Former Secretary of Defense William Perry will testify.

The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a 9:30 am ET hearing on the situation in Iraq.

Barack Obama speaks at the opening session of the Families USA Health Action Conference. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) gives the keynote address at a breakfast session of the Winter Meeting of The United States Conference of Mayors. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was scheduled to formally announce his candidacy for president at 8 am ET at a Spartanburg, SC, breakfast titled 'America: The Strength of Freedom.' The president will return to the White House at 4:30 pm ET. Luke's East hospital in Lee's Summit, MO, followed by a roundtable on healthcare initiatives.

President Bush travels to Missouri today to push the second major domestic initiative mentioned in his State of the Union: affordable healthcare.

And what is it about the current Senate that is 'raising questions about their ability to govern,' according to The Politico? Find out in Hot Topics below!.'As many as four big states - California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey - are likely to move up their 2008 presidential primaries to early next February, further upending an already unsettled nominating process and forcing candidates of both parties to rethink their campaign strategies,' the New York Times reports.

'The man who spent the past four years gunning for the presidency turned his attention to building a statesmanlike legacy in the Senate.' 'A tearful' John Kerry 'launched the next phase of his Senate career yesterday with a vow to hasten an end to the Iraq war,' the Boston Globe reports.The SOTU also 'aggravated' the 'underlying fear' of social and economic conservatives: 'that the president might become so consumed by the worsening conflict in Iraq - and chastened by Democrats' takeover of Congress - that he will give up on the issues they care about,' the Wall Street Journal reports.'I guess the pains of the hurricane are yesterday's news in Washington,' Blanco said. Kathleen Blanco 'angrily criticized President Bush on Wednesday for not mentioning 2005's destructive hurricanes in his State of the Union speech,' AP reports. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's 12-9 vote in favor of a resolution opposing Bush's planned troop buildup sets up 'what could be the most dramatic confrontation between Congress and the Bush administration since the war was launched four years ago,' the Washington Post reports.For the latest, breaking political news, check for updates throughout the day on the CNN Political Ticker.

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