Administration

Over their Tuesday lunch, Senate Republican leaders are discussing how to respond to the Obama administration's push for an $2 billion for the overwhelmed cash-for-clunkers program, and the key may be where the money comes from.

Senate Democrats have already started running the $2 billion appropriation through a hotline -- a process that involves surveying potential opposition to a piece of legislation. If no senator objects, a measure can be quickly approved by a unanimous motion.

But Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) said Republicans will almost certainly push to modify the legislation somehow, such as by making sure the money comes from already-approved stimulus money instead of simply adding to the national debt as called for by the legislation passed Friday by the House.

"I would suspect that if that bill is moved, there will be an effort to offer an amendment to say that if we pass it, that the House or the Senate cannot go back in and fill up the stimulus again with $2 billion in debt money," Alexander said. "We'll see what our options are."

Alexander acknowledged the program appears to be working.

"It's stirring things up. It's helping dealers, it's helping car companies. It's having an impact," he said. "Yeah, it's helping some."

-J. Taylor Rushing

It was President George W. Bush who presided over the largest socialized expansion of government-supported healthcare, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) asserted Tuesday.

Ross, a leading member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrat coalition on health issues, said that it was Bush, not President Obama, who pioneered the expansion of government's role in healthcare.

"It was George W. Bush that passed the largest socialized expansion of our government in my lifetime," Ross argued in an interview with a Fox affiliate in Arkansas. "It was called Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The 10 year period for it was well over a trillion dollars."

He said that program exceeds the cost of the healthcare reform bill now before the House.

"The price tag is now under a trillion. That is over 10 years," Ross said. "That is less money than what George W. Bush passed."

Ross's words are a thinly-veiled shot at Republicans who argue that Obama's healthcare plans would result in a massive expansion of government, and create a "government-run" healthcare system.

But Ross, a key swing Democrat whose vote could swing other centrists on the healthcare bill, still said he hasn't made up his mind on whether or not he'll support the final reform bill.

"I don't know how I will vote on the final bill," Ross explained. "There are still 10 more legislative votes before we have a final vote."

He added: "I don't know what the final bill will look like. If it covers illegal immigrants, I'll be against it. If it uses federal funds to pay for abortion, I'll be against it. If it does not allow you to keep what you've got today and always choose your own doctor, I'll be against it."

Watch the video of the interview below:

Former First Lady Laura Bush wants to see a woman as president in her lifetime -- as long as it's a Republican.

"I would love to see that in my lifetime," Bush said during an interview on Fox News. "I hope that's what we see, and I hope it's a Republican woman, might I add."

The former first lady offered words of support for the candidate that many Republicans had hoped would be the first female president, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

"I think that's just something she needed to determine, and she did," Bush said of Palin's decision to step down as governor. " And everyone has to respect the decision she made."

Don't expect former First Daughters Jenna or Barbara to have their name on a ballot, either; Bush said her daughters have no interest in entering the family business.

Mrs. Bush also said that she's spending her life after the White House settling into the Bushes' Dallas home. She also reported that she's been "talking" her memoirs, and then having her spoken words transcribed, because, Bush said, she's not a good typist.

The U.S. will resemble a "banana republic" in 10 years if its fiscal situation stays on the same track, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) warned Tuesday.

Gregg, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, asserted that programs like "cash for clunkers" would pile up to as much as 80 percent of the total U.S. economic output because of federal spending.

"We're going to be like a banana republic in 10 years!" Gregg said during a panel discussion on CNBC. "Sure, Americans want the program. But if you stop and think about it, is it right to do for our children?"

Gregg complained that the Congress was "spending the money twice" to extend the rebate program for new, fuel-efficient cars by having taken the money out of Department of Energy loans allotted for automakers, but then obligating those funds to be replenished.

The term "banana republic" usually refers to countries that are politically and economically unstable, and run by a small, powerful group.

"I just can't understand why we would set up a program that says, 'We're going to give you $4,500,' and then give the bill to your children," Gregg said.

He and other Republican senators appearing on CNBC -- Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) -- said that they would consider voting to extend cash for clunkers if the money were taken out of the $787 billion stimulus, but not replenished.

Former President Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea is a "solely private" mission, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday morning.

Gibbs said the White House would not comment on the former president and husband of the Secretary of State's trip to the regime seeking to free two U.S. journalists being held there as criminals.

"While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment," Gibbs said in a statement. "We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton's mission."

President Obama enjoyed a slight uptick in Gallup's tracking poll of his popularity as the high political season winds down and lawmakers adjourn to recess.

56 percent of voters said they approved of the way the president was handling his job, up from an administration-low of 52 percent last week.

The slight edge up comes after a week in which Obama has made very forceful and public defenses of his administration's economic management, especially when it comes to the $787 stimulus bill he signed into law earlier this year, and his bid to reform healthcare.

The upward tick also reflects public opinion in the wake of the infamous "beer summit," in which the president sought to cool tensions from a racially-tinged arrest in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Still, Gallup cautioned: "The longer-term significance of the current uptick in Obama's ratings will not be known until it can be looked at in historical perspective."

The poll, conducted July 31-Aug. 2, has a three percent margin of error.

The "cash for clunkers" program is an example of the Obama administration's mismanagement of the economy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asserted Monday.

McConnell, an original opponent of the auto rebate program, took to the Senate floor this afternoon to criticize the plan ahead of a vote expected this week in his chamber to offer a $2 billion extension to the initiative.

"Last week we saw the administration's tendency to miss the mark on economic estimates again with the so-called 'cash for clunkers' program," McConnell said in prepared remarks. "We were told this program would last for several months. As it turned out, it ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion dollar extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened with the first billion."

While the extended funding for the program passed the House fairly easily, some senators in both parties have expressed a reluctance to quickly sign off on a bill expected to hit the floor this week.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Sunday that the program would have to be suspended next week if the Senate fails to approve more funding this week.

"Americans are telling us that health care is too important to rush," McConnell said. "They're saying it's too important to base our decisions on this issue solely on the estimates that we're getting from the same people who brought us the stimulus and cash for clunkers."

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) threatened to "shut down the Senate" before he allows terrorist suspects to be relocated to Leavenworth, Kansas.

Roberts heatedly pledged to prevent detainees currently housed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be relocated to a prison facility in his home state.

"I've said it once. I'll say it many more times: Not in my back yard. Not in Kansas," Roberts said in a press conference with Kansas reporters. "I will shut down the Senate before I'll let that happen."

The Associated Press reported Monday that the Obama administration is examining the Kansas facility as well as a Michigan prison as destination for accused terrorists after they close down the Guantanamo Bay facility.

Roberts said that he would like to see the detainees remain in Cuba, and accused the Obama administration of closing the facility there to appease international allies. He said that he also wouldn't want detainees to be relocated to Michigan.

"What more proof does this administration need that a new facility will not make housing terrorists more appealing to the international community or international opinion?" Roberts said. "It will just make it less safe for Americans."

He said that President Obama has changed his mind on several big issues, and that Guantanamo should be no different.

The Kansas Republican chided on another Kansas Republican, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for not having briefed lawmakers on the Leavenworth facility.

All Senate Democrats will have lunch with President Obama on Tuesday to confer on shared priorities in the past months and months to come.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday the Democrats will gather at the White House tomorrow "to continue to talk about the priorities that they have" and what has been acomplished in the first six and a half months of the administration.

Why the White House for the large gathering?

"It's the president's birthday and Chuck E. Cheese was booked," Gibbs joked.

-Sam Youngman

Healthcare reform isn't a top priority for Americans, one prominent House Republican suggested Monday.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee who is also mulling a run for Senate in 2010, said that the tide has turned toward the GOP in the healthcare debate, but that his party should avoid "going for the kill."

"This is not a major issue among the American people," King said of the reform efforts during an appearance on MSNBC. "When you ask Americans what issues are important to them, healthcare does not rank high."

King argued that the issue itself does not rank highly, and Americans only say they want the health system reformed when prompted.

"If you ask Americans if they want healthcare reform, they'll say 'yes,'" King said. "But then when you talk about what healthcare reform means, it's not what Barack Obama wants."

King said the GOP had gained momentum from opposing the plan, but had to avoid trying to "kill" the president's initiative, and instead lay out Republican alternatives on healthcare.

"We have to avoid acting as if we won this battle," King asserted. "Right now, the voters are turning somewhat against Barack Obama. That doesn't mean they're coming toward us."

"We have to play this very effectively, but not be going for the kill," he added. "We're just layout out our plan and why we believe the president's wrong."

Update: 10:10 a.m.: Shripal Shah, Northeast Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), responds:

This latest display of Peter King's erratic behavior proves that he is out of touch with his constituents and the American people.

Everyone but Peter King seems to recognize the need to bring down the cost of health insurance. It's time for him to get his head out of the sand and live up to his responsibilities to his constituents by working for health insurance reform that will lower costs and increase access to care.