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The Situation: Friday, March 17

Editor'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.

Testing airport screeners

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Posted 1:47 p.m. ET
From Mike Ahlers, CNN America Bureau

The man in charge of aviation security acknowledged Friday that Congressional investigators were able to smuggle bomb ingredients past airport screeners, but said the tests confirm his decision to have screeners spend more time looking for bombs and bomb components instead of small scissors and tools.

Edmund "Kip" Hawley, director of the Transportation Security Administration, said investigators conducted about 20 covert tests this winter. He declined to say exactly how many times they were able to penetrate security, saying the report was confidential.

NBC News reported Thursday bomb materials got through at all 21 airports tested.

Hawley said he had "issues" with some aspects of the tests, but said the testers' conclusions matched his own -- that more needs to be done to prevent threats from improvised explosive devices.

"I am very pleased to have the attention focused by someone else other than me saying explosives are a big problem at the checkpoint. We need to be focusing on that, not fishing around looking for scissors," he said.

The Government Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January, a time during which the TSA was training its airport screeners to detect bombs and bomb parts. In late November, the TSA announced it has trained about 18,000 screeners in bomb detection. But Hawley dismissed suggestions that the GAO's covert testing showed the training was inadequate.

"They (the GAO) did a very limited number of tests, and we (the TSA) did orders of magnitude more. So our testing is very sophisticated, ongoing and on a very large scale."

The Morning Grind

Posted: 10:05 a.m. ET
From Mark Preston, CNN Political Unit

Eroding support for the war

Support for the Iraq War is slipping across the board with Americans questioning whether U.S. actions were "morally justified," as well as believing that Iraq is headed towards a civil war, a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll on the third anniversary of the invasion shows.

When the U.S. invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, 73 percent of Americans thought it was a "morally justified" action, but over the past three years the percentage of people who would answer the same way today is only 47 percent. And in 2003, 68 percent of Americans said the situation in Iraq was "worth going to war over," but now only 37 percent of Americans believe this to be true.

The escalating violence within Iraq is also causing Americans to question whether the country will be able to establish a new government. Fifty five percent of the 1,001 adult Americans surveyed between March 10 and March 12 said they think Iraq will fall into civil war, while 40 percent believe a stable government will be established.

Despite the lack of public support for the war, President Bush reaffirmed his commitment last night to stay the course in Iraq until a stable government is in place.

"We have a strategy for victory in Iraq," Bush said in a speech at a fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Part of that victory means that we will stand by the Iraqi people as a democracy unfolds."

Bush said he has a plan to help rebuild Iraq's economy, and added the U.S. will continue to train Iraqi military forces so that they eventually will take over the defense of the country.

"The only way the enemy can defeat us, the only way that Iraq will not become a democracy is if we lose our nerve," Bush said. "I will not lose my nerve in the face of assassins and killers."

Today, Bush will focus his diplomatic skills on the Northern Ireland conflict. At 10:30 a.m. ET, Bush will accept a bowl of shamrocks from Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams, Social Democratic and Labor Party's Mark Durkan and Ulster Unionist's Reg Empey, among others, are expected to attend the ceremony. Irish leaders have spent the past several days meeting with Members of Congress to discuss the stalled Northern Ireland Peace Process.

As Bush is hosting the Irish delegation, Vice President Cheney will be on his way to South Carolina to headline a fundraiser for GOP candidate Ralph Norman, who is challenging Rep. John Spratt (D-South Carolina). Cheney is expected to speak at 12:20 p.m. ET. At 2:30 p.m. ET, Cheney is scheduled to address U.S. troops stationed at Charleston Air Force Base. A new report released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California) suggests that taxpayers will pay for $7 million in travel costs for Bush and Cheney to stump for candidates in the midterm elections. (Read the reportexternal link)

Before breaking for the St. Patrick's Day recess, the Senate approved a $2.8 trillion budget on the narrowest of margins (51 to 49), CNN's Ted Barrett reports. The budget blueprint passed after Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) cast her vote with a majority of Republicans after they promised to send billions of dollars in funding for levees and wetlands restoration for the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. Conservative House Republicans are expected to reject the Senate measure setting up a showdown between the two chambers over spending. Even though Congress can still pass appropriations bills without the budget resolution, the failure to approve it would be seen by many as embarrassing for Republicans who control both the House and Senate.

And the Senate showdown over illegal immigration is expected to occur on March 27, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) announced yesterday. Frist has drafted his own border security legislation and will bring it to the floor unless the Senate Judiciary Committee is able to produce its own bill by that time.

"This evening I am introducing the Secure America's Borders Act (SABA) to improve our nation's security along our borders," Frist wrote in an e-mail yesterday to his political supporters. "In a post 9/11 world, border security is a matter of NATIONAL security. We need secure borders, and the simple fact is, right now, we don't have them."

Missing from the bill is President Bush's guest worker program that conservatives object to. Demonstrating opposition to the program could help Frist in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, should he decide to run for the White House.

Several potential 2008 candidates are hitting the trail over the next 72 hours to help raise money for fellow Republicans, meet with activists and give speeches. On the Republican side: Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) is in Connecticut raising money for Gov. Jodi Rell (R); former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) addresses the Consumer Healthcare Products Association in Florida; Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) speaks to the "Reclaiming America for Christ Conference" in Florida; Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia) makes several stops in Iowa; and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) heads into New Hampshire. Romney will have some company in the Granite State as retired Gen. Wesley Clark (D) begins a two-day swing through the state beginning tomorrow, as does New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D). And former Sen. John Edwards (D-North Carolina) will visit Iowa this weekend.

This morning, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) speaks at 10 a.m. on the situation in Darfur at the Center for National Policy. And Capitol Hill will be looking north to Utica, New York, at 3 p.m. ET to hear what Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York) has to say about his future political plans.

Political Hot Topics

Posted: 10:05 a.m. ET
From Stephen Bach, CNN Washington Bureau

9,000,000,000,000: The Senate narrowly approved a $2.8 trillion election-year budget Thursday that broke spending limits only hours after it increased federal borrowing power to avert a government default. The budget decision at the end of a marathon day of voting followed a separate 52-to-48 Senate vote to increase the federal debt limit by $781 billion, bringing the debt ceiling to nearly $9 trillion. The move left Democrats attacking President Bush and Congressional Republicans for piling up record debt in their years in power. New York Times: Senate Approves Budget, Breaking Spending Limitsexternal link

HOW MUCH IS A TRILLION? John Nolan, a mathematics professor at American University in Washington, said that a trillion is "not a big number at all" for some theoretical problems. "But in terms of practical numbers it's just overwhelming." So he conjured up a spending spree, something Americans might be able to relate to. "If you spent a million dollars a day for a million days (2,739 years)," you'd hit $1 trillion, Nolan observed. To spend $1 trillion in the average American life span of 77 years, you'd have to be on a lifetime spending spree of about $35,580,857 and change every day from birth. Reuters via Yahoo! News: US Debt: At Least it's Not $1 Zillionexternal link

SENATE BILL HAS ARCTIC DRILLING PROVISION: The Senate narrowly passed a budget resolution Thursday that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, setting up another showdown in Congress this year over the most fought-over piece of land in America. Republican leaders approved the measure 51-49 after securing the vote of Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, by offering up to $10 billion in projected revenues from drilling in the Alaskan refuge and in offshore waters to rebuild the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast. But the chances of opening the refuge to oil drilling are still uncertain. House Republican moderates who oppose drilling believe they have the votes again this year to block the provision from being included the House budget as they did in late 2005. San Francisco Chronicle: Senate OKs budget with Arctic refuge drilling provisionexternal link

WARS COSTING $9.8 BILLION/MONTH: U.S. military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan will average 44 percent more in the current fiscal year than in fiscal 2005, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said. Spending will rise to $9.8 billion a month from the $6.8 billion a month the Pentagon said it spent last year, the research service said. The group's March 10 report cites "substantial" expenses to replace or repair damaged weapons, aircraft, vehicles, radios and spare parts. It also figures in costs for health care, fuel, national intelligence and the training of Iraqi and Afghan security forces -- "now a substantial expense," it said. Bloomberg: U.S. War Spending to Rise 44% to $9.8 Bln a Month, Report Saysexternal link

WH WILL TALK IRAQ WITH IRAN: The White House said yesterday that the United States is willing to talk with Iran about the U.S.-led war in Iraq on the same day that the Bush administration declared that America "may face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran." The decision to allow talks with Tehran, which has taken an increasingly belligerent stance against the United States, comes just days after President Bush blamed Iran for supplying some of the explosives that Iraq's insurgents are using against coalition forces. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, has been "authorized to speak with Iranians," Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said. "But this is a very narrow mandate dealing specifically with issues relating to Iraq." Washington Times: White House offers talks to Tehranexternal link

KEMPTHORNE TAPPED FOR DOI: President Bush named Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as the new secretary of the interior yesterday, choosing a popular Western Republican with Washington experience and a disputed environmental record to oversee the nation's parks and public lands. If confirmed, Kempthorne would succeed Gale A. Norton, who announced her resignation this month at a time when her department is tied up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Kempthorne, 54, a two-term governor who served in the Senate in the 1990s, presumably should have little trouble winning the approval of his former colleagues. Washington Post: Kempthorne Picked for Interiorexternal link

WILL LT. GOV. RISCH RUN? CANDIDATES MUST FILE BY 5P: While lawmakers from both parties said Lt. Gov. Jim Risch would be an effective interim governor, the buzz at the Capitol Thursday evening was all about Risch's next move if Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is confirmed as U.S. Interior secretary... Risch, who became lieutenant governor in 2003 after more than 20 years in the Idaho Senate, wasn't talking Thursday, but he scheduled a press conference for 10:30 this morning. What Risch decides to do has a ripple effect for politicians and the state. The timing adds to the drama because 5 p.m. today is the deadline for politicians to declare whether they're running and for what job. Idaho Statesman: Risch's dilemma: To fight Otter or stay in lt. governor's raceexternal link

BILL WOULD ALLOW 45 DAYS OF WARRANTLESS SPYING BEFORE REVIEW: The Bush administration could continue its policy of spying on targeted Americans without obtaining warrants, but only if it justifies the action to a small group of lawmakers, under legislation introduced yesterday by key Republican senators... The bill would allow the NSA to eavesdrop, without a warrant, for up to 45 days per case, at which point the Justice Department would have three options. It could drop the surveillance, seek a warrant from FISA's court, or convince a handful of House and Senate members that although there is insufficient evidence for a warrant, continued surveillance "is necessary to protect the United States," according to a summary the four sponsors provided yesterday. They are Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine). Washington Post: Bill Would Allow Warrantless Spyingexternal link

HOUSE APPROVES $19.1 BILLION FOR GULF COAST: The House voted 348-71 Thursday to provide an additional $19.1 billion for Gulf Coast recovery efforts and $67.7 billion for continued military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite complaints that the costs were increasing the federal deficit. Despite grousing from members of both parties about the bill's price tag -- a total of $92 billion including other military and foreign aid items -- most members were unwilling to vote against financing to support U.S. troops or hurricane assistance. New Orleans Times-Picayune: Storm, military spending clears Houseexternal link

$10 MILLION "MISCOMMUNICATION": In the aftermath of Katrina, the feds spent $10 million to renovate and furnish 240 rooms in Alabama that housed just six hurricane survivors, congressional investigators found. Authorities also spent $3 million on 4,000 beds that were never slept in and blew a fortune on ice that was not needed. "Previous reports of waste in the aftermath of Katrina have been bad, but this one is worse," said Rep. Henry Waxman of California, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee. The Government Accountability Office's review of 13 major contracts revealed that poor planning by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and miscommunication resulted in widespread waste. New York Daily News: Katrina funds blown on empty rooms & iceexternal link

HARRIS WAS URGED TO DROP OUT: Katherine Harris' chief political strategist said Thursday that he suggested she abandon her bid for the U.S. Senate because it would be a "tough row to hoe" given the numerous setbacks the campaign had suffered. But Harris refused. Instead, she decided to spend $10 million of her own money on the race and took her case directly to voters, using Fox News' Hannity & Colmes talk show Wednesday night as her platform. Harris' chief strategist, Ed Rollins, gave a sober assessment of her chances a day after her television appearance, revealing that he and other key advisers concluded it probably would be best if she abandoned the race against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Orlando Sentinel: Harris advisers urged her to quitexternal link

"COURTING THE LEFT": The next round of prospective Democratic presidential candidates, even those with centrist credentials, is actively courting the Democratic Party's left wing -- which speaks loudly through its blogs, enjoys rising fund-raising clout built on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign, and is imbued with a confidence that it can build on Republican disarray. The Democrats are rushing to fill a void left in the hearts and minds of many liberal activists by New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's efforts to move to the center, particularly on the Iraq war. "It's very important for them to know we'll fight for their beliefs," [John] Edwards, a former vice presidential candidate, said of the party's liberal activists. Having run in 2004 as a moderate who supported the Iraq war, Edwards is busy building a large base of support on the left. Boston Globe: Emboldened Democrats court party's left wingexternal link

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