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The Situation: Friday, December 16Editor's Note: The Situation Report is a running log of dispatches, quotes, links and behind-the-scenes notes filed by the correspondents and producers of CNN's Washington Bureau. Watch "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer on CNN 4 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET weekdays. Rep. Barton suffers heart attack On CNN TV
RelatedSEND YOUR COMMENTSYOUR E-MAIL ALERTSPosted: 11:20 a.m. ET U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, 56, of Texas is recovering Friday after suffering a heart attack Thursday night, his office said. A statement from his press secretary Karen Modlin said he is expected to make a full recovery and could be released from George Washington University Hospital in a few days. "He looks forward not only to getting back to work in a hurry, but to getting on next year's campaign trail, too," the statement said. Barton, a Republican who serves as the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, started feeling ill Thursday in the Capitol and was taken by ambulance to GWU hospital, his staff said. Barton is a key GOP budget negotiator and it is unclear whether his illness will affect Congress's ability to pass legislation to pass spending this year. The Morning GrindPosted: 9:30 a.m. ET Delayed Adjournment Members of Congress hoping to catch flights out of town this afternoon are being advised to reschedule their travel plans, as a handful of controversial measures will keep Congress in session through Saturday and perhaps into early next week. Disagreements remain over proposed cuts to the budget, legislation to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and efforts to renew several provisions of the USA Patriot Act. Further heightening partisan tensions on Capitol Hill is a dispute over controversial language in a resolution offered by House GOP leaders late last night that highlights Iraq's successful elections. The resolution states that "setting an artificial timetable for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq, or immediately terminating their deployment in Iraq and redeploying them elsewhere in the region, is fundamentally inconsistent with achieving victory in Iraq." This wording directly counters recent calls by Democrats including Rep. John Murtha (Pennsylvania) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (California) to withdraw and redeploy U.S. troops currently stationed in Iraq. A vote on the resolution could happen as early as today, said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois). "We offered the Democrats to join us in sponsoring this resolution to show bipartisanship to our troops," Bonjean told the Grind this morning. "This is not about being Republican or Democrat. This is about being Americans who support our troops." But a Pelosi spokeswoman accused Republicans of engaging in partisan politics by offering the resolution as well as a previous resolution expressing this same sentiment several weeks ago. "Republicans can try to spin the resolution as much as they want," Jennifer Crider, Pelosi's spokeswoman, said in an interview this morning. "It is a cheap political stunt at a time when our troops and the American people deserve and expect a real debate on Iraq." Crider said Democrats will present an alternative to the Republican resolution later today. Across the Capitol, opposition is likely to solidify against a long term extension of the Patriot Act, following a story in The New York Times that alleges President Bush gave approval to the National Security Agency to spy on Americans "without court approved warrants," Congressional Democrats and Republicans predict. Earlier this week, the House voted 251 to 174 to renew the act, but several Republicans have already joined their Senate Democratic colleagues in threatening to filibuster the legislation. "I think this is going to push wavering members into the no camp," a Senate Democratic leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said this morning. "Hopefully, this is going to allow us to reach a quick agreement on a temporary three month extension of the bill." Meanwhile, American voters and political insiders agree that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) is the clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, but there is a difference of opinion on who will be the Republican nominee in 2008, two new polls released yesterday show. A CNN/USA/Today/Gallup poll shows that 43 percent of Democrats want Clinton to win the nomination, while 30 percent of Republicans prefer former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to be their party's nominee. A National Journal poll of 106 Members of Congress and 151 veteran presidential campaign operatives, political consultants, lobbyists, and interest group leaders overwhelmingly agree with the Clinton selection and predict she will win the nomination. But these insiders also said that Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia), not Giuliani, will be the GOP nominee. Rounding out the CNN poll on the Democratic side is Sen. John Kerry (Massachusetts), 14 percent; former Sen. John Edwards (North Carolina), 14 percent; Sen. Joe Biden (Delaware), 8 percent; Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, 3 percent; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, 3 percent; Sen. Evan Bayh (Indiana), 1 percent; and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, 1 percent. Following Giuliani on the Republican side in the CNN poll is Sen. John McCain (Arizona), 22 percent; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 18 percent; Allen, 7 percent; Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tennessee), 3 percent; Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 3 percent; and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, 2 percent. "Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner on the Democratic side and I have a very precise definition of that word," said Keating Holland, CNN's polling director. "To be a frontrunner in my book, you have to have lead that is more than twice as big as the margin of error. Her lead is almost six times higher." On the other hand, though, "Giuliani is not a frontrunner," Holland said. "That is not taking anything away from his status at the top of list, but there is a big difference between having and 8 point lead and 29 point lead." Holland cautioned, though, that it is still not clear who will make the race for president in 2008 and noted the everything can change in the next two years. "This is like the score after the first pitch of the first at bat in the first inning in a baseball game," Holland said. House Democrats will elect Rep. James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) today to become the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Clyburn will replace Rep. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), who leaves the House in January to fill the unexpired Senate term of Gov.-elect Jon Corzine (D-New Jersey). And California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set April 11, as the date for the special election to replace Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-California), who resigned earlier this month after admitting to taking bribes from defense contractors. Political Hot TopicsPosted 9:30 a.m. ET BUSH'S SECRET ORDER ALLOWED SPYING ON AMERICANS: Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials. Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications. New York Times: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts IRAQI VOTE COUNT MIGHT EXCEED 10 MILLION: Millions of Iraqis streamed to the polls yesterday in the country's first democratic elections for a permanent legislative assembly. Turnout was especially large in Sunni areas that had witnessed anemic participation in previous balloting this year. Iraqi officials predicted that the number of votes cast might exceed 10 million, out of 15.5 million eligible voters. That figure easily surpassed the numbers for January's national election for a transitional assembly, and for the constitutional referendum in October. Results were not expected to be known for two to three weeks. But Iraqi and US officials proclaimed the relatively peaceful vote a huge step toward a viable, stable Iraq. Boston Globe: Iraqis vote by the millions WH GETS BEHIND McCAIN ON TORTURE: Under intense bipartisan Congressional pressure, President Bush reversed course on Thursday and reluctantly backed Senator John McCain's call for a law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody. A day after the House overwhelmingly endorsed Mr. McCain's measure, the White House took a deal that the senator had been offering for weeks as way to end the legislative impasse, essentially giving intelligence operatives the same legal defense afforded military interrogators who are accused of violating the regulations. For Mr. Bush, it was a stinging defeat, considering that his party controls both houses of Congress and both chambers had defied his threatened veto to support Mr. McCain's measure resoundingly. It was a particularly significant setback for Vice President Dick Cheney, who since July has led the administration's fight to defeat the amendment or at least exempt the Central Intelligence Agency from its provisions. New York Times: President Backs McCain Measure on Inmate Abuse SHOWDOWN ON THE PATRIOT ACT: Several Patriot Act provisions that the Bush administration says are crucial in the fight to stop terrorism on U.S. soil may only be around for another couple of weeks. A coalition of Senate Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans is threatening to filibuster a congressional agreement to renew 16 key portions of the USA Patriot Act before they expire Dec. 31. A showdown vote was scheduled Friday, with the White House and its congressional allies rejecting suggestions for a short-term extension of the current law as is. White House allies said they would prefer to let the 16 temporary provisions expire completely rather than give critics more time to add additional restrictions on the FBI's ability to comb through Americans' computer files and bank and library records. AP via Yahoo! News: Senate May Derail Patriot Act Extension BUILDING THE CASE AGAINST ABRAMOFF: A former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in Miami yesterday to fraud and conspiracy in the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats and agreed to cooperate in a congressional influence-peddling investigation. Adam Kidan's agreement to provide evidence against Abramoff makes him the second partner of the fallen lobbyist to agree to cooperate in the investigation, which also includes congressional aides and Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio). Kidan, 41, is prepared to testify against Abramoff and Ney, said Kidan's attorney, Joseph Conway. Kidan pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy and fraud. He faces 10 years in prison. Washington Post: Abramoff Partner Pleads Guilty in Florida HOUSE VOTES TO BUILD 700-MILE FENCE ALONG U.S.-MEXICO BORDER: The House voted last night to build nearly 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border as it began the first major floor debate in years on enforcing immigration laws. The vote, 260-159, came on an amendment to a border-security and employer-verification bill that is scheduled for a final vote today. Republican leaders appeared to have cleared a remaining hurdle last night by promising to remove language that said there should be a legal means for foreign workers to come and go. Some Republicans had argued that the provision, which was nonbinding, was a place-holder to attach a guest-worker plan in the future and thus was a deal-killer. On the fence construction vote, 49 Democrats joined 211 Republicans in supporting it while 12 Republicans joined the Democrats and one independent in voting against it. Washington Times: House approves border fence PROCLAMATION OF DeLAY'S INNOCENCE ANGERS DEMS: Democratic leaders sternly criticized President Bush yesterday for saying former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is innocent of felonious campaign finance abuses, suggesting his comments virtually amounted to jury tampering before DeLay stands trial. "The president of the United States said a jury does not need to assemble, that Tom DeLay is innocent," said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). "To have someone of his stature, the president of the United States, prejudge a case is something I've never seen before." During an interview Wednesday on the Fox News Channel, Bush was asked whether he believes DeLay is innocent of the charges of money laundering and conspiracy that led to his indictment in Texas and resignation from the House Republican leadership in September. "Yes, I do," the president replied. Washington Post: Democrats Criticize Bush For Saying DeLay's Innocent 
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