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In what Senator Pete Domenici said was a bow to public pressure, House and Senate leaders have agreed to amendments tacked on to a bill that would provide funding for the Veterans' Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that would expand insurance coverage for mental illness and maternity stays — allowing mothers to remain in the hospital for up to 48 hours. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.

Congressional and White House budget negotiators are close to agreement on a plan to balance the budget by 2002. However, Democratic congressional leaders have raised concerns that proposed spending cuts are too deep and that proposed tax cuts are too great. The White House says President Clinton won't sign on until a majority of Democrats are on board. Negotiations were expected to go all day long. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

Newt Gingrich to a second term as Speaker of the House, when the new Congress convenes tomorrow. Several House Republicans have expressed hesitation about supporting Gingrich, but he is expected to have little or no trouble getting the number of votes he needs.

The White House announced today that two National Security Council aides were informed by the FBI last summer that China might try to make illegal campaIGN contributions to Congressional races. The aides also were told not to pass the information on to their superiors in the Clinton administration. President Clinton says top-level White House and National Security officials will investigate. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the continuing process of shifting from the Clinton administration to the Bush or Gore administration. At the White House today, current staff met to talk about they can do to prepare for the new president. Dick Cheney held a news conference about the transition he's planning on behalf of George W. Bush. Al Gore met with his aides in his vice presidential office in the White House complex.

As his new Republican Congress took office last week, President Bush delivered big surprises. His tax cut proposal larger than some expected. The president also angered Democrats and civil rights activists by re-nominating Charles Pickering to the federal bench. NPR White House correspondent Don Gonyea looks at the week in the White House.

President Bush has named Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) as his nominee to head the CIA. He's now the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. President Bush has named Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) as his nominee to head the CIA. He's now the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

In debate in the Senate and House, congressional Democrats criticize the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify going to war with Iraq. The renewed criticism follows an admission by the White House that President Bush, in his State of the Union address, incorrectly claimed that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium for nuclear weapons. Hear NPR's David Welna.

The complex immigration bill that a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators has agreed to with the White House will be debated by the full Senate starting Monday. It faces many hurdles, especially in the House.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi lodged insults at President Bush during the build-up to the midterm elections. Now Bush has hosted Pelosi at a White House lunch meeting, and the two made public statements about working together amicably.