[Blitzer:] On this Flag Day, Republicans are bringing new heat to the "Culture Wars." They're promoting a constitutional ban on flag burning. The Senate committee votes tomorrow on this issue, which often gets waved around in election years. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider is joining us with more on the politics of the stars and stripes Bill.
[William Schneider, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] Wolf, today is Flag Day, so what are politicians in Washington doing? They're fighting over the flag.
[Sen. Bill Frist , Majority Leader:] We're really kicking it off today on Flag Day. We're stepping in to say no more.
[Schneider:] Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has scheduled a vote on a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to ban flag desecration.
[Frist:] We have a few unifying symbols, and chief among those are the flag.
[Schneider:] But the one thing this debate is not, is unifying.
[Feingold:] This is a political effort, and we've had a number of these political efforts. The danger here, though, of course, is that this one is close.
[Schneider:] That's because a solid majority of Americans support a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. There she is, Miss America, speaking in favor of it.
[Heather French, Former Miss America:] Did you know that it is illegal to burn a dollar bill?
[Schneider:] Critics argue it's a matter of protecting freedom of expression.
[Sen. Edward Kennedy , Massachusetts:] The First Amendment protects not only speech we admire, but also speech we abhor.
[Schneider:] They see a constitutional amendment as a solution for which there is no real problem.
[Unidentified Male:] I've said often that it's almost akin to dropping an atomic bomb on a sleeping city, because there may be a felon in the area.
[Schneider:] They smell politics behind the Republican leader's insistence on the vote.
[Sen. Patrick Leahy , Vermont:] The motives of the scheduling are very, very clear.
[Schneider:] This is an issue that divides Democrats.
[Sen. Sam Brownback , Kansas:] I want to call today on the Democratic leader to push his members to support this constitutional amendment. With that, this amendment will pass. Without that, I doubt it will.
[Schneider:] But there's no doubt that it will be an issue in the upcoming campaign. The hottest item in Washington this Flag Day, it's this ingenious self-waving flag, devised by inventor Richard Levy of Bethesda, Maryland. Now, the device is made in China, but the flag is made by Valley Forge Flag Company in good ol'Pennsylvania. Quote, "We would never put a foreign-made flag on the thing, for goodness sake," Mr. Levy told the "Washington Post" Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Bill Schneider, thank you for bringing us that. And in other active Flag Day politics, House and Senate Republicans rallied behind a proposed amendment that lawmakers have tried and failed before to pass before. The Flag Protection Act would deprive federal courts of considering challenges to the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Up next, he went to Iraq and back and is putting in a full day of work today on not much sleep at all. I'm talking about not talking about President Bush, but our own John King, who was the network television pool reporter on the surprise visit. John, joining us here. That's coming up next in THE SITUATION ROOM. Plus, Senator Joe Lieberman claims the Bush administration is trying to suppress evidence of global warming. We have that story as well. Stay with us.