Looking back at the early years of the Obama era, one cannot help but be amused at the apparent earnestness with which the former president declared war on special interests, the “revolving door,” and excessive wealth. Knowing what we know now, it is easy to forget Obama’s pledge to ban lobbyists from his administration, or the time he righteously declared, “At a certain point you’ve made enough money.”
Freshman Senator and 2016 frontrunner Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has written a memoir. The book documents her rise from humble beginnings, her tireless efforts to establish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the internal struggles of someone who never really wanted to come to Washington, D.C., and get involved with politics, but who nevertheless has found it hard to quit the nation’s capital.
Here are 16 takeaways: 
Without an extension of unemployment insurance as part of a fiscal cliff compromise, more than 2 million Americans, or roughly 43 percent of those receiving unemployment benefits, will lose Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits at the end of the year, according to a report from the Department of Labor. 
Sen. David Vitter (R., La.) is questioning the Treasury Department’s withholding of thousands of pages of emails concerning a potential carbon tax bill from a nonprofit conservative think-tank. 