Daily Briefing: Talk’n Texan

• House, by narrow 216 to 214 vote, approves steep cuts in entitlement programs; viewed as victory for Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). [WP, NYT, W$J, USAT]
• White House has scaled back their agenda; “Bush has come around to the notion that a presidency can handle only one truly big thing at a time, and for now that thing is Iraq.” [WP, LAT]
• Rep. Blunt expected to win race for House majority leader today. [LAT]
• Many House Republicans believe their leadership is going too far with proposed reforms for lobbying. [WP, NYT]
• Administration is rejecting Senate requests for legal opinions on NSA eavesdropping. [NYT]
• “Disorganization of Senate Democrats” created smooth path for Samuel Alito’s confirmation. [WP]
• U.S. Capitol Police chief apologizes for hassling Cindy Sheehan. [WP, NYT]
• Bush’s rhetorical push for energy independence is greeted with skepticism and “a lack of enthusiasm” on the Hill. [NYT, W$J]

• Alito breaks with conservatives in first vote as Supreme Court justice. [USAT]
• Bush brings State of the Union themes to Nashville: “Let me put it to you in Texan. If al Qaeda is calling into the United States, we want to know.” [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Michael Chertoff is chided by the GAO for incompetent response to Katrina. [NYT, W$J, USAT]
• Many Katrina victims disappointed with content of the State of the Union. [USAT]
• White House defends Texas redistricting. [WP]
• Special lobbying exemption for tribes has not been addressed. [WP]

READ MORE: Democrats, Republicans, SCOTUS, White House, agenda, cindy sheehan, eavesdropping, energy independence, george w. bush, house, indian tribes, iraq, katrina, lobbying, michael chertoff, nsa, redistricting, roy blunt, samuel alito, senate, sotu, texas