Washington in 60 Seconds: SCOTUS Starts Work, Todd Palin Calls It Quits

Good morning, Capitolists! Buckle your seat belts for a busy week in Washington. That will include a key committee vote on health care reform, closed-door meetings on Afghanistan, a furious rush to pass appropriations bills (which are still stuffed with pork, by the way) and a new session of the Supreme Court featuring the newest justice, Sonia Sotomayor.

Here's what's making news in Washington today:

* President Obama will hold a health care press event with doctors in the Rose Garden at 1 p.m., and meets with Sec. of Defense Robert Gates at the White House at 4, when they'll certainly discuss plans for Afghanistan.

* Regarding Afghanistan, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones said on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning that he expects the president's new strategy for Afghanistan "within a matter of weeks."

* The House and Senate are in session today, but not voting. The Senate Finance Committee will vote on its piece of health care reform tomorrow.

* The Supreme Court gavels in for the first day of its new session. Check out SCOUTSblog.com to find out what's on the docket this week.

* If you had a funny feeling last October that Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke's stories about the financial meltdown weren't adding up, that's because a new report says they were misleading the public. One example, writes the Washington Times, was the dynamic duo sending billions of dollars to "healthy" banks, which were actually teetering on collapse.

* The Hill reports that the Senate Ethics Committee has opened an inquiry into Sen. John Ensign's affair/ cover-up/ job search for his mistress' husband, who was also his chief of staff.

* And finally, the AP reports that former First Dude Todd Palin has quit his job with BP on the Northern Slope of Alaska. A spokeswoman says Palin quit "to spend more time with his family," something his wife's multimillion-dollar book deal made a little easier to do, even in these troubled times.