(CBS News) Partisan battle lines drawn over debt ceiling

(CBS News)  WASHINGTON - Washington barely had time to catch its breath after reaching a deal on raising taxes -- and battle lines are already emerging for the next showdown.

This week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner reported that the U.S. government has reached its borrowing limit: $16.4 trillion. This means that Congress and the president have roughly two months to work out a deal to raise that limit. Republicans are saying no deal without spending cuts.

President Obama returns from Hawaii to a capital city in full inaugural regalia. Republicans have their demands on spending cuts, but Mr. Obama has an inflexible demand of his own: no negotiations over raising the debt ceiling

"Fiscal cliff" averted: Time for the "mini-cliffs"
Obama faces fiscal hurdles, likely without Geithner
"Fiscal cliff" averted -- now what?

The grand stage at the Capitol is nearly complete. So, too, is the presidential reviewing stand just outside the White House gate.

The first family's Hawaiian vacation, carved up by fiscal cliff drama, ends Saturday. The president used his weekly address to tell the nation that raising the debt ceiling to avoid a government default is a problem for Congress.

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(WALL STREET JOURNAL) Report: Lance Armstrong weighs doping admission

(WALL STREET JOURNAL) AUSTIN, Texas — The New York Times reported Friday that Lance Armstrong, who has strongly denied the doping charges that led to him being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, has told associates he is considering admitting to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The report cited anonymous sources and said Armstrong was considering a confession to help restore his athletic career in triathlons and running events at age 41. Armstrong was been banned for life from cycling and cannot compete in athletic events sanctioned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Yet Armstrong attorney Tim Herman denied that Armstrong has reached out to USADA chief executive Travis Tygart and David Howman, director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Herman told The Associated Press he had no knowledge of Armstrong considering a confession and said: "When, and if, Lance has something to say, there won't be any secret about it."
Armstrong, who recovered from testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain, won the Tour de France from 1999-2005. Although he has vehemently denied doping, Armstrong's athletic career crumbled under the weight of a massive report by USADA detailing allegations of drug use by Armstrong and his teammates on his U.S. Postal Service teams.
The report caused Armstrong to lose most of his personal corporate sponsors and he recently stepped down from the board of Livestrong, the cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997.
Armstrong is facing other legal hurdles.

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Living Things by Linkin Park

Living Things is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Linkin Park. It was released under Warner Bros. Records and Machine Shop Recordings on June 20, 2012, in Japan, and throughout the rest of the world during the following week. Production was handled by vocalist Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin, who both co-produced the band's previous two studio albums Minutes to Midnight (2007) and A Thousand Suns (2010).

The band states that Living Things combines elements from their previous four studio albums to create a new sound. They stated they finally felt they were in "familiar territory" and "comfortable in [their] own skin" after years of experimentation that resulted in their two previous studio albums, Minutes to Midnight and A Thousand Suns.^[3][4][5] Living Thingswas chosen as the album's title because of the numerous personal topics on the album.^[6]

The lead single for the album, "Burn It Down", was sent to radio and released to digital music retailers on April 16, 2012. Living Things debuted at number one on Billboard 200with sales of 223,000 copies in the United States in its opening week.

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(CNN) Limited Sandy relief vote to occur on Friday

(CNN) -- After a firestorm of criticism from Northeast Republicans, the House of Representatives is expected to take up an aid package on Friday meant to address those still reeling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

Lawmakers will consider $9 billion in immediate assistance for flood insurance and will weigh another $51 billion in broader aid on January 15.

"We're getting what New York and New Jersey need, and that's all that counts," Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told reporters after emerging from a 20-minute meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "We're all big boys. We understand that all that counts is the bottom line."

That point was underscored Wednesday, when House leaders met with irate representatives from New York and New Jersey who felt they had been ignored by Boehner when he scrapped a planned vote late Tuesday on the full aid package.

The Senate, which had already approved the larger Sandy plan that the House refused to consider, is expected to sign off on the scaled-back version on Friday as well, according to a Democratic leadership aide.

Senators will hold off on any further action, however.

"On the second tranche, we will need to see more details before we decide how to proceed," the aide said. "As the Senate has shown by passing our bipartisan bill, we consider getting aid to the victims of Sandy a superlative priority, but we need to know more about the contents of the bill before deciding on a path forward."

Democrats were less mollified.

"It's really unbelievable how Speaker Boehner and his party could just walk away," said Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council. "To promise us a vote weeks from now? Why should we believe him at all? It's just shocking."

In a statement, Boehner and Cantor said "critical aid" to storm victims should be the first priority of the new Congress, which convened on Thursday.

The comity contrasted sharply with outrage that had exploded earlier in the day over congressional inaction on the package, pitting even fellow Republicans against Boehner.

It was "disappointing and disgusting to watch," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, blaming "the toxic internal politics of the House majority."

"New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display," he said, adding, "shame on Congress."

Christie, a Republican, said he had tried to reach Boehner on Tuesday night after a vote on the aid bill was shelved.

"He did not take my calls," Christie said.

At a news conference, Christie said he joined people of his state in feeling "betrayed" and added that the move summarizes "why the American people hate Congress."

In a statement, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote: "This failure to come to the aid of Americans following a severe and devastating natural disaster is unprecedented. The fact that days continue to go by while people suffer, families are out of their homes, and men and women remain jobless and struggling during these harsh winter months is a dereliction of duty."

GOP leadership sources said Boehner was worried that it would be a bad political move for him to allow a vote on new federal spending after House Republicans spent the first part of the week criticizing him for not wringing substantial spending cuts in the fiscal cliff bill.

Additional pressure on Boehner came from Republicans who criticized proposed congressional "pork" spending in the bill that was unrelated to Sandy needs.

Civility was eventually restored.

"As far as I'm concerned, that was a lifetime ago," King said. "The bottom line is we're going forward getting what we believe is necessary."

King previously had slammed his own party. "The Republican Party has said it's the party of 'family values.' Last night, it turned its back on the most essential value of all, and that's to provide food, shelter, clothing and relief for people who have been hit by a natural disaster," King told CNN.

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(reuters)Same-sex marriage bill heads to Illinois state Senate floor

(Reuters) - A panel of Illinois lawmakers voted on Thursday to send legislation legalizing gay marriage in President Barack Obama's home state to the floor of the state Senate, setting up a possible vote on the issue next week.
The 8-5 vote by the Senate Executive Committee fell along party lines, with the panel's Democratic majority supporting the measure and its Republican minority opposing it.
Although the Democratic-controlled Senate adjourned late on Thursday, lawmakers said the bill likely would be called on Tuesday when the Senate returns for a special session.
The Democratic-led state House of Representatives may take up the legislation next week as well. If the bill is approved by the Legislature and signed by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn, Illinois would become the 10th state along with the District of Columbia to legalize same sex-nuptials and the first Midwest state to do so through legislation.
Iowa's Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2009.
Spectators in the crowded committee room gave the committee a standing ovation after the measure passed, with many embracing and trading high-fives.
"This is a great feeling; we feel it's about time," said Theresa Volpe, 47, of Chicago, who testified before the committee along with her partner of 21 years, Mercedes Santos. They have two children, Ava, 8, and Jaidon, 4.
The two have had a civil union since Illinois began offering same-sex couples that option in June 2011. But Volpe said she was banned from her son's room in a hospital intensive care unit because the administrator did not understand what civil union meant.
Volpe and Santos are plaintiffs in a lawsuit demanding same-sex marriage in Illinois.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ISSUE
Although all Republican senators on the committee voted against the measure, Republican Senator Christine Radogno said she saw potential for bipartisan support down the line if changes were made to the bill's language.
A key issue to be resolved is whether Illinois should allow religious groups the option of declining to perform same-sex marriages. New York granted such an exception in 2011 in order to secure the votes to legalize gay marriage there.
Bishop Thomas Paprocki, representing the Catholic Conference of Illinois, noted that he and the leaders of 1,700 other congregations in the state saw the bill as a threat to their beliefs.
"Marriage is neither two men nor two women," Paprocki said. "This will radically redefine what marriage is for everybody."
Also objecting on Thursday was the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm that says lawmakers who support the bill will strip away religious liberty protections ensured by civil unions.
By approving it, those lawmakers will "declare constituents who believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman to be bigots and discriminators," said a letter signed by Society President Thomas Brejcha and Executive Director Peter Breen.
Earlier in the week, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George sent a letter to Catholic parishes saying same-sex marriage undermined the "natural family" between a man and a woman.
A survey of Illinois voters by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling late last year found 47 percent supported gay marriage, 42 percent opposed and 11 percent unsure.
The poll of 500 Illinois voters was conducted from November 26 to 28 and had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

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(ABCNews) Stanford Holds off Wisconsin 20-14 in Rose Bowl

(ABCNews) Andrew Luck, Toby Gerhart and coach Jim Harbaugh started Stanford's improbable football renaissance, yet they never stood in the center of the Rose Bowl with the West Coast's most coveted trophy raised above their heads.
In fact, the last Stanford team to do what the Cardinal did Tuesday night had a defense known as the Thunderchickens.
Forty years after Stanford's last Rose Bowl victory, the favored Cardinal lived up to the legacy created by Luck, Harbaugh and every Thunderchicken that came before them by winning the bowl game that matters most to any Pac-12 team.
Stepfan Taylor rushed for an early touchdown, Kevin Hogan passed for 123 yards and No. 8 Stanford's defense shut out the Badgers in the second half of a 20-14 victory in the 99th Rose Bowl.
"I had heard that 1972 was our last win," said Hogan, the freshman quarterback who won Stanford's last five games. "It's been too long since we've had one at The Farm. It's a great feeling."
Instead of slipping back off the college football map when their biggest names graduate to NFL glory, the Cardinal (12-2) have just kept getting better under coach David Shaw. After winning the Orange Bowl two years ago and losing the Fiesta Bowl in overtime last season, Stanford followed up with its first conference title and its first trip to the Granddaddy of Them All in 13 years.

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(WallStreet Journal) U.S. Budget Compromise Deal Reached

(WallStreet Journal) WASHINGTON—U.S. President Barack Obama and Senate leaders Monday reached a New Year's budget agreement that would let income-tax rates rise for the first time in nearly 20 years, maintain unemployment benefits for millions of people and blunt the impact of spending cuts that were looming as part of the so-called "fiscal cliff."
The long-sought compromise, which will raise taxes on income over $450,000 for couples, was approved by the Senate in the early morning hours Tuesday. The House was expected to consider it later in the day.
"While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted," President Obama said in a statement, "this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay." He said it would "grow the economy and shrink our deficits in a balanced way."
Despite concerns raised by some Senate Democrats earlier in the day, the bill was approved by a strong 89-8 vote, with a majority of both parties in support.
One of the most strident opponents was Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa. Speaking on the Senate floor shortly before the vote, he declared the compromise benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of those who could afford it the least.
"Maybe now we are all believers of trickle-down economics. Not I," Mr. Harkin said, declaring he would vote against the legislation.
The other seven senators voting against the bill were Democrats Tom Carper of Delaware and Michael Bennet of Colorado and Republicans Charles Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Richard Shelby of Alabama.
The delay in approval meant that the U.S. technically went over the fiscal cliff at midnight, but with U.S. markets closed Tuesday, the impact of missing the deadline could be minimal. What damage the wrangling has caused—to the 2013 tax-filing season and consumer confidence—is already assured.

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