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Representative Darrell Issa's Oversight committee held a hearing on how the General Services Administration spent more than $800,000 on a Las Vegas conference.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are reacting to yesterday's Supreme Court decision that may have finalized the 2000 presidential election. Members of Congress from both parties anxiously await tonight's speeches from both Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush, wondering if the bitter divide caused by the post-election controversy will begin to subside.

Host Liane Hansen speaks with John McCaslin, political olumnist for the Washington Times, about the partial shutdown of the federal overnment, term limits, and McCaslin's wish for Christmas inside the Beltway

NPR's Julie Rovner reports the presidency is not the only thing Washington is waiting on. The other big question is what is going to happen on Capitol Hill. The unprecedented 50-50 senate is debating how much control each party will have and the house is turning over a large number of chairmen who have completed their terms. Normally, these positions would go to members of the party in power, but that has yet to be decided. For staffers this means it won't be time to unpack the boxes for a while and for Americans it means it will be a while before their Congress gets to work.

Today the President and Mrs. Clinton defended the administration's decision to send the First Lady to the UN Women's conference in China. That decision, announced yesterday, came after China expelled American human rights activist Harry Wu. NPR's Jon Greenberg reports.

Recently-elected Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott is finding out quickly about the frustrations of gridlock. The Defense appropriations bill is being held hostage to a dispute over nuclear waste disposal, and a range of other bills are being held up as well. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went before a joint session of Congress to reaffirm his tough new stand on the Middle East process, underlining his differences with the land-for-peace approach embraced by the Clinton Administration.

NPR'S John Greenberg reports that the House of Representatives today passed a resolution that would reopen Social Security and Veterans benefits offices across the country. Forty percent of the government's offices have been closed since Monday due to an impasse between Congress and the White House over how to balance the federal budget.

The U.S. Capitol Police said animal control captured the fox responsible for biting at least one lawmaker and a journalist. The fox was later euthanized, as were its three kits.

One of the Republicans' promises to congressional office workers, the right to unionize, may be slipping away. The law passed at the beginning of the 104th Congress allowing aides to organize specifies a deadline of October first for a final approval vote. But NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that Congress has not been able to work out which staffers should be allowed to unionize and under what terms.