“The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to vote on President Barack Obama's pick to lead the CIA after weeks of wrangling with the White House over access to top-secret information about the use of lethal drone strikes against terror suspects and the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya,” the AP writes, adding though that “Republicans said they were frustrated with the Obama administration's reluctant disclosure of all the records.”

More: “Brennan's nomination has been held up as Democrats and Republicans on the intelligence panel have been pressing the Obama administration to provide them with a series of classified Justice Department legal opinions that justify the use of unmanned spy planes to kill terror suspects overseas, including American citizens. The senators have argued they can't perform adequate oversight without reviewing the contents of the documents.”

Ryan Lizza on the limits of the presidency: “The tendency of many Washington pundits, especially those who cover the White House, is to invest the Presidency with far more power that the Constitution gives it. The idea that the Presidency and Congress are co-equal branches of government is the most basic fact of our system, and yet it is often absent from political coverage of standoffs between the two branches. If only Obama would lead, this fiscal mess would be solved! If only he would socialize more with legislators the way L.B.J. did, his agenda would pass! The pundits are not alone in assuming that the President is all-powerful. Indeed, the fact that Barack Obama now so appreciates the limits of his office and his lack of Jedi powers is rich with irony.”

More: “That Obama, who started his Presidency as a true believer, has now given up on the idea that he has any special powers to change the minds of his fiercest critics is probably a good thing. His devotion to post-partisan governance has long fed two mistaken ideas: that the differences between the parties are minor, and that divided government is inherently good for the country. A fundamental fact of modern political life is that the only way to advance a coherent agenda in Washington is through partisan dominance.”

“Cell-phone users, rejoice: The White House has agreed that you should be able to unlock your phone and bring it with you to another carrier ‘without risking criminal or other penalties,’” National Journal writes. “The statement is a big deal, if only because it seems to align the White House with consumers against the Library of Congress. It was the LOC that allowed a legal shield to expire at the end of January for people who unlocked their phones themselves, exposing them to lawsuits from wireless carriers for circumventing copyright laws.”

AP: “An Obama administration adviser says the White House believes smartphone and tablet users should be allowed to unlock their phones and use the devices on the network of their choosing. In a blog post entitled ‘It’s time to legalize cell phone unlocking,’ R. David Edelman, White House adviser on Internet, innovation and privacy, responded to a petition about the issue by saying the administration feels consumers should be allowed to unlock their phones without civil or criminal penalties, especially if the phones were purchased secondhand or as gifts.”

GW's School of Media and Public Affairs holds a discussion at 7:00 pm ET on “Scandal and Silence: When the Watchdog Doesn't Bark,” which includes NBC’s Michael Isikoff. 

President Obama is expected to announce two national security nominations this morning -- Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary and John Brennan to head the CIA.

The AP: “Hagel, even before being nominated, has faced tough criticism from congressional Republicans who say the former GOP senator is anti-Israel and soft on Iran. And Brennan, a 25-year CIA veteran, withdrew from consideration for the spy agency’s top job in 2008 amid questions about his connection to enhanced interrogation techniques during the George W. Bush administration.”

Andrea Mitchell: “Hagel is a contrarian Republican moderate and decorated Vietnam combat veteran who is likely to support a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.” On Brennan: He “worked at the CIA for 25 years, including a stint as station chief in Saudi Arabia. He also served as chief of staff to then CIA Director George Tenet from 1999 to 2001, when he was named the agency's deputy executive director. … As Brennan has been involved in major national security issues since 9/11, he should be able ‘to hit the ground running’ at the CIA, one official told NBC News.”

The Washington Post: “Hagel’s successful nomination would add a well-known Republican to the president’s second-term Cabinet at a time when he is looking to better bridge the partisan divide, particularly after a bitter election campaign. But the expected nomination has drawn sharp criticism in recent weeks, particularly from Republicans, who have questioned Hagel’s commitment to Israel’s security. … In an appearance Sunday on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) called Hagel’s selection an ‘in-your-face nomination.’”

Haaretz: “The former Republican senator from Nebraska, described by conservative Republicans and Jewish critics as ‘antagonistic’ towards Israel and even as a ‘borderline anti-Semite’ wrote in his 2008 book America; Our Next Chapter that any US president is required ‘to engage actively in the dangerous and politically risky business of peacemaking. We know that a peace settlement will not happen if the parties are left to their own devices.’ However, Hagel added, ‘there is one important given that is not negotiable: a comprehensive solution should not include any compromise regarding Israel’s Jewish identity.’”

Several groups are opposing Hagel for his views on Israel, but Haaretz notes, “Hagel’s positions on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, however, are shared by a substantial number of Israelis in the center and left of Israel’s political map: he endorses the ‘Clinton Parameters’ enunciated by former President Bill Clinton following the 2000 Camp David summit, saying that these ‘represent the most comprehensive, detailed and practical plan to date for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement and a two-state solution.’”

And despite the controversy now, former Sen. Max Cleland, himself a wounded veteran, tells Talking Points Memo: “All this other stuff has been bull---- up ‘til now. When the real decision is made, when the president makes the decision … the Senate plays its role. … I don’t see the United States Senate rejecting Chuck Hagel. Under any circumstance that we can foresee at this point. … Look Chuck Hagel in the eye and vote up or down. Against a combat-wounded veteran, against a former member of the United States Senate, against a foreign relations committee member, against a sitting member of the military intelligence advisory committee to the Department of Defense. Look him in the eye and vote against him for Secretary of Defense. Are you kidding me?”

“The White House is weighing a far broader and more comprehensive approach to curbing the nation’s gun violence than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to multiple people involved in the administration’s discussions,” the Washington Post reports. “A working group led by Vice President Biden is seriously considering measures backed by key law enforcement leaders that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks, and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors, the sources said. To sell such changes, the White House is developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association that one source said could include rallying support from Wal-Mart and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses. White House aides have also been in regular contact with advisers to New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg….”

AP: “Struggling for the upper hand in the next round of debt talks, Republicans and Democrats this weekend drew lines in the sand they said they'd never cross when it comes to the U.S. debt limit. … Republicans say they are willing to raise the debt ceiling but insist any increase must be paired with significant savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other government benefit programs. President Barack Obama has said he’s willing to consider spending cuts separately but won’t bargain over the government’s borrowing authority.”

But: “There are early signs of division within the Republican Party over how to approach the upcoming debate over raising the federal debt ceiling,” the Washington Post reported Saturday. “House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) likewise insisted that Republicans hold the line, telling his members they must demand that every dollar they raise the debt limit be paired with commensurate spending cuts. But other Republicans counseled caution, warning that pressure from the business community and the public to raise the $16.4 trillion federal borrowing limit renders untenable any threats not to do so and will weaken the GOP’s hand if their stance is perceived to be a bluff.”

Hillary Clinton’s slated to be back at work today.

“President Obama’s campaign has agreed to pay a $375,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission, among the largest penalties in the agency’s history,” the Washington Post reported Friday. “The fine was imposed after an audit of the campaign’s books showed that it failed to report the identities of donors who gave large checks in the weeks before the 2008 election, according to a copy of the agreement between the FEC and the president’s campaign.”

The Hill: Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is signaling that at least one thing will change about his leadership during the 113th Congress: he’s telling Republicans he is done with private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama.

The AP’s Babington: “Congress’ hectic resolution of the ‘fiscal cliff’ crisis is the latest in a long series of decisions by lawmakers and the White House to do less than promised — and to ask Americans for little sacrifice — in confronting the nation’s burgeoning debt.”

USA Today’s Davis: “Partisan divisions and brinksmanship politics defined the outgoing Congress right up to the final scramble to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff.’ The last-ditch deal dodged income-tax hikes for nearly all Americans and delayed for two months spending cuts for the Pentagon and domestic programs. Still, the compromise didn't solve, or even seriously address, the deficit problems that prompted Congress to write the laws that nearly forced the nation over the cliff in the first place.”

AP: “While the tax package that Congress passed New Year’s Day will protect 99 percent of Americans from an income tax increase, most of them will still end up paying more federal taxes in 2013. That’s because the legislation did nothing to prevent a temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax from expiring. In 2012, that 2-percentage-point cut in the payroll tax was worth about $1,000 to a worker making $50,000 a year.”

Michael Hirsch: “Crazies. Cliff divers. Nihilists. Nutjobs. Those are just a few of the descriptions being applied to the 151 House Republicans who broke with Speaker John Boehner—they included his own supposed wing men, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Whip Kevin McCarthy—to vote against the fiscal cliff deal Tuesday night. In truth, what the fine print of the bill demonstrates is that the Republicans who refused to vote for the fiscal compromise had every right to be disgusted by it—that is, if you expect legislators to hold true at all to the beliefs that inspired them to run for office in the first place. The last-minute deal exposed Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as creatures of the old system, and it ripped the scab off whatever healing had occurred between the Republican traditionalists and the tea partiers since then. Make no mistake: The divide within the GOP will continue, demonstrating that the tea-party rebellion lives on in the new House.” 

Beth Reinhard: “Lumped together as two of the youngest and brightest Republican stars, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio parted ways on the fiscal cliff with votes that reflect divergent strategies for building their party and political futures.”

Obama signed the fiscal cliff bill with an auto pen.

AP: President Barack Obama has signed a $633 billion defense bill for next year that tightens penalties on Iran and bolsters security at diplomatic missions worldwide after the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Politico: “President Barack Obama won’t be able to enjoy much of a victory lap from his win over congressional Republicans on the fiscal cliff fight. There are about 16.4 trillion reasons why. The staggering national debt — up about 60 percent from the $10 trillion Obama inherited when he took office in January 2009 — is the single biggest blemish on Obama’s record, even if the rapid descent into red began under President George W. Bush.”

The New York Times adds, “For President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress, the fiscal deal reached this week is full of small victories that further their largest policy aims. Above all, it takes another step toward Mr. Obama’s goal of orienting federal policy more toward the middle class and the poor, at the expense of the rich. Yet the deal, which the Senate and the House have passed and Mr. Obama is expected to sign soon, also represents a substantial risk for the president.”

“In combative campaign form, President Barack Obama accused Republican leaders on Tuesday of becoming so radical and dangerously rigid that even the late Ronald Reagan, one of their most cherished heroes, could not win a GOP primary if he were running today,” the AP’s Feller writes. “Obama, in a stinging speech to an audience of news executives, had unsparing words for Republicans on Capitol Hill as well as the man he is most likely to face off against in November, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The president depicted the election as a choice between a Democratic candidate who wants to use government to help people succeed and Republicans who would abandon a basic compact with society and let most people struggle at the expense of the rich.”

“Few would quarrel with President Barack Obama's point that the Republican Party has drifted to the right in recent years, disavowing ideas it once embraced -- even created. But making that case in a major campaign speech, Obama ignored realities in his own Democratic ranks,” the AP’s Woodward writes. “For one, it was opposition from coal-state Democrats that sank cap-and-trade legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions, not just from those arch-conservative Republicans. For another, if Republicans have moved to the right on health care, it's also true that Obama has moved to the left. He strenuously opposed a mandate forcing people to obtain health insurance until he won office and changed his mind.”

(Or one could argue, it was Obama moving to the right, since conservatives first proposed the idea of a mandate and that he’d once upon a time expressed support for a single-payer system.)

“President Obama said again Tuesday that it has been a long time since the Supreme Court struck down an economic law passed by Congress, but he mixed up the decisions and their timing,” the L.A. Times’ Savage writes.

Republicans (and conservative judges) took issue with President Obama’s challenge to the Supreme Court, saying he was “threatening” and “intimidating” the court. Of course, Republicans have long criticized “activist judges.” And Newt Gingrich, for one, called for the arrest of “radical” ones. Romney denounced Gingrich for that view, but Romney himself joked, “Isn't this wonderful to finally have a liberal talking about judicial activism?” And in 2004, he wrote: “Beware of activist judges,” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, entitled, “One Man, One Woman; A citizen’s guide to protecting marriage.”

NBC Universal announced yesterday that its USA Network will air a new restoration of the film classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Saturday April, 7 and President Obama will deliver the introduction, NBC’s Kristen Welker reports. The film is based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which tells the story of Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends an African-American man accused of rape.

Check this out: In a Pew study that asked about the media coverage of the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, “Of the 1,000 adults surveyed by Pew, 56 percent of Republicans said they felt the coverage was too heavy, compared to 25 percent of Democrats who said the story had garnered too much attention,” the U.S. News writes.

Russian spy Ann Chapman was busted, because she got too close to an Obama cabinet official, an FBI official tells the BBC.

“President Obama has opened the first significant lead of the 2012 campaign in the nation's dozen top battleground states, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, boosted by a huge shift of women to his side,” USA Today writes. “In the fifth Swing States survey taken since last fall, Obama leads Republican front-runner Mitt Romney 51%-42% among registered voters just a month after the president had trailed him by two percentage points. The biggest change came among women under 50. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30%. The president leads him 2-1 in this group.”

GOP 12 notes that New Mexico, Michigan, and Wisconsin don’t look like swing states at all and thereby skew the poll. And states like Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri should be included, since they were closer in 2008, but lean GOP. Still, Romney and the GOP need to expand the playing field and places like Wisconsin are places they hope to play.

60 Minutes highlights the promises Obama made as a candidate on space and the impact cuts to the space program have had on Brevard County, Florida. Obama said on Aug. 2, 2008: “I'm gonna ensure that our space program doesn't suffer when the shuttle goes out of service by making sure that all those who work in the space industry in Florida do not lose their jobs when the shuttle is retired because we can't afford to lose their expertise.”

“A major donor to President Barack Obama has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, creating new headaches for Obama's re-election campaign as it deals with the questionable history of another top supporter,” AP reports. “The New York donor, Abake Assongba, and her husband contributed more than $50,000 to Obama's re-election effort this year, federal records show. But Assongba is also fending off a civil court case in Florida, where she's accused of thieving more than $650,000 to help build a multimillion-dollar home in the state -- a charge her husband denies.”

USA Today raises the curtain behind how the voting will take place at the Supreme Court on the health law. And the first votes will be today. “The fate of President Obama's landmark health care law likely will be decided Friday in an oak-paneled conference room adjoining the chambers of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts,” USA Today writes. “There, the nine justices will meet alone to discuss the case that transfixed Americans for three days of oral arguments this week. When all have had their say, they will vote in order of seniority. That initial decision may be altered as drafts of majority and dissenting opinions are written, circulated and rewritten, often many times. It might even be reversed during the lengthy writing process if one or more justices switch sides.”

More: “For most of the next three months, only the justices and 39 law clerks — four per justice and one each for the three living retired justices — will be privy to the ruling. And even in an age of Twitter and YouTube, it won't leak.”

All the speculation is on Anthony Kennedy, per the New York Times. “Justice Kennedy’s understanding of liberty is idiosyncratic, and there is every reason to think that both lawyers’ arguments in the concluding minutes of the argument on Wednesday afternoon resonated with him, said Helen J. Knowles, the author of ‘The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty.’ (The title is telling. Another book on the justice, by Frank J. Colucci, is called ‘Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence: The Full and Necessary Meaning of Liberty.’) ‘I really don’t think Justice Kennedy has any idea at the moment how he’s going to vote in these cases,’ Professor Knowles said.”

“Democrats are fuming over Justice Antonin Scalia’s conduct during this week’s Supreme Court deliberations on President Obama’s healthcare law,” The Hill notes. “Scalia appeared hostile to the law while several of the high court’s liberal justices seemed to cheerlead for its defense. But it was Scalia’s attitude that rubbed some Democrats the wrong way. Scalia mocked the so-called ‘Cornhusker Kickback’ without seeming to know that provision was stripped out of the law two years ago. Scalia also joked the task of having to review the complex bill violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Senate Republicans, including Scott Brown of Massachusetts, today foiled President Obama’s plan to strip $24 billion in tax subsidies from the country’s largest oil companies, potentially fueling an election-year issue among voters disgruntled by escalating gas prices,” The Boston Globe notes.

“President Obama will touch down in Vermont and Maine on Friday afternoon for a series of fund-raisers for his reelection campaign,” the Boston Globe writes. “His New England visits will begin with a private luncheon with approximately 100 supporters at the Sheraton Burlington in Burlington, Vt., where the president will give a speech. Ticket prices for the luncheon started at $7,500 per person.

After lunch, Obama will speak at the University of Vermont, also in Burlington, to approximately 4,500 people. The event will include a musical performance by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. General admission tickets started at $100 per person, with student tickets available for $44.” 

The New York Times: President Obama pledged on Tuesday night to use government power to balance the scale between America’s rich and the rest of the public, trying to present an election-year choice between continued leadership toward an economy “built to last” and what he called irresponsible policies of the past that caused an economic collapse.”

The Washington Post: The economy continues to struggle and Americans are largely pessimistic, but dueling events Tuesday showed why in politics it's good to be the incumbent.

“Already down, Congress got kicked by President Barack Obama in the last State of the Union of his first term Tuesday night. Republicans, wracked with worry about a soft agenda and dim prospects for escaping the “do nothing” label, sat fuming. Democrats clearly loved it. The takeaway: Congress can’t — or won’t — do anything about its sorry state, even if the gridlock plays directly into the president’s political strategy,” Politico writes.

The New York Times’/CNBC’s John Harwood looks at how even as President Obama’s State of the Union embraced campaign-style populism, he can still claim the center on deficit reduction.

PolitiFact: Fact-checking the State of the Union.

“President Obama, after objecting to provisions of a military spending bill that would have forced him to try terrorism suspects in military courts and impose strict sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, signed the bill on Saturday,” the New York Times says. “He said that although he did not support all of it, changes made by Congress after negotiations with the White House had satisfied most of his concerns and had given him enough latitude to manage counterterrorism and foreign policy in keeping with administration principles.”

“President Obama’s top campaign officials are attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for an economic plan they say will benefit wealthy Americans, not the middle class,” the Boston Globe writes. “ ‘His plan gives tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires, and large corporations while doing nothing to help middle class families,’ said Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina. Messina and Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt held a conference call with New Hampshire reporters [yesterday], the day before Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, kicks off a bus tour of the state.”

From the AP-GFK poll: “For the first time, the poll found that a majority of adults, 52 percent, said Obama should be voted out of office while 43 percent said he deserves another term. The numbers mark a reversal since last May, when 53 percent said Obama should be re-elected while 43 percent said he didn't deserve four more years.”

But: “For the first time since spring, more said the economy got better in the past month than said it got worse. The president's approval rating on unemployment shifted upward -- from 40 percent in October to 45 percent in the latest poll.”

“President Barack Obama will speak at the 71st General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism in Washington on Friday afternoon,” AP writes.

“First it was a campaign-style speech in the heartland. Then it was a sitdown with ‘60 Minutes.’ Tomorrow, President Obama makes clear he’s in full reelection mode when he addresses his most ardent campaign fund-raisers in Washington,” the Boston Globe writes. “The Democrat is scheduled to speak to some of the Democratic Party’s top financiers during their winter meeting near Capitol Hill. The backers are also slated to hear from Obama for America National Finance Chairman Matthew Barzun, as well as Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.”

The New York Times says the Supreme Court yesterday announced “that it would decide whether Arizona was entitled to impose tough anti-immigration measures over the Obama administration’s objections. The case joined a crowded docket that already included challenges to Mr. Obama’s signature legislative achievement, the 2010 health care overhaul law, and a momentous case on how Texas will conduct its elections.”