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President Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress for the first time Feb. 24, five weeks after his inauguration. White House officials say Obama's speech will resemble a State of the Union address, but it will not be one. His first State of the Union will take place in January 2010. Obama is expected to emphasize that he inherited difficult situations on many fronts and that he will preside over a new dawn in Washington.

When President Clinton delivers a State of the Union address, members of Congress experience it live, taking in his pronouncements, applause lines and gravelly voice from across the room. But Monday night's extraordinary mea culpa left lawmakers in the same position as every other interested American--staring at the president's image on a television screen far from the executive mansion. With Congress on a monthlong recess, members tuned in from family vacations and fund-raisers.

For more than a year, Internet messages have raised fears among black Americans that Congress plans to repeal the Voting Rights Act in 2007. One e-mail entitled "The Awakening" declared: "In 2007 Congress will decide whether or not blacks should retain the right to vote. In order for this to be passed, 38 states will have to approve an extension. . . . What many blacks before us fought and even died for as well as the milestones that we, as blacks have achieved, this can be taken away from us .

Faced with the quandary of how to pass judgment on President Clinton's personal conduct, some lawmakers late last week renewed the call for a resolution condemning the president's relationship with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky. The idea of a censure resolution, which Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) first broached in March, would have no legal ramifications but could solve Congress' current political dilemma.

After a week of frantic, fast-paced developments in the investigation of President Clinton, the final act of a grand legal and political drama that has spanned much of his presidency is at last in sight. The finale will be performed on Capitol Hill, where members of Congress soon may lose their status as spectators and become central players in an impeachment inquiry that will help shape history's judgment of the Clinton presidency. While nobody knows when independent counsel Kenneth W.

They are among the most prodigious fund-raisers in Congress, raking in as much as $1 million or more per campaign, although many occupy some of the House's safest seats. And they spend those huge sums in myriad and unexpected ways that often seem unrelated to direct appeals for votes. Indeed, to an unprecedented degree, many have become entrenched local institutions, complete with diversified holdings and permanent payrolls, making their economic clout felt back home in ways large and small.

Former Rep. Robert K. Dornan's campaign to return to Congress will get a boost this month from key House Republican leaders who are coming to Orange County to help him with two fund-raisers. The money will come in handy for Dornan, who last month announced that his campaign was nearly broke with only $4,500 left after paying existing debts. House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas and Rep.

Nearly a quarter of the members of California's 54-person congressional delegation are worth at least $1 million each, according to records disclosed Friday that help paint a financial portrait of the folks who make our laws. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband, financier Richard Blum, are so rich that her form runs 82 pages. Their assets total at least $20 million, according to the report. Rep. Ellen O.

Nearly a quarter of the members of California's 54-person congressional delegation, including first-term Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), are worth at least $1 million each, according to records disclosed Friday that help paint a financial portrait of the folks who make our laws. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband, financier Richard Blum, are so rich that her form runs 82 pages. Their assets total at least $20 million, according to the report. Rep. Ellen O.

Responding to taxpayers' frustration with the complex federal tax system, the House on Wednesday approved a bill that would abolish the Internal Revenue Code in 2002--and call on Congress to replace it with a new, simpler code. Republican sponsors do not really expect the measure to become law this year, but they brought it to a vote as part of an election-year effort to portray Democrats as friends of a despised tax system.