Legislators

Just days after his prospective colleagues in Washington turned him back from the Capitol, Democrat Roland Burris seized on an Illinois high court decision filed Friday to assert he should be accepted as President-elect Barack Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate. Armed with the Illinois Supreme Court ruling, Burris' lawyers vowed to return to Washington on Monday and file suit in federal court unless top Senate Democrats reverse their rejection of impeached Democratic Gov. Rod R.

Barack Obama walked the halls of the Senate for four years, and in his earliest decisions after the presidential election assembled a coterie of key advisors with deep roots in Congress. He is the first president elected directly from Congress since John F. Kennedy -- leading to high expectations that he would know how to handle congressional egos.

As Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats celebrate their political ascendancy, Dianne Feinstein is front and center. And that is not always a welcome thing for members of her own party. In recent days Feinstein has sent an unmistakable signal to the president-elect and the rest of Washington: California's senior senator will not be taken for granted or hew to the party line simply because that might seem proper at the rosy dawn of a new Democratic era.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is battling brain cancer, was stricken by a seizure at a post-inaugural lunch with President Obama and members of Congress on Tuesday, adding a somber note to a day of celebration in the Capitol. Kennedy, 76, was taken by ambulance to the Washington Hospital Center. Dr. Edward F.

President Obama travels to the Capitol today to meet with House and Senate Republicans, the latest in a series of high-profile efforts to reach across the aisle and make good on his campaign promise to swim against the partisan tide that has flooded Washington for decades. So far, his gestures have shown few signs of success, as Republicans have continued to snipe at his signature initiative -- legislation to stimulate the economy -- and even to question the sincerity of his efforts.

Lee Jung-hee recalls the precise moment when all hell broke loose -- the tie-yanking, headlocks and neck-wringing, the thud of sledgehammers and, ominously, the sickening whine of a chain saw. The 39-year-old had witnessed plenty of violent protests in her native South Korea, where rowdy demonstrations are a Saturday newscast staple. These combatants, however, weren't blue-collar workers or student protesters, but dozens of blue-suited national lawmakers.

Donald Manzullo, a House Republican from Illinois, has proposed a $5,000 voucher for anyone buying a new car. Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, favors a temporary suspension of the payroll tax. Jim DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina, wants to permanently cut the federal income tax. As Republicans fight President Obama's gargantuan economic plan, they have plenty of ideas.

Sen. Roland Burris was moving fast through the Capitol. No matter that he was going in the wrong direction, headed toward the House when he thought he was going to his Senate office. His pace was brisk, his smile broad. He was having fun in his new job as the junior senator from Illinois. Tourists, staffers, Capitol police officers, custodians and even other members of Congress all want to meet the Democrat, shake his hand and congratulate him on his arrival in Washington.

Mac is back. But now, Sen. John McCain is cutting a new profile -- one that is far more partisan than when he became so familiar to Americans months ago as the Republican nominee for president. As a candidate, McCain cast himself as a uniter of the two parties, willing to buck his GOP colleagues and reach across the aisle to build compromises on immigration, campaign finance and other hot-button issues. "I have that record and the scars to prove it. Sen.

Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-Norwalk) has collected tens of thousands of dollars in personal income by charging double-digit interest on money she lent her campaign 11 years ago and soliciting donations from Washington lobbyists at "debt retirement" fundraisers.