Wonkette

Or maybe since the invention of Viagra. Anyhoo, yesterday a flash mob of old people descended upon the Arlington home of poor Michael Leavitt: MORE »

* House narrowly approves ethics legislation that increases disclosure requirements for dealings with lobbyists; earmarks now must be publicly sponsored. Most Democrats and 20 Republicans vote nay and the new rules must be reconciled with Senate proposal. [WP, NYT, USAT, WSJ]
* Senators pile on earmarks to emergency spending bill in spite of renewed veto threat from Bush. [WP, NYT]
* Some lawmakers are rethinking their resistance to raising fuel economy standards. [WP]
* “Day of reckoning” for tax cuts will probably be January 1, 2011. [WP, WSJ]
* Administration releases plan for flu outbreak; funding is not established. [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Businessman pleads guilty to bribing Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) with $400,000; Jefferson’s “legal problems are steadily mounting and have undercut his party’s efforts to portray the Republicans as the party of political corruption.” [WP, NYT]
* Callers to Medicare hotline are frequently provided wrong or incomplete information, independent study finds. [WP]
* Valerie Plame is shopping a book deal. [NYT]

* Hundreds of thousands rally across the country to influence Congressional action on immigration. [NYT]
* Approval of Bush dips to another new low: 34% in USAT/Gallup poll. [USAT]
* Republicans drop plan to offer $100 compensation for gas prices. [WSJ, NYT]
* FBI sought information on thousands of Americans last year without court approval. [WP]
* Social Security and Medicare are “unsustainable in their current form,” according to the administration. Bush: “The systems are going broke.” [NYT]
* Ten states are suing the administration to raise mileage on SUVs and trucks. [NYT]
* Secret Service will release notations of White House visits by Abramoff. [WP]
* Lawmakers’ pet projects used against them by opponents calling for fiscal responsibility and reform. [NYT]
* Giuliani, in Iowa, openly contemplates a national run: “I’ve got a lot of places to go and a lot of people to talk to and a long process of figuring out whether it makes sense to run for president in 2008… As part of it, saying to myself, does it look like I have a chance in 2008? And make that decision after the 2006 election.” [NYT]

* Administration commits an additional $2.5 billion to New Orleans levees in an effort to bring “certainty to some uncertain issues.” [WP]
* Democrats are unlikely to win back the House unless there is “a massive anti-incumbent wave this fall,” experts say. [WP]
* Administration is cornered by Iran even as experts suggest the country is years away from having nuclear capacities. [WP, NYT]
* McClellan says Bush was repeating wrong information about Iraq’s WMD programs; he was not intentionally misleading the public. [WP]
* Democrat Francine Busby wins California primary but will incur a runoff. [NYT]
* Patrick Fitzgerald rephrases allegations about authorization that Libby received. [NYT, WSJ]
* Former commander of forces in Iraq calls for Rumsfeld to resign, saying, “We need a fresh start.” [WP]
* Documents show “AT&T had an agreement with the federal government to systematically gather information flowing on the Internet through the company’s network.” [NYT]
* Republicans vow not to make illegal immigration a felony. [USAT]
* Bush continues to stump for Medicare plan. [USAT]
* Bill Clinton: “We should still have a preference for peace over war, a preference for cooperation over unilateralism, a preference for investing more to build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists.” [WP]

* In May 2003, Bush publicly hailed evidence of Iraq’s WMD programs even though intelligence officials “possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.” [WP]
* House Republicans worry harsh immigration legislation will backfire. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.): “There was political calculation that they could make this the wedge issue of 2006 and 2008, but it’s not playing out that way. This has galvanized and energized the Latino community like no other issue I have seen in two decades, and that’s going to have electoral consequences.” [WP]
* Administration may hope to scare Iran with talk of military action. Professor: “I don’t get a sense that people in the administration are champing at the bit to launch another war in the Persian Gulf.” [NYT]
* Lawmakers complain National Intelligence Office is ineffective. [USAT]
* Sen. Kennedy splits from fellow Democrats on immigration; seeks bipartisan compromise. [NYT]
* Bush, promoting Medicare drug program, tells retired dairy farmer, “You got big hands.” [NYT]
* Democrat Francine Busby expected to win Rep. Randy Cunningham’s California House seat. [WP]
* Sen. Clinton develops mutually beneficial relationship with one of her largest corporate contributors. [NYT]

* Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) announces he will resign “within months.” DeLay: “I’m very much at peace with it… I’m a realist. I’ve been around awhile. I can evaluate political situations.” [Time, Time]
* DeLay’s decision came as the findings of federal prosecutors have pushed “an already difficult reelection bid all but out of reach.” Says his lawyer, “It was personal and political.” [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, USAT, WSJ, WT]
* Swing Republicans in the Senate hash out compromise on immigration; proposal would restrict new illegal immigrants but offer citizenship to those who have been here for over five years. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.): “What we’re looking for is a middle ground, something that will appeal to a broader base.” [WP, LAT]
* Senators add billions of dollars in pet projects to Katrina relief bill. [WSJ]
* Capitol Police seek warrant for the arrest of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.). McKinney: “If security of the House of Representatives is based on how members of Congress wear their hair… that is ridiculous… my face hasn’t changed.” [WP, NYT]

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* Ben Bradlee says Richard Armitage probably revealed Valerie Plame’s identity to Bob Woodward. [NYT]
* Sen. Feingold’s call for a censure of Bush has caused a “fierce debate on Capitol Hill that is likely to persist throughout the congressional campaign season.” [WP]
* Fellow Democratic senators refuse to comment on censure resolution; Sens. Clinton and Kerry deflect inquires. [WP]
* Rumsfeld suggests that troop levels in Iraq could temporarily increase to coincide with religious pilgrimage. [NYT]
* Senate Judiciary Committee takes testimony from executives of top oil corporations, this time under oath. [WP, NYT, W$J]
* Bush, on brief tour to tout Medicare, says drug plan is “a good deal” and “makes a lot of sense.” [WP, NYT]
* FBI photographed Pittsburgh antiwar group in 2002. [WP]
* House Republicans support temporary restrictions on lobbying. [NYT]
* Senate Republicans reject new budget rule that would have made fiscal changes harder to pass. [NYT]

* Top White House staffers are “physically and emotionally exhausted, battered by scandal and drained by political setbacks,” say “insiders.” [WP]
* Bush has come to embrace globalization and interconnectedness. Close aide: “We’re seeing it in everything. Iraq. The ferocity of an irrational argument over the ports. Guest workers. China and India.” [NYT]
* Sen. Feingold (D-Wis.) calls for censure of Bush: “The president has broken the law, and, in some way, he must be held accountable.” [NYT, LAT]
* Most Republican presidential contenders agree that federal spending should be reduced and an optimistic tone should be presented. [NYT, USAT, LAT]
* Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf insisted that Bush stay the night, and he obeyed despite security concerns. [NYT]
* Texas pharmacists complain to Karl Rove about the shortcomings of the new Medicare plan. [NYT]

* Only 1.4m of the 8m low-income Americans eligible for special Medicare benefits have made shift to new plan; “the government is on track to spend about $250 for each person it enrolls.” [WP]
* Bush presses for energy innovation: “We have a chance to transform the way we power our economy, and the way we lead our lives.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
* Some State Department officials complain that a recent reorganization was politically motivated and “reduced the influence of employees who were viewed by some political appointees as disloyal to the administration’s policies.” [WP]
* Sen. Specter (R-Pa.) hopes to propose limits on NSA eavesdropping within the next few weeks. [WT]

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