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Biden To Israel: ‘Take Risks For Peace’
While visiting Israel, Vice President Biden said that the newly-announced indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, to be mediated by the United States, would be “a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years.” Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said, “The United States will always stand with those who take risks for peace,” also saying to Netanyahu, “you’re prepared to do that.”

Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 9:30 a.m. ET, will receive the economic daily briefing at 10 a.m. ET, and will meet with senior advisers at 10:30 a.m. ET. He will have lunch at 12:15 p.m. ET with business leaders, and will meet at 2 p.m. ET with Prime Minister Papandreou of Greece. At 3:10 p.m. ET, he will greet and thank members of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He will meet at 4:30 p.m. ET with a bipartisan group of Senators, to discuss energy policy. He will deliver remarks at 5:30 p.m. ET, at a reception honoring Greek Independence Day.

Senate To Take Up Unemployment Insurance Extension
The Senate is set to hold a key test vote today on an extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. The measure has been combined with a set of about 60 popular tax breaks for individuals and businesses, which expired at the end of last year.

Dems Determined To Finish Health Care Bill By Easter
Roll Call reports that Congressional Democrats are determined to pass a health care bill, with a reconciliation “sidecar” package, by Easter: “Democrats seem almost afraid to talk about it, given how close the vote is going to be in the House, how difficult it will be to whip Members and the still-unresolved issue of abortion. But if they do pass health care reform, Democrats will no longer be running a Congress that couldn’t get anything done; they will be in charge of a Congress that passed the most sweeping health legislation ever.”

Biden Still Has One Foot In The Senate
The Hill reports that Vice President Biden has maintained close relationships with his former colleagues in the Senate. “I don’t presume to give advice, but I talk to them about everything from basketball to foreign policy,” said Biden. “I talk to them all the time. I come up in the gym to work out with them. I have them come down. Both my Democrat and Republican friends. I enjoy this place so much. And I really have a lot of very good friends. You don’t just walk away from it.”

Gates Praises Troops In Southern Afghanistan
Visiting troops in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates praised an American unit that has lost 22 men and suffered from 62 wounded since arriving in southern Afghanistan. “You all have had a very tough time,” Gates said, also adding: “You came into an area totally controlled by the Taliban. You fought for a critical battle space, you bled for it and now you own it.”

House Liberals To Force Vote On Pullout From Afghanistan
The Washington Post reports that the House is set to take up debate this week on a resolution being offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), calling for a pullout from Afghanistan: “Whether or not it would have any legal force if enacted, the resolution has almost no chance of being approved in the House, where nearly all Republicans and many Democrats support maintaining or increasing troop levels. But the lawmakers supporting the resolution, a group that includes antiwar Republicans such as Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.), say Congress needs to have a formal debate on the war.”

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