President Obama will appoint former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray on Wednesday to be the first director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, making a controversial decision to install Cordray while the Senate is in brief recess to avoid Republican opposition, according to a White House official.

Congressional negotiations over a bill extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits can begin as soon the Senate rejects a version the House approved despite a White House veto threat, the Senate's top Democrat said Wednesday.

A Republican payroll tax cut bill that sailed through the House despite a White House veto threat is dead on arrival in the Senate, and it will soon be time for talks on a final package, the Senate's top Democrat says.

While most are focusing their attention on the Republican presidential primary contest, the fight for control of the Senate is heating up and could be equally as intense as the campaign for the White House.

Senate Republicans have high hopes of reclaiming the majority and possibly the White House next year, and that's precisely why they say this week's filibuster of D.C. Circuit Court nominee Caitlin Halligan is not a harbinger of a freeze on President Barack Obama's judicial nominations.