Congress U S

As he ran for the White House, John F. Kennedy assured skeptical Americans that he was "not the Catholic candidate for president," but rather a "candidate for president who happens also to be Catholic." In 1961, the year he took office, Catholics accounted for 18.8% of Congress. On Tuesday, when the 111th Congress is sworn in, about 30% of its membership will be Catholic, according to a recent analysis by Congressional Quarterly and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

John Peeler, an unemployed computer technician in South Carolina, may soon get health insurance for his wife and three children. Four months after being laid off, he is one of the lucky jobless Americans who could receive thousands of dollars in government subsidies from the new stimulus plan. Susan McKowen, a 62-year-old breast cancer survivor from Illinois, is not so fortunate.

Upending Washington's entrenched ways of doing business is proving tougher than President Obama may have assumed. The nearly $800-billion stimulus bill served as a test case. During the campaign, Obama released a position paper stating his commitment to open government. As president, he said, he would not only insist on transparency in his own administration, he would press Congress to revamp its practices as well.

Lawmakers on Tuesday denied themselves a pay raise next January but, with an eye toward a better economic and political climate, decided to retain their automatic cost-of-living raises for future years. A blur of last-minute procedural maneuvering in the Senate produced a salary package for members of Congress that holds their annual pay at $174,000 until 2011.

With Congress moving toward passage of an $800-billion-plus economic stimulus plan, big government is back. Unabashed. With a vengeance. The stimulus is bigger than the Pentagon's entire budget. It's more than the United States has spent on the war in Iraq. And its hundreds of provisions reach into almost every aspect of American life -- including workers' paychecks, local schools, digital television and modernizing medical records.

The Obama White House has begun advancing an aggressive political strategy: persuading the country that real power behind the Republican Party is not the GOP leaders in Congress or at the Republican National Committee, but rather provocative radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh. President Obama himself, along with top aides and outside Democratic allies, have been pushing the message in unison.

California has by far the largest delegation in Congress, almost 10% of the membership. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, is a Californian, as are five of its committees' chairs -- a collection of powerful positions unmatched by any state. The state's two senators chair important committees, and one holds a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.

Congressional leaders were briefed repeatedly on the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods on Al Qaeda suspects, according to new information released by the Obama administration Thursday that appears to contradict the assertions of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

In a historic shift in public health policy, Congress is poised to give the federal government sweeping new authority to regulate the manufacturing of cigarettes and other tobacco products. The legislation, long resisted by the tobacco industry, could allow consumers to see for the first time what chemicals and other additives tobacco companies put in their products.

Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte and their former strength coach Brian McNamee were asked Friday to testify Jan. 16 before a congressional committee exploring performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. Former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, whose allegations were a central part of last month's report by former Sen. George Mitchell on doping in baseball, also was invited to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Rep.