Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) delivered a “blistering farewell speech” on the House floor, The Hill reports.

Said Paul: “In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues. Wars are constant and pursued without congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our history. All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer.”

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Democratic colleagues
that she wants them to reelect her as House minority leader when they
return from Thanksgiving break, National Journal reports.

No one is expected to challenge her for the top House Democratic spot as a result.

Washington Post: “She said she felt compelled to remain in leadership as Congress and
President Obama embark on an effort to resolve a fiscal crisis that
could jeopardize core government programs. And she vowed to work to
limit the role of money in politics and to empower women in the
workplace and the political arena.”

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) left the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota but it’s not clear if he’s returning to Washington, D.C. for votes scheduled later today, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Jackson is under federal investigation for alleged misuse of campaign funds and has been on a medical leave of absence from Congress since June while undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder.

Politico:
“House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will meet with top Democrats on
Tuesday night — followed by another leadership-only session early
Wednesday as she prepares for a meeting with all House Democrats — but
it is still unclear whether she will stay or go after nearly a decade in
power. Pelosi has declined to discuss her plans since Democrats picked
up as many as eight seats on Election Day.”

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) might step down before the end of the year as part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors investigating possible misuse of campaign funds, CBS 2 reports.

“Under terms of the deal, Jackson would resign for health reasons, plead guilty to misusing campaign funds and possibly do jail time. He’d have to repay any campaign funds that were converted for personal use, and serve at least some jail time.”

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is heading back to Mayo Clinic — and was reportedly en route Friday evening, the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Jackson has been on a leave of absence from Congress since early last summer and is reportedly being treated for depression and bi-polar disorder.

Said a source who visited Jackson this week: “Jesse wanted you to know he is finding it difficult to continue his treatment because the press is staking out his home and making access to his doctor, who is within a short walking distance from his home, incredibly hard.”

In his first public comments since taking a leave of absence in early June, Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-IL) told The Daily that he is “not well” and has doctor’s appointments twice a day at George Washington University Hospital, not far from his home: “I go over there… at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.”

The Tennessee Department of Health has been asked to investigate evidence that Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “had a sexual relationship with a patient, an allegation that could open the congressman to disciplinary action for violating medical ethics,” the Tennessean reports.

The complaint was filed “following reports that he encouraged an unnamed woman to have an abortion after she told him she was carrying his child.” The woman was a patient of DesJarlais.

A Washington Post investigation finds that, contrary to many popular perceptions, lawmakers don’t get rich by merely being in Congress. Rich people who go to Congress, though, keep getting richer while they’re there.

The report also found that “the wealthiest one-third of lawmakers were largely immune from the Great Recession, taking the fewest financial hits and watching their investments quickly recover and rise to new heights. But more than 20 percent of the members of the current Congress — 121 lawmakers — appeared to be worse off in 2010 than they had been six years earlier, and 24 saw their reported wealth slide into negative territory.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is expected to be cleared of charges in an ethics investigation that has spanned three years, Roll Call reports.

The verdict would clear the way for Waters “to pursue the title of top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee as ranking member Barney Frank (D-MA) prepares to retire at the end of this Congress.”

“Aside from the sheer biological ludicrousness of Todd Akin’s ideas on female physiology, one unsettling subplot to the debacle is his presence on the House of Committee on Science, Space and Technology,” Wired reports.

“That’s right: A man who, to put it gently, ignores what science tells us about how babies are made, helps shape the future of science in America. It would be shocking, but for the fact that many of the committee’s GOP members have spent the last several years displaying comparable contempt for climate science… But in both cases, there exists a factual proposition that can be studied through observation and hypothesis-testing — and it’s the scientific method itself that’s ultimately under attack in the House science committee.”

Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says he’s been diagnosed with a “very early, highly treatable and curable type” of cancer, the Detroit News reports.

Camp said in a statement “that doctors found non-Hodgkin lymphoma during a recent physical. Camp says he’ll continue in Congress and retain his committee chairmanship during chemotherapy.”

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota “for extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and gastrointestinal issues,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“Jackson’s whereabouts have been a mystery since he went on medical leave June 10. The statement issued Friday said the congressman ‘has arrived at Mayo Clinic,’ but did not say where he came from.”

A Businessweek infographic looks at the 54 “mostly-trivial” bills sent to President Obama for his signature this congressional session.

“It’s a really simple rule: if you’re wearing a tie, you should be wearing socks.”

— House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), quoted by National Journal, chiding reporter Luke Russert for not wearing socks.

He apparently forgot his own appearance on a local television station years ago.

[Read more…]

Lynn Sweet says it’s “very premature to write off the political career of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) — at an undisclosed location getting treated for a serious ‘mood disorder.’ He has $246,625 in his political warchest as of June 30–a virtually unknown GOP opponent running in a heavily Democratic district with no political cash and a savvy top political strategist — his wife.”

Said GOP nominee Brain Woodworth: “We haven’t hit the $5,000 mark yet.”

Woodworth has not even raised or spent enough — $5,000 — to trigger having to file a report with the Federal Election Commission.

Ezra Klein: “Hating on Congress is a beloved American tradition. Hence Mark Twain’s old joke, ‘Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.’ But the 112th Congress is no ordinary congress. It’s a very bad, no good, terrible Congress. It is, in fact, one of the very worst congresses we have ever had.”

“I know a lot of people are saying, ‘When is he going to get back to work?’ Why should he get back to work to a Congress that does no work?”

— Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual (D), quoted by the Chicago Sun Times, reacting to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s (D-IL) medical leave from Congress.

Meanwhile, The Week has a guide to Jackson’s mysterious disappearance.