AP - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

AP - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she worries that taxpayers could be left "holding the bag" with plans for a $700 billion government program to stabilize the country's distressed financial markets.

AP - With Congress rushing to stop a meltdown in the U.S. financial market, Sen. Ted Stevens says he may have to skip out of his corruption trial from time to time.

AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke bluntly warned Congress on Tuesday it risks a recession, with higher unemployment and increased home foreclosures, if lawmakers fail to pass the Bush administration's $700 billion plan to bail out the financial industry.

AP - Gulf Coast officials asked lawmakers on Tuesday for fast federal money for hurricane recovery and a minimum of bureaucratic red tape.

Reuters - House of Representatives Democratic leader Steny Hoyer is suggesting President George W. Bush go on national television to explain the need for the administration's proposed $700 billion financial rescue plan.

Reuters - Many members of the Senate blasted the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan on Tuesday, but no senator has come forward so far with an explicit pledge to kill the $700 billion proposal.

AP - The top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee struck paydirt on a stock option last year after betting that a Chinese advertising company would jump in value.