Senate

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Sen. John Kerry heads to the Senate floor during a rare Sunday session on Capitol Hill on Sunday. Mr. Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in news-show appearances Sunday morning that he thinks Democrats have the votes to ratify START, the nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

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Victoria Melnikow (left) looks on as her sister Cassandra Melnikow is interviewed about news of the Senate's repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010, in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

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Associated Press photographs Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, was the target Wednesday of a verbal jab by the Senate majority leader regarding the lame-duck session impinging on the Christmas season.

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Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, viewed as a key Senate arms-control specialist, is opposed to a hasty Senate vote on the New START treaty with Russia. (Associated Press)

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, poses in his office on Capitol Hill on Thursday. The midterm elections, which gave the GOP more seats in the Senate, strengthened Mr. McConnell's hand in dealing with the president. (Associated Press)

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Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., second from right, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, after the Senate voted down a bill to aid people who got sick after exposure to dust from the World Trade Center's collapse in the Sept. 11 attack. From left are, Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., Schumer. and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

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U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous (left) walks with his attorney, Jonathan Turley, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday after the Senate voted on his impeachment. He was removed from the bench. (Associated Press)

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"We've got to have the leaders of the House and the Senate, Republican and Democrat, and the president or his representatives at the table," said Sen. Kent Conrad. (Associated Press)

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Republican Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., arrives for a rare Saturday lame duck session of the U.S. Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington on Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010. The Senate agenda features a pair of votes: one on a proposal to extend all expiring tax cuts on individuals with incomes of less than $200,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000; the other to renew them for all tax filers with incomes of less than $1 million. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

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** FILE ** The Senate investigations subcommittee's ranking Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn, questions a witness on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, during the subcommittee's hearing on Goldman Sachs and the financial crisis. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2010 file photo, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stumps for Republican candidate for Senate, John Raese, during a rally at Haddad Riverfront Park in Charleston, W.Va. (AP Photo/Jon C. Hancock, file)

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Sen. John Kyl., Arizona Republican, came out against a new nuclear weapons treaty with Russia on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010, dealing a setback for its ratification by the Senate. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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Maine Senate President-to-be Kevin Raye (center) welcomes Gov.-elect Paul LePage, a fellow Republican, to the Senate chamber on Friday. Mr. LePage narrowly won a three-way contest for governor. (Associated Press)

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Sen. Mike Lee, Utah Republican (Photo from Mike Lee for Senate 2010)

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RESOLUTE: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell puts Democrats on notice Thursday that Republicans in the Senate will keep trying to repeal the Obama health care law. (Associated Press)

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Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (left) and presumed House Speaker-to-be Rep. John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, leave a news conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, basking in the afterglow of the huge GOP gains in the House, Senate and governorships. (Associated Press)