Todd Zwillich

The Pentagon has created new rules governing the military's interaction with the media, following Gen. Stanley McChrystal's loose-lipped appearance in Rolling Stone. Yesterday, for the first time since the controversial new rules were announced, Defense Secretary Robert Gates faced the press. 

Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood criticized a Washington lobbying firm that was drumming up opposition to his distracted driving campaign. The Seward Square Group created the DRIVE coalition to promote driver education as an alternative to LaHood's proposal, which would lead to poor sales for mobile devices (they even went after Oprah).

The Obama administration has filed suit in federal court, challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s tough, controversial new immigration law. SB1070 requires state and local police to question and possibly arrest those who exhibit reasonable suspicion of being in the country illegally. The justice department says that this is a federal job, which should not be handled by lcal law enforcement.

The Obama Administration has filed suit against Arizona's controversial new immigration law, seeking to block the law from taking effect next month. Justice Department officials filed the suit in Federal District Court in Phoenix Tuesday afternoon. The bottom line from U.S. Attorneys is that immigration is a national concern and that Arizona's law is unconstitutional because the state doesn't have the right to enforce immigration laws by itself. "The United States Constitution forbids Arizona from supplanting the federal government’s immigration regime with its own state-specific immigration policy," the lawsuit states.

Harry Reid and his staff are desperately trying to figure out how to get the 60 votes needed to pass a climate bill in the Senate, which President Obama promised on his campaign trail. According to The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, it's looking highly unlikley right now that the Democrats will get those 60 votes. 

Members of Congress are heading back to their districts for a summer recess with little to stand on as unemployment numbers remain high. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich looks at the week's news agenda, along with Chrystia Freeland, global editor-in-chief of Reuters.

At a Republican fundraiser in Connecticut this weekend, Michael Steele was caught by a handheld camera saying the conflict in Afghanistan is "a war of Obama's choosing." Those words have many Republicans criticizing the RNC chairman, and calling for his resignation, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich explains Steele's history of gaffes and whether this one will bring him down.

House Democrats worked late into the night to push ahead legislation to add $37 billion to war funding in Afghanistan and Iraq. The bill also boosts domestic spending for teachers, student loans and U.S.-Mexico border security. Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, has the details on the bill. He says that it's becoming clear that the war in Afghanistan is getting harder to support, and that last night's voting reflected that.

In honor of Sen. Robert Byrd, flags at the White House will be flown at half-staff. Today, his body will lie in the Senate chamber before being flown to West Virginia for a memorial service. Friday, there will be a public viewing at a memorial attended by Congressional leaders and President Obama and then the body will return to Washington D.C. for a burial where he will be laid to rest next to his wife, Emma.

In her first day of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan got off to a rocky start in a nearly 20-minute back-and-forth debate with ranking Republican Senator Jeff Sessions. In the sparring session, Sen. Sessions maintained that Kagan had circumvented the law and was disrespectful to the military when she limited military recruiters' access to campus as dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan repeatedly said Harvard was always in compliance with the law. 

Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan begin today. But this news was overshadowed by the death this morning of Sen. Robert Byrd. 

Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich looks at the record of Sen. Byrd and previews the Kagan hearings, along with Jamal Greene, associate professor of law at Columbia Law School and former law clerk for Justice Stevens.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd served in Congress longer than anyone in the nation's history. The senator's office announced that he passed away at 3 a.m. Monday morning at a suburban Washington hospital. The West Virginia Democrat was 92, and was serving in an unprecedented ninth term in the U.S. Senate.

Robert C. Byrd, the longest-serving legislator in the history of the United States Senate, died Monday at age 92. Byrd came to the Senate from West Virginia in January, 1959, after serving three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Over a Senate career that spanned nine terms, he attained an unparalleled reputation as a master of Senate procedure, the body’s unofficial historian, and the unchallenged keeper of the Senate’s institutions and traditions.

You may not have heard much in the last week about Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. They start Monday, and usually a Senate Judiciary Committee grilling of a prospective new Justice generates a lot more "pre-trial" buzz than this one has.

For that, thank the lawmakers who worked nearly 24 hours straight to wrap up a high-profile and hard-lobbied deal on Wall St. regulations on Thursday. Thank Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who owned the news cycle for 48 hours after running his mouth then losing his job. Thank BP.

White House political advisor David Axelrod knew it when he briefed reporters by phone Friday. “Because things have been rather dull in Washington, we’ve scheduled these Supreme Court hearings, just to liven the festivities,” he joked.

Then Axelrod got serious. “We also live in an extraordinarily polarized political climate and therefore we are preparing to make a vigorous case” in Kagan’s defense, he said. That defense, of course, is against Republicans on the committee and their supporters outside the Hart 216 hearing room. They will be trying a few different plays to gain traction against a nominee who has largely avoided close scrutiny from the general public so far.

Todd talks with Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif) about the DISCLOSE Act - a campaign finance bill just passed by the House ... and why Lungren feels it should go no further.

Less than 48 hours after Rolling Stone’s profile of General Stanley McChrystal went viral on the Internet, President Obama relieved the four-star general of his job as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. General David Petraeus will now take over the post, leaving behind an opening at the Central Command in Iraq. Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, was in the Rose Garden yesterday for Obama’s announcement. He explains the political implications of the president's decision and the response it is getting in Washington. Even though the president tried to drive home the point that strategy was not going to change, this personnel upset has reopened the strategy debate in Washington.

General Stanley McChrystal is scheduled to meet with President Obama later this morning. The general will answer for comments made by him and his aides in a now infamous Rolling Stone profile. This morning the question on everybody's mind is, will those quotes cost the general his job? Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich has been gathering reactions from the political class on Capitol Hill, and many of them are staying mum over what they think lies in McChrystal's future.

Voters in Utah, South Carolina, and North Carolina will head to the polls for a few final runoffs and primary elections. In Utah, incumbent, three-term Senator Bob Bennett was knocked out at the Utah GOP convention in May, and now two Tea Party candidates will face off against each other.

The Tea Party also looms large in the runoff for the Republican gubernatorial primary in South Carolina. There, Tea Party favorite and Sarah Palin pal Nikki Haley is leading over opponent Gresham Barrett, despite accusations of sex scandals and racial controversies. If elected, Haley, a Punjabi Sikh who converted to Methodism, would be South Carolina's first governor who isn't a white man.

900 thousand people have seen their benefits expire since June 1st and that number could reach over one million people in the next few weeks. Congress has extended unemployment benefits many times, but this week, the Senate has has been deadlocked on how to pay for the upcoming extension. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich explains the deadlock over the "jobs bill," and tells us why doctors are about to see their Medicare payments cut by 21 percent.

Tony Hayward, the much-criticized CEO of BP, faced angry lawmakers on Capital Hill yesterday for the first time since the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Hayward stuck closely to his prepared statements, ducking many of the questions posed to him, but in the course of the questioning, we did learn some important things about the oil spill and the political fallout it's causing.

Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, attended the hearings and shares his impressions.