Approached by reporters Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the name of embattled golfer Tiger Woods.

Washington (CNN) – Wait a minute: Don't ask me, ask Tiger!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, invoked the embattled golfer's name Thursday afternoon in an effort to sidestep questions when a group of reporters approached ready to pepper him about the latest developments regarding Afghanistan and health care reform.

"Get the answers from Tiger Woods," Reid, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, said even before reporters could ask him a question.

When an aide warned Reid that his quip would "end up on the CNN Web site," the smiling majority leader repeated his previous directive.

"Ask Tiger, not me," Reid said as he walked away from the closed-door briefing he had just received on Afghanistan.

During an interview Thursday night with CNN's Larry King Live, Romney, who in his four years as governor says he did not pardon or commute a single sentence, empathized with his former political rival in the last battle for the Republican presidential nomination, saying the focus is on the tragedy that struck the lives of Washington state residents.

Huckabee has come under fire because, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he signed a clemency order for Maurice Clemmons. That made Clemmons, who at the time was serving a 108 year prison sentence, eligible for parole, which was granted. Clemmons, 37, was fatally shot Tuesday by police in Seattle, Washington, after a two-day manhunt that began after he allegedly killed four officers at a coffee shop in Lakewood, Washington.

"You have three families that lost their father, one family that lost their mother, and this is just tragic," Romney said. "I think [Huckabee] indicated that had he got the chance to do it again based on what he knows now, of course he wouldn't have made that decision and I believe that's true."

As Governor, Romney said he put strict pardoning guidelines in place to avoid letting personal impressions fog his judgment.

"My conclusion was if somebody has been convicted by a jury of their peers and they have been prosecuted and the police were able to get the evidence necessary to put them behind bars, why in the world would I step in and reverse that sentence," He said.

Both Romney and Huckabee are considered possible contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Washington (CNN)– The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 10 percent in November, the Labor Department reported Friday.

The jobless level stood at 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate in more than a quarter century. The Labor Department also reports that employers cut 11,000 jobs last month, compared to an average of 135,000 jobs lost in the previous three months.

The release of the unemployment report comes as President Barack Obama travels to Allentown, Pennsylvania to begin what the administration calls a "White House to Main Street" tour on jobs. Thursday the president held a jobs forum at the White House.

CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

Washington Post: Gates: 'No deadlines' on troop withdrawal
The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, scheduled to begin in July 2011, will "probably" take two or three years, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday, although he added that "there are no deadlines in terms of when our troops will all be out."

Los Angeles Times: Obama homed in on an Afghanistan pullout date
It started out as a projection from the military, intended only for the ears of the president and his top advisors. But in a war council meeting at the White House less than a month ago, Obama proposed making it public.

Foreign Policy: Is there a new Pakistan policy or not?
In his landmark strategy speech Tuesday, President Obama stressed the importance of Pakistan to the success of the fight against terrorism and extremism in South Asia, but he didn't offer many details. One reason could be that there are no new concrete deliverables or changes in approach related to Pakistan to announce, and all of the ideas Obama has for advancing the relationship are waiting for Pakistani buy-in.

New York Times: C.I.A. Authorized to Expand Use of Drones in Pakistan
The White House has authorized an expansion of the C.I.A.’s drone program in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, officials said this week… American officials are talking with Pakistan about the possibility of striking in Baluchistan for the first time — a controversial move since it is outside the tribal areas — because that is where Afghan Taliban leaders are believed to hide.

Washington Post: Reid's recipe for getting health-care deal done
Of the Democratic senators who have set out to transform the nation's health-care system, one of the least likely is Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, whose legislative priorities typically fall more toward protecting the interests of his native Nevada.

CNN: Senate OKs health care amendment on mammogram access
The chamber approved a Democratic-sponsored amendment to provide women with low-cost mammograms and other preventative tests, while rejecting a GOP proposal to prevent government boards from influencing coverage of screening tests for women.

CNN: White House aide avoids testifying on security breach
The White House is being accused stonewalling as Congress investigates the party-crasher security breach at President Obama's first state dinner last week.

Politico: No subpoena for Desiree Rogers
Three Secret Service officers who let a gate-crashing couple through a checkpoint at last week’s White House state dinner have been placed on administrative leave — and could face unspecified disciplinary actions, the agency’s director said. The House Homeland Security Committee is also preparing to issue a subpoena to Tareq and Michaele Salahi, though the panel shot down a Republican attempt to subpoena White House social secretary Desiree Rogers.

Houston Chronicle: White, Perry lock down governor bids
Mayor Bill White will formally enter the race for governor today, instantly becoming the Democrats' best hope of winning a statewide office in seven years.

USA Today: Georgia House speaker quits amid lobbying scandal
Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson, once seen as a strong Republican candidate for governor, is resigning his seat, three days after his ex- wife accused him on television of having an affair with a lobbyist pushing legislation he co-sponsored.

Washington Times: Gore cancels climate conference event
Former Vice President Al Gore on Thursday abruptly canceled a Dec. 16 personal appearance that was to be staged during the United Nations' Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which begins next week.

NATIONAL
For the latest national news: www.CNN.com

New Hampshire Concord Monitor: Firms were Ponzi fronts, lawyer says
Two Lakes Region investment companies that closed abruptly last month were fronts for a massive Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors as much as $100 million, a lawyer for the trustee overseeing the companies' bankruptcy told a federal judge yesterday.

Boston Globe: Cold cash gains new warmth as holiday gift in hard times
In many households, something with a little less flash will be under the Christmas tree: cash, certificates of deposit, and college savings accounts. More than 44 percent of consumers say they are planning to give the gift of green this holiday season because of the economy, compared with 41.9 percent in 2008, according to a Western Union survey.

Los Angeles Times: San Diego-area agents seize thousands of fake toys
Thousands of counterfeit toys were seized in recent weeks by federal agents at ports of entry in the San Diego area, authorities said today. The fake toys, valued at more than $1.6 million, were shipped in commercial containers that entered at border checkpoints and at the Port of San Diego, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

INTERNATIONAL
For the latest international news: http://edition.cnn.com

Der Spiegel: NATO Promises Troops, Some Members Stall
NATO has promised to send at least 5,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan. The question is: Where will they come from? Some nations, including Germany, say they will not make any decisions until next year, while other nations are saying that their soldiers can go - but not fight.

BBC News: Bin Laden 'seen in Afghanistan'
A Taliban detainee in Pakistan claims to have information about Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts in January or February of this year. His claims cannot be verified but a leading American expert says his account should be investigated.

The Guardian: Vladimir Putin hints at return to presidency
Vladimir Putin has given his clearest hint yet that he is preparing to get back his old job as president during a masterful performance at his annual question and answer session with the Russian public.

BBC News: UN body probes climate e-mail row
The United Nations panel on climate change is to probe claims UK scientists manipulated global warming data to boost the argument that it is man-made.

BUSINESS
For the latest business news: www.CNNMoney.com

Bloomberg: Bank of America’s $19.3 Billion Is Biggest U.S. Sale Since 2000
Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. lender, raised $19.3 billion selling securities at $15 apiece in the biggest sale of stock or preferred shares by a U.S. public company since at least 2000.

CNN: Bernanke faces fire at confirmation hearing
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke got a rough going over from both his supporters and detractors at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.

Bloomberg: Bernanke May Get Second Term at Fed Shorn of Bank Supervision
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke left a Senate confirmation hearing with support for a second term heading a central bank that may be shorn of its powers to supervise financial firms.

Wall Street Journal: Dubai: A High Rise, Then a Steep Fall
As financial crisis roiled much of the world in October 2008, the head of Dubai's biggest state-owned developer unveiled his latest megaproject: a $38 billion development that would include a tower nearly two-thirds of a mile tall.

CNNMoney: Obama to business: We need jobs
President Obama called on business leaders Thursday to help the administration kickstart hiring as policymakers contend with rising unemployment that's weighing down the economy.

Christian Science Monitor: Six ideas Obama heard at the White House job summit
President Obama heard ideas ranging from tax credits to infrastructure spending at his White House jobs summit. Some combination is likely to emerge, but federal resources are limited.

USA Today: Could Comcast deal change TV as we know it?
Comcast's deal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal has kicked off a vigorous debate: Will it change news and entertainment for the better? Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says his company will "enhance consumer choice and accelerate the development of new digital products."

Wall Street Journal: Hearst Plans Digital Magazine, Newspaper Service
Publisher Hearst Corp. plans to launch next year a service called Skiff to sell digital versions of newspapers and magazines on electronic readers and other devices, in a system it believes will be more visually appealing to readers and more lucrative for media companies.

In Case You Missed It

Leaderless agency: TSA
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/12/03/meserve.tsa.leader.cnn

U.S. avoiding past mistakes?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2009/12/03/dougherty.charlie.wilson.redux.cnn

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Approached by reporters Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the name of embattled golfer Tiger Woods.

Washington (CNN) – Wait a minute: Don't ask me, ask Tiger!

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, invoked the embattled golfer's name Thursday afternoon in an effort to sidestep questions when a group of reporters approached ready to pepper him about the latest developments regarding Afghanistan and health care reform.

"Get the answers from Tiger Woods," Reid, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, said even before reporters could ask him a question.

When an aide warned Reid that his quip would "end up on the CNN Web site," the smiling majority leader repeated his previous directive.

"Ask Tiger, not me," Reid said as he walked away from the closed-door briefing he had just received on Afghanistan.

A group that opposes illegal immigration announced Thursday that it no longer supports former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs.

(CNN) – A political organization that opposes illegal immigration announced Thursday that it will no longer support commentator and former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs.

After being a vocal critic of proposals for federal amnesty for illegal immigrants, Dobbs appeared to soften his stance late last month in an interview with Telemundo, a Spanish-language television network.

Dobbs told Telemundo he is one of the Latino community's "greatest friends."

"What isn't working is a penalty to those who are in this country illegally for whom we can both be building a bridge to the future in which there is legalization and at the same time constructing an environment in which everyone is clear and unequivocal about the need for boarder security and a regulated flow of immigration," Dobbs also said in the interview.

At the time, Dobbs maintained that his position on immigration has not changed despite what appears to be a more moderate stance.

But the political action committee that has supported Dobbs disagreed, announcing on its Web site Thursday that it now opposes him.

"Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is withdrawing support for Lou Dobbs after years, including the suspension of websites calling on Dobbs to run for President due to the perceived change in Mr. Dobbs's stances on immigration issues," the organization wrote.

"His recent comments on Telemundo and his national radio show supporting some kind of path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is inconsistent with positions of ALIPAC and the views of most American citizens," William Gheen, a representative of AILPAC also said in the written statement.

In a separate telephone interview with CNN, Gheen said that the group continues to respect Dobbs for helping to highlight the issue of illegal immigration.

But, Gheen added that Dobbs' recent remarks have "just blown everyone's minds" and that the group found itself at an "unexpected impasse" with Dobbs at this point.

"We feel like: Who are you and what have you done with Lou Dobbs?" Gheen explained.

Dobbs, who parted with CNN in mid-November, has since suggested that he might run for president or challenge New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez in 2012.

–CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney contributed to this report.

Citing 'separation of powers,' the White House said Obama social secretary Desiree Rogers would not be testifying at Thursday's congressional hearing.

Washington (CNN) - The White House is being accused stonewalling as Congress investigates the party-crasher security breach at President Obama's first state dinner last week.

At issue: Whether the White House is protecting Social Secretary Desiree Rogers from testifying about how Tareq and Michaele Salahi were able to crash the first White House state dinner. The couple did not have an invite but were allowed in.

Rogers' office planned the dinner.

Members of Congress put pressure on Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan Friday for the grate crashing fiasco. Sullivan said his agency will take the heat for the incident.

"This is our fault and our fault alone," he said. "There's no other people to blame here. ... Look at me and blame me," he told the House Homeland Security Committee.

Lawmakers praised his candor, but bluntly declared that Rogers should be facing tough questions too.

Full story

Related: White House 'stonewalling' on security breach, Republican says

Sanford's legal team scored a victory on Thursday.

(CNN) – A special House panel considering an impeachment measure against South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford decided Thursday that their review will not include most of the state ethics charges filed against the governor last month.

South Carolina state lawmakers voted to throw out 28 of the 37 civil charges filed by the state Ethics Commission, most of which involved Sanford's purchase of business class tickets with taxpayer money and his use of campaign funds.

State House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, who is overseeing the special impeachment panel, said the ethics charges do not rise "to the level of serious misconduct or a serious offense" that would merit removing Sanford from office.

Harrison's subcommittee is still evaluating Sanford's use of state-owned aircraft along with the original impeachment resolution, which focuses on whether Sanford broke the law by secretly leaving the state in June to visit his mistress.

One of Sanford's attorneys, Ross Garber, applauded the decision.

"It is appropriate that the committee dismissed the bulk of the allegations against the Governor," Garber said in a statement released by the governor's office. "These allegations clearly did not rise to the level of serious crimes and serious misconduct in office required to justify impeachment of a governor for the first time in the history of South Carolina."

Harrison said the panel will meet again next Monday to decide whether to send an impeachment resolution on to the full Judiciary committee.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, a Republican who is running to succeed Sanford next year, is still evaluating the Ethics Commission report to decide whether the state will pursue criminal charges.

UPDATE: Sanford's personal attorney Butch Bowers said he is "pleased" with the vote.

"This decision confirms that Governor Sanford has followed the letter and spirit of the law," Bowers said in a statement. "We look forward to resolving this matter quickly and showing, as the Committee's actions today demonstrate, that this administration has been a consistent ally of the taxpayer."

Washington (CNN) - Just about every blockbuster movie is followed by a sequel, or two. The tea party cross country caravan, it appears, is no different.

A Tea Party Express official tells CNN that they're planning a third national tour in late March and early April that will culminate in the nation's capitol on April 15, tax deadline day.

Levi Russell, a spokesman for the group, which is organized by the conservative political action committee Our Country Deserves Better, says the slogan for the tour is "just vote them out."

Russell says that with the crucial 2010 midterm elections just months away, the tour will spotlight members of Congress who they consider the worst offenders when it comes to fiscal policy. While both Republicans and Democratic lawmakers will be targeted, Russell acknowledges that more Democrats than Republicans will be on their scopes.

Russell tells CNN that tour is expected to kick off on March 27 in Searchlight, Nevada, which is the hometown of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He adds that the three Republican candidates running to challenge Reid in next year's election are planning to attend the rally.

Just as the first tea party cross country caravan ended in the nation's capital, as part of a taxpayers march on Washington on September 12, this national tour is also scheduled to conclude in D.C. as well. The conservative group FreedomWorks organized the first march on Washington and will reprise their role for the April 15 event.

The first march ended with a large rally in front of the U.S. Capitol. This time organizers plan to hold their rally near the White House.

"September 12, 2009 was a historic day for patriotic, grassroots Americans who care about freedom," says Brendan Steinhauser (no relation to the writer of this article), director of federal and state campaigns for FreedomWorks. "The momentum has continued, and we expect hundreds of tax day protests on April 15, 2010 around the country. But the biggest event of all will be right outside the White House, where President Obama can hear and see us."

A second tea party cross country tour in late October and early November experienced a drop off in the number of people participating and in coverage by the media. But Russell says that drop off was expected and feels the third tour will be the best one yet, saying that "we'll be well into the 2010 election cycle and the campaigns will be heating up."

As with the first two cross country caravans, next year's tour is expected to highlight the message by organizers and activists that the federal government is too large and too intrusive into the lives of private citizens, federal taxes are too high and that the federal budget deficit is out of control.

Last month, a separate group announced that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the main attraction at what's being billed as the "First National Tea Party Convention."

Tea Party Nation says that last year's Republican vice presidential candidate will serve as a keynote speaker for the conference, scheduled to take place in Nashville, Tennessee from February 4-6. The group also announced that Rep. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the gathering as well. The Minnesota Republican has become a hero among many in the conservative movement.

Tea Party Nation is not part of the planned national tour in March and April and Tea Party Express is not taking part in the tea party convention.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

–CNN All Platform Journalist Jim Spellman contributed to this report.

Republican Tom Foley said Thursday that he decided to run for Connecticut governor after the state's incumbent governor Jodi Rell, pictured, announced she would not seek re-election.

(CNN) – Connecticut Republican Tom Foley announced Thursday that he is dropping bid for the GOP's 2010 Senate nomination in his state. Instead, Foley also announced, he has decided to run governor of Connecticut.

In explaining the switch, the business executive and former ambassador to Ireland said in a statement on his campaign Web site that advisers had initially suggested he run for governor.

"At the time, though, Governor Rell, whom I respect very much, was preparing to run for re-election," Foley said.

But things changed when Gov. Jodi Rell, Connecticut's Republican executive, announced that she would not seek re-election next year.

"Many of the same people who a year ago said the Governorship is where I could best serve Connecticut, have called to re-iterate that to me," Foley said on his Web site Thursday.

After also receiving many e-mails and speaking with "more than one hundred people – including many who are currently serving in [Connecticut] state government," Foley said he decided to switch races.

Foley added that he will be "assembling a policy team . . . to evaluate options and make recommendations for solving the problems we face."

The Connecticut Democratic Party immediately took aim at Foley after his announcement.

"Over the next few months, assuming Tom Foley doesn't drop out of this race, too, we look forward to hearing what he believes he has to offer the people of this state on any number of issues they find themselves facing," Colleen Flanagan, the state party's Communications Director, said in a statement.

The Tennessee Republican said his 22-year-old daughter, Julia, stopped the family's 2005 Chevy Tahoe not far from their apartment - just nine blocks from the U.S. Capitol building - to help someone she thought needed directions.

"A gentleman appeared, opened the door, grabbed her by the neck," the senator said. "She kicked to try to get away ... and he threw her on the pavement and drove away."

Corker credited the vehicle's OnStar system with helping to locate it, and the suspects were taken into custody a short time later in a parking lot in Seat Pleasant, Maryland.

"It's pretty incredible how quickly they were able to apprehend" the suspects, the senator said. The two people in the car were taken into custody by police in Seat Pleasant after OnStar determined their exact location and showed that the vehicle was not moving, Corker explained.

The Seat Pleasant authorities were notified by OnStar that the stolen car was in their jurisdiction, and were provided the description and tag number of the vehicle, Seat Pleasant Police Sgt. Leroy Patterson told CNN.

"The officers just searched and they saw a vehicle matching that description," Patterson said, adding that the two suspects were taken to a Maryland station to be interviewed by Metropolitan Police detectives. The Metropolitan department "will handle the actual charges, because the incident happened in Washington, D.C.," Patterson explained.

The senator praised the work of the Metropolitan Police the U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI and the Seat Pleasant Police.

He also admitted that he often thought about canceling the OnStar service subscription.

"I was telling the lady who handles that for me in Chattanooga, each month I was saying, 'I don't want to pay this, I don't want to pay this,'" Corker said, adding that it was a nominal fee.

But he kept the service, "thinking that maybe OnStar would be of some help" someday, Corker said.
"Certainly it paid off tremendously last night," he said.

Updated: 5:10 p.m.

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestonCNN

–CNN's Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

Washington (CNN) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, scrapped plans late Thursday to turn the Senate's attention to an amendment that would ban federal funds from being used for abortions after the author told Reid he was not yet finished crafting it.

The decision to delay action on the controversial amendment from Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, came after Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who is co-sponsoring the amendment, complained that Reid was rushing debate on it.

"He (Nelson) is being pushed very hard by his side to bring it up before it's ready to be brought up," Hatch said. "To do really good legislation around here, you need to make sure people who agree with you are on board and the outside groups feel good about it. There's a lot of work I need to do and he needs to do."

Nelson said he did not feel rushed by Reid and blamed the delay on the complexities of writing the highly technical abortion language.

A Reid aide said the majority leader has not decided which amendments will be debated next on the Senate floor in place of the Nelson amendment.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, said Reid told him his amendment to permit the re-importation of prescription drugs, as a way to drive down the cost of medicines, could be considered as early as Friday or sometime this weekend.

Reid said Thursday he is planning to hold floor votes over the weekend.

McCain had some harsh words for the AARP.

Washington (CNN) – The John McCain of 2009 is singing a different tune than the John McCain of 2008.

On Thursday, the Arizona senator hammered the AARP on the Senate floor and on his Twitter account for supporting a proposal by Senate Democrats to cut millions from Medicare to help pay for health care legislation.

"I call on seniors to cut up their AARP cards and send them back to them!" McCain tweeted Thursday afternoon.

Endorsing Democrats in the health care fight seems to have changed McCain's thinking on the AARP, the nation's most influential senior lobby. During his 2008 presidential bid, the Republican nominee praised the group's leadership in some key policy battles.

"I say God bless AARP for everything they are doing, not only for the present generations of Americans, but for future generations," McCain told an AARP audience in September of last year. "That's your duty, that's your strength, and that's why I love to see you at every town hall meeting. And that's why I always try to let you talk."

McCain thanked the group for working with him on what he called "the big fights," citing tobacco legislation and campaign finance reform. "This organization has been an incredibly valuable contributor to the important discourses I just mentioned, and it's been there for decades, for decades," he said at the time.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, said his objection to AARP is based on what the group is doing now, not what they did in the past.

The AARP jab marks the second reversal this week for McCain. After the senator proposed an amendment Monday to strip the health care bill of its Medicare cuts, Democrats were quick to point out that during the presidential race, McCain's campaign called for reductions in Medicare funding to pay for his health care plan.

UPDATE: John Ashbrook, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Communications Center, points out that the AARP changed course from some of their past positions on Medicare cuts.

During the Clinton administration's push to reform health care, for example, the AARP expressed concerns about cutting Medicare as a way to pay for legislation.

'If we're talking about Medicare cuts alone as a way of financing health reform, we would fight that with all our strength - we've gone as far as we can go down that road," John Rother, the AARP director of federal legislation and policy, told the Los Angeles Times in 1993.

Washington (CNN) - House Democrats said Thursday they're planning to use money intended to bail out banks, Wall Street and other financial institutions to pay for their jobs bill, a package they aim to vote on by the end of the
year.

"I think the TARP funds are appropriately used to create jobs to reduce the deficit," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at her weekly news conference, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

It's unclear if the proposal would tap unused TARP funds or money repaid to the Treasury by banks who got bailout money. Democratic sources say leaders are discussing those details with the Obama administration.

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have been looking at a series of proposals to address the record unemployment numbers in recent weeks and are now focusing on an initial package that Congress could vote on before leaving for the holiday break.

But the speaker stressed that "this is not the be-all" and said Congress will work on a broader economic proposal early next year.

The major piece of the Democrats' jobs package is a continuation of the centerpiece of the stimulus bill enacted earlier this year - investments in infrastructure such as water projects, high-speed rail programs, and retrofitting buildings with energy-efficient technologies. But, Pelosi argued, "this is not my father's public works program."

House Republican Leader John Boehner immediately rejected the idea, saying that bailout money was meant only for emergencies. "This idea that we're going to take this money that's being paid back to the government and then turn around and spend it on useless government programs is a very big mistake," he said.

Democrats also want to funnel money to pay directly for local needs that struggling state governments have been unable to support, such as more police, teachers, and emergency response personnel, according to several Democratic leadership sources.

In addition to the infrastructure spending, Democrats plan to extend unemployment assistance, pay for food stamps, and renew health care benefits for Americans whose coverage is expiring at the end of the year. But while the bailout money would be tapped to pay for the new infrastructure and jobs program components, Democrats do not plan to use it to pay for the extension of these benefits, according to these sources.

House Democrats met Thursday morning to discuss the size of a package that they could pass this year but no decisions were made. Pelosi told members she was still talking to the White House about it. But representatives agreed that if they are to vote on it this year it would need to be tacked onto the must-pass spending measure that funds the government.

"There's real urgency in our caucus to do something before Christmas," said one Democratic leadership aide.

Join the conversation on Jack's blog.

Abortion is the political hot potato that could derail health care reform entirely.

It caused major disagreements in the House – and the Senate is now wrestling with how to address the issue. Democrat Ben Nelson says he will introduce an anti-abortion amendment... and that he won't vote for the health care bill unless this language gets added.

Nelson and others aren't satisfied with Majority Leader Harry Reid's current plan – that is to forbid including abortion coverage as a required medical benefit – but to allow a new government insurance plan to cover abortions and let private insurers that get federal money offer plans that include coverage for abortion.

In the House – a group of anti-abortion Democrats added restrictions that would forbid any health plan that gets federal money from paying for abortions – except in the case of rape, incest or to save the mother's life. Also under the House bill, a new government insurance plan couldn't offer abortions – and women would have to buy separate coverage for abortion services.

To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion, click here

The director of the U.S. Secret Service said Thursday 'appropriate procedures were not followed' at the White House dinner. (Photo Credit: Getty Images/File)

Washington (CNN) – The director of the U.S. Secret Service acknowledged to a House committee Thursday that "appropriate procedures were not followed" when a Virginia couple not on the guest list entered the White House before a state dinner last week.

Mark Sullivan, testifying at a Homeland Security Committee hearing, said a preliminary investigation into the incident has been completed, and the guards involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay. He said that once the extent of culpability is determined, he would take "appropriate action."

"I regret ... that established protocols and procedure were not followed," Sullivan said, calling the breach that began at the White House entry checkpoint "unacceptable and indefensible."

The couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, contend they were told they could attend the program to honor India's prime minister, but the White House says they were not invited and were not on the official guest list for the exclusive affair - President Barack Obama's first state dinner.

At one point during Thursday's hearing, a staffer raised a poster-sized photo of Michaele Salahi posing with Vice President Joe Biden at the event.

The Salahis were asked to appear before the committee Thursday, but didn't.

"Maybe they didn't show because they were on the guest list," quipped Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Arizona.

Following Sullivan's testimony, committee chairman Bennie Thompson announced that he had asked staff to prepare subpoenas for the couple in an attempt to make them testify.

If they continue to rebuff the oversight request, they could be found in contempt of Congress, the Mississippi Democrat said.

He said the committee would discuss the subpoenas next week.

The panel also invited White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to appear, but Thompson said the White House indicated Wednesday that she wouldn't. Rogers' office planned the dinner.

Thompson said he didn't see a reason for Rogers to testify, because the hearing was focusing on security issues.

"There were undeniable planning and execution failures of the entire Secret Service apparatus," he said Thursday.

The ranking Republican on the committee, Rep. Peter King of New York, said he supports Thompson's intent to subpoena the Salahis, but he also wanted a subpoena issued for Rogers.

According to Sullivan, the Secret Service guard at the initial checkpoint should have called someone at the White House when he noticed the couple was not on the guest list. Instead, he waved them through. The guest list is prepared by the White House and vetted ahead of time by the Secret Service, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said there were three vehicle checkpoints and two pedestrian ones, and a guest list was at each, meaning the Salahis had to move through several layers of security checks.

"Were they on any of those lists?" Thompson asked.

"They were not," Sullivan replied.

Several committee members asked why someone from Rogers' office wasn't at the first checkpoint to help with oversight, as has happened with events in the past.

Sullivan said those attending a planning meeting before the dinner decided that a single guard at the entry checkpoint would be sufficient.

However, he said it was understood that if that person had a question involving the guest list, the guard would summon someone from the White House staff to settle the issue.

"Why did someone from the Secret Service decide that made sense?" asked Rep. Dan Lungren, R-California, referring to the single guard.

When Sullivan said he didn't know who participated in the planning session, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, demanded a list of everyone who attended.

King wanted to know why the person who oversaw that decision wasn't at the hearing, and he accused the Secret Service of "stonewalling."

"I think it's an affront to our committee because this was a bipartisan request, Mr. Chairman," he said.

Sullivan said he has made or is trying to make improvements at the Secret Service by improving training, retention and recruitment and adding more managerial oversight at White House events.

He said a "resolution help desk" staffed by someone in the uniform division and a senior White House staffer was being set up. The agency has something comparable now, he said, but it is a mobile unit. The new one would be stationary.

Updated: 2:57 p.m.

The vice president looked on as the president spoke about jobs Thursday.

(CNN) – President Obama called on business leaders Thursday to help the administration kickstart hiring as policymakers contend with rising unemployment that’s weighing down the economy.

Some 130 executives, economists, small business owners and non-profit officials are gathering for the afternoon jobs summit at the White House on the eve of the government's November unemployment report. The nation is expected to have lost another 114,000 jobs, with unemployment remaining at 10.2%, the highest in 26 years, according to an economists' survey.

"I'm not interested in taking a wait and see approach when it comes to creating jobs," Obama said.

The employment picture is certainly grim. Nearly 16 million Americans are out of work, one-third of whom have been unemployed for more than six months. There are now six workers competing for every job vacancy.

President Obama and some lawmakers are searching for a way to stem this unrelenting loss of jobs, which is casting doubt on effectiveness of many of his economic programs, from his $787 billion stimulus plan to his $75 billion foreclosure prevention initiative.

Just how much Washington can do to boost hiring remains to be seen.

Full story

Washington (CNN) – In its first votes on amendments to the massive health care bill, the Senate approved a Democratic amendment Thursday to provide women with low cost mammograms and other preventative tests and rejected a Republican counter amendment that sought to prevent government boards from having influence over which screening tests for women would be covered.

The amendments were prompted by the recent uproar over a controversial recommendation by a government task force that some women should not receive annual mammograms to detect breast cancer. Democrats wanted to assure women that health care reform won't lead to a rationing of such care and Republicans wanted to make the point that it will.

The votes came on the fourth day of debate on health care reform,, which has been dominated by partisan rhetoric and gridlock. A second series of votes is planned Thursday afternoon on another hot-button issue: whether almost $500 billion in cuts to Medicare in the Democratic bill will mean a reduction of care for the nation's seniors.

A motion by Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain would force the bill back into committee to be stripped of its Medicare cuts. Last year's GOP presidential nominee and other Republicans argue it's impossible to cut that much spending from the Medicare program without hurting seniors.

A counter motion by Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet states that nothing in the Democrats' bill reduces benefits for Medicare recipients. Democrats argue their bill will improve the overall U.S. health care system and therefore strengthen Medicare.

The Democratic amendment on preventative screenings was authored by Sen. Barbara Mikulski. In addition to mammograms, the Democrat from Maryland said it is expected to cover a range of women's health screenings, including those for cervical cancer, post-partum depression, heart disease and diabetes. It passed 61 to 39. Three Republicans voted for the amendment and 2 Democrats voted against it.

The Republican counter amendment was sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK. It failed 41-59. One Democrat crossed lines and voted with the Republicans.

Another amendment that could be debated later Thursday is a measure that would ban government funding for abortions, similar to the strict prohibition adopted by the House. Offered by conservative Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska, the issue divides Democrats and threatens their ability to get the 60 votes needed to pass a final bill.

In a statement released Thursday, Taliban leaders said President Obama's new military strategy will meet with failure.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) - The latest U.S. strategy for the 8-year-old war in Afghanistan will be a "fiasco" that will lead only to more dead Americans, the Taliban insurgency said Thursday.

President Barack Obama laid out plans to dispatch another 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan this week, along with an expected contribution of at least 5,000 more from NATO countries. But the Taliban, the Islamic militia now battling U.S. and allied troops there, said the plans Obama laid out aren't new and won't resolve the conflict.

"Throughout the history of Afghanistan, the Afghans have not been subjugated through deceit, ploys, material power, troop reinforcement and military might of the foreigners," Taliban leaders said in a statement released Thursday. "Therefore, the reinforcement of the American troops and other tactics will not have impact on the status quo. But the reinforcement will provide better opportunity for the mujahedeen to launch offensives."

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 pushed out the Taliban, which had allowed the al Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington to operate from its territory. The goal of the buildup Obama announced Tuesday night is to turn back the Taliban resurgence, bolster the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and allow American forces to begin withdrawing in July 2011.

But the Taliban said Obama's plan "will fail like it did previously. It will face fiasco."

Washington (CNN) - Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, who ran the Justice Department's day-to-day operations, announced Thursday he will soon resign after less than a year in the key post.

Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed the news of the unusually early departure, but gave no indication of any differences between himself and his deputy.

Holder called Ogden "an effective and diligent advocate for the American people."

"I am sorry to see him go, and I thank him for his service to the department and to the nation," Holder said.

Ogden said he would return to his Washington law firm when he steps down on February 5. He said that would provide Holder time to identify his successor and ensure a smooth transition.

"The goals I hoped to achieve when I accepted this position either have been or soon will be fulfilled," Ogden said in a prepared statement. "The Department is in good hands, and I feel I can now return to the private practice I have missed these thirteen months," he said.

Ogden held the position which Holder occupied under former Attorney General Janet Reno.

Sens. Dodd and Shelby spoke out Thursday about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke got an endorsement from Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd at the start of his confirmation hearing Thursday, even as Dodd called for a removal of some of the central banks current powers.

Dodd said Bernanke and the Fed deserved credit for the steps taken in the financial crisis of a year earlier to stop the economic crisis from becoming significantly worse than it did.

"I believe you are the right leader for this moment in the nation's economic history and it would send the right message to markets," Dodd said during his opening statement.

But the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, was far more critical of Bernanke in his opening statement, telling Bernanke "I fear now our trust and confidence (in the Federal Reserve) was misplaced." He did not say whether he would vote for or against confirmation, though.

Full story

The Republican National Committee will begin airing ads in Pennsylvania Thursday.

Washington (CNN) -- The Republican National Committee will begin running radio ads in parts of Pennsylvania Thursday, a day before President Obama heads to Allentown to make remarks on the economy.

The 60-second ads will run for two days, an RNC official tells CNN. The committee is expected to announce the radio ads soon.

"Earlier this year, President Obama and Arlen Specter passed a $787 billion stimulus package that has created more growth in government instead of creating jobs for Pennsylvanian families," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement that will accompany the news advisory announcing the buy. "Nearly 11 months after their big-government spending experiment, unemployment in Pennsylvania has only continued to rise. President Obama and Arlen Specter spent $787 billion in taxpayers' money, and have nothing to show for it. To make matters worse, they want a second stimulus. As President Obama and Washington bureaucrats roll into Allentown, they need to tell Pennsylvania families why the economy has gone from bad to worse under their watch."

The president is holding a jobs forum at the White House on Thursday, where he will meet with representatives from the business and financial industries as well as labor unions. Friday to president heads to Allentown, the first stop of what the Administration terms a "White House to Main Street" tour that will take Obama to cities and towns across the country.

See full script after the jump.

Full script:

"STIMULUS II"

MALE: Did you hear President Obama is in the Lehigh Valley…..

FEMALE: Yep. It's a Stimulus Summit.

MALE: Stimulus Summit?

FEMALE: Yep. Obama's gonna have another Stimulus Plan.

MALE: Wait a minute……

FEMALE: Uh huh?

MALE: Hold on….I'm looking it up….

FEMALE: Looking up what?

MALE: Stimulus. The definition of the word stimulus.

FEMALE: And it says?

MALE: That which stimulates. As in….

FEMALE: Stimulates the economy.

MALE: Right…..but the Obama-Pelosi stimulus plan DIDN'T stimulate the economy.

FEMALE: Nope. Unemployment has actually GONE UP twenty five percent since then.

MALE: Nearly a trillion dollars…and still we're going in the wrong direction.

FEMALE: A trillion dollars here…a trillion dollars there….

MALE: Pretty soon you're talking about real money….

FEMALE: A lot of money. But half a million people in Pennsylvania still out of work….

MALE: Half a million?

FEMALE: Yep….and yet President Obama and Arlen Specter still defend a bad idea….

MALE: Hey, if you see President Obama around town…..

FEMALE: Let's tell him one stimulus plan was too many.

Announcer: The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising. Paid for by the Republican National Committee. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee

Most Republicans backed the president's decision to send more troops.

They claimed, however, he was playing politics by setting an "arbitrary" withdrawal deadline while insisting that any transfer of responsibility to the Afghan government will ultimately be based on conditions in that country.

They also argued he had inadvertently strengthened the hand of Taliban and al Qaeda extremists by allowing them to know when a U.S. departure from the war-torn country would begin.

Several members of the Democratic caucus, on the other hand, expressed unease with the president's decision to send thousands of additional troops over the next several months. They questioned whether the war is winnable.

Obama's blueprint was closely examined during appearances before two key committees by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I disagree with the president's decision to personally relay to our enemies when they can regroup and when they can retake Afghan territory," said Florida GOP Rep. Connie Mack, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"I simply cannot understand and cannot agree with this approach." Obama's decision "emboldens our enemies (and) allows them to prepare and plan."

Announcing a firm date for starting an American withdrawal while also saying such a withdrawal depends on conditions in Afghanistan "are two incompatible statements," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona , the Senate Armed Services Committee's ranking Republican.

"You either have a winning strategy ... and then once it's succeeded then we withdraw or, as the president said, we will have a date (for) beginning withdrawal in July 2011," he said. "Which is it? It's got to be one or the other. It's got to be the appropriate conditions or it's got to be an arbitrary date. You can't have both."

Gates noted that the administration will conduct "a thorough review" of the Afghan strategy in December of 2010.

"If it appears that the strategy's not working, and that we are not going to be able to transition in 2011, then we will take a hard look at the strategy itself," he said.

"The president always has the freedom to adjust his decisions," Gates added. But he has made "a clear statement of his strong intent."

Obama's new deployment, estimated to cost $30 billion a year, will bring the total number of U.S. service members in Afghanistan to roughly 100,000.

NATO allies are expected to add at least another 5,000 troops to the more than 40,000 they have already contributed to the U.S.-led mission.

The new strategy is designed to eliminate al Qaeda in Afghanistan and help the Afghan government defeat the Taliban insurgency, while bolstering neighboring Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts.

"The success of this operation depends on will and resolve," argued GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "I just don't want the July 2011 statement to be seen by our enemy (to mean) that we have somehow locked ourselves into leaving."

Clinton replied that she does "not believe we have locked ourselves into leaving, but what we have done ... is to signal very clearly to all audiences that the United States is not interested in occupying Afghanistan."

The Afghan people, Mullen noted, ultimately have to win the war by themselves. The U.S. military buildup is "about partnering and mentoring just as much if not more than it is about fighting."

The administration is not "going to throw these guys into the swimming pool and then walk away," Gates said in reference to Afghan military and civilian authorities. But it's important to establish a timeline in part to "build a fire under them, frankly, to get them to do the kind of recruitment, retention, training and so on for their forces that allow us to make this transition."

Gates and Mullen noted that the Afghan military is slated to increase from 134,000 troops in December 2010 to 170,000 by July 2011.

They also indicated that the initial transfers of responsibility will take place in areas marked by less fighting.

The administration's "timeline is clear," Mullen argued. The flexibility "is in where we transition (and) where we turn over responsibility."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed GOP claims that the Taliban and al Qaeda could simply wait out the surge and return after the start of a U.S. withdrawal in 2011.

"I consider (it) to be a highly illogical argument (that) these people are going to recede into the woods, they're going to give up their land, they're going to give up what they control," he said.

"If that's the case, great. That would be the best outcome, because American forces would then take that real estate. ... If (the extremists) want to come back in July 2011 and start this process over again, they'll meet a far larger Afghan national security force to take them on."

Some Democrats, however, questioned the necessity of continuing the conflict.

"I'm really struggling with this," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York. "I'm trying to think this thing through."

Ackerman said he understood the need to prevent an extremist takeover of neighboring Pakistan - a nuclear power - but asked if that required an extended war in Afghanistan.

"I think the best I come up with is that we have a shack that's on fire, but it's located next to the dynamite factory," he said. "Is it worth risking the lives of those who respond to the fire in a place that may or may not hold a lot of value in and of itself?"

"We've been there eight years now and we're still talking about turning it around," said Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Massachusetts. "Is (another) 18 months going to be sufficient?"

Rep. Donald Payne, D-New Jersey, blamed a recent Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan on neglect by the Bush administration since the start of the Iraq conflict in 2003. As a result, he argued, Obama was left with no good choices in Afghanistan.

"I don't like the increase in troops. I don't think we can win a war in Afghanistan," he said. "We have to quickly transition into having the Afghans take care of themselves."

The top House Democrat on the committee that controls war spending told reporters he remains skeptical despite Obama's speech and will try to attach benchmarks to a war funding bill he expects Congress to consider next year.

"The president was very persuasive, but I'm looking for facts," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Murtha questioned if the situation in Afghanistan is a threat to U.S. national security and said: "I'm looking for how we can live with this thing. We've got plenty of problems here in the United States."

Murtha and other leading House Democrats have proposed an income tax surcharge on most Americans to finance the war in Afghanistan, but he acknowledged the proposal is unlikely to pass.

U.S.-led troops first invaded Afghanistan in response to the al Qaeda terrorist network's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. The invasion overthrew the ruling Taliban, which had allowed al Qaeda to operate from its territory, but most of the top al Qaeda and Taliban leadership escaped the onslaught.

Taliban fighters have since regrouped in the mountainous region along
Afghanistan's border with Pakistan, battling U.S. and Afghan government forces on one side and Pakistani troops on the other. Al Qaeda's top leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, are believed to be hiding in the same region.

"A stable security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, one that is sustainable over the long term by their governments, is vital to our national security," Gates stressed.

"By the same token, the current status quo in Afghanistan - the slow but steady deterioration of the security situation and growing influence of the Taliban - is unacceptable."

–CNN's Deirdre Walsh and Alan Silverleib contributed to this report

Romney lays out his plan to fix the economy in an op-ed Thursday.'

Washington (CNN) – Mitt Romney says that like other presidents, Barack Obama inherited a recession. But the former Massachusetts governor feels unlike his predecessors, Obama has made the recession he inherited worse, not better.

In an op-ed in Wednesday's USA Today, Romney says what he calls the president's inability to "stem" the rise in unemployment should not be a surpise.

"With no experience whatsoever in the world of employment and business formation, he had no compass to guide his path. Instead, he turned over much of his economic recovery agenda to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, themselves nearly as inexperienced in the private sector as he," says Romney.

The op-ed's release comes hours before the president holds a jobs forum at the White House. The nation's unemployment rate stands at 10.2 percent, the highest level in 26 years. November's job report will be released Friday.

In the article, Romney, a Republican presidential candidate in the 2008 election and a possible contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, lays out advice he terms a ten point plan to help reenergize the economy.

See Romney's "10-point plan" after the jump.

My 10-point plan

The president's economists insist that technically, the recession is over. But double-digit unemployment was neither prevented nor has it ended. To get people back to work as rapidly as possible and to restore America's economic vitality, the nation must change course. Here's the advice I would give:

• Repair the stimulus. Freeze the funds that haven't yet been spent and redirect them to immediate, private sector job-creation priorities.

• Create tax incentives that promote business expansion and hiring. For example, install a robust investment tax credit, permit businesses to expense capital purchases made in 2010, and reduce payroll taxes. These will reignite construction, technology and a wide array of capital goods industries, and lead to expanded employment.

• Prove to the global investors that finance America's debt that we are serious about reining in spending and becoming fiscally prudent by adopting limits on non-military discretionary spending and reforming our unsustainable, unfunded entitlements. These are key to strengthening the dollar, reducing the threat of rampant inflation and holding down interest rates.

• Close down any talk of carbon cap-and-trade. It will burden consumers and employers with billions in new costs. Instead, greatly expand our commitment to natural gas and nuclear, boosting jobs now and reducing the export of energy jobs and dollars later.

• Tell the unions that job-stifling "card check" legislation is off the table. Laying new burdens on small business will kill entrepreneurship and job creation.

• Don't allow a massive tax increase to go into effect in 2011 with the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The specter of more tax-fueled government spending and the reduction of capital available for small business will hinder investment and business expansion.

• New spending should be strictly limited to items that are critically needed and that we would have acquired in the future, such as new military equipment to support our troops abroad and essential infrastructure at home.

• Install dynamic regulations for the financial sector — rules that are up to date, efficient and not excessively burdensome. But do not so tie up the financial sector with red tape that we lose a vital component of our economic system.

• Open the doors to trade. Give important friends like Colombia favored trade status rather than bow to protectionist demands. Now is the time for aggressive pursuit of opportunities for new markets for American goods, not insular retrenchment.

• Stop frightening the private sector by continuing to hold GM stock, by imposing tighter and tighter controls on compensation, and by pursuing a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers. Government encroachment on free enterprise is depressing investment and job creation.

The 10% unemployment crisis hangs like an albatross around President Obama's neck. Eventually, as with every recession and recovery, the economy will improve and jobs will be created, but those who were unnecessarily unemployed due to the president's faulty economic program will not forget. In order to most rapidly re-employ all Americans and to speed a strong recovery, the president must change course. If he does not, Republicans will bring a change of their own to Washington in the 2010 elections.

UPDATE: In a statement, the Democratic National Committee scoffed at Romney's ideas and claimed that Republicans have refused to offer their own plans to fix the economy.

"Now, instead of acknowledging, as leading economists and the independent CBO have, that the President's Recovery Act rescued this country's economy from the brink of disaster and has already saved or created 1.6 million jobs, Republican leaders like Mitt Romney and Eric Cantor are now offering 'plans' that are nothing more than a laundry list of the failed Bush-era economic policies that nearly destroyed our economy in the first place," said DNC national press secretary Hari Sevugan. "Mitt Romney's allegiance to Bush economics is one policy position he'd do well to flip-flop on."

Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' sentence when he was governor of Arkansas in 2000.

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Wednesday he was aware of Maurice Clemmons' long and violent criminal history when he commuted the then-teenager's 108-year prison sentence - but he couldn't have foreseen the deadly consequence of his act.

"You're looking at this nine years later and trying to make something as if I can look in to the future," Huckabee said, before a speech at Jacksonville University.

Related video: Huckabee on clemency decision

"I wish I could have. Good Lord, I wish I had that power. I wish I could have done that. But I don't know how anyone can do it," he said.

Clemmons, 37, was fatally shot Tuesday by police in Seattle, Washington, after a two-day manhunt that began after he allegedly killed four officers at a coffee shop

Huckabee has come under fire because, as governor of Arkansas in 2000, he signed a clemency order for Clemmons. That made Clemmons eligible for parole, which was granted.

The prospective 2012 GOP presidential candidate said he was aware of the long string of crimes that had put Clemmons behind bars, but based his decision on the teenager's age: 16 at the time.

"I read a stack this thick," he said, holding his hands several inches apart. "I looked at the file. Every bit of it. And here was a case where a guy had been given 108 years. Now, if you think a 108-year sentence is an appropriate sentence for a 16-year-old for the crimes he committed, then you should run for governor of Arkansas."

Clemmons served 11 years of his sentence before he was released.

Clemmons moved from Washington to Arkansas as a youngster. There, he had several run-ins with the law, and was eventually handed the hefty prison sentence for a host of charges - including robberies, burglaries, thefts and bringing a gun to school.

During a pre-trial hearing, he hid a piece of metal in his sock, court documents show. Before the start of another hearing, he grabbed a padlock off his holding cell and threw it at a court bailiff. He missed, and the lock hit his mother who had come to bring him clothes.

"That's the one word that came to my mind that I remembered about him was that he was mean," said W.A. McCormick, who was a deputy prosecuting attorney at the time. "He was shackled in court and deputies placed behind him while he was tried - because he was such a security risk."

Clemmons continued to lash out violently behind the prison fences in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

"Over and over again," said Larry Jegley, the prosecutor who put Clemmons away.

"Failure to obey, engaging in sexual activity," he rattled off the charges as he flipped through Clemmons' prison record, "failure to obey, possession or introduction of drugs, firearms."

McCormick said he told the parole board - repeatedly, in writing - that Clemmons should remain in prison. And he would have opposed it once again if he knew that Huckabee was considering commuting Clemmons' sentence.

During his 2008 presidential bid, Huckabee was criticized for granting
clemency to another inmate, convicted rapist Wayne DuMond.

DuMond was later convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Missouri.

Before he accepted responsibility for his decision, Huckabee first blamed Clemmons' alleged actions on Sunday to failings in both Arkansans and Washington's legal systems.

But Jegley pointed the finger directly at Huckabee. One survey, he said, showed Huckabee issued more clemencies from 1996 to 2004 than the governors of all six surrounding states, including Texas.

"He needs to bear responsibility for that," Jegley said of the former governor's decision to grant clemency to Clemmons.

"We did everything that we could do with him and got him sentenced to 108 years. Mike Huckabee, with the stroke of a pen, undid that."

New York (CNNMoney.com) – The number of first-time filers for unemployment insurance fell last week to a nearly 15-month low, according to a government report released Wednesday.

There were 457,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Nov. 28, down 5,000 from a revised 462,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said.

That's the lowest level since the week ended Sept. 6, 2008. The week being reported included the Thanksgiving holiday.

A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 480,000 new claims for the week.

The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 481,250, down 14,250 from the previous week.

Full story

Obama has taken on the role as consoler in chief.

(CNN) – James Gordon Meek was standing over the gravestone of a friend killed in Iraq when he noticed a familiar figure walking near him.

President Obama was walking through what's called "the saddest acre in America," Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The section is the burial ground for U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama hugged graveside visitors, shook hands and listened to mourners while a "bone-chilling drizzle" fell, Meek says. As he watched Obama, Meek says he saw his commander in chief take on a new role: the consoler in chief.

"He absolutely seemed sincere," Meek says about Obama and his Veterans Day visit to Arlington. "What I sensed is that this was a man who is carrying the full weight of command. He gets it."

Obama must now convince the rest of America that he gets this sacrifice. As Obama announces 30,000 more troops for Afghanistan, he also is preparing to fight another battle on the home front, some say.

Full story

Washington (CNN)–The nation's 50,000 airport baggage screeners - upgraded to "federal transportation officers" under the Bush administration - could get another title under the Obama administration: Union members.

But not without a fight.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, is blocking the confirmation of Erroll Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration, saying Southers would permit screeners to seek full union representation, a move DeMint says would weaken the effectiveness of the agency.

Unionizing baggage screeners would make the agency "much less flexible" in making quick changes, such as those made overnight in August of 2006 when the British uncovered a plot to destroy planes using liquid bombs, DeMint said.

Union leaders counter that unionization could improve national security by improving screener morale and working conditions.

DeMint's decision to block Southers' nomination is the most visible sign of a debate that has simmered since the creation of the Transportation Security Administration. When the agency was formed after the 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress specifically prevented its workers from seeking full union representation, saying the agency needed to be nimble to respond to threats.

Later, the government opted to allow screeners to join unions, but without "collective bargaining," limiting its ability to influence changes.

In 2008, just two weeks before the presidential election, candidate Barack Obama gave his support to union rights for screeners.

His promise was unequivocal. "If I am elected president, I will work to ensure that TSOs (transportation security officers) have collective bargaining rights and a voice at work to address issues that arise locally and nationally," Obama wrote in a letter to John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees(AFGE).

So when Obama nominated Los Angeles International Airport police department official Southers to head the Transportation Security Administration this summer, leaders of two government unions praised the announcement, even though Southers was quiet on the issue of unionization.

"The question of bargaining rights at TSA is not a matter of 'if' but when," Gage wrote in a September letter applauding the choice.

Giving full union rights to baggage screeners is "a terrible idea," James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation said Wednesday.

"Unionism and collective bargaining bring with it all sorts of inefficiencies. If you want to make any changes to your business procedures you have to spend months negotiating them first. The TSA doesn't have the luxury of months before they change their security screenings," Sherk said.

Collective bargaining "puts sand in the gears" of government, he said.

Gage calls claims that unionization will hurt national security "disingenuous and hypocritical."

"No one talks about our two officers - two union members - who took down the shooter at Fort Hood. There was nothing in their union membership that stopped them from doing their duties," Gage said. "People who insinuate that being a union member has a nation security implication are just totally wrong."

Two screeners contacted by CNN - both AFGE members - also said collective bargaining would not impact security.

"I took an oath to uphold my position," said Cris Soulia, president of AFGE Local 1234 and a screener in San Diego. "The job always comes first."

Soulia said screeners would follow emergency contingencies. "We can sit back after the fact and say, 'Hey, did you do it right?' But our mission is to keep the public safe. I'm there to keep passengers safe."

A.J. Castilla, an AFGE union representative in Boston, said he hopes Obama appoints Southers during the congressional recess.

"We're tired of sitting at the back of the bus, and I think next year we won't have to," he said.

DeMint said he is holding up Southers' nomination because "we need to make the point to the American people that this administration is more about politics than security."

"It's all about politics - pay-back to the unions," he said.

DeMint said Southers has been evasive about whether he supports unionization of baggage screeners. In a letter to DeMint, Southers said he would not support "any system ... that would potentially compromise the safety and security of the flying public."

But DeMint said it's clear what path Southers will take. "I think he is following through on the president's promise to unionize," he said.

People on both side of the Transportation Security Administration unionization debate say that, ultimately, the Senate is likely to confirm
Southers, and that Southers is likely to support full unionization for the
agency.

"The political forces are aligning for this to happen," said Sherk of the Heritage Foundation. "It's not preordained, but it looks like there's a good chance."

'Reflect, Rejoice, Renew,' is the theme of this year's holiday decorations at the White House. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) - Unveiling the White House Christmas tree and holiday decorations Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama explained why she chose this year's theme, "Reflect, Rejoice and Renew."

Related video: Mrs. Obama on holiday giving

"For the Obama family, Christmas and the new year has always been a time to reflect on our many blessings, to rejoice in the pleasure of spending time with our family and our friends, and to renew our commitment to one another and to the causes that we believe in," she said in the Grand Foyer of the White House.

She said everything came together with the help of East Wing and residence staff members, and 92 volunteers from 24 states who spent more than 3,400 hours getting the White House ready for the holidays.

Not part of the theme but on the minds of the first family is recycling.

Decorators used about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations. "We sent them to 60 local community groups throughout the country, and asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House," Obama said.

Kim Fawley, a schoolteacher in Virginia who volunteered her time to help decorate, said she was impressed by the handmade ornaments, which include the Statue of Liberty, the Boston Celtics, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and the DuSable Museum of African American History.

"They're just beautiful. The love and the care that they took to put them together is obvious when you hold them in your hands," Fawley said.

In keeping with the environmentally conscious theme, the official White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir that stands 18 1/2 feet high in the Blue Room, is lit with energy-saving LED lights. And according to the first lady's office, six of the trees on display at the entrances of the East Wing, West Wing and North Portico will be replanted after the holidays by the National Parks Service.

White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and his team personalized the annual white-chocolate-covered gingerbread White House to reflect the first family's first year in the White House. The 390-pound house includes replicas of "first dog" Bo and the first lady's kitchen garden.

Yosses said this is also the first time the gingerbread White House includes an interior replica of the State Dining Room, complete with furniture made of dark chocolate.

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Lawmakers question 2011 Afghan exit plan
Conservative and liberal lawmakers Wednesday sharply criticized President Obama's plan to start a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in July 2011.

The Hill: Afghanistan war votes lie far ahead for the Speaker of the House
President Barack Obama’s decision to ramp up the war in Afghanistan will put Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) between a rock and a hard place. Someday. Maybe. Confusion reigned Wednesday about when or if Congress will be called upon to vote on the plan to send an additional 30,000 troops.

Cincinnati Enquirer: Gingrich praises, pans Obama
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in Cincinnati for a “town hall” forum on job creation, praised the decision by President Obama to commit an additional 30,000 troops to the war in Afghanistan. In an interview with the Enquirer in his suite at the Netherland Hilton Hotel, Gingrich – whom many Republicans believe may try for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination – said Obama delivered a “pretty courageous speech” Tuesday night.

Anchorage Daily News: Murkowski: "I want to be able to rely on the good judgment of a provider I trust."
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced an amendment today to the health care bill that effectively bans the government from using guidelines from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to deny coverage.

Chicago Tribune: Illinois lawmakers still at odds over possible federal purchase of prison in Thomson
After a long briefing Wednesday by officials from the Pentagon and federal Bureau of Prisons, members of Congress from Illinois remained divided on a bid to transfer between 50 and 100 detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to a mostly unused state prison in Thomson, Ill.

The Hill: Thompson threatens subpoena for crashers after invite declined
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee threatened subpoenas late Wednesday for the couple accused of crashing a White House state dinner. After Michaele and Tareq Salahi declined this evening an invitation to appear before the committee, its chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) threatened to compel their testimony.

Albany Times-Union: Same-sex marriage defeated in state Senate
The state Senate rejected a bill to legalize gay marriage in New York, voting 38-24 to defeat the measure. The legislation, which had been halted from coming to the floor of the Senate several times in recent years, received no votes from the 30 members of the Republican conference as well as eight Democrats

Washington Times: Bernanke reconfirmation to Fed seen assured
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who has received bipartisan condemnation from Capitol Hill for his handling of the economy, is likely to get an earful from senators during his reconfirmation hearing Thursday. But when the tongue lashing quiets, expect the former Princeton University professor to keep his job, most political experts say.

New York Times: Senator Moves to Hold Up Bernanke Confirmation
Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont said on Wednesday that he would try to block the Senate from confirming Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Washington Post: Washington Times cuts in staff, coverage cue new era
The Washington Times, which gained a strong foothold in a politically obsessed city as a conservative alternative to much of the mainstream media, is about to become a drastically smaller newspaper.

NATIONAL
For the latest national news: www.CNN.com

Boston Globe: Wal-Mart will pay $40m to workers
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, has agreed to pay $40 million to as many as 87,500 current and former employees in Massachusetts, the largest wage-and-hour class-action settlement in the state’s history.

Seattle Times: Clemmons couldn't be held after 'safety net' dissolved
When a Pierce County prosecutor appeared in court on July 2 and requested that Maurice Clemmons be held on $300,000 bail, the prosecutor knew he had a safety net that could keep Clemmons in custody no matter what — a fugitive warrant out of Arkansas. But over the next three weeks that warrant wound up being rescinded through an unusual sequence of events captured in hearing transcripts, correspondence and e-mails.

BBC News: US approves 13 embryonic stem cell lines for research
US regulators have approved 13 new lines of human embryonic stem cells for use in scientific research. They are the first batches of embryonic stem cells – the building blocks of the body – that have been made available to US researchers in almost a decade.

Dallas Morning News: Fort Hood shooting suspect's lawyer seeks to delay sanity examination
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's defense attorney skirmished with Army commanders Wednesday over the timing of a sanity examination for the Fort Hood gunman, saying that his client is still too medically impaired to participate.

New York Times: N.F.L. Issues New Guidelines on Concussions
The National Football League on Wednesday announced that it would impose its most stringent rules to date on managing concussions, requiring players who exhibit any significant sign of concussion to be removed from a game or practice and be barred from returning the same day.

Houston Chronicle: Sixth-graders' heart screenings shock researchers
Heart screenings offered to sixth-graders at a Houston middle school revealed seven with undiagnosed heart conditions — two of which required surgery — and the results shocked researchers who want to see such tests offered at every campus.

INTERNATIONAL
For the latest international news: http://edition.cnn.com

BBC News: Nato ministers face Afghan surge pressure
America's Nato allies are set to face renewed requests to commit more troops to Afghanistan, two days after Barack Obama announced the US surge. … The US wants Nato allies to increase their deployments, but several European nations are reluctant to do so.

CNN: Honduran congress votes against ousted president
Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya will not be reinstated as head of state, a majority of the Honduran congress voted Wednesday.

Washington Post: North Korea revalues currency, destroying personal savings
Chaos reportedly erupted in North Korea on Tuesday after the government of Kim Jong Il revalued the country's currency, sharply restricting the amount of old bills that could be traded for new and wiping out personal savings. The currency move appeared to be part of a continuing government crackdown on private markets, which have become an essential part of the food-supply system in the chronically hungry North.

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Faces Rising Resistance to Its Latin American Policy
The U.S., which once considered Latin America its own backyard, is having an increasingly tough time calling the shots in a region where countries like Brazil and China are vying for influence, and where even tiny Honduras stands up to the "Colossus to the North."

Wall Street Journal: Iranian Crackdown Goes Global
In recent months, Iran has been conducting a campaign of harassing and intimidating members of its diaspora world-wide - not just prominent dissidents - who criticize the regime, according to former Iranian lawmakers and former members of Iran's elite security force, the Revolutionary Guard, with knowledge of the program.

BUSINESS
For the latest business news: www.CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney: BofA to return $45 billion to taxpayers
Bank of America said late Wednesday it planned to return the entire $45 billion in bailout money it received from the government over the past year.

Forbes: BofA's Escape From Washington
Bank of America is finally getting out from under the government's thumb, and those pesky limits on executive compensation that have hindered its search for a new CEO. However, its freedom will come at a price to some of its employees, who will receive less cash in their year-end bonus packets.

Wall Street Journal: Goldman Seizes the Offensive on Pay
Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc.—known for its outsize profits and unapologetically handsome pay packages to go with them—has begun meeting major investors in a bid to ward off a backlash over its record compensation pool.

In Case You Missed It

Huckabee on clemency decision
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Legislators send chairs flying
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/12/02/von.argentina.legislators.fight.canal9

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'Reflect, Rejoice, Renew,' is the theme of this year's holiday decorations at the White House. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) - Unveiling the White House Christmas tree and holiday decorations Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama explained why she chose this year's theme, "Reflect, Rejoice and Renew."

Related video: Mrs. Obama on holiday giving

"For the Obama family, Christmas and the new year has always been a time to reflect on our many blessings, to rejoice in the pleasure of spending time with our family and our friends, and to renew our commitment to one another and to the causes that we believe in," she said in the Grand Foyer of the White House.

She said everything came together with the help of East Wing and residence staff members, and 92 volunteers from 24 states who spent more than 3,400 hours getting the White House ready for the holidays.

Not part of the theme but on the minds of the first family is recycling.

Decorators used about 800 ornaments left over from previous administrations. "We sent them to 60 local community groups throughout the country, and asked them to decorate them to pay tribute to a favorite local landmark and then send them back to us for display here at the White House," Obama said.

Kim Fawley, a schoolteacher in Virginia who volunteered her time to help decorate, said she was impressed by the handmade ornaments, which include the Statue of Liberty, the Boston Celtics, Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and the DuSable Museum of African American History.

"They're just beautiful. The love and the care that they took to put them together is obvious when you hold them in your hands," Fawley said.

In keeping with the environmentally conscious theme, the official White House Christmas tree, a Douglas fir that stands 18 1/2 feet high in the Blue Room, is lit with energy-saving LED lights. And according to the first lady's office, six of the trees on display at the entrances of the East Wing, West Wing and North Portico will be replanted after the holidays by the National Parks Service.

White House pastry chef Bill Yosses and his team personalized the annual white-chocolate-covered gingerbread White House to reflect the first family's first year in the White House. The 390-pound house includes replicas of "first dog" Bo and the first lady's kitchen garden.

Yosses said this is also the first time the gingerbread White House includes an interior replica of the State Dining Room, complete with furniture made of dark chocolate.

A Vermont senator has placed a hold on the nomination of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, pictured.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - On the eve of what's expected to be a tough confirmation hearing Thursday, one senator has thrown a political roadblock intended to stymie Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's second term.

Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., issued a statement late Wednesday saying he will prevent Bernanke's nomination by placing a hold, an informal practice by which a senator informs the majority leader that he does not wish a particular measure to reach the floor for a vote.

"The American people overwhelmingly voted last year for a change in our national priorities to put the interest of ordinary people ahead of the greed of Wall Street and the wealthy few," said Sanders, one of Bernanke's sharpest critics, in a statement. "What American people did not bargain for was another four years for one of the key architects of the Bush economy."

Sanders said Bernanke, who took the helm of the Fed in 2006, could have averted the financial crisis in several ways, but failed at "core responsibility of the Federal Reserve" and thus "it's time for him to go."

Among the litany of reasons he cited for his move, the statement from Sanders' office noted that unemployment had more than doubled under Bernanke's watch and more than 120 banks have failed since he became chairman.

Bernanke's first term expires next month.

Majority leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would not need to recognize Sanders' hold, but Sanders could filibuster the motion to nominate the Fed chairman for another 4-year term.

A spokesman for Senator Reid would not comment on the hold by Sanders.

Washington (CNN) - The nation's leading advocacy group for senior citizens on Wednesday endorsed the spending cuts that the Senate health care bill proposes for the government-run Medicare health program for seniors.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, who is leading the effort to pass the Democratic bill, the AARP says the measure "does not reduce any guaranteed Medicare benefits" while it makes needed reforms to the program that is predicted to become insolvent within a decade.

The letter, signed by AARP Chief Executive Officer Addison Barry Rand, calls for the Senate to reject an amendment by Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona that would effectively kill the health care bill by sending it back to committee to remove all provisions that reduce Medicare spending.

In debate on his amendment this week, McCain has criticized the AARP for backing the health care bill, which he claimed would harm senior citizens by reducing Medicare benefits.

Republicans unanimously oppose the Senate health care bill so far, and the first three days of debate have been slowed by procedural maneuvering and drawn-out rhetoric. Several amendments have been proposed, including McCain's, but no votes have occurred due to what Democrats complain are Republican stall tactics.

"Unless the Republican leadership comes forward with a reasonable approach to these amendments, I think our patience is wearing thin," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat in the chamber. "They don't want to call theseamendments for votes and we're just not going to sit here forever and see this bill go down."

Republicans denied they are purposely delaying action on the bill, but said they won't agree to end debate on individual amendments until they've had ample time to consider them.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, objecting to a voting schedule offered Tuesday by Democrats, said there were "a number of people that want to speak" about the McCain amendment before a vote.

One senior Republican senator, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, circulated a memo to his colleagues Wednesday detailing "the tools we have under Senate rules to insist on a full, complete and fully informed debate" on health care.

Gregg's memo spelled out more than a dozen "minority party rights," including insisting on a quorum of 51 senators to conduct legislative business and requiring the text of all amendments to be read aloud in the Senate chamber.

If the two sides can't reach agreement on the length of debate for amendments and when votes will be held, Democrats could use several floor procedures to accelerate the debate. Each procedure, however, contains potential pitfalls that make Democrats reluctant to employ them.

For example, Democrats could try to cut off debate on each amendment by filing cloture motions. However, cloture motions take days to play out, making the procedure impractical for speeding up debate.

Another tactic would be trying to table amendments, which would prevent their further consideration. The risk is that if a tabling motion fails, the underlying amendment is automatically considered approved. Therefore, controversial amendments could be adopted through the simple majority vote to kill a tabling motion, rather than the 60 votes needed to pass the actual
amendment in the 100-member chamber.

At a closed meeting on the subject Wednesday, Senate Democrats vowed to work weekends and even Christmas Day, if necessary, to pass the bill by the end of the year, which is their stated goal.

In floor debate so far, Republicans have adopted the unusual position of defending the Medicare program they have traditionally opposed. Led by McCain and McConnell, Republican speakers have insisted the more than $400 billion in proposed Medicare spending cuts over 10 years would reduce benefits for senior citizens.

Democrats responded that the Republicans are spreading misinformation as a scare tactic, and insist that the reduced Medicare spending would come from eliminating waste and fraud in the popular program to ensure its long-term
financial stability.

The AARP letter Wednesday backed the Democratic position.

"With respect to Medicare, AARP supports policies to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse - and to improve quality, value and sustainability of the program for current and future beneficiaries," the letter said.

It noted the Medicare spending cuts in the Senate bill focus on "provider reimbursement reforms" - meaning reductions in how much government money gets paid to hospitals, doctors and other health care providers - rather than benefits for Medicare recipients.

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, one of the architects of the bill, noted the Medicare spending cuts were much less than the $2 trillion in 10 years that health care industry officials have said the Medicare
program could shed.

The 2,074-page Senate bill would provide health insurance to an additional 31 million people at a cost of almost $850 billion.

Democrats have framed the debate that began Monday as historic and said the bill would provide vital health insurance for almost all Americans, hold down spiraling costs that threaten the U.S. economy and instill needed reforms to ensure the long-term solvency of Medicare.

Republicans countered that the bill is too big, too expensive and would cause more harm than good.

The House has passed its version of a health care bill, and if the Senate eventually passes a bill, the two measures would be merged by a congressional conference committee. Both chambers then would have to approve the revised bill before it could go to President Barack Obama's desk.

Obama has made health care his top domestic priority for 2009, and is pushing for Congress to pass a final bill this year.

–CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this story.

Washington (CNN) – The White House is adjusting its security protocol to prevent uninvited guests from crashing future events, a top administration official announced Wednesday.

Related: Lawmakers want answers on 'party-crashing' drama

Going forward, White House staff will be stationed at security checkpoints alongside U.S. Secret Service agents, Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina said in a memo posted on the White House Web site.

"Guests will be checked off of the list by White House staff and the Secret Service will continue to ensure that all guests have been properly cleared before entering the White House," Messina wrote in the memo. "Guests whose names are not on the guest list will be assisted by White House staff present at the check point for appropriate resolution."

"As always, the Secret Service will provide security and remain ultimately responsible for controlling access to the White House complex," Messina added.

Related: Social secretary won't testify before Congress, WH says

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he never received a request for more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Washington (CNN) – Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized President Obama's assertion Tuesday that the Bush administration ignored requests for more troops to battle the Taliban, declaring the president's remark made during his address on Afghanistan a "bald misstatement."

Rumsfeld said Wednesday that during his time as Bush's Secretary of Defense, he was "not aware of a single request of that nature."

"The President's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said in a statement. "In the interest of better understanding the President's announcement last night, I suggest that the Congress review the President's assertion in the forthcoming debate and determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied."

But Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since October of 2007, said Wednesday that the former top commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, had requested more troops during the previous administration, but they were sent to Iraq instead.

"In my tenure here, Gen. McKiernan specifically had a fairly substantial request for upwards of 20,000 forces which we couldn't meet because they just weren't there. They were in Iraq," Mullen said. "I spoke out early that Afghanistan was under resourced... We didn't have them because they were pushed to Iraq. We didn't have the flexibility to move them. That was the priority of a previous president. We do what the president says and that's what we did."

In his speech, Obama said his predecessors "repeatedly" ignored requests for more troops and said that this is one reason why he decided to send more.

"Commanders in Afghanistan repeatedly asked for support to deal with the reemergence of the Taliban, but these reinforcements did not arrive," Obama said Tuesday night. "And that's why, shortly after taking office, I approved a longstanding request for more troops."

Washington (CNN) - Thirteen new human embryonic stem cell lines have been approved for use in federally funded research - the first to be approved under an executive order from President Obama - the National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday.

Under the administration of President George W. Bush, federal funding for such research was limited to cell lines created before August 2001. Obama issued an executive order in March repealing that policy and ordering the NIH to adopt guidelines for the creation of new stem cell lines and their use.

"I am happy to say that we now have human embryonic stem cell lines eligible for use by our research community under our new stem cell policy," said NIH Director Francis Collins. "In accordance with the guidelines, these stem cell lines were derived from embryos that were donated under ethically sound informed consent processes. More lines are under review now, and we anticipate continuing to expand this list of responsibly derived lines eligible for NIH funding."

The NIH said 11 stem cell lines from a lab at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, qualify for federal funding, as do two lines developed at New York's Rockefeller University.

Full story

Sen. McCain makes a plea to voters in Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota in a taped phone message.

(CNN) – Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, is asking residents of Arkansas, Colorado, Nebraska and North Dakota to pressure their senators to support a legislative move that would effectively end Senate Democrats' efforts to pass a health care reform bill this year.

McCain began making the plea Wednesday in a taped message that was sent to home telephones in each state. When a person picks up the telephone, McCain is heard asking the listener to support an amendment that would send the health care reform legislation back to the Finance Committee.

The calls specifically target five Democratic senators: Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Lincoln, Bennet and Dorgan are all facing re-election in 2010.

Lincoln and Dorgan are facing re-election in 2010. Bennet, who was appointed to his seat, is running for his own six-year term next year.

Listen: McCain's call to Arkansas voters

Amber Marchand, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the calls are specifically "targeting independent voters" and that they "will run for a few days." The NRSC is paying for this telephone campaign.

Full transcript of Arkansas call below:

Hi.

This is Sen. John McCain. On Monday, I introduced the first Republican amendment to the massive health care bill, which would send the bill back to the Finance Committee and stop the Democrats from cutting $500 billion of vital Medicare coverage for our seniors.

I need Sen. Blanche Lincoln to join me in this effort. If you want to keep Medicare from getting cut, please go to our website at: www.healthcaretaskforce.org and sign a petition to Sen. Lincoln urging her to join my effort to fight a Washington D.C. government takeover of your health care.

Thank you for your time.

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn

Rep. Bobby Rush, co-chair of the new Congressional 'Jobs Now Caucus'.

(CNN) – Members of President Obama's own political party are charging that the White House and the Democratic Congressional leadership are not doing enough to help the unemployed and are threatening to organize a march on Washington of jobless Americans.

"Obviously there's something that's not getting through to them," said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois. "And we're going to let the White House and everybody who's concerned know that we have got people in our districts who are depending on us to deliver for them."

Rush and Reps. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Candice Miller, R-Michigan, chair the new Congressional "Jobs Now Caucus," which is comprised of 112 Democrats and 17 Republicans.

Rush and Kaptur argue that a new jobs program is more important than health care reform, but stop short of threatening to hold up a vote on one of Obama's most important domestic policy initiatives.

"We're not there yet," Kaptur said.

Some of the proposals being floated by the caucus include: redirecting existing stimulus and TARP money to jobs programs and pressing for a new jobs bill, which they're careful not to call a "stimulus."

More than one member of the caucus told CNN the stimulus was crafted without enough input from lawmakers whose districts suffer from the highest jobless rates.

"I have been very disappointed in the incomplete manner in which the jobs and the economic recession has been dealt with," said Kaptur, who added, "We don't want to be given short shrift."

Rush was more blunt in his demand. "We don't want to be handed a bill and told, 'Alright vote this bill,'" Rush said. "We want to be part of the creation."

The frustration by some Democrats comes as the White House prepares to hold a jobs summit Thursday, which will include CEOs and small business owners among others. And on Wednesday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus sat out a vote on financial reform legislation - important to the White House - to protest what they said is a lack of attention paid to job growth in the African American community. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the new "Jobs Now Caucus" have accused the administration of listening more closely to Wall Street than to Main Street.

The U.S. unemployment rate is at 10.2% but many congressmen believe the true rate is closer to 20% if you include those who have given up looking for work.

Update, 5:32 p.m.:Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, issued this statement:

"We continue to work with all members of the caucus and with the Administration to build on the recovery package and other initiatives to help create jobs and grow our economy after years of mismanagement by the Bush administration."

(CNN) – After three days of debate in the Senate over health care reform, Senate Democrats accused Republicans Wednesday of slow-walking the legislation and searched for parliamentary procedures to speed up the discussion.

So far, only a handful of amendments have been considered and no votes have occurred.

"Unless the Republican leadership comes forward with a reasonable approach to these amendments, I think our patience is wearing thin," Senate Majority Whip Dick Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said. "They don't want to call these amendments for votes and we're just not going to sit here forever and see this bill go down."

Republicans denied they are purposely delaying action on the bill, but said they won't agree to end debate on individual amendments until they've had ample time to consider them. One pending amendment is authored by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, which aims to prevent cuts to Medicare contained in the Democrats' bill.

"They're not done talking about it," a GOP leadership aide said of Republican senators and the McCain amendment. "There's still a large amount of people who want to talk about it. When they're done, then we'll do it."

If the two sides can't reach agreements on the length of debate for amendments and when votes will be held, Democrats could use several floor procedures to accelerate the debate. But each procedure also contains potential pitfalls that make Democrats reluctant to employ them.

At a closed meeting Wednesday on the subject, Senate Democrats vowed to work weekends and even Christmas Day, if necessary, to pass the bill by the end of the year, their stated goal.

Critics argued the president was inconsistently setting an "arbitrary" deadline while also claiming any transfer of responsibility to the Afghan government ultimately will be based on conditions on the ground in that country.

Obama's blueprint faced questions Wednesday as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Announcing a firm date for starting an American withdrawal while also saying such a withdrawal depends on conditions on the ground "are two incompatible statements," said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the committee's ranking Republican.

"You either have a winning strategy ... and then once it's succeeded, then we withdraw or, as the president said, we will have a date [for] beginning withdrawal in July 2011. Which is it? It's got to be one or the other. It's got to be the appropriate conditions, or it's got to be an arbitrary date. You can't have both."

Full story

Updated: 5: 00 p.m.

Washington (CNN) – White House social secretary Desiree Rogers will not by testifying at Thursday's congressional hearing about the recent White House security breach, Robert Gibbs said Wednesday.

"Obviously there's an ongoing assessment and investigation by the Secret Service" into the breach that occurred during the Obama administration's first state dinner, the White House press secretary told reporters in his daily briefing, "We are working with and ready to work with anybody that has questions on that."

But, Gibbs added, "based on separation of powers, staff here don't go to testify in front of Congress. She will not be testifying in front Congress tomorrow."

Related: Lawmakers want answers on 'party-crashing' drama

In a break from the practice that the White House used on the night of the state dinner, Gibbs said that the White House had its own staff in place at a security check point Tuesday evening when visitors came to the White House campus for a holiday gathering.

Gibbs also told reporters Wednesday that no concerns about Rogers' performance had been raised with the president prior to the controversy surrounding the breach at the state dinner. The White House social office, which is run by Rogers, has done "remarkable work" in planning events at the White House. "The first family is quite pleased with her performance," said Gibbs.

The House Committee on Homeland Security is set to hold a hearing Thursday about how a married couple who were not on the official list of attendees managed to get past White House security into the state dinner.

As of Wednesday, the couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, have declined the committee's invitation to testify, according to the committee's chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson.

Mark Sullivan, the director of the Secret Service, has agreed to testify, according to the committee. In a statement issued soon after the breach came to light, Sullivan said the Secret Service was "deeply concerned and embarrassed" by the circumstances surrounding the state dinner.

During the previous administration, Bush aides Karl Rove and Harriet Miers tried to resist calls from Congress to testify about the firing of several U.S. attorneys. At the time, the Bush administration relied on separation of powers, the idea that the Executive branch headed by the president and Congress are co-equal branches of government who cannot compel one another to act, and on executive privilege, the idea that the advice the president receives from his aides is confidential, to try to avoid responding to congressional subpoenas for testimony. After litigation to enforce the congressional subpoenas and after former President George W. Bush was no longer in office, Rove and Miers both ultimately gave depositions to investigators looking into the firings.

Clinton makes light of Chelsea's engagement.

Washington (CNN)– Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made light of months of speculation regarding her daughter's engagement Wednesday during the House Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan.

When congratulated on her daughter's engagement by New York Congressman Gregory Meeks, Clinton responded saying, "Thank you, it was a very long, thoughtful process."

Speculation of Chelsea Clinton's engagement and marriage began swirling early last summer.

According to an email sent out by Chelsea Clinton announcing her engagement, she and longtime boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky are planning to get married next summer.

Sen. Evan Bayh also took time out of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Afghanistan to congratulate Clinton.

–CNN's Emily Sherman contributed to this report.

White House is set to hold a jobs summit Thursday.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - With rising unemployment stymying the president's economic revival plans, the Obama administration is huddling with business leaders, academics and other experts Thursday to find a way to jumpstart hiring.

Some 130 people will gather for the afternoon jobs summit at the White House on the eve of the government's November unemployment report. The nation is expected to have lost another 114,000 jobs, with unemployment remaining at 10.2%, the highest in 26 years, according to an economists' survey.

The employment picture is certainly grim. Nearly 16 million Americans are out of work, one-third of whom have been unemployed for more than six months. There are now six workers competing for every job vacancy.

President Obama and some lawmakers are searching for a way to stem this unrelenting loss of jobs, which is casting doubt on effectiveness of many of his economic programs, from his $787 billion stimulus plan to his $75 billion foreclosure prevention initiative.

"We are going to be bringing together people from all across the country ... to explore how we can jumpstart the hiring that typically lags behind economic growth, but we don't want to wait," Obama said last week.

Full story

(CNN) - As New York's state Senate defeated a bill that would legalize same sex marriages, a new poll indicates that just over half of state's voters favor the legislation.

Related: Same-sex marriage bill voted down in New York Senate

According to a Marist College survey released Wednesday, 51 percent of people questioned said they favor legalizing gay marriage, with 42 percent opposed.

The poll's release came just hours before the state Senate rejected the legislation, which had already passed the state Assembly. New York Gov. David Paterson said he would have immediately signed the bill if it had made it to his office.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa are currently the only states that legally allow same sex marriages. Earlier this year, Maine's state legislature voted to legalize gay marriages. But voters in Maine last month passed a referendum to overturn the new law. A vote Tuesday by the District of Columbia's city council moved Washington, D.C. one step closer to legalizing same sex marriages.

The Marist survey indicates a partisan divide on the issue, with two-thirds of Democrats supporting gay marriage and a nearly equal amount of Republicans opposed. According to the poll there's a geographic split as well, with 6 in 10 New York City voters supporting legalized same sex marriages, while voters in the suburbs and upstate are divided.

The Marist College poll was conducted Nov. 12, 16, and 17, with 805 New York State registered voters questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the overall sample.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

Join the conversation on Jack's blog.

When it comes to Afghanistan, President Obama better be right. After months of meetings and criticism that he was "dithering" and "weak" on Afghanistan – he finally made what may be the most important decision of his presidency.

But the announcement to deploy 30,000 additional troops is cloaked in contradiction. We're going to rush more troops in so we can begin to rush them out in 18 months. The Taliban and al Qaeda will probably make a note of this timetable.

You don't suppose the decision to withdraw in July of 2011 would have anything to do with the President's 2012 re-election campaign do you?

There was no mention of how we're going to pay for this. The 30,000 additional troops will cost an additional $30 billion in the first year.

Where's that money going to come from? Some Democrats are calling for a so-called "war surtax." But With a fragile U.S. economy, an unemployment rate topping 10-percent, and a costly health care reform plan on the table – there may not be much appetite for that.

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