Just POlitics

Presidential press conference

The President is going to hold a news conference tomorrow night at 8:30 EST to push his energy plan and his efforts to partially privatize the Social Security retirement program, White House spokesman Scott McClellan announced.

Bush is expected to give a 10 to 12-minute opening statement. He will "talk in more specific ways" about his efforts to allow taxpayers to shift some of the Social Security taxes they pay to private accounts, said McClellan.

Putin in Israel

Presidents Vladimir Putin and Ariel Sharon signed agreements that improve the bilateral cooperation between Israel and Russia.

Putin assured Israel that his sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and support for Iran building a nuclear reactor was not changing the balance of power in the region. He also urged Iran to demonstrate more fully that it was not on a path to create a nuclear weapon.

Parental consent law

The Senate is set to take up the fifth anti-abortion law since the election of President Bush. The Senate is to consider a bill very similar to the measure approved by the House 270-157 the past Wednesday. The Senate bill would make it a federal crime punishable by a fine, jail time or both for an adult to take a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion in contravention of state parental notification requirements.