Reid Gives In;

Breitbart writes:  Democrats controlling the Senate have abandoned a 1,924-page catchall spending measure that's laced with homestate pet projects known as earmarks and that would have provided another $158 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nevada Democrat Harry Reid gave up on the nearly $1.3 trillion bill after several Republicans who had been thinking of voting for the bill pulled back their support.
GOP leader Mitch McConnell threw his weight against the bill in recent days, saying it was in his words "unbelievable" that Democrats would try to muscle through in just a few days legislation that usually takes months to debate.
Reid said he would work with McConnell to produce a short-term funding bill to keep the government running into early next year. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K5BA5O0&show_article=1
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National Review writes: With his vote-count dwindling, a “sorry and disappointed” Reid took to the Senate floor to announce that he would pull his spending bill, caving to McConnell’s push to pass a simple, one-page resolution to continue government funding over the holiday recess. For full effect, in a move reminiscent of the health-care debates earlier this year, Republicans had hauled the entire 1,924-page cinder block of a bill onto the Senate floor. They’d come prepared for a showdown.
“I’m proud of our team for holding together,” McConnell said. “I’m proud of the appropriations-committee members who decided that this is not the way to do it.” Instead of following Reid’s demands, “we decided that we’re not going to pass a 2,000-page bill that nobody has seen since yesterday. That’s not the way to operate and that’s not the message from the November elections. We decided not to do it. Unified Republican opposition is what got it done.” Democrats had mixed feelings. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/255531/omnibus-falls-robert-costa
[The Senator who now holds Obama's former seat, a Republican, stood in the Senate to ask John McCain if he, who knows not too much since he is new to his position, really has witnessed the taking down of Reid's Omnibus Bill.]
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The Hill writes: In urging lawmakers to vote for his tax deal, President Obama is using one of his go-to lines from the healthcare debate, according to a Democratic lawmaker.
Obama is telling members of Congress that failure to pass the tax-cut legislation could result in the end of his presidency, Rep. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) said.
"The White House is putting on tremendous pressure, making phone calls, the president is making phone calls saying this is the end of his presidency if he doesn't get this bad deal," he told CNN's Eliot Spitzer.
But the White House shot back late on Wednesday. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/133909-obama-tells-lawmakers-not-passing-tax-deal-could-end-presidency-dem-says
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The El Paso Times writes: A Mexican drone crashed in El Paso's Lower Valley, sparking a federal investigation and raising questions about why the aircraft was in U.S. airspace.
"We are collecting data about the crash. We don't have the aircraft because it was returned to its owner," said Keith Holloway, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates aircraft crashes in the United States and in other countries that request its help.
Though the U.S. is known to use drones to patrol the border, this is thought to be the first time a Mexican drone has been reported operating at the border. http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16875462?source=rss
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News.travel.aol.com writes: Respected scientists say they have discovered a flaw in airport full body scanners that could potentially allow terrorists to outsmart the machines. In research published in the Journal of Transportation Security, physicists Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson of the University of California San Francisco say body scanner machines can easily be duped. While the purpose of the scanners is to find contraband hidden on the body, some weapons and explosives would not be visible to the devices say the researchers,
A "pancake" of explosives with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, for instance, "would be invisible to this technology, ironically, because of its large volume, since it is easily confused with normal anatomy," the scientists report. http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/12/16/leading-scientists-say-airport-full-body-scanners-easily-duped/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl4|sec1_lnk1|190346 
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Daily Caller writes: With the final weeks closing in on the 111th Congress, the Senate will vote on a repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers, as well as a bill that offers children of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Thursday. With Republicans set to take over the House in January, this is likely to be the last chance supporters of both measures will have to get the bills passed for years. While a handful of Republicans have already vowed to support the repeal of the military’s http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/16/senate-to-vote-saturday-on-dont-ask-repeal-dream-act/
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