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Thursday, January 15, 2009
Chambliss, Isakson vote (unsuccessfully) to block more bailout money
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson joined in today’s unsuccessful Republican-led attempt to block the release of $350 billion from the financial bailout package.
The Associated Press reports that, despite bipartisan anger over the Bush administration’s handling of the program to date, Democratic allies of the incoming president prevailed on a vote of 52-42 that will permit the release of funds within days of Obama’s inauguration.
Both houses debated Obama’s call to release the cash, originally approved last October, but the vote that mattered most was in the Senate.
In explaining themselves, both Georgia senators heaped criticism on the outgoing Republican administration. Said Chambliss:
“When this legislation to stabilize the economy was presented to us in October, we were told that the initial funds would be released to buy toxic loans from banks around the country. But that did not happen.
“Most of it has gone to the big banks and has not filtered down to community banks where most local business is conducted, and I’m very disappointed in that. Over the past few months, I have expressed my disappointment to the Treasury Secretary as well as other members of the administration.”
Said Isakson:
“I supported the first round of the Troubled Asset Relief Program because it is critical to our economy to unfreeze the credit markets,” Isakson said. “However, the administration has used the money in different ways than what was planned originally, and the credit markets are still frozen. As a result, I cannot justify supporting the release of the remaining funds.”
Isakson specifically cited the use of cash from the first $350 billion to purchase direct investments in banks, and to help a struggling auto industry.
See the Wall Street Journal take here.
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For Rick Warren, mum’s the word
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rick Warren, the California megachurch pastor, has a busy two days next week. On Monday in Atlanta, he’ll deliver the keynote speech for the annual observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
And, of course, on Tuesday he’ll give the opening prayer in Washington D.C. at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.
Warren, as Obama’s choice, has been the center of much discussion lately. He is a conservative whose opposition to gay marriage has provoked much angst in Democratic ranks. To be fair, Warren has also been a critic of the Religious Right for its failure to include the environment, AIDS and the poor in its agenda.
But whether he’s in D.C. or in Atlanta, don’t expect any extemporaneous participation in public conversation from Warren. This from The Caucus, a New York Times political blog:
Mr. Warren has decided not to grant any interviews before the inauguration next Tuesday, though he has received more than 100 requests for interviews, including strong appeals from competing celebrity television reporters, according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross (who has also served for years as spokesman for the Rev. Billy Graham).
Mr. Ross’s firm released a statement saying, “Dr. Warren has determined there is no way he could fairly accommodate any interviews at the expense of others, but instead will let his prayer speak for itself.”
Mr. Ross said that Mr. Warren came to the decision on his own, without any pressure or guidance from the Obama inaugural planners. And for any journalists attempting a clever end run, Mr. Warren is also declining interview requests about the address he will give the day before the inauguration, on Martin Luther King Day, at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King was once the pastor, in Atlanta.
Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images
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The price for challenging a House speaker
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It appears the price for unsuccessfully challenging the Man is the heavy burden of the word “vice.”
As in vice-chairman.
My AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin reports that state Rep. David Ralston, (R-Blue Ridge) who made the failed bid to unseat House Speaker Glenn Richardson, has been demoted.
Formerly the chairman of the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, he is now vice-chairman of its sister panel, the Judiciary Committee.
The House’s Committee on Assignments officially decides committee membership and leaders, and that committee released its final report this morning. But there are few who would argue that Richardson’s hand is unseen in its result.
Replacing Ralston as head of JNC is Rep. Rich Golick (R-Smyrna) — who had been serving as a floor leader for Gov. Sonny Perdue. So there’s another slot to be filled.
Of the other major House committees, two noteworthy changes: The new Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight Committee chairman is Penny Houston (R-Nashville), who takes over for Richard Royal, who retired. Don Parsons (R-Marietta) takes over the Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications chairmanship from Jeff Lewis (R-White). So Parsons will be the point man on the upcoming Georgia Power bill.
Also, Bobby Franklin of northeast Cobb County has been replaced as chairman of the House Reapportionment Committee — which will become a very powerful position after the 2010 census. The new chairman is Roger Lane (R-Darien).
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The plan to expand federal control over banking, etc.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Now, here’s something to chew on. This just appeared on the Washington Post web site:
A top economic adviser to the incoming Obama administration unveiled a plan today to radically rethink the global financial system, including a host of measures that would dramatically expand government control over banking and investment in the United States.
The plan — which recommends limiting the size of banks, setting guidelines for executive pay and regulating hedge funds — offers the first hint of the kind of changes to the financial system President-elect Barack Obama might push for in the coming weeks and months. Obama has pledged to present a comprehensive series of changes to prevent a repeat of the current financial crisis before world leaders gather in London for a major economic summit in April.
The report today was issued by the Group of 30, an organization of international economists and policy makers. But the recommendations were immediately seen by observers as a building block to an Obama plan because the lead author is Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Carter and Reagan administrations who will serve as a special Obama White House adviser. Part of Volcker’s role is to help mastermind what could ultimately be the biggest overhaul of the U.S. financial system in decades.
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Perdue to propose sweeping re-org of state transportation agencies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More details on the biggest deal now cooking in the state Capitol:
Gov. Sonny Perdue is preparing a vast reorganization of the state’s transportation agencies that would centralize decision-making and could give him more control over the state Department of Transportation.
You know that, in his state-of-the-state address on Wednesday, Perdue named his price for supporting a statewide sales tax for transportation:
”Once I feel certain that we can deliver transportation value to Georgia citizens, I will support responsible measures to raise additional revenues.”
Hours later, House Transportation Chairman Vance Smith (R-Pine Mountain) said that “governance” was the critical issue in getting any measure passed.
“It’s certainly something that’s huge — very important — to the general scheme of things. Don’t disregard it. It’s very important,” the committee chairman told a roomful of lobbyists and business leaders. Smith said negotiations were ongoing among the governor, House Speaker Glenn Richardson, and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.
This morning, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen of Brunswick appeared before a meeting of newspaper publishers sponsored by the Georgia Press Association.
Keen has had a bill in his pocket that would take the power to choose member of the state transportation board out of the hands of ordinary lawmakers and hand that authority to a triumvirate: the governor, the House speaker, and the lieutenant governor.
The governor would be given the authority to appoint the agency’s top executive — the state transportation commissioner. That duty now falls to the transportation board.
But Keen said he’s backed off his initiative after conversations with Perdue, who likes the idea and intends to incorporate in a sweeping overhaul of the state’s transportation system that will be presented to the Legislature this session.
Keen said Tommie Williams of Lyons, the new Senate president pro tem, supports the new approach for electing transportation board members. But we have not yet been able to get hold of Williams to confirm this.
Keen said that management of DOT has been a concern for some time. “And it was confirmed this past year with a lot of the activity coming out of DOT,” he said. “I’m not sure if we had $5 billion in cash — I have to be honest, I’m not sure we have the administration in place at the department of transportation to properly administer the money.”
The state currently has multiple transportation agencies — GRTA, CRTA, etc. “They were all created by past governors because they couldn’t get DOT to do what they wanted them to do. I’ve had two past governors both confirm that for me. You can never really get anything out of there,” Keen said.
“There is an ongoing, larger discussion now. That’s why I’ve backed off. I think what your seeing now is the governor knows that the Legislature has the appetite. So I have purposely yielded it,” Keen said. “I want to give the governor an opportunity to weigh in. And he’s doing that. And maybe we’ll see some type of omnibus bill.”
In order to pass, the measure faces two hurdles with rank-and-file lawmakers.
First, the Keen approach would require low-ranking state lawmakers to give up one of the few powers that they have. State transportation board members are currently elected by the lawmakers contained within each of the state’s 13 congressional districts.
But Keen says the current system lets the state transportation board operate with little accountability.
“We vote for these guys [and] that’s the last time I ever hear from them. I have never gotten a call from a person who represents me on the dot board asking me how I feel about a particular issue, about a particular project in my area. Never, not once,” Keen said. “The majority of legislators have the same relationship. One they get elected, they think they’re part of the executive branch. And they forget who sent them.”
The measure would also include a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide whether to levy a one-cent sales tax on themselves for transportation fixes. The House favors a statewide tax, which the governor has said nice things about. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle is currently supporting a regional approach that would allow groups of counties to band together.
Either way, the key phrase is tax increase.
But Keen said Republicans have done “significant” polling on the issue, and there is widespread support — throughout the state. “What’s interesting is the way it polls outside of metro Atlanta,” he said.
