregory  —  Moving right along in America's gun control, er, “conversation,” we now have the illuminating debate over the alleged criminality of “Meet the Press” host David Gregory.  Somehow this seems appropriate to the quality of the rest of the gun debate.

Report: Mike Crapo drank vodka shots  —  Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) drank multiple vodka shots before he was arrested for driving under the influence early Sunday morning in Alexandria, according to public court documents.  —  Crapo, 61, has a court date set for Jan. 4, according to news reports.

Feinstein defends foreign surveillance program amid criticism  —  Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Thursday pushed back against claims made by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that a counterterrorism surveillance law lacks sufficient oversight.

Changing History  —  Some fascinating findings from Pew's on-going number crunching of the 2012 election.  African-Americans, for the first time ever, may have voted at higher rates than American whites.  —  From Pew ...  Pew goes on to note that while participation rates for Hispanics …

As Swing Districts Dwindle, Can a Divided House Stand?  —  In 1992, there were 103 members of the House of Representatives elected from what might be called swing districts: those in which the margin in the presidential race was within five percentage points of the national result.

Two Cautionary Tales of Gun Control  —  After a school massacre, the U.K. banned handguns in 1998.  A decade later, handgun crime had doubled.  —  Americans are determined that massacres such as happened in Newtown, Conn., never happen again.  But how?  Many advocate more effective treatment …

2013 Is the Year to Go to Work, Not Go on Disability  —  The National Bureau of Economic Research declared that the U.S. recession ended in June 2009, yet 2012 didn't look like much of a resurgence.  —  To me, the number that sums up the year's doldrums is the 1.27 million increase in the number …

E-book Reading Jumps; Print Book Reading Declines  —  Findings  —  The population of e-book readers is growing.  In the past year, the number of those who read e-books increased from 16% of all Americans ages 16 and older to 23%.  At the same time, the number of those who read printed books …

Washington State Senators Cross Aisle and Tilt Ideological Balance  —  OLYMPIA, Wash. — From the governor-elect on down, through both chambers of the Legislature, a tincture of blue political monoculture drifts through Washington State politics like mist through the pines.

Abortion-rights champion stepping down  —  As the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches, a leading abortion-rights advocate is ready to hand over the reins to a new generation.  —  Nancy Keenan will step down early next year from her post as president of NARAL Pro-Choice America …