Senators on Capitol Hill are in a closed door hearing Wednesday morning, receiving testimony from Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Mike Mullen, leaders of the Accountability Review Board out with a report criticizing the State Department for actions leading up to the deadly consulate attack in Benghazi.
President Obama is expected to appoint his second-in-command—Vice President Joe Biden—to lead the administration’s push for new policies to prevent another tragedy similar to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.
The mass shooting in Newtown is still having an impact on the opinion pages: Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus discusses gun legislation, the power of money in politics and the courts. The Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins notes the decline in employment-related mass shootings and the future for gun legislation in his Business World column.
There’s been little movement on fiscal cliff negotiations since Speaker Boehner’s “Plan B” was panned by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—White House officials reiterate that the lines of communication are still open.
We’re also following the latest in the Cabinet conversation, including some GOP criticismsof one of their own—Former Senator Chuck Hagel—and reports of the White House reaching out to American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault.