The House next week is expected to take up at least three bills when it returns next week, including H.R. 658, which would reauthorize Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs through 2014.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee marked up the bill on March 10, and Republicans will accept amendments to the bill that are introduced by March 29. The committee has also approved a bill to authorize FAA spending through May 31, but as of Wednesday that bill was not scheduled for consideration in the last week of March.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said conservatives know the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy is gone for good. 

Frank pointed to last month's House debate over a continuing resolution funding the government, noting that no Tea Party-backed Republicans offered an amendment to reinstate the policy that banned openly gay service members. 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have agreed to meet with Democrats to discuss the prospects for legislation that would extend unemployment benefits an additional 14 weeks.

The bill, H.R. 589, was sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and has 74 co-sponsors. Boehner and Cantor will meet in the coming weeks with Lee and Rep. Robert "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.).

Republicans on Wednesday indicated that they could be willing to allow consideration of the bill as long as Democrats can agree to spending cuts to offset the cost of the additional benefits. The estimated cost of the bill is about $16 billion.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) said there are some moments in history that demand action from "the forces of good."

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday he fears the military effort in Libya might not be enough to help beat back Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces.

"I'm afraid it may well be too little too late, in which we get the worst of all worlds: We intervened, but to no good effect," Kyl said in a television interview with KGUN 9 in Tucson, Ariz. "I hope and pray that it's better. There are ways that we could resurrect the situation, but it would involve more activity on the part of the United States than I think would have been required initially."

Kyl agreed with other Republicans that if the U.S. had intervened two weeks ago, U.S. troops would have been more helpful after rebels had taken control of most of the country.

"Now we are left with a situation where there is some kind of a stand off," Kyl said, adding that Gadhafi is a "very brutal guy" who may seek to punish his opponents. "I think we can count on continued attacks by his forces against civilians across the country," he said.

Elizabeth Warren, a potential nominee to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), dodged questions on Tuesday about whether she would accept a recess appointment to the post, which would avoid the need for Senate confirmation.

"There's a process in place that the president is using to try to figure out what to do to head the new consumer agency, and we've done what we can to contribute to that," Warren said in a CNBC interview in which she was asked about a recess appointment. "Beyond that, that's in his lane. I spend 14 hours a day trying to get the pieces of this new consumer agency put together."

When pressed on whether she wanted the job, Warren replied, "The job I want is the job I'm doing right now, and that is putting this consumer agency together."

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) says the U.S. lacked the constitutional authority to attack Libya without the approval of Congress.

"I don't think we have the constitutional authority," said Paul told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Monday night. "We just flat out don't have the authority to go around the world pretending we can take care of everybody and police the world.”

A bipartisan group of four House members have reintroduced legislation to legalize online gambling and say passage of the bill would provide a much-needed revenue stream for the federal government and might also boost job creation.

"Clearly, Americans want to gamble on the Internet, and policymakers need to provide both the freedom to do so, as well as ensure that appropriate consumer protections are in place," Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) said this week. "Regulating online gaming and making certain that these sites are operating legally in America will also create economic growth through generated tax revenue and the possibility of attracting foreign players to U.S. sites."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the recession remains ongoing and the spending cuts proposed by House Republicans are "devastating."

The senator told a Vermont paper he doesn't believe the recession has ended.