Today’s Times
- President Obama gave an impassioned speech in Hartford on Monday to remember the 20 children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Peter Appelbome and Jonathan Weisman report. Meanwhile, back in Washington, Republican senators were threatening to prevent a gun-control measure from even coming up for debate in the Senate.
- Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is the highest-ranking member of his party interested in running for president, yet he is not the heir apparent, Peter Baker writes. If Mr. Biden ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former secretary of state, he would start as the underdog.
- Negotiations inched forward in the Senate on Monday for an agricultural worker program - the last piece of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, Ashley Parker reports. Lawmakers are eager to move forward on the deal, putting pressure on representatives of farmworkers and growers to come up with a deal on wages for workers.
- After sharp criticism from advocacy groups and Congress over how the military has handled a series of sexual assault cases, the Pentagon will ask lawmakers to overhaul the court-martial system in a proposal that would scale back the power of senior commanders to overturn convictions and dismiss charges, Charlie Savage reports.
Happenings in Washington
- Mr. Biden and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will deliver remarks at the White House urging Congress to pass gun violence legislation, and they will be joined by law enforcement officials from across the country.
- The president and Michelle Obama will host a concert in the East Room of the White House celebrating Memphis soul music.
