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Washington (CNN) – A day after invoking slavery as he criticized Republican opposition to health care reform legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, explained his controversial comment but didn't acquiesce to Republican requests to apologize.

"When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said slow down, it's too early, let's wait, things aren't bad enough," Reid said Monday in a Senate floor speech.

Several GOP senators and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele have demanded that Reid apologize for the remark. But Reid refused to do so Tuesday when asked about the GOP demands.

"Well, I think the point is quite clear by this point," Reid told reporters on Capitol Hill. "That at pivotal points in American history the tactics of distortion, delay have certainly been present. They've been used to stop progress. That's what we're talking about here. That's what's happening here. That's very clear. That's a point I made - no more, no less. Anyone who willingly distorts my comments is only proving my point."

As majority leader, Reid is charged with getting the 60 votes needed to pass health care in the Senate. Early polling shows that Reid faces a tough re-election battle in 2010.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, needs to apologize for comparing GOP critics of health care reform to opponents of the Civil Rights Act. Steele called it "an ignorant statement," in an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room."

"The reality of the country right now is, you're seeing played out in large measure the arrogance of power," Steele said, appearing with Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine. "Where Democrats feel that they can come to well of the Senate, say whatever they want to say, do whatever they do, and there's not a daggone thing you can do about it, America. 'You can't stop us.' Well, I'm here today to say you can."

Kaine countered that sharp words are coming from both sides of the aisle, pointing out that Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, recently described Medicaid as "a medical ghetto."

"That's language that probably isn't appropriate either," the DNC chair said.

Steele took aim at an administration plan, outlined Tuesday by President Obama, to help small businesses. The RNC chairman claimed that any boost the plan would give to small business will be counteracted by a growing tax burden, regulatory burden and new health care laws being enacted by Democrats. "It's not real," Steele said of the jobs plan. "That's the reality of it."

Kaine said Republicans have no plan except "to be against anything the president is for" and boasted that the stimulus package has "saved or created 1.6 million jobs." His Republican counterpart called the 1.6 million figure "imaginary."

Steele also elaborated on his plan to publish a new book in January about the Republican Party. Asked about the upcoming book, Steele said it will focus "the future of this country and our party."

The House Homeland Security committee invited the Salahis to attend a December 3 hearing, but they declined to attend. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) - The Virginia couple who slipped through White House security and shook hands with President Barack Obama will invoke the Fifth Amendment, which protects against self-incrimination, if subpoenaed to testify to Congress, according to a letter from the couple's lawyer.

The House Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to subpoena Tareq and Michaele Salahi to answer questions about how they gained entry to the White House on November 24 despite not being on the guest list to attend that night's State Dinner for the prime minister of India.

A lawyer for the Salahis sent a letter to the committee Tuesday saying the Salahis will not testify because of a pending federal investigation by the U.S. attorney in Washington, and because of statements made by some members of Congress about the Salahis last week.
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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin spoke about Mike Huckabee's clemency decision and a potential third party run in 2012.

Washington (CNN) – Sarah Palin said in a recent radio appearance that Mike Huckabee made a "horrible decision" nine years ago to commute the prison sentence of the man suspected of killing four police officers in Washington, but she added that her "heart goes out" to the former Arkansas governor.

In an interview last week with conservative radio host Lars Larson, Palin called the murders "tragic" and "unfathomable."

"It was a bad decision obviously, but my heart goes out to Huckabee," the former Alaska governor said. "I love him, and I feel bad for him to be in this position. But I feel even worse for the victim's families in this situation. I do feel bad for Huckabee, but it was a horrible decision he made."

Huckabee has said he regrets the decision to commute the sentence of the suspected shooter, Maurice Clemmons, but said he thinks he made the right assessment at the time. Palin said she had never pardoned or granted clemency to prisoners when she served in Juneau.

"I don't have a whole lot of mercy for the bad guys," she said. "I'm on the good guys' side."

Pressed on her political ambitions, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee would not rule out a third party run at the White House in 2012.
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Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett downplayed a report Tuesday that recounted a testy telephone call between the president and fellow Democrat Rep. John Conyers.

Washington (CNN) - A senior White House official downplayed a report Tuesday that recounted a testy telephone call between President Obama and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

In an interview with CNN, White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said that Obama and Conyers have "the kind of relationship where they can call each other anytime" and "blow off a little steam."

Jarrett was responding to a question about a story published by The Hill that said Obama recently called Conyers to express frustration about the chairman's criticism of him.

"[Obama] called me and told me that he heard that I was demeaning him and I had to explain to him that it wasn't anything personal, it was an honest difference on the issues," the Michigan Democrat told The Hill. "And he said, 'Well, let's talk about it.'"

Conyers office would not comment on the exchange when contacted by CNN.
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(CNN) - Community organizing group ACORN needs wide-ranging reforms after an embezzlement scandal, but broke no laws when conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp approached members in a videotaped "sting," an attorney's report concludes.

The videos led to the dismissal of four ACORN employees who appeared to offer advice to the couple and to federal legislation barring the group from receiving federal funds. But a review by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, who was hired by ACORN to examine the issue, found "no evidence that any action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by ACORN employees on behalf of the videographers."

"While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff," Harshbarger's report concludes. "In fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers."
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Louisiana's Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu announced Tuesday that he will run again for the mayor of New Orleans.

(CNN) – Louisiana's Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu announced Tuesday that he will run again for the mayor of New Orleans.

"I love New Orleans with all my heart and all my soul," the Democrat said in an online video announcing his bid. "It's where I grew up and where I'm raising my family. And I think anyone who loves this city like I do, understands that when New Orleans calls, you have to answer. She just won't let you go."

Landrieu said that if elected, he plans to create jobs, improve the city's schools, and make the streets of New Orleans safer.

"I'm going to need your help," Landrieu said. "We've got a future to create and a city to rebuild."
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Washington (CNN) - The Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment to tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortion in the sweeping health care bill it is debating.

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Gen. Stanley McChrystal spoke before members of Congress Tuesday about the outlook in Afghanistan.

Washington (CNN) - Finding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and rolling back a resurgent Taliban are necessary steps toward winning the war in Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander there told a Senate committee Tuesday.

Bin Laden remains at large more than eight years after the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that triggered the Afghan war, and is widely believed to be hiding along the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan,
said the world's most wanted terrorist is "an iconic figure" whose survival "emboldens al Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world."

"It would not defeat al Qaeda to have him captured or killed, but I don't think we can finally defeat al Qaeda until he is finally captured or killed," McChrystal told the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he said if bin Laden is hiding across the border, "It is outside of my mandate."

In addition, he said, pushing back the Taliban - which allowed al Qaeda to operate from Afghanistan before 9/11 - is a "prerequisite" for destroying the terrorist network.

"To pursue our core goal of defeating al Qaeda and preventing their return to Afghanistan, we must disrupt and degrade the Taliban's capacity, deny their access to the Afghan population, and strengthen the Afghan security forces," he said.

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Updated: 4:16 p.m.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) - The razor thin election for mayor of Atlanta is headed to a recount.

Tuesday city councilwoman Mary Norwood made the official request to the Fulton County, Georgia election department.

The official vote totals from the December 1 runoff place former state senator Kasim Reed ahead of Norwood by 715 votes out of 84,383 votes cast.
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The newest justice had the honor of issuing the Supreme Court's first ruling of the term. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Washington (CNN) - The newest justice had the honor of issuing the Supreme Court's first ruling of the term, and Sonia Sotomayor managed a shy smile Tuesday after reading a portion of it from the bench in the public session.

Sotomayor joined the bench in August and has heard oral argument in 35 appeals with her eight colleagues. The high court issued three other rulings Tuesday, from cases heard when the new term began in early October.

Chief Justice John Roberts announced Sotomayor's name at the start of the morning session, and she proceeded to spend about four minutes summarizing the court's unanimous conclusions.

At issue in her ruling was the right to immediately appeal a judge's pretrial order requiring disclosure of confidential attorney-client communications.
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Washington (CNN) - Mortgage company executives and government officials faced an angry congressional committee Tuesday concerning some of the problems with the administration's mortgage aid program aimed at avoiding foreclosures. Many of the complaints lodged by members of the House Financial Services Committee focused on the slow pace of converting trial mortgage modifications into permanent ones under the program.

While over 680,000 borrowers now have temporary adjustments which last for several months, only a small fraction of those people have been offered new permanent mortgages.

"We are terribly frustrated," Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) told the hearing.

"Why can't we do so something...I am frustrated," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Missouri) said.

In an attempt to dramatically raise the number of homeowners whose mortgages are permanently revised, the government last week announced new steps to pressure companies, including such steps as sending Treasury Department and Fannie Mae personnel to the largest 7 mortgage servicers to personally make sure applications are being processed efficiently; giving the companies specific targets and publishing more detailed information about the institutions' conversion rates.

"I think the banks have a long way to go to get up to their full potential," Assistant Treasury Secretary Herb Allison told the committee, adding the institutions recently made progress towards more conversions. "Lights need to be shine on each of these banks."
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Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in an effort to recover lost funds, spoke out Tuesday about the proposed settlement.

Washington (CNN) - Thousands of American Indians would receive as much as $1,000 each if they accept the proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit over government mismanagement of tribal lands.

The suit, filed in 1996, accused the U.S. Department of the Interior of failing to account for and provide revenue from a trust fund representing the value of Indian assets managed by the government.

Individual Indian Money accounts are supposed to represent the property of individual Indians, held by the United States as trustee on their behalf. The lawsuit had accused the government of failing to account for the money, failing to make proper payments, and converting tribal money for the government's own use.

A federal judge must approve the plan, and Congress would have to enact a bill to implement it.
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Join the conversation on Jack's blog.

Majority Leader Harry Reid is the top cheerleader for health care reform in the Senate... and this support for the bill might just wind up costing him his Nevada Senate seat.

That's because a growing number of Nevadans don't support health care reform...

A Las Vegas Review-Journal poll shows 53 percent of registered voters oppose the president's health care plan while only 39 percent approve of it.

Majorities of Nevadans are also opposed to a public option, believe that the reform plan would raise taxes, and that it would lead to the rationing of health care. Worse yet – ahead of his re-election bid next year, only 39 percent approve of Reid's efforts to get a bill though the Senate.

Evidence suggests that although most Democrats support Reid's efforts... that probably won't be enough to outweigh the disapproval of most independents and Republicans. One pollster says Reid is carrying the flag for this reform and "You remember what happened historically to flag bearers in war. The flag bearer gets shot first."

To read more and contribute to the Cafferty File discussion, click here

Washington (CNN) - Two years into the current recession, Americans don't see economic conditions getting better any time soon, and the steady growth in optimism that previous polls measured throughout the year appears to have stalled, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 34 percent of those questioned say that things are going well in the country today. That's 14 points higher than a year ago, but a dip of 3 points since November.

Full results (pdf)

"This the first time in Barack Obama's presidency that this number has gone down," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

According to the survey, 39 percent of the respondents say the country's still in a downturn, up 6 points from last month. Nearly half of those questioned say the economy has stabilized and a small minority, 15 percent, think the country is starting to recover.
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RNC Chairman Michael Steele said Tuesday that disagreements with Democrats over health care reform have 'nothing to do with the historic roots of slavery.'

(CNN) – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele Tuesday demanded that the Senate Democratic leader apologize for invoking slavery as he criticized Republicans for their opposition to passing health care reform.

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all Republicans can come up with is this: Slow down, stop everything, let's start over," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Monday.

"If you think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right," Reid also said from the Senate floor. "When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said slow down, it's too early, let's wait, things aren't bad enough."

Steele, the RNC's first African-American chairman, took exception with Reid's remarks.
"It was not a sober moment for Harry Reid at all," Steele said Tuesday morning on CBS. "It was an ignorant moment.
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At the request of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a group of ten moderate and liberal Senate Democrats are meeting to try to hash out their differences on health care reform.

Washington (CNN) - Liberal and moderate Senate Democrats said Tuesday they were continuing negotiations on a package of alternatives to a government-run public health insurance option in the chamber's sweeping health care bill.

The negotiating senators said the ideas under discussion would replace the controversial public option in a compromise intended to win the support of the chamber's entire Democratic caucus.

Senate Republicans unanimously oppose the health care bill so far, and it will require support from all 60 members of the Democratic caucus for it to pass.

"I think we know where the fault lines are," said Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, one of the liberals in the talks. "Still, at this point, but they're not necessarily easy ones to overcome. Things have been narrowed, but there are still very significant issues."

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is leading the negotiations, said the talks would continue throughout Tuesday in the face of remaining "bumps in the road."

"There are many bumps in the road because everyone's giving," Schumer said. "Again, the overall framework, the way I put it is: some in our caucus want more government involvement, some in our caucus want less government involvement. The question is, how do you thread that needle?"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who asked for the talks involving five liberal and five moderate Senate Democrats to work out differences on key health care issues, wanted an agreement by Tuesday. Participants said they were working to meet that deadline, but offered no promises.
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Washington (CNN) - Former FBI and CIA Director William Webster will lead an outside investigation of the FBI's "policies, practices and actions" before the November massacre at Fort Hood, the bureau announced Tuesday.

Webster, a former federal judge, led the FBI from 1978 to 1987. The bureau's current director, Robert Mueller, picked him to look into "whether there are improvements to our current practices or other authorities that could make us all safer in the future," Mueller said in a statement Tuesday.

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Obama: Bailout for Main Street.'

Washington (CNNMoney.com) - President Obama on Tuesday outlined a broad new proposal to try to spur jobs and give more help to Main Street consumers and businesses.

In a speech at the Brookings Institution, Obama said he wants to give small businesses tax breaks for new hires and equipment purchases. He also wants to expand American Recovery and Reinvestment Act programs and spend some $50 billion more on roads, bridges, aviation and water projects.

Finally, Obama would offer consumers rebates for retro-fitting their homes to consume less energy.

"Even though we have reduced the deluge of job losses to a relative trickle, we are not yet creating jobs at a pace to help all those families who have been swept up in the flood," Obama said in prepared remarks.

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Washington (CNN) - The Senate prepared to vote Tuesday on an amendment to tighten restrictions on federal funding for abortion in the sweeping health care bill it is considering.

No matter the outcome of the vote, it will impact the chances of the health care bill eventually winning approval from Congress.

The amendment filed Monday by moderate Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah would mirror language from the health care bill passed by the House last month that prevents any health plan receiving federal subsidies from offering coverage for abortion.

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