• Heard on the Hill: Sen. Bill Frist’s middle son Jonathan has a Facebook profile, complete with “hunky photos” and strange group affiliations… Oxygen is recruiting for a reality show called “Capitol Hill Girls”… Jack Abramoff listed Rep. Bob Ney’s golf handicap, but the congressman doesn’t even play. [Roll Call]
• Washington Whispers: Laura Bush’s press secretary was “American Idol” Taylor Hicks’s ninth-grade teacher, so they’re trying to arrange a White House visit… Margaret Spellings is learning Arabic. [USN&WR]

• Senate passes $109B in emergency spending by vote of 77 to 21; bill is rifled with earmarks that Bush threatened to veto. [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• House approves $7.4B for port security by vote of 421 to 2. [WP]
• Rumsfeld confronted by harsh criticism from audience members. Asked a former CIA analyst, “Why did you lie to get us into a war that caused these kind of casualties and was not necessary?” [AP]
• Administration increases rhetorical push for “democratic reform in Russia”; Cheney’s comments could “reflect a growing impatience with Russia’s unwillingness to back stronger measures, including sanctions, against the Iranians.” [WP, NYT, WSJ]
• Republicans “are struggling to marry a newfound zeal for energy conservation with their traditional loyalty to big cars and Big Oil.” [NYT]
• The proposed $100 gas rebate “offers a window on how Washington sometimes works in a slapdash way” and shows how Sen. Frist “has stumbled at the pinnacle of Senate power.” Sen. Thune: “I never was in favor of that. We all got out there and tried to put our best face on it.” [NYT]

America, your lawmakers are bored.

By Tuesday morning cooler heads prevailed, and the number of votes was pared back to three. By that time, though, all of the scheduled hearings had been canceled, leaving a lot of miffed and sheepish senators.

“I look around,” Mr. Lott said, “and think, ‘Am I the only one who thinks this is stupid?’ “

Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, said, “It’s sort of arrogant of us, isn’t it, scheduling them and then not keeping our appointments?”

“This job sucks,” said Missouri lawmaker Jim Talent. “I bet the Executive Branch has way more fun,” he added, before making a motion to adjourn to their rooms, slam the doors, and listen to music really loud.

The motion was ignored by Senator Frist, however, who said, “Dude! Did you know we get to ‘define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas’?”

Senate Scrubs Hearings As Politics Trump Policy In an Election Year [NYT]

• Pentagon commits $300m to "psychological warfare operation" that "includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source"; bumper stickers and t-shirts are also being considered. [USAT, USAT]
• Army approves new, classified rules for interrogation. Official: "This is a stick in McCain's eye. It goes right up to the edge. He's not going to be comfortable with this." [NYT]
• Pentagon is reportedly monitoring the activities of "peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups." [NBC, Reuters]
• Administration is debating the need for new nuclear warheads; "the U.S. could someday spend billions of dollars replacing much of the current arsenal." [WSJ]
• Democrats press for subpoenas of White House officials regarding government response to Katrina. [WP]
• Texas prosecutors are investigating possible ties between Rep. Tom DeLay and lobbyist Brent Wilkes, who was linked to former Rep. Randy Cunningham. [NYT]
• House nears passage of tough border security bill. [NYT]
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce splits with Republican leadership over immigration bill. [WP]

• Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, will return $67,000 in donations from tribes: "Even though those contributions were legal and fully reported as required by law, I will not knowingly keep even one dollar in contributions if there is even a remote possibility that they could have been the result of any action Mr. Abramoff might have taken." [WP, NYT, WT]
• Pentagon upgrades nation-building missions to the same status as combat operations. [WT]
• Sen. Frist signals that Congress will not take on the "so-called patch for the alternative minimum tax" this year. [NYT]
• Bush says registering for the new Medicare drug plan is a "daunting task" but "a good deal for our seniors." [USAT]
• Samuel Alito confirmation hearings "will pit [Sen. Arlen Specter's] deeply held political beliefs against his personal ties to the judge and his loyalty to the Republican Party." [USAT]
• Conservative Christians remain "on the sidelines while liberal Christians protest domestic spending cuts." [WP]
• Environmental groups announce opposition to Samuel Alito. [WSJ]

• Senators, by vote of 79 to 19, pass a resolution marking next year as "a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty. . . thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq." Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.): "Staying the course will not do." Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.): "It's a continuation of the oversight we've been conducting for years in the United States Senate." WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Senators from both parties "are demanding that the administration show that it has a strategy to turn the conflict over to the Iraqis and eventually bring U.S. troops home." [WP]
• Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) defends critics of the war: "[T]he Bush administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonized for disagreeing with them. . . to not question your government is unpatriotic." [WP]
• Oil executives did meet with Cheney's energy task force in 2001. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): "The White House went to great lengths to keep these meetings secret, and now oil executives may be lying to Congress about their role in the Cheney task force." [WP]
• Alito tries to downplay conservative remarks from 1985. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Rice reaches deal on access to the Gaza Strip. [WP, NYT, NYT, USAT]
• Lewis Libby plans to "seek testimony from journalists beyond those cited in the indictment and will probably challenge government agreements limiting their grand jury testimony." [NYT]

• Bush tells Chinese leaders, "once the door to freedom is opened even a crack, it cannot be closed." [WP, NYT, WSJ, USAT]
• Alito's decisions are "more subtle and less dismissive of precedent." [WSJ]
• American views on Iraq echo views on Vietnam. [USAT]
• Senate Finance Committee lets go of cuts to dividend and capital gains rates; another setback for Bush. [WP, WSJ]
• Ben Bernanke pledges to be "strictly independent of all political influences." [WP]
• David Safavian was up-and-coming until he was indicted. [WP]