Fresh off of giving the Tea Party’s response to Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., may be planning for bigger things — like the presidency.

While the Tea Party senator has expressed interest in making a presidential bid, don’t start making Paul yard signs just yet. In an interview with Fox News Sunday today, he said that his decision on whether or not to run would not be made until 2014.

In the meantime, the senator has said his focus will be on making the Republican party a national party again, and increasing its growth. Read 

Treasury Secretary nominee and current White House chief of staff Jack Lew faced scrutiny today from Republican senators over past investment in a Cayman Islands-based fund.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee brought up an investment listed on 2009 financial disclosure paperwork by Lew. In it, Lew disclosed an investment in CVCI Growth Partnership, an employee investment fund. Other Citigroup (NYSE:C) employees — Lew’s employer at the time of the investment — had also paid into the fund.

Lew said that he was initially unaware that the fund was located in the Cayman Islands — all he knew was that it was an international fund. He invested $56,000 and sold his investment for $54,418 when he became the director of the Office of Management and Budget in 2010. Read 

The Florida legislature is considering a bill that would mandate the state maintain Daylight Savings Time year-round.

State Senator Darren Soto (D-FL14) has filed a bill that would make the time change permanent, reports Bay News 9. Soto — who represents areas of Orange, Osceola and Polk counties — put together the “Sunshine Protection Act” in a move to guard the Florida economy.

Soto believes that having more evening daylight will be a boost to the state’s tourism-based industry. By providing more sunlight for visitors and residents after work, Soto believes they’ll spend more money on things like golf, trips to the beach and the area’s other attractions. Read 

Tomorrow night, President Barack Obama will give the first State of the Union address during his second term in office. This time around, current events will have an outsized impact on the issues he discusses during the speech, commonly used by presidents as a way to promote their agenda for the coming year.

So what should we be looking for in Obama’s speech tomorrow? Gun control

With the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting still fresh in most Americans’ minds, President Barack Obama has already started working on gun control. He issued 23 executive orders in January aimed at tackling the issue from various angles, including strengthening background checks, exploring the causes of gun violence, and appointing a head for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Read 

With pressure mounting on the Obama administration regarding its drone policy — in particular, its policy on targeted killings with drones — the president and his supporters have been trying to fight back against criticism.

Yesterday, President Barack Obama released to the Senate and House intelligence committees the Justice Department memos that authorized the killing of U.S. citizen Anwar Awlaki in Yemen in 2011. Awlaki worked with Al Qaeda as a recruiter and spokesman, and was previously from New Mexico.

What prompted the release was complaints by senators prepping for Central Intelligence Agency director nominee John Brennan’s confirmation hearing in the Senate today. For months, they had been demanding information on the Awlaki killing, as well as information on other aspects of the drone strike program spearheaded by the CIA. Read 

Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has joined the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as a senior fellow.

Geithner served as a senior fellow at the CFR more than a decade ago prior to joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He was later president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before being tapped to head Treasury by President Obama in 2009, the Los Angeles Times notes.

During his time at Treasury, Geithner oversaw hundreds of billions of dollars in federal bailouts to Wall Street banks. Read