Ermarks or Local Investment

This article talks about the diffences between the members of Wisconsin's Congressional delegation. Now three of you congressional delagates including democrats Rep. Ron Kind, La Crosse, and Sen. Feingold say that they will not request any funding for special projects for this budget cycle. Both are makeing claims that any special funding is wastefull citing the hundreds of millions of dollars proposed for the bridge to nowhere. The article goes on to talk about three of the other members of your congressional delegation, Sen. Herb Kohl, who is on the senate Appropreations Committee, Rep. Obey, the chair of the House Appropreations Committee, and Rep. Kagen of Appleton, all democrats. These members of the delagtion do not agree with Sen. Feingold or Rep. Kind and claim that these special funding projects are more then just ermarks but are a way to invest money for local projects that will inturn help the people your receive this money. For example, Rep Kagen cites money he helped the people of Pestigo get to help them clean up the cities water supply. What it all comes down to is what do the voters think. Rep. Kind and Sen. Feingold think that the voters dont want wasteful govt spending and that if the fight ermarks that that might get them so affection from the voters. While Sen. Kohl and Representitves Obey and Kagen think that the voters of their districts would rather get federal money to help with local problems.

Bush pressures Congress

Just a quick note on what items are being discussed this week in Congress. Bush's items of importance include reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to update the Federal Housing Administration, and a free trade agreement with Colombia.

The most interesting of the items seemed to be the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). It appears that Bush is concerned about Americans being able to stay in their homes, and that Congress needs to "modernize" the FHA to help people out. I haven't heard much about this yet, but it will be interesting to see what progress Congress will make on this issue, and if it'll be too late for many Americans to stay in their homes.

Unforseen Consequences: Pelosi's Worried About Cash

There's nothing more entertaining than seeing Democrats fight Democrats.

It seems as though the party apparatus of the Democrats is growing a bit antsy with this year's presidential race. Howard Dean warned the candidates earlier on this week, now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is worried about how the heated race for the Democratic presidential nominee may hurt Democratic candidates for congress.

In a direct mail piece launched by the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee], Speaker Pelosi urges donors not to let the presidential nomination race hurt congressional candidates. Pelosi's plea comes after she received letters from top Clinton donors lambasting her for comments made regarding super-delegates role in the nomination process.

The events of the past week are only more evidence as to why this race is not going to, at least not on the face, strengthen the Democrats. We seem to hear from party insiders and politicos that this will only energize votes from the left, but as we can see there are some unforseen consequences of these 'intra-party' battles.

At least Republicans acknowledged the fact that a long, arduous nomination race would do damage to the party, and possibly lead to lower turnout.

Presidential and Congressional

I know I should mention Congressional news, but I just couldn't resist. Clinton's camp seems to be getting very desperate, and Obama seems to be looking better. I (and it seems everyone else) expected Obama to disown his pastor for his remarks, but he came through the controversy almost flawlessly, with an incredible speech that was praised by pretty much everyone. Personally, I hope they'll both be on the ticket after the nomination fight is finally over.

So in Congressional news, I find it a little frustrating with all these scandals surrounding infidelity. I'm not in any way encouraging people to cheat on their spouses, but I think that there are better reasons for a politician to resign. After all, if a someone does that but still a good politican who does what is best for the people he represents, then I think he should be allowed to remain. You think that after everything that Bush and his ilk have put this country through, people would be able to keep things in perspective.

Clinton and her "Revelation"

Its funny how Senator Clinton just realizes that she made a mistake about her trip to Bosnia in claiming how she was under sniper fire back in 1996, but as the video was shown on CNN last night, she was shaking hands with the people of Bosnia happily smiling. I feel that something like that shouldn't be taken lightly. While watching CNN last night, the commentator said she "lied" about her trip. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth.

Clinton Unveils Plan to Ease Housing Crisis

I find it funny how it seems like the government continues to put out more and more money. The fact that the federal deficit keeps getting larger and larger and yet it seems like no one in Washington has taken any notice to this. We always here that there needs to be more money in Washington to get the job done however I believe there are many areas where the government could be taking money away from. For example why are we spending so much money on foreign countries when we don't have enough money to get the jobs done that are needed inside our own borders. Cut some of the funding and bring that money home. The other thing that I have never quite understood is why do we allow the federal deficit to continue to rise. The last number that I heard and this was from 3-4 years ago, but the interest that we spend on the federal deficit is about 14% of the total annual income of the federal government. How about finding ways to pay off the deficit and get that 14% back to use in other areas of need.

Earmarks

The Chronicle of Higher Education published an article about the record number of earmarks members of Congress are granting to colleges/universities. This year alone, 2,306 earmarks were given to 920 institutions. Most of the earmarks were directed towards scientific research at the institutions. An interesting fact in this article is the earmarked money for colleges of Clinton, Obama, and McCain. Clinton has had 21 earmarks, Obama 10 earmarks, and McCain no earmarks. Although this may not be a key issue, I think that it shows how important they think academic research is for the U.S.

Sensenbrenner gets TOUGH on China

While in India, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R) criticized China over their handling of the Tibetan protests that have been catching international attention lately. Sensenbrenner met with the Dalai Lama over the weekend which most likely prompted his criticisms.
I generally feel that it is laughable for an individual congress member
attempt to shape foreign policy, his reason for being in South Asia is quite cool and uncharacteristic of his republican roots and district; an international congressional
delegation on global warming. It's a joint delegation with the UK and
India, in which Sensenbrenner is the most senior Republican on board. Being orginally from Sensenbrenner's district, I can't ever remember global warming being a political topic that concerned Waukesha republicans. Either Sensenbrenner is acting like a trustee or there has been a shift in political perception out there in the 'Sha.

Local making political ads for unique congress candidates

mFrom the suggestions of both Shelly and Naomi, here's an interesting story about a local man from Milwaukee making some interesting political ads (rather: some ads about interesting candidates).

Here's the Youtube link to some of the ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UesvrH-cs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFX1TCK_PS8&feature=related

I'd have a beer with him.

Eliot Spitzer's successor admits to having affairs

As I have mentioned in the "Suicide doctor plans congressional run" Eliot Spitzer's successor, David Paterson has admitted to having an affair. Both he and his wife had affairs during their time of marriage while it was headed for divorce. Mrs. Paterson says, "A marriage has peaks and valleys... no marriage is perfect. I think we have a marriage like many Americans. Elected officials are really just reflections of the people we represent." I feel that is right, no marriage is perfect, and for her to admit that and stay by her husband's side is admirable.

Congress "disconnected"

Senate voted on Thursday on a bill to put a ban on earmarks. The bill was voted down 71-29. The article is about how John McCain commented that congress was acting against the will of the people and stressed that pork-barrel spending was out of control. Senator McCain has never asked for earmarks while the article gives the numbers on how much both Senators Clinton and Obama have received. McCain asks that the senators who have received earmarks to give all unused money for their projects to be returned.

Ok, so I was wrong in my last post about having a final winner for the Democratic Presidential nomination. I should have known that we would have to listen to this for awhile yet. Sigh. Oh well.

At least the House of Representatives is defying the Administration and refusing to give immunity to communications companies. And naturally all the major Democratic candidates are behind it. Some good news, even if all o fit seems to be mostly for image's sake. Now we'll see if it can pass in the more conservative Senate.

And it also seems like they're going to retire Bush's tax cuts. Maybe we won't have another Great Depression after all; I'm hoping this is one of those things the media is exaggerating.

House Passes Surveillance Bill

Hey, maybe no legicide after all.

Moratorium on State Earmarks Near

It appears that earmarks on home state projects may be put on hold for a year. Congress looks to be relatively unified on this one; we see Clinton, Obama, and McCain all throwing their support behind such a bill. (To no one's surprise!) In the House, top Republicans lobbied Speaker Pelosi to emphasis earmarks on the agenda, and it appears she has been considering it. Ah, the power of the agenda setter. However, there is opposition, particularly from Nevada Senator Harry Reid (D). The political pundits at the NY Times see it coming down to a 60 votes in the "Yay" column for it to pass. We'll see...

John McCain's inconsistent voting record

The buzz on the blogs today seems to be about John McCain's voting record, which is singularly distinguished by inconsistency when compared to his peers. It seems whether we see this as a sign of strength ("he's a maverick!") or a sign of weakness ("he's a flip-flopper!") will be an important object for spin in the months ahead.

House Creates New Panel On Ethics

This is something that we have discussed in class...and it has to do with Congress! This new panel is a way of policing Congress instead of just using the "fire alarm" oversight of the House Ethics Committee. I believe this new panel will be a good thing for Congress in terms of, perhaps, raising their low approval ratings. This seems to have been a long time coming. To me, it seems quite stupid to have members of your own legislative body, let alone party, decide who needs to be investigated and for what. I'm sure that many conflicts and behind the scenes deals might be avoided with the creation of this panel. An independent ethics panel may instill a little more trust in Congress by actually looking into things that, as Fred Wertheimer says in this article, get sucked into the black hole of the Ethics Committee.

Suicide doctor plans congressional run

We have spent a lot of time in class talking about how difficult it is for challengers to run against incumbents. I find it interesting that a doctor who has attempted to commit suicide is trying to run for congress. First off he must be having a hard time with his practice for the fact that I can't imagine to many individuals would want a doctor as their doctor who has tried to commit suicide. I think it will be really hard for him to run against an incumbent with that time of status but we will have to see how everything plays out.

Rep. King comments

Rep. King (R-IA) stated yesterday how "happy" terrorists will be if Obama is elected president. This is mostly because the terrorists would view this war on terror as a victory. Obama responded by stating that he feels the opposite way of King's comments, and he feels keeping troops in Iraq (which McCain is suggesting) will have the affect on terrorists that King is suggesting. I do not know if King was right when he said this about Obama, but it definitely makes people question what is going to happen with terrorists if a Democratic president is elected.

value of presidency

I just thought this was interesting because it talks about what we were discussing last week. It's especially interesting that according to these figures, the democratic candidates have raised way more money than McCain. Part of this, of course is that their primary race is more competitive, but it's quite a big difference.

House lawsuit

The House Judiciary Committee filed lawsuits, regarding the firing of 9 U.S. Attorneys, against White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten. The filing explains how Miers and Bolten refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee and to provide important documents. It was questionable if Miers and Bolten would be prosecuted for contempt of Congress, but U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that “the noncompliance by Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers with the Judiciary Committee subpoenas did not constitute a crime.”

Personally, I think that they did commit a crime. They refused to comply with the House Judiciary Committee. It gives me the impression that when White House staff “commits a crime” they merely get a slap on the wrist. Nancy Pelosi stated in the article also that this decision undermines public confidence in our criminal justice system.

Results From the Illinois 14th

So Democrat Bill Foster has won the vacant seat from Illinois, and Barack Obama is glad because he says it was a strong message from the people of Illinois that they are "ready for change". But I think the other interesting thing about this article has to do with high-quality challengers - apparently the Republican candidate in this election, Jim Oberweis, has now spent nearly $9 million of his own money on 6 different elections in the past 6 years (including attempted runs for U.S. Senate) and STILL does not hold any elective office. Oberweis' had been airing an attack ad blasting his opponent as a tax=and-spender, containing this out-of-context quote from Foster: "There's nothing in life that you can't improve by throwing money at it." Can't wait to see how much money Oberweis throws at his own fall '08 run.

Bush Vetoed Waterboarding Bill

From the news that's fit for print, this article outlines Bush's veto on a bill prohibiting the CIA from interrogation practices such as waterboarding. Pundits can make what they want out of the motives and ramifications, but for the purpose of this class there is some intriguing elements at play. This is Bush's 9th
veto in his career, however the last 8 have come all within the last
year. Obviously, his ideal point as an agenda setter is outside the
tastes of Congress at this moment. However Congress lacks the votes to
override and it seems that with the expansion of executive powers, even
if they didprohibit it the practice would likely still be used. Legicide.

the battle over earmarks

I just thought this was interesting considering Bush's promise to veto bills based on number of earmarks. I really didnt think anyone would act on what he said, but apparently it's become a big deal. I almost wonder if the republicans are playing chicken. Perhaps they believe they wont get the majority they need for the moratorium, but they'll look good by trying. Or maybe I'm just cynical.

CEOs defend pay

Today the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard testimony from three corporate executives dealing with how they keep reeling in millions of dollars while contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis that has their companies losing hundreds of millions of dollars. The CEOs brought in were Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial Corp.; Stanley O'Neal, formerly of Merrill Lynch & Co; and Charles Prince, formerly of Citigroup Inc.. Mozilo argued that “As our company did well, I did well, but when our company did not do well, as in 2007, my direct compensation and the value of my holdings declined materially, which is as it should be”. The problem that he is not seeing though is that even when his company has a down year he is still making around seven figures probably. For instance Mozilo’s company lost 1.2 billion in the third quarter of 2007 then proceeded to lose another 422 million in the 4^th quarter. Yet with all of this he still earned a 1.9 million dollar salary, $20 million in stock awards, and then sold another $121 million in stock. While its obvious a CEO of a fortune 500 company is going to make a very large amount of money, they shouldn’t be getting rewarded, especially when their companies are contributing to the United States going into a recession.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030700390.html

Response to toy recall

On Thursday the Senate passed legislation that would toughen inspections of toys and other child playthings that are made out of the United States. This is in response to the many recalls of children toys that have been happening. The House of Representatives also passed a bill dealing with toy safety, so now both sides must begin to compromise to get legislation passed. Both chambers passed their bills with relative ease making a promising start to pass final legislation. With all the talk of steroids and “spygate” it’s nice to see Congress might actually be working on something that could benefit the American people in some sort of way.

Consumer Protection Agency

On Thursday the Senate voted to greatly increase the resources of the Consumer Protection Agency in response to multiple findings of tainted children's toys and pet foods this past year. Toys manufactured in China were recalled after they were discovered to contain dangerous amounts of lead paint. Moreover, the article describes many other incidents that lead to the need to increase the CPA's resources. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill and is now waiting for the House to do the same. If the bill passes both the House and Senate there is concern of a Presidential veto because it has not received backing from the White House, however, something needs to be done in this case because, "In November, shipments of the popular toy Aqua Dots were found to have been contaminated with a toxic chemical that turned into a powerful "date rape" drug if swallowed, causing some children who ate the craft toys to vomit and lose consciousness." It is rather ridiculous that something like this can pass any inspection, but crazier things have happened...

Democrats Hoping For 60 Senate Seats

So the outlook of the vulnerable American politician is apparently that if you are a Senate Democrat up for re-election this year...you may not be that vulnerable; one analyst quoted in the article sees no Senate elections that are potential "toss-ups" or losses for the 12 incumbent Democrats who are up for re-election. Meanwhile the Republicans have several of vulnerable incumbents of the 23 (!) seats, including vacated/retired candidates, that they are defending this fall. 60 may be an unlikely goal but it appears to be within reach.

Le Air Force?

This story is about a recent Air Force decision to award an enormous contract for new Air Refueling Tanker Jet to a European company rather than the American company also competing for the project, Boeing.

The contract in question is worth billions of dollars (35) and countless numbers of factory jobs, so, the politicians indignation is understandable.

However, righteous anger does ring a tad shallow when you consider that, while the Congressman are upset over the loss of American jobs, they're more upset that the jobs lost are jobs from their own District.

What is particularly interesting here is how on one side of the argument, the so-called "losers," Washington state Democrat Patty Murray (Boeing is based in Washington state), rail against the contract going to EADS-Northrup on the grounds of American job security. Murray argues that as a result of the Tanker Contract going to a European company, ultimately, American factory jobs will be lost and the American economy will further be weakened.

On the other side of the argument, Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama, counters the job loss argument by pointing out all of the new jobs will be created in his home state. "INsourcing?" I didn't know the word even existed.

This is an interesting situation in the fact that's this isn't at all a Partisan issue, it's all economics. On one side, arguing against the Air Force's decision, you've got Democrat Murray and Kansas Republican Roberts, (I wonder if this may be the only issue those two will ever agree on), and on the other is Republican Sessions. This debate is not about Red vs. Blue, this one is all Green.

I found parts of this story to be an enlightening glimpse into some of the inner workings of Congress, especially the bit at the end where we hear about Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) of the Appropriations Committee considering holding back payment to the Air Force in order to stall the new Tanker Aircraft Contract.

This story recalls earlier class readings where we learned about which powers exactly does Congress have. The reporters note that, while Congress can't explicitly reverse this decision, they can in essence kill the deal by withholding the funding.

Ah, The Power of the Purse.

See also:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87928796

Special Elections Are Special...

...and this one is no different. A special election is to be held Saturday in Illinois to fill the seat of retired former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert. The two challengers for the vacant seat, Bill Foster (D) and James Oberweis (R), are not only in a somewhat suprisingly competitive race to fill the seat for the remainder of the term but will also face off again in the fall, and this near-immediate rematch I think makes it a lot more fun, which is what Denny Hastert is all about. The article notes that the Democrats not only see this as a potentially symbolic seat to take given Hastert's (former) standing in his own party, but also are attempting to take advantage of Obama's popularity by tying their candidate to him, and are spending much more money in a traditionally Republican district that they otherwise may have.

Could Clinton, Obama become a team?

It would be very interesting I would have to say if Obama and Clinton teamed up eventually. I would be interested to see how this would effect both persons ability to get elected. I think we have to keep in mind that this is the first time a female and a minority has gotten this far in a presidential race. The fact that if they both teamed up as one makes me wonder if that would be to much unusual circumstances for some voters and would lead many voters to go vote for a traditional candidate within the Republican party. Time can only tell!!

The Battle Clinton Didn't Expect

On such an important Tuesday for the democratic primaries (some are calling it Super Tuesday II), I thought this was an interesting article. It discusses how different the race would have been had Obama not been a part of it. Hilary's campaign has probably been planned for quite some time and with the entrance of Obama, the article states that she hasn't been able to really catch her breath until the past two weeks. The author brings up an interesting point (actually brought up by a Clinton supporter) when he says that Clinton ran the last campaign of the 20th century and Obama ran the first of the 21st. Tonight's results should be interesting...hopefully they end the suspense.

It is going to be very interesting to see who wins the primaries in Ohio and Texas. Both sides have of course been doing plenty of mud-slinging as the race for who will become the Democratic nominee gets closer and closer. This set of primaries looks like it will settle beyond a doubt as to who will be the winner, bringing an end to a very close race. My projection is that Obama will most likely win. Obviously either nominee will be a historical first if elected, and maybe our next leader will be able to prevent the crisis that the country is stepping towards more and more. All I know is I can't wait until Bush is out of office, and I hope our next leader can dig us out of this hole and help restore our credibility.
Although it will obviously be up to American voters whether they are ready to see a radical departure from the usual people you see in the White House. But I think that if the people would ever do something so unusual, it would be this election, where they obviously want a big change in general after the last eight years. The only reason that someone like Obama has gotten this far is that people don't want another politician: they want someone who will inspire them, give them hope, and bring them together. And Obama is a new face who obviously has the charisma to do so. We'll just have to see what happens in November.

More information about the Wiretap Law

I wrote a blog a little while back about a surveillance (wiretap) law that had recently expired, and Bush was trying to get the House to renew it. Representative Reyes (D-TX), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, stated yesterday that the House is moving forward with provisions regarding this bill. Reyes discussed that the bill would protect the phone companies who helped with wiretapping after 9/11. A major concern with the wiretap law is what to do with the phone companies that are already involved in lawsuits for wiretapping. Reyes stated that hopefully by the end of the week they will be able to bring the bill to a vote. It was interesting reading this article because I had previously written a blog about the wiretap bill, but it did not seem like anyone was with Bush for renewing the law. Now, however, it seems as though the House is moving forward with this issue.