Tue, March 03, 2009 - 1:19 PM

Before diving into a speech Tuesday largely focused on healthcare information technology, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., joked about his own technology background:

“I was the co-founder of Nextel, which will make me the only speaker you’ll hear from today who will actually say, ‘It’s OK to leave your cell phones on, even when I’m talking. (Laughter) When they go off you hear an annoying sound; l hear cha-ching cha-ching. So … as a federal employee, please leave those cell phones on.”

--Neil H. Simon

Mon, March 02, 2009 - 5:03 PM

The tobacco regulation debate is to fire up again this week with Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., planning to reintroduce Tuesday his bill to give the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco products.

The bill, favored by cigarette giant Philip Morris USA and opposed by their smaller competitors, passed the House last summer but saw no Senate action.

House aides say the new bill is almost identical to last year’s legislation, which would let the FDA further curtail tobacco product marketing; control nicotine levels; and enlarge government warning labels on all tobacco products.

Waxman called the bill “critically important.” and said he was “optimistic about the chances of the legislation becoming law in this Congress."

“Tobacco has never been, and should never be, a partisan issue,” he said in a statement. “I believe most members of Congress share my desire to pass meaningful and truly effective tobacco legislation to reduce youth smoking.”

The $787 billion stimulus plan is law – now formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – but Democrats aren’t about to stop fighting the war of public opinion over whether the law is worthwhile.

Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is touting the jobs created in the states by $155 million going out in grants to community health care centers around the country. She released a state-by-state list of the 5,570 jobs that the administration says will be created.

Granted, $155 million isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, nor are 5,570 jobs when millions are out of work -- but jobs are jobs. Watch for Democrats to tout the good news whenever they can.

-- Marsha Mercer

If you missed it over the weekend, radio personality Rush Limbaugh created a bit of a stir with his remarks to conservatives in Washington this weekend.

Here’s a transcript.

Limbaugh’s speech garnered more attention than almost anything the Republicans have done lately. Is he the de facto head of the Republican Party? If not, than who is it? Mitt Romney? Bobby Jindal? Sarah Palin? Michael Steele?

According to this Politico article, Steele sees Limbaugh as an entertainer and that Limbaugh’s remarks as “ugly.”

Maybe. But despite their gathering this weekend, it shows that Republicans are still having trouble finding their footing and their voice since losing the White House.

-- Amy Dominello

Fri, February 27, 2009 - 3:28 PM

Sen. Mel Martinez says former President George W. Bush's move to increase the number of troops in Iraq in 2007 should now get credit for enabling President Barack Obama to announce today he is pulling all U.S. combat from there by August 2010.

“Given the unquestioned success of the surge led by President Bush and generals (David) Petraeus and (Raymond) Ordierno, it is now possible for this kind of drawdown (of troops),” said Republican Martinez of Obama’s announcement today.

Martinez spokesman Ken Lundberg said the surge is the reason why enough stability is now in place for Obama to keep his campaign promise regarding getting troops out of Iraq.

Even after the drawdown of about 100,000 U.S. combat troops, a sizable U.S. force of 35,000 to 50,000 troops will stay in Iraq under a new mission of training, civilian protection and counterterrorism.

Martinez said he agrees with that move: “Leaving a substantial number of troops in place to assist Iraqis in providing an environment for the rule of law to thrive is an action that will ensure the gains we have made in Iraq hold firm.”

-- Billy House, Media General News Service.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., says embattled Sen. Roland Burris of Illinois should hang it up.

"I probably see a lot of reasons for him to call this two-year stint a career in the Senate," Clyburn said after a Congressional Black Caucus meeting at the White House, according to Politico.

Burris did not attend the meeting, which staff said conflicted with a Senate vote on D.C. voting rights.

Thu, February 26, 2009 - 10:59 AM

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles take action

The New York Times has reported in today’s editions that a businessman with Florida Republican Party connections has been indicted on charges of funneling illegal contributions to the Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign.

The federal indictment in Los Angeles of the businessman, Ala’a al-Ali, 37, according to the paper, “shines a spotlight on the role of a business associate who the complaint asserts helped collect the donations.”

The associate, Harry Sargeant III, is a major Republican fund-raiser who owns an oil company with government contracts in Iraq and who recently resigned as finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

The paper reports Sargeant raised more than $500,000 for the 2008 Republican presidential campaign McCain.

The newspaper says that people briefed on the case say prosecutors charge that Ali arranged a total of $60,000 in illegal donations to the presidential campaigns of McCain, Republican Rudolph Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, and another $5,000 to Crist.

Read the entire story here

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

President Barack Obama said this morning the 10-year budget outline he's sending Congress focuses on rebuilding foundations, not redecorating.

Speaking in the Old Executive Office Building, Obama said, "hard choices lie ahead."

Obama said compromise would be necessary, but he did not shy away from the spending priorities he outlined in his speech to Congress Tuesday night, saying, "What I won't do is sacrifice investments that will make America stronger, more competitive and more prosperous in the 21st century."

These include new spending on energy, education and health care.

Here are the president's remarks, transcribed and distributed by the White House.
***

THE PRESIDENT: Before I begin, I have some good news to report. Starting today, the recently unemployed will benefit from a COBRA subsidy that will make health care affordable. At a time when health care is too often too expensive for the unemployed, this critical step will help 7 million Americans who've lost their jobs keep their health care. That's 7 million Americans who will have one less thing to worry about when they go to sleep at night. Equally important, it prevents a further downward spiral in our economy by ensuring that these families don't fall further behind because of mounting health care bills. And it is a direct result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I signed into law the other week -- a recovery plan that has only just begun to yield benefits for the American people.

But while we must add to our deficits in the short term to provide immediate relief to families and get our economy moving, it is only by restoring fiscal discipline over the long run that we can produce sustained growth and shared prosperity. And that is precisely the purpose of the budget I'm submitting to Congress today.

In keeping with my commitment to make our government more open and transparent, this budget is an honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go. For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent. Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home; it's not how your government should run its budgets, either. We need to be honest with ourselves about what costs are being racked up -- because that's how we'll come to grips with the hard choices that lie ahead. And there are some hard choices that lie ahead.

Just as a family has to make hard choices about where to spend and where to save, so do we, as a government. You know, there are times where you can afford to redecorate your house and there are times where you need to focus on rebuilding its foundation. Today, we have to focus on foundations. Having inherited a trillion-dollar deficit that will take a long time for us to close, we need to focus on what we need to move the economy forward, not on what's nice to have. That's why, on Monday, I held a fiscal summit to come up with a plan to put us on a more sustainable path. And that is why, as we develop a full budget that will come out this spring, we're going to go through our books page by page, line by line, to eliminate waste and inefficiency. This is a process that will take some time, but in the last 30 days alone, we have already identified $2 trillion in deficit reductions that will help us cut our deficit in half by the end of my first term.

For example, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack is saving nearly $20 million with reforms to modernize programs and streamline bureaucracy. Interior Secretary Salazar will save nearly $200 million by stopping wasteful payments to clean up abandoned coal mines that just happen to have already been cleaned up. Education Secretary Duncan is set to save tens of millions dollars more by cutting an ineffective mentoring program for students, a program whose mission is being carried out by 100 other programs in 13 other agencies.

We've targeted almost $50 billion in savings by cracking down on overpayments of benefits and tax loopholes -- that is money going to businesses and people to which they are simply not entitled.

This is just the beginning of the cuts we're going to make. No part of my budget will be free from scrutiny or untouched by reform. We will end no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq and end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas. And we'll save billions of dollars by rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while giving a middle-class tax cut to 95 percent of hardworking families. But we'll also have to do something more -- we will, each and every one of us, have to compromise on certain things we care about, but which we simply cannot afford right now. That's a sacrifice we're going to have to make.

Now, I know that this will not always sit well with the special interests and their lobbyists here in Washington, who think our budget and tax system is just fine as it is. No wonder -- it works for them. I don't think that we can continue on our current course. I work for the American people, and I'm determined to bring the change that the people voted for last November. And that means cutting what we don't need to pay for what we do.

Now, what I won't do -- as I mentioned at the Joint Session speech a couple of days ago -- what I won't do is sacrifice investments that will make America stronger, more competitive, and more prosperous in the 21st century; investments that have been neglected for too long. These investments must be America's priorities and that's what they will be when I sign this budget into law.

Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy.

And to support this effort, we'll invest $15 billion a year for 10 years to develop technologies like wind power and solar power, and to build more efficient cars and trucks right here in America. It's an investment that will put people back to work, make our nation more secure, and help us meet our obligation as good stewards of the Earth we all inhabit.

Because of crushing health care costs and the fact that they drag down our economy, bankrupt our families, and represent the fastest-growing part of our budget, we must make it a priority to give every single American quality, affordable health care. That's why this budget builds on what we have already done over the last month to expand coverage for millions more children, to computerize health records to cut waste and reduce medical errors, which save, by the way, not only tax dollars, but lives.

With this budget, we are making a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform. It's a step that will not only make families healthier and companies more competitive, but over the long term it will also help us bring down our deficit.

And because countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow, we must make excellence the hallmark of an American education. That's why this budget supports the historic investment in education we made as part of the recovery plan by matching new resources with new reform. We want to create incentives for better teacher performance and pathways for advancement. We want to reward success in the classroom. And we'll invest in innovative initiatives that will help schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps, preparing students for the high-paying jobs of tomorrow -- but also helping them fulfill their God-given potential.

These must be the priorities reflected in our budget. For in the end, a budget is more than simply numbers on a page. It is a measure of how well we are living up to our obligations to ourselves and one another. It is a test for our commitment to making America what it was always meant to be -- a place where all things are possible for all people. That is a commitment we are making in this, my first budget, and it is a commitment I will work every day to uphold in the months and years ahead.

I want to thank all of you for being here, but I also want to give a special thanks to Peter Orszag, Rob Nabors. They have been working tirelessly in getting this budget prepared, getting it out in a timely fashion. They're going to be doing more work in the weeks to come. And I am absolutely confident that as messy as this process can sometimes be, that we are going to be able to produce a budget that delivers for the American people.

All right. Thank you.

END






##

Wed, February 25, 2009 - 1:49 PM

Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana delivered the GOP response to President Barack Obama's address last night. And if this was the first primetime moment for the Republican's rising star, well, some people expected better. Watch for yourself and tell us what you think below.



--Neil Simon

People magazine reports the family will get the dog in April, after a March spring break family vacation they plan to take.

Sen. Edward Kennedy has the same breed of dog, which are often at his side in the Senate office buildings.

--Neil H. Simon

Tue, February 24, 2009 - 9:43 PM

Here's a photo of the Supreme Court justices on their way through Statuary Hall tonight into the joint session of Congress.

Is it me or does Justice Samuel Alito’s pose here make it appear as he bears a striking resemblance to the William Jennings Bryant statue to his right?



-- Amy Dominello

One would be hard-pressed to call the folks that inhabit the U.S. Capitol glamorous.

But tonight is as close to Oscar night as it gets around here. There is everything but a red carpet.

In keeping with the celeb theme, here are some sightings:

- John McCain, walking through the halls of the Capitol solo. No aides. No press, but one photographer who caught him. What a difference a few months make.

- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greeting guests as if she was in her home.

- Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank doing interviews. I am not sure he will stop talking in time for the speech.

-- Amy Dominello, Media General News Service

The man who is reported to be President Barack Obama's choice as the nation's "drug czar" was once a St. Petersburg police officer.

R. Gil Kerlikowske, a 36-year law enforcement veteran who has been Seattle's police chief since August 2000, began his law enforcement career in 1972 as an officer for the St. Petersburg Police Department, according to his resume.

He eventually became a candidate for police chief in that city, but was not selected in 1992.

Now, Kerlikowske is reported to be Obama's soon-to-be announced choice to oversee the Office of National Drug Control Policy, an appointment that will require Senate confirmation.

He's held a Washington job before.

Kerlikowske was the former deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services that provides federal grants to local police agencies in support of community policing services.

Before that, he served as the police commissioner for Buffalo, N.Y., where his selection by the mayor became the first outside appointment in 30 years. He also served as the chief of police for two Florida cities, Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, and in the U.S. Army Military Police before arriving in St. Petersburg.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Don't expect any reaction from GOP Rep. Adam Putnam to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress tonight.

He's busy with the Boy Scouts.

The Bartow Republican, who has announced he'll be running to be Florida's commissioner of agriculture in 2010 (and not for reelection to his congressional seat), won't be attending the speech.

According to his office, "Adam is attending an event this evening in Lakeland for the Thunderbird District Boy Scouts which has been on his schedule long before the President announced his speech."

"Adam wishes he could hear the President’s speech in person – which will be an historic event – but he cannot do both, and he felt a duty to fulfill his commitment to the Scouts," said the statement.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Excerpts of the President’s address to the joint session of Congress tonight:

We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.
…..

The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.

My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.
….

Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.
….

I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.
….

But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself.”

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. “The tragedy was terrible,” said one of the men who helped them rebuild. “But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.”

And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.”