Today’s Times
- Bruising encounters with Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia may underscore a harsh reality for President Obama as he delves deeper into a term that may be dominated by foreign policy, Mark Landler and Peter Baker write. His main counterparts on the world stage are not his friends, and they make little attempt to display diplomatic niceties.
- Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, made an unusual declaration on Tuesday when she endorsed a “super PAC†encouraging Hillary Rodham Clinton to run for president in 2016, Jonathan Weisman reports. “A lot of us are using every tool in our tool kit to try to convince her that she should step out and be the nominee of our party,†Ms. McCaskill said.
- A long-awaited analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found that the benefits of the immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate would outweigh the costs, Ashley Parker reports. The report was a clear win for immigration proponents, even though Speaker John A. Boehner said Tuesday that he would not bring any immigration measure to the floor unless it had the support of a majority of House Republicans.
- Though the bill has no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, the House approved the most restrictive ban on abortions considered by Congress in a decade, reflecting how little common ground the two parties share these days, Jeremy W. Peters writes.
- Two newly declassified examples of what was described as thwarted “potential terrorist eventsâ€Â were revealed a! t a rare public oversight hearing by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Charlie Savage reports. The cases were made public as Congress and the White House stepped up a campaign to defend the government surveillance programs.
 Happenings in Washington
- Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will deliver remarks at the dedication of the statue of Frederick Douglass at the United States Capitol.
