Marco Rubio was sworn in as a U.S. senator at 12:32 p.m. Wednesday. Read Lane Wright's complete story from Washington, D.C.

From John Kennedy's inaugural coverage:

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives took a while to do it, but they approved the intricately negotiated $858 billion tax deal in the small hours Friday by a vote of 277-148. Republicans and Democrats favoring the bill were split almost down the middle.

The bill now goes to a visibly relieved President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

Before the House vote Obama said, "I hope that members from both parties can come together in a spirit of common purpose to protect American families and our economy as a whole by passing this essential economic package."

The $1.1 trillion spending bill, weighted down with unpopular earmarks, died on the Senate floor Thursday night, meaning the country is running out of time in the fiscal year to pay its bills. The current spending authorization runs out Saturday.

The bill didn't die a natural death. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yanked it after he discovered Democrats didn't have the support to get it passed. Reid said he will begin immediately to work with Republicans on a compromise popular enough for at least a short-term funding plan.

The Senate voted Tuesday to advance President Barack Obama's $858 billion tax package to the House, where it likely will get a final vote Thursday.

In a Tuesday editorial under the headline "Killing high-speed rail shows fiscal restraint," the Green Bay Press-Gazette praised Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker for keeping his campaign promise to hold the line on spending, even though it means losing $810 million in federal funds to build a new rail line from Madison to Milwaukee.

Patricia Kennealy Morrison, widow of 1960s pop star Jim Morrison, told CNN Thursday that if her husband were alive "he would tear this pardon to shreds, it's not applicable, it's meaningless, because he didn't do anything to be pardoned for."

Though the military won't be increasing its numbers significantly in the Sunshine State, it certainly is about to upgrade its visibility, particularly in South Florida.

In a story reported Thursday in Florida Trend magazine, by year's end the whole of the U.S. Southern Command -- that's 2,300 military, civilian and contractor employees -- will move into a $402 million campus in Doral.

Michelle Rhee, head of Gov.-elect Rick Scott's education transition team, went live with her new website at 10 a.m.

The former D.C. schools chancellor, whose service to Scott and to Florida is unpaid, will announce on a pre-taped "Oprah" segment Monday that she will take her "brassy education-reform ideas" national by starting an advocacy group. According to Politico, the group will draw on the natural grass-roots power of teachers, parents and pupils.