Today in Washington D. C. - March 7, 2008

On The Floor: The Senate reconvened at 10 AM today and began a period of morning business. No votes are scheduled for today or Monday. Yesterday, the Senate passed its version of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CSPC) overhaul bill (H.R. 4040). Yesterday, the Senate Budget Committee passed the Democrats’ fiscal 2009 budget on a 12-10 party line vote. The Senate will likely spend all of next week on the budget, with debate on the bill set to begin on Tuesday. The annual “vote-a-rama” on a series of amendments to the budget could come Thursday night.

From Senate & News Sources: As we near three weeks of working with diminished intelligence capacity, Politico reports today that House Democrats are preparing to modify the Senate-passed FISA bill and send it back to the Senate some time next week. The Politico story also suggests that Democrats could try to change provisions concerning liability protections for telecom companies.

While the House continues to stall on passing a FISA modernization bill that addresses problems the Director of National Intelligence first identified almost a year ago, Air Force General Gene Renuart, commander of U.S. Northern Command, warned (according to AP) that “Al-Qaida terrorists may be plotting more urgently to attack the United States to maintain their credibility and ability to recruit followers.” Sen. McConnell warned this morning that the continued failure of the House to act on a FISA bill that will be signed by the president is “dangerous” and “quite irresponsible.”

A majority of the House supports the bill and the president has indicated he would sign it. In an editorial today, the San Antonio Express News writes, “A FISA fix stripped of immunity is an effort by some Democrats to appease strident liberal groups that want to punish telecom companies for acting in the national interest.” The Express News goes on to call such attempts “a mistake.” On the Senate floor this morning, Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “The Senate’s solid, bipartisan action followed months of hard work between the two parties on a bill that met three basic criteria: it allowed intelligence professionals to gather information from terrorists overseas; it protected companies that stepped forward in a time of urgent national need to cooperate in the hunt for terrorists; and it was guaranteed to be signed by the President. If the House Democrat Leadership acts responsibly, it will follow the same three criteria by sending a good bill to the White House before the end of next week. The most efficient path to success is to take up the Senate-passed bill, which a majority of House members support.”

Meanwhile, CongressDaily reports the Senate Budget Committee passed the Democrats’ fiscal 2009 budget proposal on a party line vote last night after rejecting a number of Republican amendments. In an editorial today, The Wall Street Journal criticizes the Budget Committee Chairman, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), for the shell game of Paygo in the budget and points out “the real purpose of paygo -- to make spending easier but tax-cutting harder. . . . the Bush tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010, are not part of the revenue baseline, so extending the capital gains and dividend tax cuts requires budget cuts or tax increases of $215 billion. Paygo thus virtually guarantees a gigantic tax increase in 2011.” Further, “Mr. Conrad’s budget adds $18 billion of new domestic spending while it rejects every penny of the $91 billion in Medicare savings over five years that President Bush proposed earlier this year."

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Tags: consumer protection, FISA, US Budget, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C., Air Force General Gene Renuart, U.S. Northern Command, potential terrorist attacks To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!