October 29, 2007, 8:25pm
C-SPAN’s “Newsmaker” program: House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C., discusses spending on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other issues facing his panel.
Categories: Military, South Carolina, Iraq, Budget, John Spratt
October 28, 2007, 12:50pm
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the campaign arm of House Republicans, has produced a series of videos that features GOP lawmakers making the case for putting them in charge of Congress again.
The last of the series, titled “Rediscovering Your Party,” went online Friday. “We’re returning to our roots of fiscal discipline, traditional values, reform, and defense and homeland security,” says Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana.
Other participants in the series were: Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri; Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio; NRCC Chairman Tom Cole of Oklahoma; Jeb Hensarling of Texas; Kevin McCarthy of California; Patrick McHenry of North Carolina; and Candice Miller of Michigan.
The earlier videos covered topics like: earmarks in spending bills; accountability and transparency for federal spending; opposition to the “fairness doctrine” that once required equal time for competing viewpoints on the airwaves; and the Republicans’ prospects for regaining the House majority in 2008.
Categories: Military, House, California, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Politics, Kevin McCarthy, Terrorism, Budget, Economy, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Social Policy, Marsha Blackburn, Patrick McHenry, Candice Miller, Tom Cole, Jeb Hensarling
October 27, 2007, 8:08pm
Having learned a lesson from the criticism leveled at him after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, President Bush this week traveled to California to see firsthand the damage wrought by ongoing wildfires there. He talked about the trip and his efforts to help the state recover in the weekly radio address.
Bush praised state and local officials for moving quickly to evacuate people in danger and to provide shelter for them. He also noted the efforts of firefighters. “Many of these brave men and women have battled the blaze in triple-digit heat,” Bush said. “Some have worked around the clock. And more than once, firefighting teams were forced to take emergency shelter in their fire tents when threatened by approaching walls of flame.”
The president further outlined his own official responses to date — two emergency declarations over a short time to bolster the state and local responses to the wildfires and to help families recover. “I went to Southern California with a message: We want you to know the country cares for you,” he said. “We’re concerned about you, your neighborhoods, and your homes. Things may look dismal now, but there is a better day ahead. And we will not forget you in Washington, D.C.”
Democrats, meanwhile, continued their fight to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean taking Republicans to task for fighting S-CHIP legislation while continuing to fund military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“The Republican leaders have made their choice,” Dean said. “They want to stay in Iraq and deny our kids health care. It is wrong for the Bush Republicans to stand in the way of legislation needed to protect the wellbeing of our kids.”
Categories: Military, Iraq, Health, Weekly Radio Address, Natural Disasters
October 26, 2007, 9:24pm
The first time in 20 years that Congress has not sent the president even one annual appropriations bill by this time of the year. The Senate’s longest delay in 20 years to confirm an attorney general. The prospect of unfunded troops in the field without funding. Twenty million more Americans subject to the alternative minimum tax. An outdated intelligence surveillance law.
If you’re a Republican in the Senate and add it all up, as some of them did at a press conference today, it equals Democratic mismanagement of Congress. “It’s time to start doing things that are important to the country,” said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The do-nothing-Democrats theme has been embraced by Republicans from President Bush on down in recent weeks. In the past, the GOP has accused the Democratic leadership of fostering chaos and breaking promises.
Categories: Military, Kentucky, Democrats, Mitch McConnell, 110th Congress, Law & Judiciary, Budget, Taxes, Republicans, Intelligence
October 23, 2007, 9:24pm
The House voted unanimously today to condemn last month’s act of vandalism against the Vietnam War Memorial last month. Here’s what Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, had to say about the vandals who tossed an oily substance on the memorial:
I find this vandalism unconsionable and un-American. Why on earth would someone want to reignite the pains of the past? Defacing the wall was the ultimate act of cowardice. … It breaks my heart to think that someone would senselessly harm and deface the names, the honor, the legacies of great patriots” whose names are listed on the memorial.
Categories: Military, Texas, 110th Congress, History, Sam Johnson
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