The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.
- Congress Readies Year-End Dash [WSJ]
- Year 2 of Sequestration: Gloom Looming [Politico]
- “There are more than 22,000 homeless children in New York, the highest number since the Great Depression. This is one of their stories…” [NYT]
- Was Hillary Clinton a Good Secretary of State? And Does It Matter? [Politico]
- Thad Cochran’s decision to run in Mississippi sets up one of many 2014 Establishment-vs.–Tea Party primaries [TIME]
- Three Senators Try to Hold Off GOP in South [NYT]
- “U.S. stocks’ amazing run in 2013 raises the stakes for next year. Will markets keep rising, powered by steady economic growth and low interest rates, or will they take a breather after the Federal Reserve begins paring back economic stimulus?” [WSJ]
- “This spectacle had to have the white-hot spotlight, front page, bold type (whoa-oh!) — to quote one of the evening’s celebrated songwriters — because this Kennedy Center Honors gala was a talker. The night might have begun as the latest parade of cultural icons seated in an opera box with their president, but when a rapper and a Supreme Court justice take the same stage, it isn’t your standard lifetime achievement fete.” [WashPost]
- Obama Becomes First President to Acknowledge ‘Area 51’ [TIME]
- The Astronomical Hijinks of the Shortest Day of the Year [Atlantic]