Is Bush Losing Congress?

" 'I would suggest that people at the White House need to know that the chances of our getting a reconciliation bill moving out of my committee are very difficult if we don't get this behind us,' Grassley said, referring to a key spending measure for the 2006 budget that his panel is supposed to finish by Oct. 19.

"The threat elicited gasps from the packed hearing room. Grassley is usually one of the administration's staunchest supporters, and he had previously urged senators to quickly move the spending bill, which includes a recommended $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid over five years."

Bush's Military Proposal

William Douglas and Drew Brown write for Knight Ridder Newspapers: "Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he and his fellow governors aren't exactly jumping for joy to hear that President Bush is debating whether the Department of Defense should become the lead agency in responding to major domestic disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

" 'I haven't heard any governor say `That's a great idea. I'll give up my power to an unelected general to oversee my state,' '' said Huckabee, a Republican and the chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association. 'That would be a very significant, almost revolutionary change in government policy and practice.'

"If Bush pushes the idea, he's likely to face a barrage of opposition from governors, state and municipal officials, civil libertarians and some military experts, who argue that expanding the active-duty armed services' role in local disasters would trample on cherished states' rights and burden the military, which already is stretched thin by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Supreme Court Watch

Elisabeth Bumiller writes in the New York Times: "President Bush is close to naming a successor to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and could announce his choice this week, Republicans close to the White House said Wednesday.

"One name that was the source of enormous speculation in Washington legal and political circles was Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, who is a leader in the search for Justice O'Connor's successor. Ms. Miers, 60, was the first woman to become a partner at a major Texas law firm and the first woman to be president of the State Bar of Texas. At one point, Ms. Miers was Mr. Bush's personal lawyer."

Meet Harriet Miers

Miers is considered intensely loyal to Bush. At the White House, she has been promoted twice, from staff secretary to deputy chief of staff for policy, and then to legal counsel. Bush once called her a "pit bull in size 6 shoes."

Here are some recent profiles from The Washington Post and the Dallas Morning News .

Gas Shortage?

I've been noting for the last few days how odd it was for Bush to call for Americans to conserve energy in the face of a national gas shortage -- when that gas shortage doesn't exist.

Sheila McNulty writes in the Financial Times that the shortage is coming.

"President George W. Bush's call for the US public to conserve energy is aimed at preventing a run on petrol at a time when the US is precariously short of it. . . .