The Bush administration today defended its decision to allow oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska despite concerns that such activities could threaten the future of the polar bears.
The testimony came at a House hearing by a special panel on energy independence and global warming. Democratic Reps. Jay Inslee of Washington and Edward Markey of Massachusetts were among the lawmakers who warned of the consequences for polar bears.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote this week on the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be the next attorney general, and President Bush made the case for Mukasey’s confirmation in his weekly radio address.
Democrats initially voiced little opposition to Mukasey’s nomination, but his refusal to take a hard line against an interrogation technique known as “waterboarding,” which some critics consider torture, has made the push to confirm Mukasey more challenging. Bush reiterated Mukasey’s qualifications for the job, including his tenure as a federal judge, and chastised some Democratic senators for delaying action on the nomination.
“Congressional leaders should not make Judge Mukasey’s confirmation dependent on his willingness to make a public judgment about a classified program he has not been briefed on,” Bush said. “If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, it would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general.”
The Democratic address, given by Washington Sen. Patty Murray, focused on veterans’ affairs. Murray responded to a pointed speech Bush had given at the conservative Heritage Foundation by chastising the president for ignoring and underfunding the VA system even as he continues to spend tens of billions of dollars on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Under President Bush, the number of uninsured veterans has skyrocketed,” she said. “The personal data of millions of vets was lost. And yet, the president let three months go by before even nominating a new secretary of veterans’ affairs.
“The crisis at Walter Reed Medical Center was just one visible product of this categorical neglect for our veterans. In spite of all these failures, the president continues to offer little more than speeches and scare tactics.”
That’s what the AFL-CIO has been doing online and offline all week. One of the labor group’s tactics has been posting video excerpts from speeches by lawmakers who support legislation to make it easier to form unions. Here are the latest Senate floor excerpts:
President Bush planted his first firmly on conservative ground today, with a radio address that bashed the “tax-and-spend approach” of Democrats in Congress.
The impetus for his outcry was a move by House Democrats to renege on their vow to keep “pork” out of this year’s appropriations bills. The determined minority Republicans beat back that attempt this week by stalling action on the homeland security spending bill for days and vowing to do the same on all other annual budget bills. The Democratic leadership relented under the pressure, and Bush celebrated the victory.
“In the weeks ahead, my Administration will continue pushing for earmark reform and holding the line on federal spending,” Bush said. “The American people do not want to return to the days of tax and spend policies. They expect accountability and fiscal discipline in Washington, D.C. And I will use my veto to stop tax increases and runaway spending that threaten the strength of our economy and the prosperity of our people.”
In this week’s Democratic radio address, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington focused on the push for new energy legislation that would impose greater fuel-efficiency standards for American cars. The bill may reach the Senate floor next week.
“Americans do want cars that get a hundred miles per gallon. They could be in production today,” Cantwell said. “And Americans want cars that can run on alternative fuel. There are millions of them today, but just in another country. And Americans wants to see the federal government using energy more efficiently and saving tax payers billions of dollars. That, too, could be happening today.”
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