Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suggested to reporters Tuesday that there is a way President Obama could win at the Supreme Court whether or not the health care law is overturned. 

"There's a significant school of thought that the administration is -- it puts them in a better position for the election if it's turned down," Reid said. He added that he thought the law would be upheld.

That school of thought asserts that having President Obama's signature legislative accomplishment invalidated by the Court allows him to rail against "unelected judges" who subvert the will of the people through complicated legal reasoning. Democrats tried a similar tactic in 2010 after the Court ruled in Citizens United that the First Amendment prohibited restrictions on corporate political donations. A legislative attempt to overturn the ruling, known as the DISCLOSE Act, failed in the Senate. So-called super PACs have thrived since. 

Also if the law is invalidated, Republicans may find it hard to whip up public discontent over a law that no longer exists. (read more)

House Republicans are making one more push to pass their five-year, $260 billion transportation bill, but while the measure contains no earmarks and funds road construction through expanded oil and gas drilling rather than through the Highway Trust Fund, it faces resistance from conservative members who say the price tag is too high.  

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a closed door meeting Wednesday with GOP members, warned that the cost of inaction would be even higher.

"The speaker laid out very clearly that if we don't pass our bill with all the reforms in it, all the positive things that we want to see passed, we're going to end up doing a short-term extension that gets us nothing or have the Senate jam us with their bill," said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa.

Shuster is now shepherding the Republican proposal, authored by Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla. Current legislation expires at the end of the month.

Earlier this week, Boehner did not rule out the possibility of using the Senate measure, a smaller two-year funding bill that has enjoyed bipartisan support.

Many members are wary of another government funding standoff that could further erode the public’s opinion of Congress. (read more)

The three Republican presidential aspirants at this week's Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, didn’t take long Friday to give the audience what they wanted: attacks.

"It was a red-meat speech for the crowd at CPAC,” Patrick Stewart-Hester said of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s remarks to the conservative gathering. “The crowd loved it. I liked it.”

Gingrich unleashed a scathing line of attack on the Obama presidency and promised to work to undo most of the current president’s programs on his first day in office.

Rick Santorum, full of haymakers for President Obama and veiled swipes at Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, appeared to hit all the right notes for the Washington political gathering Friday morning.

“He was saying what needed to be said,” noted University of Georgia student Matthew Aldridge. “He talked about values of the American people. Of course, we need to get back to that.”

Aldridge, a Gingrich supporter, said that he would support any Republican candidate who won the nomination, a common comment here at the Wardman Park Marriott.

“We have to defeat Obama,” said Nancy Baumann, a new member of Team Santorum. (read more)

Co-sponsors of a House bill to prevent insider trading on Capitol Hill are planning to attempt a procedural maneuver Wednesday to force a floor vote on the legislation.

The STOCK Act, which prohibits members of Congress and their staff from executing stock trades based on information learned in the halls of the Capitol, currently has 271 cosponsors. And while it only takes 218 members, a simple majority of the House, to move what is known as a "discharge petition" to demand action on the floor, it’s tough sledding to get to an up-or-down vote after that.

There are lots of reasons this discharge petition may be challenging to accomplish. First, it can take up to seven legislative days to schedule. That easily gets to sometime next week. However, by rule, the House can only consider discharge petitions on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. So if the House is not in session on one of those given Mondays, tough cookies.

Considering that timing, the House would not be able to consider this discharge petition until Feb. 27 at the earliest.

The historical precedents don’t bode well either for the bill's sponsors, Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Tim Walz, D-Minn.  The last successful discharge petition to proceed was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as McCain-Feingold, in 2002 -- after a five-year effort. (read more)

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the nation's longest serving openly-gay member of the House of Representatives plans to marry his partner, Jim Ready, in a Massachusets ceremony. A date for the event has not been set.

If he marries while in Congress, he'll be the first openly-gay member to be married while in office.

Frank, 71, announced that he would not seek reelection in November 2011 after an unusually close race against Republican Sean Bielat for the normally safe Bay State seat.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts after a state Supreme Court decision in 2004.

New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco found out something he didn’t catch during his 10 years in Cincinnati Tuesday night -- Washington-style theater.

Tweeting his way through a bout of insomnia, the three time all-pro stumbled upon the State of the Union address, watching the yearly event for the first time.

The player, who famously changed his last name to the Spanish-style pronunciation of his jersey number, asked his more than 3 million followers a host of questions about the event: its length (varies), how the president remembers the entire speech (TOTUS, ask any Republican to explain) and who "the guy over Obama’s left shoulder" was (House Speaker John Boehner, an avid Cincinnati Bengals fan).

That guy "doesn’t seem very happy," Ochocinco tweeted of the stone-faced speaker, who earlier in the week told "Fox News Sunday" he was going to get through President Obama's speech by staring at the back of Obama's head.

After learning Boehner’s identity, Ochocinco turned up the compassion, asking via Twitter if the speaker, who is known to wear his emotions on his sleeve, was "ok." (read more)

House Sergeant at Arms Wilson "Bill" Livingood announced his intention to retire on January 17, 2012 Thursday, ending a half century long career in federal law enforcement.

Livingood has been in his current position for 17 years through both Republican and Democratic-led Houses. He spent 33 years with the United States Secret Service before coming to Capitol Hill.

His tenure saw several tragedies and emergencies unfold in the Capitol. In 1998, two U.S. Capitol Police officers were killed after a gunman opened fire shortly after entering the building. Livingood was also in charge during the September 11th terrorist attacks, the anthrax release on Capitol Hill later that year, and the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in her home district in January. (read more)

Earlier today, Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., sent a letter to the White House, withdrawing his support for the recommendation of former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In it, he tells the President, "It is with a heavy heart that I respectfully withdraw my support for Mr. Paterno's nomination. As a proud Penn State alumnus, I believe the nomination at this time only serves as a distraction from the most important issue - supporting the victims, their families and our community."

Paterno was ousted this week after 46 years leading the Nittany Lions over reports that he did not tell police that his former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, had been accused of molesting children. The claims of abuse span 15 years and at least eight alleged victims so far, all part of a charity for at-risk children run by Sandusky that often used the Penn State facilities.

Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey, a Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Republican, on Thursday both rescinded their request that the Obama administration consider the former coach for the award.

Thompson's office did not respond to a request from FOX News to detail the actions the congressman is taking to ensure justice for the alleged victims. (read more)

As lawmakers prepare to return to the campaign trail in what's expected to be a hotly contested election season, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has released the House's calendar for 2012, and it's promising to give lawmakers plenty of time at home to spread their parties' messages.

As it stands, the House of Representatives has just 108 legislative sessions next year. That's slightly less than previous election cycles. The House was in 127 days in 2010 and 119 days in 2008.

The House starts out slow, working in Washington just six days in January. Members will be in the Capitol for just eight days in April and three days in August, which is traditionally a light month for legislators in D.C.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-NY, has traveled to Israel to escort his former intern Ilan Grapel, 27, back to his home in New York City. Egyptian authorities accused Grapel of spying for Israel and arrested him in June.  

After discussions between the United States, Israel, and Egypt, The Jerusalem Post reports that the Israel Prison Service plans to exchange Grapel for 22 Egyptian soldiers.  

Israeli authorities have assured Ackerman that Grapel was not, in fact, a spy.

Grapel, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship, is expected to be released Thursday. His arrival in the United States is yet to be determined.