Ruling Kills an Option for Moving Health Bill  —  The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that President Barack Obama must sign Congress' original health care reform bill before the Senate can act on a companion reconciliation package, senior GOP sources said Thursday.

House GOP votes to ban all earmarks  —  House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks.  —  The Republicans' moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee's ban …

Barney Frank confirms key detail in Massa saga  —  Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) confirmed a key detail that was allegedly reported to the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) regarding allegations of Eric Massa's improper behavior.  —  The Washington Post reported Thursday that Joe Racalto …

Reid, In Letter To McConnell, Outlines The Path Forward On Health Reform  —  Washington, D.C. - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explaining the path forward on health insurance reform.  In the letter, Senator Reid details the steps …

What Biden told Netanyahu behind closed doors: “This is starting to get dangerous for us”  —  Publicly, Vice President Joe Biden tried to keep up a positive tone in his good will visit to Israel this week.  But privately, the Israeli press reports, he had sharper words for Israeli decisions Biden …

Holder Failed To Alert Senate To Old Brief  —  During his confirmation more than a year ago, Attorney General Eric Holder failed to notify lawmakers he had contributed to a legal brief dealing with the use of federal courts in fighting terrorism, the Justice Department acknowledged on Wednesday.

Senate Liberals Dissed on Health Bill  —  Senate Democratic leaders are concerned about the amount of mischief their own Members could create if or when a health care reconciliation bill comes up for debate.  And sources said some supporters of creating a public insurance option are privately worried …

Sex Scandals Aren't Interesting When They Involve Republicans  —  Interestingly John Ensign, like David Vitter but unlike Elliot Spitzer or Eric Massa, hasn't yet been driven from public life: … Man, that John Edwards sure is a scumbag!

The Scandalous Scott Brown Lawsuit that No One Told You About  —  Did you know that Scott Brown—the new star Republican Senator—was accused of harassing a female campaign worker in 1998?  We have the documents to prove it.  Did the Democrats blow an opportunity to keep their 60th Senate seat?

As a progressive, Obama hews to the Wilsonian tradition  —  There are legislative miles to go before the government will be emancipated from its health-care myopia, but it is not too soon for a summing-up.  Whether all or nothing of the legislation becomes law, Barack Obama has refuted critics who call him a radical.

Texas Hearing Considers Deeper Conservative Stamp on Textbooks  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — Even as a panel of educators laid out a vision Wednesday for national standards for public schools, the Texas school board was going in a different direction, holding hearings on changes to its social studies curriculum …

Hillary Rodham Clinton widens her circle at the State Department  —  Hillary Rodham Clinton ran a presidential campaign notoriously insular and unhappy, managing a group of egos and backstabbers whose dysfunction may have cost her the White House.  Understandably, people wondered what kind …

How Andrew Breitbart Hacks the Media  —  Andrew Breitbart has been waiting 45 minutes for a filet mignon.  He drums his fingers on the table in this plush Italian restaurant off Times Square, a place where the media types he regularly trashes used to flaunt their expense accounts — back when they still had them.

Woods hires ex-Bush aide to prep for return in two weeks  —  MIAMI — Tiger Woods has summoned someone even more significant than swing coach Hank Haney to help facilitate his wildly anticipated comeback.  —  Two sources in the golf community have told The Post that Ari Fleischer …

Chefs Call Proposed New York Salt Ban ‘Absurd’  —  MYFOXNY.COM - Some New York City chefs and restaurant owners are taking aim at a bill introduced in the New York Legislature that, if passed, would ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.  —  “No owner or operator of a restaurant …

Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of the Senate-Passed Health Bill  —  CBO has just released an estimate of the budgetary effects of the health bill, H.R. 3590, that passed the Senate on December 24.  Today's estimate differs from the estimate for a slightly earlier version of the legislation …

What I Learned at the Tea Parties  —  Both the media and many high profile politicos still seem to be flailing around trying to find some way to label, quantify and pigeonhole the myriad tea party groups which are springing up all around the country.  Even Karl Rove, during a stop to promote his new book …

Paul Ryan: The Roadmap Warrior  —  The Wisconsin congressman on tax policy.  —  Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future would drastically overhaul the American welfare state in a free-market direction.  The Congressional Budget Office says it would solve the entitlements crisis through …

Miss. prom canceled after lesbian's date request  —  JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi county school board announced Wednesday it would cancel its upcoming prom after a gay student petitioned to bring a same-sex date to the event.  —  “Due to the distractions to the educational process caused …

Beck: Fox News executive told me ‘you are the key’ to surviving ‘a global economic holocaust.’  —  Fox News host Glenn Beck has made a trademark of propagating outlandish conspiracy theories and far-right rhetoric, but his employers at Fox have long claimed that his views do not reflect the network's.

Americans' Global Warming Concerns Continue to Drop  —  Multiple indicators show less concern, more feelings that global warming is exaggerated  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Gallup's annual update on Americans' attitudes toward the environment shows a public that over the last two years …