The Senate is in session and may consider rule changes.The House may consider a resolution to reduce the caps on non-security spending for FY11 to FY08 levels.

Cold Jumps Arctic 'Fence,' Stoking Winter's Fury. Judging by the weather, the world seems to have flipped upside down. For two winters running, an Arctic chill has descended on Europe, burying that continent in snow and ice. Last year in the United States, historic blizzards afflicted the mid-Atlantic region. This winter the Deep South has endured unusual snowstorms and severe cold, and a frigid Northeast is bracing for what could shape into another major snowstorm this week.  Yet while people in Atlanta learn to shovel snow, the weather 2,000 miles to the north has been freakishly warm the past two winters. Throughout northeastern Canada and Greenland, temperatures in December ran as much as 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Bays and lakes have been slow to freeze; ice fishing, hunting and trade routes have been disrupted. New York Times 

Carol Browner to Leave White House. Carol M. Browner, President Barack Obama's top energy and environmental adviser, plans to leave the White House in the coming weeks, White House officials said Monday night. Browner, who served as Environmental Protection Agency administrator for all eight years under President Bill Clinton, has emerged as one of the most experienced Washington hands in the current West Wing. Her calm, authoritative television presence during last year's BP oil disaster made her one of the few government officials whose stature was enhanced in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe. But passage of a comprehensive climate change bill, a career-long goal and the primary mission of her office, collapsed last year and seems unlikely for some time to come with the current House Republican majority. Politico

Canadians Link Arctic Defense With National Identity: Survey. Canadians exhibit a stronger sense of possessiveness toward their Arctic territories - and are least compromising when it comes to securing sovereignty in the region - compared with the Northern Hemisphere's seven other polar nations, according an international survey commissioned by the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. The eight-nation poll, summarized in a report released Tuesday titled Rethinking the Top of the World, shows the tough-minded attitude is shared by northern and southern Canadians alike, who are significantly more likely to emphasize the importance of maintaining a "firm line" in protecting Arctic interests than residents of Russia, the U.S., Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The Montreal Gazette

Big Cuts on the Agenda, Details on Hold. With an ambitious plan to cut $100 billion in federal spending as a backdrop, House Republicans are sticking to broad pronouncements about the need for cuts as they quietly work out a legislative strategy for the coming months. Unlike previous leadership regimes in the House that charged ahead furiously in the early weeks of their new tenure, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) have taken a measured approach. Aside from last week's symbolic vote on repeal of the health care law - a bill even Republicans acknowledge has no chance of becoming law - the schedule has been limited to minor spending cuts such as a federal printing reduction bill and broader resolutions tasking committees with beginning work on more substantive measures. Roll Call

Energy Resources: Arctic Isn't 'Wild West,' U.S. Navy says. It's unlikely that the five littoral nations of the Arctic Ocean will go to war over undiscovered oil and gas reserves, an assessment by the U.S. Navy says. Melting sea ice is exposing untapped reserves of oil and natural gas in the polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Dave Titley said at an arctic conference in Norway that commercial shipping lanes could open through the arctic as early as 2035. "We believe that sometime between 2035 and 2040 there is a pretty good chance that the Arctic Ocean will be essentially ice-free for about a month," he was quoted by the Financial Times as saying. UPI

Waxman Calls for Inquiry Into Scientist's Financial Ties to Energy Industry. California Democrat Henry A. Waxman on Monday called for an investigation into the 2009 testimony of a scientist who questioned the validity of global warming, suggesting he might have misled the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the extent of his earnings from the energy industry. Waxman, the panel's ranking member, said Cato Institute scientist Patrick J. Michaels" may have provided misleading information about the sources of his funding and his ties to industries opposed to regulation of emissions responsible for climate change" when he said he received only 3 percent of his funding from energy industry sources. Congressional Quarterly

Lugar: Shifting Focus on Energy Debate Could Foster Bipartisan Support. Sen. Richard G. Lugar said Monday that a shift from the polarizing debate over curbing greenhouse gas emissions to one that emphasizes the national security risks of U.S. dependence on foreign oil could yield bipartisan cooperation on energy legislation in the new divided Congress. Speaking at the Clean Economy Summit in Washington one day before the State of the Union address, the moderate Indiana Republican said President Obama squandered the opportunity to work on energy legislation in the last Congress by emphasizing climate change. Congressional Quarterly

The Arctic Council is the Best Way for Canada to Resolve its Territorial Disputes. Last September, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg met in Murmansk, Russia, to sign a treaty that puts to rest a 40-year boundary dispute. The agreement divides into two equal parts the 175,000 square kilometre area and stipulates that all oil and gas deposits found along its border can only be developed jointly by both nations. The Globe and Mail

Poll Aims to Get Baseline Data for Alaska Domestic Violence: 'ALARMING:' Officials in Alaska may learn if efforts to curb the problem work. Nearly half of all Alaska women have been threatened or physically harmed by a partner during their lifetime, according to a newly released survey intended to provide a baseline for domestic violence and sexual assault rates in the state. Anchorage Daily News  

Barrasso Slams Spill Commission, Says Members Weren't Experts on Drilling. A member of the Senate GOP leadership team is bashing the presidential oil spill commission's final report, a sign that the panel's ideas will have trouble gaining bipartisan support. The criticism Monday from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) - the vice-chairman of the Senate Republican Conference - comes two days before the leaders of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling will appear at a pair of Capitol Hill hearings. The Hill

Commission Recommends Protection Listing for Walrus: MARINE MAMMALS: They're threatened by loss of sea ice, it says. The federal Marine Mammal Commission has recommended that Pacific walrus be listed as threatened or endangered, citing threats to the marine mammals from the loss of sea ice they rely on for foraging and giving birth. This comes as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a court-ordered deadline at the end of the month to decide whether to recommend walrus for the endangered-species list. Anchorage Daily News

No Arctic-related legislation was formally considered yesterday.