In Today’s Times:
- A divide is forming within the Republican Party over the appropriate role of the United States in international affairs, with some like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky questioning the more aggressive use of American power overseas as others worry about a return to isolationism, Michael D. Shear reports.
- As President Obama and Senate Republicans met at the Capitol on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner said the G.O.P. would not be deterred by election losses from pushing for reducing the size of government and for other policy priorities, Jonathan Weisman and Jeremy W. Peters report.
- The largest annual meeting of Republican activists kicked off Thursday with leading lawmakers describng very different approaches to reclaiming power and highlighting the divisions within the party, Jim Rutenberg reports.
- A bill to ban assault weapons was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, demonstrating the momentum of new regulations since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn. But the measure is still unlikely to make it through the Senate, Jennifer Steinhauer reports.
- Michigan officials on Thursday appointed Kevyn Orr, a veteran bankruptcy lawyer based in Washington, to try to draw Detroit back from the brink of financial ruin as emergency manager. He faces a challenging task he called “the Olympics of! restructuring,†Monica Davey reports.
Washington Happenings:
- Mr. Obama will travel to Illinois on Friday to speak about energy at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, one of the Department of Energy’s largest research facilities.
- The Conservative Political Action Conference continues with speakers including Mitt Romney; Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin; and Wayne LaPierre, executive director of the National Rifle Association.
