Today in Washington D. C. - April 8, 2008

On The Floor: Currently, General David Petreaus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are giving their testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. At 2:30, they will move to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They will testify before House committees tomorrow.

Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3221, the vehicle for the housing bill. A substitute amendment containing compromise language worked out by Sens. Dodd and Shelby is the basis for debate. After lunch, a cloture vote is scheduled on the Dodd-Shelby substitute amendment. Senator Reid has also filed cloture on the underlying bill. Work on the housing bill could be completed this afternoon. Following the housing bill, Reid is expected to turn to a public lands bill (S. 2739). Reid has filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the bill.

From Senate & News Sources: Despite their frequent negative rhetoric, even many Democrats have been forced to acknowledge the stark reduction in violence the surge and counterinsurgency strategy has produced. The Wall Street Journal has an excellent editorial today discussing the “remarkable results” of the surge:

“[t]he question now is whether Washington will squander these gains by withdrawing so quickly that we could still lose politically. . . . While Democrats still claim political progress is possible only if the U.S. leaves Iraq, the surge has proved the opposite. Better security required a larger U.S. presence, which in turn has made Iraqis feel more secure about compromise. The political progress has been especially significant at the local level, with greater cooperation from tribal leaders and local councils, most Sunnis saying they'll participate in provincial elections this fall, and more oil money flowing to the provinces from Baghdad.”

FISA returned briefly in the Senate yesterday. Reid (D) asked unanimous consent to extend the now long-expired Protect America Act for another month, but without the critical immunity provisions for telecom companies. McConnell (R) offered to amend the request to add the immunity provisions, but Reid objected. This result leaves us right where we were before: the House refuses to pass the bipartisan Senate bill and has passed its own bill unacceptable to the Senate & White House. Meanwhile, according to CQ Today, lawsuits against telecom companies are advancing while our surveillance capability languishes. Reid has repeatedly tried to blame Republicans for this impasse, but it is the intransigence of the House Democrat leadership that is the primary issue.

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