By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

Former representative Barney Frank is dialing back his opposition to the pending nomination of former senator Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, telling the Globe he is willing to look past his comments about gays because it is more important that his views prevail on drawing down the war in Afghanistan and reducing wasteful defense spending. “As much as I regret what Hagel said, ... the question now is going to be Afghanistan and scaling back the military,” Frank said.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

No sooner had former Representative Barney Frank publicly declared his interest in any interim appointment to replace Senator John Kerry than members of the public began asking if it wasn’t really just some secret gambit to boost his congressional pension. The short answer is, no. Frank has told former colleagues that he never paid into the congressional pension system, meaning he will have to rely on personal funds, Social Security payments, and any 401(k) savings he accumulated for his retirement.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Newly sworn-in Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III has snagged a seat on two House committees that fit his interests: Science and Technology, and Foreign Affairs. As a freshman member of the minority party, he wasn’t able to get assigned to the House Education Committee, where he had hoped to work on legislation related to early childhood education, college affordability, and accessibility. But the former Peace Corps member, who is fluent in Spanish, said is just fine with Foreign Affairs.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Former representative Barney Frank said today he has asked Governor Deval Patrick to appoint him to the interim Senate seat that would need to be filled if Senator John Kerry resigns to serve as secretary of state. Frank said he changed his mind about continuing in public life after President Obama and congressional leaders announced their fiscal cliff compromise. “The first months of the new Senate will be among the most important in American history,” Frank told the Globe.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

When Elizabeth Warren was sworn in today as a US senator, it was not only the culmination of an election campaign she launched in September 2011, but also the completion of a political turnabout started the previous May. In May 2011, 44 Republican senators signed a letter to President Obama, vowing to block his nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without changes to the consumer watchdog agency created by the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory act.

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

As Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Joe Kennedy III on Thursday become the newest elected officials from Massachusetts to walk the marble Capitol hallways, they are ushering in a rapidly transforming Massachusetts delegation. A group that has long been known for its slow and steady rise to power is quickly becoming a group of newbies on Capitol Hill. Two long-time stalwarts – John Olver and Barney Frank, 53 years in Washington between them – are retiring and former Senator Scott Brown is back in Massachusetts after losing to Warren. Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry is preparing for confirmation hearings to become Secretary of State and Representative Edward J. Markey is planning to run for his seat (possibly against Brown).

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Senator Scott Brown today took on a possible opponent in a special election to succeed his colleague John Kerry, questioning whether US Representative Edward Markey is actually a resident of Massachusetts. Brown has hinted he would compete in the special election but not made a formal commitment to a race, while Markey has said he will run if Kerry is confirmed as President Obama’s second-term secretary of state. “Ed Markey: Does he even live here any more?” Brown said.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Democrat Elizabeth Warren is being sworn in as a US senator on Thursday in Washington, but Massachusetts supporters unable to make it can attend a ceremonial swearing in on Saturday at Roxbury Community College. The oath of office will be administered by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Warren’s former boss at Harvard Law School and whose nomination to the high court the senator Warren is replacing, Republican Scott Brown, opposed. Saturday’s ceremony is the third of three ceremonies for Warren.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

During the 12 days of Christmas vacation for many in the working world, the Massachusetts political world has undergone an upheaval. President Obama has tapped Senator John Kerry to be the country’s next secretary of state. Kerry and Vicki Kennedy have thrown their support behind Representative Edward Markey to succeed him as senator. And Representatives Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch have ruminated about their own candidacies in the special election to succeed Kerry. An update on the situation.

By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff

The 11th-hour negotiations for a fiscal cliff deal in the Senate appeared to stall Sunday, as Democrats failed to produce a counteroffer to a GOP proposal delivered on Saturday night. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell emerged from behind closed doors at about 2 p.m. and said Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats had not submitted a counteroffer to a proposal he made on Saturday evening.

By Christopher Rowland and Chelsea Conaboy , Globe Staff

Senate leaders said Friday they will spend the weekend attempting to patch together a last-minute deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, pledging another bipartisan effort despite growing doubt about the ability of the White House and Congress to reach agreement.

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

US Representative Edward Markey picked up two critically important endorsements and received strong praise from US Senator John Kerry for his candidacy to fill Kerry’s seat, in what appears to be a coordinated effort by party leaders to close ranks behind the congressman. The moves by both Kerry, President Obama’s nominee for secretary of state, and the national Democrats to try and shape the race is a clear sign that the national party leadership is sending a message to other potential Democratic candidates to stay out of the campaign.

By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff

Washington engaged in yet another day of blame and bluster with no visible signs of progress to avoid federal tax hikes and spending cuts scheduled to take hold on Tuesday, as government and business leaders began to forecast scenarios of what will happen if the ``fiscal cliff’’ threshold is crossed. The good news: the full effects of the cliff will not be triggered immediately as dawn rises on the New Year. Declining consumer and business confidence and Wall Street jitters are likely to be the most immediate effects, rather than visible, concrete evidence like employee paycheck reductions and government layoffs.

By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

US Representative Edward Markey, dean of the state’s Washington delegation, will run in 2013 for the US Senate seat expected to open with the nomination of US Senator John Kerry to head the State Department. Markey, 66, a Malden Democrat elected to the House in 1976, is the first prominent candidate to declare a run for Kerry’s seat, which will be filled through a special election early next summer, probably in June.

By Noah Bierman and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Senator John Kerry’s nomination to become secretary of state sets off a flood of political activity in Massachusetts, as numerous politicians consider a run for his seat. State law requires Governor Deval Patrick to appoint a temporary successor, once Kerry is confirmed by the Senate, as is expected to happen several weeks from now. An election would then be held between 145 days and 160 days after that.

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

The National Rifle Association called on Congress to help schools hire armed police officers to shield children and teachers from “monsters” and the carnage of violence that took the lives of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary last week. During a highly scripted news conference in the nation’s capital, the NRA said that schools are defenseless in a culture that glorifies violence, in video games and in movies, and does not do enough to protect “the most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American family.”

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

President Obama today nominated Senator John F. Kerry to be the country’s 68th secretary of state during a joint appearance in the White House Roosevelt Room. The path to Kerry’s nomination was cleared last week, when United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice announced that she was withdrawing her name from consideration for secretary of state. Senate Republicans led by Obama’s 2008 opponent, John McCain of Arizona, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, had declared their opposition.

By Tracy Jan and Bryan Bender , Globe Staff

A 2005 tour of the Middle East cemented Kerry’s international profile, a welcomed respite amid the dark days following his failed presidential bid. For Kerry, then a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it demonstrated how his sudden renown could propel him into playing a prominent role in American foreign policy like never before, the first inkling of a political life beyond Capitol Hill.

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

House Speaker John Boehner on Friday vowed to continue working on avoiding a fiscal crisis, but said President Obama and Democrats must now lead the way after the Ohio Republican failed to win support for his “Plan B” tax proposal. “We only run the House. Democrats continue to run Washington,” he said at a news conference the morning after an evening House session ended abruptly when it was apparent Boehner did not have the votes to win passage for a tax plan that would extend Bush-era tax cuts to everyone but millionaires and billionaires.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

His term ends in just two weeks but that did not stop the soon-to-retire, infamously cantankerous Massachusetts Democrat for slamming his former rival. Congressman Barney Frank blasted former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for hypocrisy on Wednesday, criticizing the marital track record of his political nemesis after Gringrich connected the Sandy Hook school massacre to the absence of religion in public life. “God appears to have been driven out of Mr. Gingrich’s private life if you look at his marital history,” Frank said on MSNBC. “He’s very selective about where he thinks fundamental religious tenants ought to be followed.”

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

In one of his final speeches on the House floor, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank on Thursday argued passionately for cutting the defense budget, something he has said he will crusade for through his final weeks in office. He opposed the $633 billion defense spending bill on multiple grounds, peppering his 10-plus minute address with punchlines relished by his Democratic colleagues.

By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff

Drawing on his own perspective as the son of a Foreign Service officer, Senator John F. Kerry on Thursday made an impassioned plea for what he said his father called “foreign policy outdoors” – the need for American diplomats to interact extensively with foreign populations despite the risks. “We have to be on the ground outside the wire reaching out to those people,” Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said as he opened a hearing to receive testimony on the State Department investigation into the terrorist assault that killed the US ambassador and three others in Benghazi, Libya, in September.

By Michael Levenson and Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff

Senator Scott Brown has reversed his position after the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school and now says he supports a federal assault weapons ban. “What happened in Newtown where those children were subject to that level of violence is beyond my comprehension,” Brown said in an interview today with the Springfield Republican newspaper. “As a state legislator in Massachusetts I supported an assault weapons ban thinking other states would follow suit. But unfortunately, they have not and innocent people are being killed. As a result, I support a federal assault weapons ban, perhaps like the legislation we have in Massachusetts.”

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

The spirit of public comity that followed last week’s mass murder of first-graders in Newtown, Conn., ended today with a pair of dueling news conferences by President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner in Washington. While both men had previously said the national trauma of seeing 26 people gunned down in the Sandy Hook Elementary School was enough to put politics in its place, each quickly fell back into the type of political rhetoric that preceded the shooting.

By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff

President Obama Wednesday threatened to veto House Speaker John Boehner’s backup plan to prevent income taxes from rising on all Americans except those earning more than $1 million a year, part of political skirmishing that is casting a shadow over negotiations on the fiscal cliff.

``The deficit reduction is minimal, and perversely, given its authors, solely through tax increases with no spending cuts,’’ White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said in a written statement. ``This approach does not meet the test of balance, and the President would veto the legislation in the unlikely event of its passage.’’

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Massachusetts has entered a period of name-dropping amid the possibility that Senator John F. Kerry will be tapped for secretary of state and Governor Deval Patrick will have to pick a replacement to hold the seat while a special election is held to determine a permanent successor. Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Michael S. Dukakis. And, now, Edward M. Kennedy Jr. Political observers can make a ready case for any of them, but it’s all very speculative now as Kerry waits.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

As three congressmen from eastern Massachusetts weigh potential candidacies in a Senate special election campaign, one state senator from the extreme western part of the state thinks he may be able to replicate what Scott Brown did in 2010. Democratic state Senator Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield thinks that if there is a divisive party primary in any campaign to replace John Kerry, US Representatives Stephen Lynch, Michael E. Capuano, and Edward Markey could carve up the more populous Boston area

By Bobby Caina Calvan , Globe Staff

The National Rifle Association broke its silence Tuesday on the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting massacre in which a young man killed 27 people, 20 of them children slaughtered in their classrooms. In a statement sent to reporters Tuesday afternoon, the nation’s largest gun-rights lobbyist organization said it was “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” The group said it would hold a news conference Friday in the nation’s capital, but said details would be released later.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

US Representative Edward J. Markey said Monday he would consider running for the US Senate were John F. Kerry nominated for secretary of state, but a poll he appears to be conducting shows it’s not just some idle thought. A Massachusetts resident relayed to a Globe reporter the contents of a 20-minute survey an out-of-state firm conducted via telephone that assessed Markey’s strengths and weaknesses in a potential match-up against Senator Scott Brown.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Former Governor Michael S. Dukakis declined this afternoon to completely rule out a temporary appointment to the US Senate, though he called it unlikely because of a teaching obligation. “I’m heading for the West on the 26th of December and I start teaching the week after,” Dukakis said, when asked if he was interested in an appointment to fill John Kerry’s seat if, as expected, Kerry becomes secretary of state. “It’s highly unlikely in any event. I’m committed to teaching.”

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers will lead a new think-tank project aimed at spurring middle-class job growth, a key item of President Obama’s re-election platform and a focus of his second term. The Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy think tank, announced Monday that Summers, whom the center also named a distinguished senior fellow, will co-chair the project along with David Miliband, Britain’s former foreign minister.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Senator John F. Kerry spent this morning working in his Capitol Hill office amid a swirl of speculation that he will be nominated to be the next secretary of state. President Obama had a light official schedule today - only his daily briefing at 10:15 a.m. and a 12:30 p.m. private lunch with Vice President Joe Biden were listed - but White House officials confirmed that he had added an unscheduled “fiscal cliff” meeting with House Speaker John Boehner.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Everyone from a Chicago gossip columnist to network TV correspondents reported today that President Obama had settled on Senator John F. Kerry as his next secretary of state yet was withholding a formal announcement, sparking White House denials but highlighting the challenge in any rollout. UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s decision last week to drop out of contention made Kerry the consensus pick within Washington to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, but other national security picks are less certain.

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

The president signed a new trade agreement with Russia on Friday, potentially doubling US exports to the country within five years. While promoting jobs and spurring the economy was certainly a reason to beam at the signing, Representative James McGovern was at the side of President Obama as the bill was signed into law for another reason. Included in the law was a provision, dubbed the Magnitsky Act that seeks to promote human rights in Russia. McGovern, long a champion of social and humanitarian causes, sponsored the provision.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Senator John F. Kerry returned to Boston today from Washington, but he refused to comment on the possibility he may be tapped for secretary of state. “When the time is right, you’ll know what’s going on and so will I,” he told a Globe reporter as he got into his car outside the US Airways Shuttle terminal at Logan International Airport. Kerry refused to answer when asked if he had talked to the president about the job.

By Bryan Bender, Globe staff

Embattled UN Ambassador Susan Rice, one of the top contenders to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, withdrew her name from consideration on Thursday, telling President Obama in a letter that she wanted to avoid a “lengthy, disruptive and costly” confirmation process. The decision dramatically reshuffles the search for a new top diplomat and will likely refocus attention on the prospects of Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry, who has also been on Obama’s short list.

By Frank Phillips and Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval L. Patrick today strongly denied he was forcing any of his departing four cabinet secretaries to leave, including two who have been caught up in recent controversies. At a State House news conference where both the current and incoming secretaries appeared, Patrick said that in an effort to prevent his administration from falling into a lame duck malaise, he had asked all his secretaries to give him a two-year commitment or to leave.

By Bobby Caina Calvan , Globe Staff

A reprieve for the middle class from looming tax hikes was plunged into further doubt on Thursday, as House Speaker John Boehner suggested an unwillingness to allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire only on the nation’s wealthiest. The country is barreling toward a precipice of tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that analysts say could be disastrous for the country’s still-fragile economic recovery if not averted.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Susan Rice’s withdrawal from consideration for secretary of state was the diplomatic - and necessary - precursor to the possibility of Senator John F. Kerry getting the appointment. Rice is a personal friend of the president’s, a young Rhodes Scholar and fellow African-American who advised his 2008 presidential campaign and went on to be his representative at the United Nations. When Senate Republicans declared their opposition to Rice’s possible appointment as the nation’s chief diplomat, the president became personally offended.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick is slated to announce Thursday that nearly half of his Cabinet is being replaced as he begins the final two years of his second term, and that Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral will join his administration as the state’s public safety secretary. Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby, Public Safety Secretary Mary Beth Heffernan, and Education Secretary Paul Reville are all departing.

By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff

Better coordination among doctors and hospitals. More transparency in medical costs and outcomes. New models of care, like sharing your doctor’s appointment with a small group of strangers. These are among a litany of critical checkpoints that need to happen, healthcare leaders say, to take the country from the post-election relief many advocates of health reform felt to making the 2010 law to expand health care access a success.

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

The Senate’s Democratic leadership announced committee assignments Wednesday, and as expected Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren will have a seat on the Banking Committee -- befitting her previous role as a fierce watchdog on banks and Wall Street. Warren was also named to two other committees -- one on aging, and the other on health, education, labor and pensions -- that will provide her with additional platforms to work on issues affecting the country’s middle class.

By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff

Senator Scott Brown used his farewell floor speech on Wednesday morning to foreshadow his potential return to Congress and to oppose changes to the filibuster process that several Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, have been pushing. “As I’ve said many times before, victory and defeat is temporary,” he told colleagues. “Depending on what happens, and where we go, all of us, we may obviously meet again.”

By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff

With the country on the brink of a “fiscal cliff” that could plunge the economy back into recession, the partisan rhetoric over taxes and spending further intensified on Tuesday as both sides attempted to pin blame and the year-end deadline quickly approached. House Speaker John Boehner, during a floor speech Tuesday, put the onus on President Obama to put forward a plan that could win passage in both chambers of Congress -- a responsibility that Democrats refused to shoulder on their own.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

In Quincy, loyalty is more prized than a cup of Marylou’s coffee. South Boston has a reputation for its own street code, but its southern neighbor is no poseur. That code explains how Scott Campbell got in the trouble he did, the way he addressed it when he faced the very real prospect of jail time, and why the 41-year-old was left virtually speechless when a jury announced his acquittal today. His former boss, Timothy Cahill, still awaits his fate.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Senator John F. Kerry’s communications director confirmed today that she is resigning to take a similar job in Facebook’s Washington office, but everyone involved said it was the unique meeting of person and position - not Kerry’s own possible job change - that prompted the move. Jodi Seth will become manager of public policy and communications for the social networking site, which has rapidly expanded its presence in the nation’s capital. She joined Kerry’s office four years ago.

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff

The Republican National Committee is launching an investigation into what happened during the 2012 campaign cycle, including a look at why Mitt Romney lost his campaign for the presidency and what can be learned from how President Obama and other Democrats ran their races. Members of Romney’’s staff are slated to be interviewed as part of the investigation, although it is not yet clear if Romney himself will participate. The RNC will also examine what happened in other races in which it played a role. Hundreds of people are expected to participate, the RNC said.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Severe fog and airport instrumentation issues in Washington stranded several New England senators in Boston today, part of the impetus for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to postpone all votes until Tuesday. Senator Scott Brown and his wife, Gail Huff, were delayed, as were Senators John F. Kerry and Jeanne Shaheen. Senators elsewhere were also prevented from arriving on Capitol Hill for a scheduled 5:30 p.m. vote because of flight delays and cancellations. It was pushed to 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Labor leaders today are rallying senior citizens who would be affected by federal program cuts should the government go over the “fiscal cliff.” US Representative John Tierney, a Democrat from Salem, will be the keynote speaker at the rally, scheduled to be held at Faneuil Hall at 1 p.m. Afterward, senior citizens, homecare workers, and other participants will link hands to conduct a silent protest. “We want to put a face on this for the public,” said John Bennett, 82.