President Braden appears at the daily White House press briefing, where it becomes apparent that he simply parrots what he hears in his earphone. The assembled correspondents likewise pretend that he is talking "off the cuff". Asked about C.S.B. the President delivers a formulaic speech about moving it forward, even though he knows nothing about it. He then has a meeting with Senator Horton, who almost has a meltdown in the Oval Office, so frustrated is he with the lack of progress of the bill. After Horton leaves, Braden tries to find out about C.S.B., only to be told by Senator Jim Harkness, who chairs the committee Horton sits on, that the whole thing is just an issue that has to be kept on the boil for as long as possible, there being no other significant political issues to use as a platform for re-election. Harkness is contemptuous of Horton, regarding him as a makeweight on the committee and a loose cannon politically. He recommends that the President "put some money" in Horton's district before the next election.