AP - Democrats say the nation should be ashamed of its ban on gays serving openly in the military. It discourages qualified people from joining the ranks at a time when the armed forces are stretched by two wars, they say, and is degrading to those willing to serve their country.

AP - Senate Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure to address America's anger over $4 a gallon gasoline.

AP - The famed bean soup served in Senate restaurants is made up of dried navy beans, smoked ham hocks, onions and a million-dollar tab for the taxpayer.

AP - Barack Obama ramped up his search for a running mate on Monday, consulting with one congressional ally by phone and dispatching members of his vice presidential vetting team to the Capitol for meetings. Sen. Dick Durbin said he had spoken with Obama, his fellow Illinois senator.

AP - President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama is bolstering his economic team for the November White House race against Republican John McCain and has hired an official from President Bill Clinton's administration to be his economic policy director, the Obama campaign said on Monday.

AP - Fresh from his hospitalization for an aggresive surgery on a cancerous brain tumor, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy announced it was "good to be home" at his family's Cape Cod compound Monday and headed out for a sail.