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Let Me Start: Out with the old Congress, in with the new

Goodbye 112th Congress, Hello 113th: The outgoing Congress was the least effective in decades.
House Speaker John Boehner is telling Senate Democrats: The fiscal cliff ball is in your court. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker John Boehner is telling Senate Democrats: The fiscal cliff ball is in your court.

Goodbye 112th Congress, Hello 113th: The outgoing Congress was the least effective in decades. And they earned their approval ratings, which at times dipped into the single digits. Will the next Congress be any different? For starters, there will be more Democrats on Capitol Hill. But House Speaker John Boehner is likely to remain, as is the influence of the Tea Party on the GOP establishment. It's not exactly a recipe for productivity.

Politico's Roger Simon writes about the inefficacy of Congress in a column titled "Fools on the Hill."

Hillary Clinton is out of the hospital after treatment for a blood clot near her brain. Doctors expect a full recovery.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie unleashed his trademark blunt talk and everyman anger against the top member of his own party -- House Speaker John Boehner.

Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is back on the job after suffering a stroke nearly a year ago. He'll walk up the Capitol steps unassisted. In an interview with a local paper in the Chicago suburbs, Kirk reported a near-death experience in which he says he saw angels.