for kids. every year an estimated 1.2 million children, most of them girs, are exploited by sex trafficking worldwide including here in the united states. they are sold and trade and coerced into sex world. child sex trafficking is underground work whose work is marginalized and invisible, and because there is are difficult to pin down. but if you look closely, the evidence is there, children are being bought and sold for sex by adults in all 50 states in cities big and small, and even a casual scan of news headlines will attest. this week, we found story after story with sex trafficking in the headlines and in everyone underaged girls forced to have sex with adult men for money. now n the united states, an adult having sex with a minor is a crime, period. a minor forced through rape,
compromise from consideration, because they are not sure they have enough votes to move it forward. now n the senate, the only thing lawmakers could agree to do was to stop working on the s.t.a.r.t. treaty for now and take up the spending bill to finance the government. that will be happening in the next hour. but one lawmaker, rep senator and tea party favorite jim dement of south carolina is threatening to force a reading of the 2,000-page measure which could take two days. and now senate majority leader harry reid is threatening to keep the senate in session right through christmas and new year s all of the way to january 5th. so, what is this all about? let s get insight from the insider, republican senator bob corker of tennessee, and senator, we haven t seen happen from time to time hour, to hour where things are changing now, and people look at this, and say, this is ridiculous. what is going on, on the hill? well, what has happened is that we have a 1,924-page
capitol hill. lawmakers are fighting while critical bills are languishing. also, captured insurgents allegedly reveal alleged al qaeda plans for suicide bombings in the u.s. and europe at christmas. and a as wolf blitzer travels to north korea on an exclusive assignment a top general warns that a south korean military exercise could cause a chain reaction leading to all-out war. welcome to our viewers in the united states, and around the world. breaking news, political headlines and jeanne moos are straight ahead. wolf blitzer reports on the north korea trip this hour. i m suzanne malveaux, and you i m suzanne malveaux, and you are in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com the clock is ticking. the stakes are enormous, but nothing is getting done on capitol hill. now n the house, democratic leaders have pulled the tax cut
drilling is approaching the leaking well 16,000 feet below the surface. now n the weeks ahead, it will try to close in and kill that target. but attention now is focused on a weather system in the western caribbean, and the fear is that it could strengthen and close in on the gulf with serious consequences for the oil containment effort. our chris lawrence is on the gulf coast of louisiana and karen mcginnes is at the cnn weather center, but we want to start with you, chris, tell us about the situation there on the ground. reporter: well, suzanne, normally, people here would not bat an eye at a tropical depression, but this year is very, very unique. we got off of the phone talking with some of to emergency management officials down here, and they are this year very, very concerned about storm surge, and a, because they have so many new people working in the area on cleanup and containment, and these people do not know the ins and outs of the area or how quickly some areas will flood