7:20 pm

January 6
Paul Kane

Enzi says Liz Cheney made ‘brief’ call Monday to announce plans

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said that Liz Cheney called him Monday morning to tell the three-term incumbent that she would not challenge him in the August GOP primary, informing him of the health issue of one of her children that prompted the sudden withdrawal from the contentious race.

“It was a brief conversation. And one of her children is having a health problem, so I hope everyone will keep them in their prayers,” Enzi told reporters after leaving the Senate floor for a vote.

Enzi said there was no discussion of whether the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney would endorse his reelection. “I didn’t ask. She didn’t volunteer. I don’t know,” he said, adding later: “She’s got other things on her mind, this is critical enough that she pulled out of the race, so I’m not pressing.”

The state’s filing deadline is not until May so another challenge could emerge, something Enzi said he is keenly aware of: “A lot of people can still get in the race. … People put their names forward, they go out and they talk to people and they try to get elected. That isn’t a fissure, that’s an effort in getting elected.”

That didn’t stop some senators from congratulating Enzi on the Senate floor during votes. “Congratulations,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a top Democratic Party strategist, told Enzi as he spoke with reporters.

Enzi said he has not spoken to the former vice president since a fundraising gala two months ago. Asked what damage has been done to the relationship with his onetime friend, Dick Cheney, Enzi was blunt: “Hopefully nothing.”

7:13 pm

January 6
Ylan Q. Mui

Yellen confirmed as Fed chair

The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen on Monday as the next leader of the Federal Reserve, placing her in charge of ensuring that the nation’s economy makes a full recovery.

Her nomination passed the chamber by a vote of 56 to 26 on its first day back in session after winter recess, despite opposition from some Republicans who have advocated for greater oversight of the central bank. Yellen is currently the second-in-command at the Fed and will be the first woman in the top job. She is slated to take office Feb. 1.

“She has proven through her extensive and impressive record in public service and academia that she is most qualified to be the next chair,” Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) said Monday. “Americans should feel reassured that we will have her at the helm of the Fed as our nation continues to recover from the Great Recession.”

Yellen will take office while the Fed is at a crossroads. Over the past five years, it has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy through bond purchases to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses and boost the recovery. Now, it is starting to scale back that support — a delicate task that risks jeopardizing the economy’s progress. A wrong move could also send Wall Street into panic mode.

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6:24 pm

January 6
Ed O'Keefe

Unemployment insurance extension lacks GOP support

With inclement weather gripping most of the nation, Senate leaders were forced to postpone a vote Monday evening on a bipartisan plan to once again provide federal unemployment insurance for more than 1 million Americans. The proposal appears to be falling short of the Republican support needed to clear procedural hurdles and advance in the Senate.

The proposal by Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) would provide benefits to eligible workers for three months, at a cost of $6.5 billion. With more than a dozen senators still absent Monday evening due to delayed flights, Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) agreed with Republicans to postpone a procedural vote on the proposal and said it would occur instead on Tuesday.

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2:15 pm

January 6
Juliet Eilperin

Sperling to continue as top WH economic adviser through February

National Economic Council adviser Gene Sperling will extend his White House tenure once more, he told reporters Monday, serving through most of February before handing the job over to his successor Jeffrey Zients.

Zients was originally supposed to take over for Sperling by the end of 2013; Sperling has occupied the post since January 2011, and is joining his family in California. But that was before the former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget agreed to oversee the overhaul of HealthCare.gov in the wake of the online health insurance system's botched rollout. Zients made significant improvements to the Web site in about six weeks, and while it continues to experience some problems, he handed over those duties to former Microsoft executive Kurt DelBene in mid-December.

Still, Zients said he needed some time to get up to speed before replacing Sperling. Initially, the handover was supposed to take place at the beginning of February.

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7:56 am

January 6
Sean Sullivan

Liz Cheney to end Wyoming Senate bid, citing family health issues

Liz Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Richard B. Cheney, announced Monday that she has decided to end her bid to become a U.S. senator from Wyoming, citing "serious health issues" in her family.

Cheney's decision brings an abrupt end to a high-profile campaign that shook the Wyoming political landscape and unfolded against the backdrop of a deeply personal and very public rift with her sister over the issue of gay marriage.

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