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Monday, April 24, 2006
Gas Price Politics
Two days after Sen. Bill Nelson criticized the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress for their energy policies, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a news release accusing Democrats of playing “partisan politics with gas prices in a flailing attempt to distract from the growing economy.”
Nelson gave the Democratic response to President Bush’s radio address Saturday commenting that “Americans are frustrated, and sick and tired of billion-dollar giveaways to the oil companies, while the price of gas goes through the roof.”
The senator said the U.S. should put more emphasis on developing hybrid vehicles and alternative fuels such as ethanol (which can be made from sugar). He also said the U.S. should produce more synthetic fuel from coal and raise the gas mileage standard for passenger cars to at least 40 miles per gallon. It’s now 27.5 mpg.
The NRSC memo accused Democrats of voting in favor of raising gas taxes and against energy bills in Congress. Specifically, it noted Nelson voted against considering a comprehensive energy bill in 2003 and against final passage of the energy bill in 2005.
The NRSC memo did not mention that Republican Sen. Mel Martinez also voted against the energy bill last year. Florida’s two senators said they opposed a provision in the bill calling of an inventory of oil and gas reserves in the Outer Continental Shelf including the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
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Young Epidemiologists win $50,000
A survey exposing widespread deliberate self-harm by Tennessee high school students and a study that suggests Idaho teenagers can offset the negative effects of minor mood disorders with exercise won two students college scholarships of $50,000 in a national “young epidemiologists” competition. Natalia Narzarewicz, an 18-year-old high school senior in Oak Ridge, Tenn., surveyed over 1,000 students and discovered that over one-third of them had engaged in such acts as deliberately burning or cutting their skin. She shared first-place honors in the annual “young Epidemiology Scholars Competition” with Aman Prasad, also 18, of Pocatello, Idaho. Pocatello surveyed 800 9th and 10th graders and found correlations between positive mood scores and regular exercise. The scholarships were awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which sponors the annual competition to encourage students to consider epidemiology as a career. Judges included top epidemiologists, as well as high school teachers. Nearly 700 high school juniors and seniors participated in this year’s competition. Prasad and Narzarewicz were among 60 finalists, all of whom received scholarships of $2,000 or more. Second-place scholarships of $20,000 went to Elizabeth Baker of Tucson, Ariz., and Soumaya Iriivinti of Derry, N.H. Chriistina Badal of Gulf Stream, Fla., and Erin Vickery of Decatur, Ga., were regional finalists and received $15,000 scholarships.
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Washington Week in Preview
Congress returns (the Senate on Monday and the House on Tuesday) from a two-week recess with nervous Republicans hoping to pass something they can run on in the off-year elections (no one likes to be called “do nothing”) . Most of the action will likely center on immigration and a variety of fiscal matters.
FISCAL MATTERS
Katrina, War Supplemental
First up in the Senate will be a bill that would provide $91.9 billion in supplemental fiscal 2006 appropriations, including $67.6 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $19.2 billion for hurricane relief and $4.3 billion for foreign assistance. Opening statements are expected Monday, with a vote on Tuesday.
Budget Resolution
Meanwhile in the House, GOP leaders will try to agree on a budget resolution by settling differences in the ranks over earmark rules, emergency spending restrictions and domestic spending levels. It won’t be easy and it could be a test of new majority leader John Boehner’s effectiveness. House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., scuttled a budget deal Boehner, R-Ohio, had negotiated with conservatives earlier this month.
Lobby Reform
Passing the lobbying bill—which has earmark reforms—would ease some of the battle over the budget resolution. The House takes up the matter Wednesday.
Pension Reform
Some observers expect it to be taken up this week.
IMMIGRATION
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing Tuesday largely focused on guest-worker proposals. The committee takes up the immigration reform compromise bill on Thursday.
OTHER ISSUES
Bush
The major highlight of week could be any additional spring cleaning that goes on around the White House. McClellan on Friday denied reports that Harriet Miers stint as White House counsel could be coming to an end. Not under consideration, says McClellan.
The president is out West through Monday, when he will conclude the trip with an immigration speech is in Irvine, California as Congress prepares to return to Washington to continue work on that contentions issue. Keefe may cover.
On Tuesday, faced with another round of rising gas prices, Bush will make an energy speech in Washington. That same day, the Navy football team is due at White House as winner of Commander=in-Chief’s Trophy as top military academy team. It’s the kind of event at which Bush always reminds athletes to be role models. Could be interesting this time as Navy is led by quarterback Lamar Owens, who has been charged with raping a classmate in January.
The Wednesday highlight is remarks to teachers of the year at the White House. It’s back on the road on Thursday as Bush goes to Louisiana and Mississippi to participate in programs honoring volunteers.
Foreign affairs tops the Friday agenda with Bush hosting the president of Azarbaijan. The weekend features Bush remarks at the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
Politics
The Log Cabin Republicans hold their convention in Washington, beginning Thursday. Another presidential hopeful brings his act South this week when Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack speaks at the J-J dinner in South Carolina on Saturday. Other events of interest on the hustings:
— Apr. 29, 2006: John Kerry addresses the Florida Victory ‘06 Reception in Tallahassee, FL — Apr. 29, 2006: Newt Gingrich and talk show host Sean Hannity headline the annual Iowa Republican Party Lincoln Dinner, Des Moines, IA — Apr. 29, 2006: Sen. John Kerry attends the Florida Democratic Party “Florida Victory ‘06 Reception” in Miami Beach, FL*— Apr. 29, 2006: Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-IA) keynotes the SC Democratic Party’s Jefferson Jackson dinner in Colombia, SC
Government Secrecy . The Information Security Oversight Office, an arm of the National Archive, is expected to release a much anticipated audit Wednesday (April 26) of the federal government’s secret reclassification program. The report will look at what the intelligence agencies have removed from the open shelves of the archive as part of the program and ways to make the system more transparent.
Homeland Security
A chemical safety watchdog group issues a report Tuesday saying that chemical facilities in 47 states have exchanged extremely hazardous materials with safer alternatives. The Center for American Progress, a liberal policy group, said 14,000 other plants still use highly toxic chemicals that could endanger nearby residents.
Supreme Court Oral Arguments
Monday, April 24
Beginning at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the following case: Brigham City, Utah v. Stuart Does the “emergency aid exceptionâ€? to the warrant requirement — recognized in Mincey v. Arizona — hinge on a police officer’s subjective motivation for entering the home? Under the 4th Amendment, was the gravity of the “emergencyâ€? or “exigencyâ€? sufficient to justify the police officer’s entry into the home to stop the flight? Kircher et al. v. Putnam Funds Trust et al. May a party appeal a district judge’s decision to remand a case to state court pursuant to the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 (SLUSA)?
Tuesday, April 25
Beginning at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the following case: Dixon v. U.S. Where a criminal defendant raises a duress defense, should the burden of persuasion be on the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was not under duress — or upon the defendant to prove duress by a preponderance of the evidence? Empire Healthchoice Assurance v. McVeigh What is the federal jurisdiction in a suit by a federal government contractor to enforce a provision in a health benefits plan for federal employees, that is part of a government contract under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act of 1959?
Wednesday, April 26
Beginning at 10 a.m., the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the following case: Hill v. McDonough et al. Is a complaint brought by a death-sentenced state prisoner — who seeks to stay his execution in order to pursue a challenge to the chemicals utilized for carrying out the execution — properly re-characterized as a habeas corpus petition? Does a challenge to a particular protocol the state plans to use during the execution constitute a cognizable claim under the Supreme Court’s decision in Nelson v. Campbell and under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983? Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Williams et al. Can a defendant corporation and its agents constitute an “enterpriseâ€? under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, in light of the settled rule that a RICO defendant must “conductâ€? or “participate inâ€? the affairs of some larger enterprise and not just its own affairs?
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Out West
President Bush today winds up his West Coast swing with an immigration speech in Irvine, California and a Las Vegas campaign event for Rep. Jon. Porter, R-Nevada.
In Irvine, Bush will pitch his “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” concept. The daily White House Morning Update, an administration-friendly digest of the president’s schedule and the morning’s headlines, says Bush will tout a “temporary worker program that rejects amnesty, allows foreign workers to fill jobs no American is willing to do and reduces smuggling and crime at the border.”
In Las Vegas, Bush will be backing a GOP congressman who has been voting in favor of immigration legislation that does not align with the president’s thinking. Porter voted for the punishment-heavy measure approved earlier this year by the House and opposed an amendment that would have treated violations as misdemeanors instead of felonies.
As is its custom, today’s White House Morning Update is heavy on morning headlines about progress in Iraq and Afghanistan, but devoid of mention of a Washington Post headline saying “Inspectors Find More Torture at Iraqi Jails” or the Los Angeles Times editorial calling for Vice President Cheney’s resignation.
“I haven’t read the L.A. Times editorial,” Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Sunday when asked about it.
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