Wilson attended a reception for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who heads the Senate committee that oversees Medicare spending. Wilson's group is working to increase Medicare reimbursements to physicians.

Despite talk of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans found plenty to bicker about on the opening day. House Republicans criticized a new set of rules they say will make it harder for them to offer alternatives to Democratic legislation. The measure passed largely along party lines.

"At this time of economic anxiety, the American people deserve open debate and transparency in their Congress," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Senate leaders also continued to argue over who won the Senate race in Minnesota, where a recount has been under way since shortly after the election. State election officials say Democrat Al Franken has 225 more votes out of more than 2.9 million cast but his Republican opponent, Sen. Norm Coleman, filed a lawsuit to challenge the results.

"I really think it's important for a six-year term to make sure that we get this right," Coleman said Tuesday. "Whoever wins this race needs to have the ... trust of the people that votes were counted fairly."

Burris denied Senate seat, but opposition is cracking

Roland Burris failed to capture Barack Obama's Senate seat Tuesday in a wild piece of political theater, but the Democrats' opposition cracked when a key chairwoman said seating him was simply the legal thing to do. Democratic leaders, set to meet with Burris on Wednesday, were searching for a way to defuse the dispute before it further overshadows the 111th Congress. Knowledgeable Senate officials of both parties widely predicted that the saga would end with Burris being seated. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, said embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the power, under law, to make the appointment. Burris marched into the Capitol earlier Tuesday, declaring himself the junior senator from the state of Illinois. But Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson rejected his certification, saying it lacked Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White's signature and the state seal.