Health-care reform cleared an early hurdle in the House on Monday: The House Budget Committee voted 21 to 16 to send the legislation to the House Rules Committee. Two Democrats joined 14 Republicans in voting against it; both these Democrats had voted against the earlier version of the legislation that the House passed last fall. On Thursday, the House Rules Committee will draft a package of fixes to the Senate bill, which passed on Christmas Eve. Nancy Pelosi is hoping that uncommitted Democrats will approve of the bill once this new language is revealed. Should it pass the Rules Committee, the legislation is expected to be on the House floor by Friday or Saturday.

Not to be drowned out in the health-care noise: Senator Chris Dodd unveiled the Senate Democrats’ plan for financial-regulation reform on Monday. No Republican senators have endorsed the legislation, but it also falls short of the ambitious goals that President Obama has set. It would create a consumer-protection agency as part of the Federal Reserve, a move that leaves neither conservatives nor liberals happy: Republicans want to weaken the agency’s power, while liberals want to give it more power by creating a standalone agency. Still, the Associated Press calls it “the biggest overhaul of regulations since the New Deal.” It contains a version of the "Volcker Rule"—what Reuters calls "rules to prohibit proprietary trading at banks, and banks' investment in hedge funds and private-equity funds."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is playing hardball with the health-care bill. She’s announced there will no last-minute wheeling and dealing, and no changes to the language of the bill to convince fence-sitters to vote “yes.” The move may hurt her chance to receive the 216 votes needed to pass the bill, typically wrangled through a series of lengthy negotiations, but sends a strong message to anti-abortion Democrats. Three Democrats who backed the initial House package have told the media their support would be lost if the abortion language doesn’t change. So far, Pelosi isn’t budging. “What we’re talking about here is passing this bill,” said Pelosi. “It’s a bill about health care, health-insurance reform. It’s not about abortion; it’s not about immigration…”

Looks like Toyota isn't the only car company facing unintentional acceleration problems. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records, over the past three decades, 59 of 110 fatalities pegged to sudden acceleration occurred in cars made by Ford, Chrysler, and other motor companies. In addition, many crashes blamed on "human error" could actually be the result of mechanical problems, Bloomberg reports. Of 15,174 reports of unintended acceleration over the past 10 years, only 141 cases have been investigated since 1980, according to the news service. For years, the agency regularly dismissed complaints of "runaway vehicles" as driver error—and as a result, investigators didn't take the complaints "as seriously" as they should have. "The agency had made a determination that this was primarily a human factor, driver error, and that's outside NHTSA’s purview," said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator. "The Toyota case has brought new scrutiny to other factors, and NHTSA has to look at other causes."

In a "desperate attempt" to salvage his New York bank, longtime finance executive Charles J. Antonucci Sr. allegedly lied to regulators to receive around $11 million through the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The former president and chief executive of Park Avenue Bank of New York is the first person to be charged criminally with attempting to defraud TARP, The Wall Street Journal reports. He's also been accused of bribery and other crimes, including “accepting free plane rides from a bank customer and stealing $103,000 from pastors of a church.” The bank, which specialized in commercial real-estate loans, failed on Friday after piling up more than $27 million in net losses last year. Antonucci could face up to 30 years in prison for each fraud or embezzlement charge.

The day has come at last: Accompanied by sexy, pantsless photos, John Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter, has given a 10,000-word interview to GQ magazine. She says she’s still in love with “Johnny," his marriage was "toxic," and he feared "the wrath of Elizabeth," whom Hunter says "emasculated" him. Hunter also says that she and John slept together the night they met. (On meeting in his hotel room, she says, “I. Was. Terrified… You know, it was just this, this magnetic force field like I had never experienced.”) She denies knowing how much money was being spent on her, or that it came from donors. And though she disputes certain New Agey details that others have alleged—that her business card said “Truth Seeker” or that she dressed like a Dead Head—those anecdotes appear to be right at least in spirit. Hunter blames astrology for Edwards’s loss, and says things like that he hasn’t “fallen from grace, he’s fallen to grace.” Hunter also says Young loved Edwards more than his own wife, and he was the one who volunteered to claim paternity of her baby.

How bad is the row set off by Israel’s announcement of a plan to expand settlements on Jerusalem while Vice President Joe Biden visited the country? The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, said “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975… a crisis of historic proportions.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that the construction will continue, despite having apologized for the timing of the announcement. AIPAC, meanwhile, has put the onus of the crisis on President Obama: “AIPAC calls on the administration to take immediate steps to defuse the tension with the Jewish State," the pro-Israel lobby said in a statement. And Haaretz is reporting that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made four demands of Israel to repair relations: 1) Cease the construction in East Jerusalem; 2) Investigate the process that led to the announcement of the project during Biden's visit; 3) Make a "substantial gesture" toward the Palestinians, like releasing prisoners; and 4) Issue a declaration that the talks with the Palestinians will address core issues like borders, security arrangements, and settlements. 

It's a tale of two comebacks: Former American Idol judge Paula Abdul is close to sealing a deal with ABC to headline a new version of beloved '80s talent show Star Search, Entertainment Weekly reports. While her exact role with the "great-granddaddy of all televised singing competitions" is still being defined, rumors swirl that she'll both host and judge. The original Star Search premiered in 1983 with host Ed McMahon; in 2003, CBS launched a revival with host Arsenio Hall, hoping to capitalize on the then-new Idol's success, but it was canceled in 2004. Sources aren't sure whether Abdul’s agreement with Star Search would preclude her from joining former Idol co-judge Simon Cowell on the American version of The X Factor, as had previously been discussed.

As mass protests continue in Bangkok, anti-government activists have threatened to collect and pour gallons of their own blood on the Thai government headquarters, in a symbolic statement that they are willing to die for their cause. The gesture would require donations from tens of thousands of "red shirt" protesters; the activists plan to splash it at the country's Government House if Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva doesn't dissolve parliament by Tuesday evening. The protesters, who took to the streets on Sunday, say Abhisit rose to power illegitimately, during the 2006 coup that toppled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. So far, Abhisit has only beefed up security in the area. The Thai Red Cross Society has chided the activists, saying the blood collections would be wasteful and potentially unhygienic. That much blood “can save many lives,” said Dr. Ubonwon Charoonruangrit, a senior Red Cross official.

Nearly four centuries after Shakespeare's death, a new play by the playwright might be entering the canon. Rumors have abounded of the Bard's "Lost Play" since the early 18th century, when Lewis Theobald claimed that his play Double Falsehood was based on original texts of Shakespeare’s lost Cardenio, which had been performed in 1613. Theobald’s claims were widely dismissed as a hoax, but Nottingham University Professor Brean Hammond has found new evidence supporting them, saying, "I don’t think you can ever be absolutely 100 percent but, yes, I am convinced that it is Shakespeare." Experts say that Theobald’s play is similar to other Shakespeare works, though Hammond described it as "flawed." His research has been endorsed by Shakespeare publisher Arden, and the play may even be performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford.

Glenn Beck has come to define Fox News during Barack Obama’s presidency, but that doesn’t mean he fits in: The Washington Post’s media critic Howie Kurtz wrote a story on Monday detailing mixed feelings about Glenn Beck within Fox News. What are the best parts? Beck joined Bill O’Reilly’s “Bold & Fresh” tour against the wishes of Fox News management; “[Fox News Chairman Roger] Ailes has occasionally spoken to Beck about the negative tone of his 5 p.m. program”; Fox News tried to get Beck to postpone an appearance with Jay Leno until the storm over his “Obama is a racist” comments passed; and “Beck has caused such anguish at Fox that some of its journalists celebrated the failure of last week's interview with embattled ex-congressman Eric Massa, which Beck pronounced a waste of time.” Also, when news breaks during Beck’s program, his fans inundate Fox News journalists’ email inboxes to complain about the interruption.

Has George Stephanopoulos’ successor been found? FishbowlDC says that CNN’s Christiane Amanpour has been telling her colleagues that ABC has offered her a gig hosting This Week, which Stephanopoulos hosted until he moved to Good Morning America in January. According to FishbowlDC, Amanpour has said there’s a 50-50 chance she’ll accept the job. If she were to accept, she is saying she’ll make it more about foreign affairs and less about American politics.

First Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jamie Kennedy, now this: Kate Winslet and her husband, director Sam Mendes, have split up, says TMZ. The couple married in 2003, and Winslet starred in Mendes’ 2008 film Revolutionary Road. The couple has one child. "The split is entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement,” their lawyer said in a statement. “Both parties are fully committed to the future joint parenting of their children."

Global soccer superstar David Beckham will miss this year’s World Cup, sidelined by a torn Achilles’ tendon, the Wall Street Journal reports. Beckham suffered the injury while playing for AC Milan against Chievo Verona. With just minutes left in the game, Beckham, who had the ball, leaned down and felt his left heel, then stood up and gestured as though he was breaking a twig. He left the field in tears, saying “it’s broken, it’s broken.” Beckham had hoped to be the first Englishman to play in four World Cups. He’s expected to get surgery in Finland early this week. Though he’s no longer in top shape, Beckham, one of the most famous soccer players in the world, is still an asset to England for free kicks and crosses.

If health-care reform passes this week, it won’t be without President Obama’s weight behind it: Obama went to Ohio on Monday for his final health-care rally. “We need courage,” he said, picking the line up from a woman in the audience who shouted it at him. President Obama also told the story of Natoma Canfield, the 50-year-old cancer survivor who was supposed to introduce him but was just diagnosed with leukemia last week. “The reason Natoma is not here today is that she's lying in a hospital bed, suddenly faced with this emergency—suddenly thrust into a fight for her life. She expects to face a month or more of aggressive chemotherapy. And she is racked with worry not only about her illness but about the cost of the tests and treatments she will surely need to beat it," Obama said. "I'm here because of Natoma."

What’s up after health-care reform for the Obama administration? It depends on whom you ask. Different news outlets are reporting different things: immigration, climate change, and campaign-finance reform, to name a few. The Daily Beast’s Richard Wolffe says it could be climate change, while the Los Angeles Times puts immigration reform near the top of the list. The Washington Post, however, says it will be two issues that will sit better with voters in November: financial reform, which is no surprise, and campaign-finance reform to help undo the Supreme Court’s ruling that will allow corporations to spend directly on behalf of candidates. “Such an agenda will give the rest of the legislative calendar, compressed by the midterm election season, a distinctly political cast,” The Washington Post says. “It will also push energy and immigration reform, two of Obama's most far-reaching campaign pledges, into the next Congress, which is likely to be more influenced by the Republican opposition.”

Orson Welles would be proud. A satirical news broadcast announcing a new invasion by Russia caused people across Georgia to panic on Saturday. Though the show opened with a disclaimer that it wasn’t real, it featured a familiar news anchor who appeared to be frazzled by breaking news of fighting in Tiblisi, Russian bombers headed for Georgia airspace, and troops and tanks on their way. A former director for the network that broadcast the show compared it to Welles’s radio adaption of War of the Worlds, which caused Americans to panic that Mars was invading. It was, in a way, a self-fulfilling prophesy, as the report caused cell-phone service to crash, lines at gas stations and a run on food—scenes similar to what the show had described. A Tiblisi taxi driver said “a little chaos” lasted for about three hours, adding that, “If you hear that war started, of course you run for the bank machine, then run home, it’s natural.” Opposition leaders accused President Mikheil Saakashvili of being behind the show, because it depicted their party as collaborating with Russians, thought Saakashvili’s office condemned it for scaring citizens.

At least it wasn’t Blackwater? A Defense Department official hired private contractors in Afghanistan and Pakistan to serve, essentially, as spies, says The New York Times. Michael D. Furlong paid former CIA agents and Special Force operatives who worked for private companies to gather intelligence on suspected militants; the information was then sent to military units and intelligence operatives—sometimes for lethal action. The Times calls it an “off-the-books spy operation” and notes that it’s typically illegal for the government to hire contractors as covert spies. Furlong's operation has been shut down and he’s now the subject of a criminal investigation; no one’s sure who sanctioned Furlong's work.

Prominent women and human-rights activists from across the world gathered in New York this weekend at The Daily Beast’s Women in the World: Stories + Solutions summit to discuss the state of women’s rights. The gathering, organized by Tina Brown, co-founder and editor in chief of The Daily Beast, opened Friday with an address by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In 1995, Clinton famously told the United Nations Women’s Conference, "Women's rights are human rights." This weekend she said that progress on that front has been “undeniable, but insufficient.” Other speakers included Queen Rania of Jordan—who discussed the importance of education for girls—presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The summit also featured a special reading of the play SEVEN, a series of monologues about seven activists, performed by Meryl Streep and Marcia Gay Harden.

House Democrats don’t appear to have the vote for health-care reform—“"We don't have them as of this morning,” House Whip James Clyburn said on Sunday—but they plan on pushing forward anyway. President Obama is heading to Ohio on Monday amid predictions from David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs that health-care reform will pass this week. While at The Daily Beast's Women in the World summit this weekend, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said she was "very confident" the vote would happen this week. Democrats will also get a final cost estimate of the package on Monday afternoon when the House Budget Committee votes on the reconciliation package. The final vote could come as soon as Thursday, though Friday or Saturday is more likely.

For once, someone other than Joe Biden is apologizing. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has expressed regret for the unfortunate timing of an announcement of new construction in East Jerusalem right as Biden was arriving in the country to moderate peace talks. But Netanyahu not given any indication he will scrap the controversial plan, which Biden immediately condemned. "We will act according to the vital interests of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said. Several American officials were left less than satisfied with the apology and called on Israel to make a sweeping effort to repair the damage to the peace talks—Israel and Palestine had only just agreed to reopen contact after 14 months of radio silence. 

When the financial crisis hit, most people claimed they never saw it coming; those who did, however, made a fortune. Michael Lewis tells the story of investors who predicted the crisis and therefore were able to bet against it in his new book, The Big Short. Michiko Kakutani writes Lewis does “a nimble job of using his subjects’ stories to explicate the greed, idiocies and hypocrisies of a system notably lacking in grown-up supervision.” The subjects, Lewis writes, “told you something about the state of the financial system, in the same way that people who survive a plane crash told you something about the accident, and also about the nature of people who survive accidents.” Kakutani likes the book but her main complaint is that “the reader is put in the position of rooting for people who, while smarter or more farsighted than those who helped bring about catastrophe in the first place, were nonetheless trying to make money (who saw a rare opportunity, as one put it) by betting against the health of our financial system.”

We haven’t heard from Rep. Michele Bachmann in awhile, but it seems she’s right where we left her: The congresswoman from Minnesota told an audience it doesn’t have to obey the new health-care laws, should they pass. "Mark my words, the American people aren't gonna take this lying down," Bachmann said at a rally on Saturday. "We aren't gonna play their game, we're not gonna pay their taxes. They want us to pay for this? Because we don't have to. We don't have to. We don't have to follow a bill that isn't law. That's not the American way, and that's not what we're going to do." She went on, “This is dictatorial, what they are doing. we are not compelled to follow a non-law just because Obama and Pelosi tells us we have to.”

Best known for his role as the spymaster in television’s Mission: Impossible and the host of Biography, Peter Graves died of a heart attack Sunday at the age of 83. But perhaps the performance that brought him the biggest cult following was as Captain Oveur in the movie Airplane!, where he delivered deadpan lines like, “Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?” Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis and studied drama under the G.I. Bill at the University of Minnesota. He appeared in several classics such as Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17 and Otto Preminger’s Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, before turning to television. His most famous character was Mission: Impossible’s Jim Phelps, the serious leader of the Impossible Missions Force.