Breaking News Items on the National Political Scene

A lot going on today:

UPDATE: Minimum Wage Filibuster Ended - The Senate voted 87-10 this afternoon to cut off debate on the Senate minimum wage bill, which now includes tax cuts for small businesses. The minimum wage would be raised from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over two years. A vote on the measure is now expected in the next few days. Since the House bill didn't include the tax breaks, that difference will have to be resolved before a bill could be sent to Bush for signing.

NIE Out Monday - Former Intelligence Director John Negroponte, now seeking confirmation as Deputy Secretary of State, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that the long-delayed National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq will be delivered to Congress by Monday.

Bush Not Sole Decider - Sen. Arlen Apector (R-PA), ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, disputed Bush's claim to be The Decider in a hearing dealing with the constitutional power of Congress to halt a war. "I would suggest respectfully to the president that he is not the sole decider," said Specter. "The decider is a shared and joint responsibility."

White House Accused of Distorting Global Warming Evidence - Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change, said today there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly "to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming." Waxman and the ranking Republican on his committee, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), have long sought documents on climate policy from the administration, but have been rebuffed. "The committee isn't trying to obtain state secrets or documents that could affect our immediate national security," said Waxman. "We are simply seeking answers to whether the White House's political staff is inappropriately censoring impartial government scientists."

Bush Iran Aims Questioned - Craig Crawford writes at CQPolitics.com today that "either Bush is again laying the foundation for military action, or he is setting up Iran to share the blame that he also lays at the feet of Democrats and the news media for helping cause a U.S. failure in Iraq." He is reacting to Bush's statement on NPR yesterday that the U.S. will "respond firmly" if Iran escalates its military involvment in Iraq, and a leak by Pentagon officials to CBS News of what they call “proof positive” of such involvement: Iranian serial numbers on powerful explosive devices found in Iraq.

Miller On Stand - Marcy Wheeler of Fire Dog Lake is live-blogging the testimony of former New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the Scooter Libby criminal trial.