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Washington (CNN) - Taking action against air travel nightmares, the Department of Transportation ordered airlines on Monday to allow passengers stranded on airport tarmacs to deplane after three hours.

After a series of horror stories, including one in which passengers were stranded overnight on a plane in Rochester, Minnesota last summer, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that in the future, passengers will be allowed to disembark after three hours.

"Airline passengers have rights, and these new rules will require airlines to live up to their obligation to treat their customers fairly," LaHood said in a statement.

This rule will apply to domestic flights, with exceptions only for safety or security issues, or if air traffic control advises the pilot that returning to the terminal would disrupt operations. U.S. airlines operating international flights will have to specify their time limits for deplaning passengers in advance.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama on Monday called the Senate vote to end its debate and move toward passing a health care bill "a big victory for the American people."

In remarks at the White House, Obama rejected arguments by Republican opponents of the bill that it will increase the federal deficit.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says the Senate bill will reduce the deficit by $132 billion in the first 10 years, Obama said.

"That argument that opponents are making against this bill does not hold water," Obama said.

The Senate will hold more procedural votes on the health care bill this week, with a final vote scheduled for Christmas Eve.

Washington (CNN) - A government plan to reduce contracting costs will save $19 billion in 2010, President Barack Obama announced Monday.

The savings come from terminating unnecessary contracts, strengthening acquisition management, ending the over-reliance on contractors and reducing the use of high-risk contracts across government, according to documents released with Obama's announcement.

Obama noted government spending on federal contracts more than doubled from 2002, totaling about $540 billion in 2008.

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(CNN) - Arizona Sen. John McCain said the recent flap over Sarah Palin's decision to black out his name from a campaign visor while she was vacationing in Hawaii is much ado about nothing.

"Oh, it's fine. Sarah said she wanted to be a little bit incognito," McCain said when asked about the incident on "Fox News Sunday. "I don't blame her. I understand that."

The controversy arose after photos of a vacationing Palin showed the former Republican vice presidential candidate relaxing on a Hawaii beach wearing a McCain campaign visor on which she had clearly blacked out the Arizona senator's name with a marker.

The Web site TMZ declared the blacked-out visor amounted to a "frontal attack on Sen. John McCain," but Palin later said she was merely trying to "be incognito" in an effort to get a little rest and relaxation after her nearly month-long book tour.

"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection," Palin told the Web site Politico when questioned about the hat. "As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him."

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McCain said he is taking Palin at her word.

Can't you take her at her word? It's - Sarah and I and Todd, Cindy - we have a wonderful relationship. We're dear friends," he said. "She is a - going to be a force in the Republican Party for a longtime. And the hysterical attacks on her from the left continue to validate that. "

(CNN) – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted Sen. Ben Nelson in his own backyard over the Nebraska Democrat's decision Saturday to provide the key 60th vote to advance the party's health care reform bill.

In a fiery speech Sunday at an Omaha rally sponsored by Americans for Prosperity of Nebraska - a group opposed to Democratic efforts at health care reform - Huckabee said it is "historic and unprecedented that we are now bribing public officials openly - now we openly bribe them with $300 million at a time and tell them this is what your vote is worth."

The final Democratic holdout, Nelson agreed to back the measure following 13 hours of negotiations during which he won a commitment from the federal government to fund entirely his state's Medicaid population beyond the three years of funding granted to all states by the bill.

Republicans were quick to question Nelson's motivations for backing the bill, dubbing his alleged deal making the "cornhusker kickback," and claiming Nelson's provision has increased the burden on the 49 other states.

"That puts an added burden on all the other states, including mine," Sen. John McCain said "Fox News Sunday."

In an interview with CNN, Nelson said he did not seek any special favors but rather voted for the bill because of an added amendment allowing states to opt out of providing abortion coverage - a provision conservatives say falls far short of the blanket prohibition Nelson originally sought.

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Washington (CNN) – A top adviser to President Obama acknowledged Sunday that Obama’s once-sky-high approval ratings have taken a hit as the administration has dealt with a number of challenges during the year.

“People have a right to be grouchy,” Obama adviser David Axelrod said on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about Obama’s sagging approval rating, which is now just below 50 percent.

“There’s ten percent unemployment,” the top presidential adviser also pointed out. “These are tough times.”

“We took over in January in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, fiscal crisis, financial crisis, two wars,” Obama also told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. “The president has had to make a lot of tough decisions to try and rescue our economy from collapse, to move this country forward and we are going to reap the benefits of that.”

Although Axelrod acknowledged that Obama’s approval ratings had fallen considerably during his first year in office, Axelrod also said that the White House was not focused on polling data.
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The Senate vote on health care reform came shortly after 1 a.m. Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Democrats won a major victory in their push for health care reform early Monday morning as the Senate voted to end debate on a package of controversial proposals to a sweeping $871 billion bill.

The 60 to 40 party line vote - cast shortly after 1 a.m. - kept Senate Democrats on track to pass the bill on Christmas Eve. If it passes, the measure will then have to be merged with a roughly $1 trillion plan passed by House of Representatives in November.

The vote left President Barack Obama on the cusp of claiming victory on his top domestic priority and enacting the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid over four decades ago.

"Today, the Senate took another historic step toward our goal of delivering access to quality, affordable health care to all Americans," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said in a statement.

The bill will help "promote choice and competition to drive down skyrocketing health care costs for families ... all across America."

Full story

Washington (CNN) – Not every Republican is a critic of President Obama. At least one thinks the president is doing a fine job – at least when it comes to the effort involved in being the country’s chief executive.

Asked to give Obama a grade as the end of the president’s first year in office approaches, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Republican governor, gave Obama high marks.

“When it comes to effort, [Obama] should get a straight A,” Schwarzenegger told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King in an interview that aired Sunday on State of the Union.

“He’s out there with tremendous energy and he’s selling his ideas. And he has great enthusiasm there. He’s a great speaker, a great communicator.”

The one-time Hollywood action star also had some advice for Obama as the president tries to push his agenda through Capitol Hill’s partisanship.
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The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world.

Compiled by Alison Harding

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL
For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com

CNN: Senate votes to give green light to health care bill
Democrats won a major victory in their push for health care reform early Monday morning as the Senate voted to end debate on a package of controversial proposals to a sweeping $871 billion bill.

CNN: A dozen Gitmo detainees sent to 3 countries
Twelve detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were transferred to Afghanistan, Yemen and Somaliland, the U.S. Justice Department said Sunday. The moves bring the total number of detainees held at Guantanamo to just under 200.

Los Angeles Times: Obama's Guantanamo policy rings a bell
President Obama began the year with a pledge to close the Guantanamo prison, and to restore due process and the core constitutional values that he said "made this country great." But his administration has set out a multi-pronged legal policy for the remaining Guantanamo prisoners that bears a striking similarity to that of the final year of George W. Bush's presidency.

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Condolences Mark Support for Iran Dissidents
The Obama administration publicly mourned the passing of Iran's Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in an unusual move U.S. officials said was designed to align the White House with Iran's democratic movement. But U.S. officials also stressed Sunday that Mr. Montazeri's death and the continuing political protests inside Iran are unlikely to significantly alter President Barack Obama's overall strategy of seeking to engage Tehran in the near term.

Boston Globe: Dodd tacks new course on Senate bank bill
Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, who one month ago proposed an overhaul of financial regulations that was hailed by many consumer activists, has all but jettisoned that proposal following Republican objections and has initiated talks for a new approach designed to satisfy some of his fiercest GOP critics.

Hartford Courant: Dairy Farmers To Receive Emergency Aid
State dairy farmers should be receiving checks before the end of the year from a pool of emergency aid included in a U.S. Department of Agriculture appropriations bill.Connecticut farmers have for most of the past year been paying more to produce milk than they can sell it for, and the disparity is steadily causing farms to go under.

Los Angeles Times: Democrats will invoke Bush in 2010
It's an axiom in U.S. politics that the party in power in the White House loses seats in off-year elections. So every Democrat is girding for the fight in 2010. But Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters last week that Democrats have a plan: Remind voters of George W. Bush.

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Washington (CNN) - Senate Democrats braved the aftermath of a blizzard Sunday to continue their push to pass a sweeping health care bill before Christmas.

The Senate began an all-day session, to be followed by a crucial vote scheduled for after midnight, on changes crafted by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to gain support for the bill from all 60 members of the Democratic caucus.

With Republicans unanimously opposed, Democrats need the support of their entire caucus to overcome a filibuster and move to a final vote on the bill later this week.

"We have had a long, arduous and I think sometimes taxing debate to reach this moment," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the chamber's second-ranking Democrat, to open the session. "I think it's time for a vote."

Full story

A confident White House voiced optimism Sunday that President Obama’s signature domestic initiative – health care reform – was “way deep in the red zone” and brushed off criticism from liberals that the administration was too quick to give in to demands from the centrist and conservative Democrats.

Republicans, on the other hand, vowed to try to block final passage despite the Democratic advantages in both the House and Senate. And as they challenged the Democratic health care math as “Enron-style accounting,” said promised deficit reduction would never materialize.

One, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, went as far as saying the tone and tenor of the health care debate was poisoning the political environment and reducing the likelihood Republicans would be able to work with the Obama White House on other issues.
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Washington (CNN) –Senate Democrats appear to have come up with a deal that holds their fragile caucus together in the face of a promised Republican filibuster of health care reform, but a top Democratic backer said Sunday that the fight for more progressive principles in the bill is not over.

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, walked a fine line between continuing to express support for President Obama and threatening liberal grassroots action in the final stages of the year-long fight over health care reform or even ultimately withholding his influential union’s support for the final bill that could be presented to Obama early next year.

Asked about the Senate’s use of a tax on so-called high-premium, “Cadillac” insurance plans to help pay the bill’s nearly $900 billion price tag, Stern suggested his union would continue to oppose the tax.

“What we've done and what we do is fight for what we believe in,” Stern told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.

“So, where we are now is we're saying to the president, to the House and to the Senate, we get another shot in the conference committee to deal with affordability issues,” Stern also said Sunday. “People need to be able to afford it, and that's what the fight is about.”
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Washington (CNN) – In an exclusive appearance on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, conservative Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson responded to criticism of his role in pushing the Senate health care reform bill forward and keeping the legislation on a path for a final vote in the Senate by Christmas.

Related: Senate Dems win over key holdouts to reach 60 votes for reform bill

Since his announcement Saturday that he would be the crucial 60th vote necessary to secure cloture on the health care reform bill and avoid a likely Republican filibuster, Nelson has faced a storm of criticism from conservatives in both parties – and some liberal groups.

“I couldn't create the opportunity to be the 60th vote. It happened,” Nelson said on State of the Union. “If you think it's fun having both sides on an issue mad at you when you're trying to do something in good faith, just think, it's like going home and getting bit by the family dog. So - who enjoys that?” Nelson also said Sunday.

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CNN Chief National Correspondent John King spent some time atop a wind turbine in Hawaii for his latest American Dispatch report about alternative energy. (Photo Credit: CNN)

Related: Hawaii in early stages of energy evolution

Like this photo? Get more behind-the-scenes access by becoming a fan of State of the Union on Facebook.

Washington (CNN) – Saying the White House and congressional Democrats were using “backroom deals that amount to bribes,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham slammed Democratic efforts to pass health care reform.

Speaking Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, Graham, R-South Carolina, took issue with a campaign trail pledge made by the Obama campaign to change how things work in Washington.

Obama and his team “ran a brilliant campaign,” Graham told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King,” but they're doing a lousy job governing the country, in my view.”

“You know, change you can believe in,” Graham said referring to a frequent theme of Obama’s underdog presidential campaign, “after this health care bill debacle, [that] has now becoming an empty slogan. And it's really been replaced by seedy Chicago politics, when you think about it, backroom deals that amount to bribes.”

Acknowledging that those were strong words, Graham backed up his assertions by pointing to a number of attributes of the health care reform bill now under consideration in the Senate. “This bill personifies the worst of Washington,” Graham said Sunday.
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