Daily Briefing: 'Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop'
• Jack Abramoffpleads guilty as part of plea deal; inquiry reaches 60 lawmakers. Justice Department official: "The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive. We're going to follow this wherever it goes." [ WP , NYT , LAT , WSJ , USAT , WT ]
•Secret eavesdropping by the NSA occurred before White House approval; data was shared with the FBI. [ NYT , WP ]
•Republican lawmakers seek cover fromAbramoffscandal; officials are "waiting for the other shoe to drop." [ WP , NYT , WP , USAT ]
•Republican strategy of "turning the K Street lobbying corridor into a cog of the GOP political machine" backfires. [ LAT ]
• Abramoffsecretly collected over $20m; he has agreed to return $25m. [ NYT , LAT ]
•Rep.Bob Ney(R-Ohio) --"Rep. #1"-- could face indictment. [ LAT ]
•D.C. is likely to benefit from new risk-based distribution of Homeland Security grants. [ WP ]
• Bushattacks opponents of the Patriot Act: "For partisan reasons, in my mind, people have not stepped up." [ WP , NYT , USAT ]
•Lobbying industry expected to face increased scrutiny, criticism. [ WP ]
•"Left Behind" bills are left behind. [ WP ]