Bipartisan Group Looks To Reduce Military Spending

By Alexa Gitler
Talk Radio News Service

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) showed strong opposition towards the Pentagon's current and future budget proposal during a briefing Friday with the Sustainable Defense Task Force.

“Nobody here is for cutting back on America’s national security, what we object to is the equation of the current and projected Pentagon budget with national security,” Frank said.

Frank, along with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Walter Jones (R-NC) and Ron Paul (R-TX), proposed a plan that would match America’s military spending to the country’s genuine military needs. This plan also includes being supportive of friendly nations that genuinely face external threats, while simultaneously reducing their overall dependency on American relief.

“It is our intention to circulate a letter to our colleagues pledging that we would not vote for any deficit reduction package that does not include substantial reductions in the planned level of military expenditures going forward,” Frank said.

In addition, Frank announced that they have reached out to groups of experts from across the political spectrum to provide suggestions on how to achieve cost reduction while still meeting America’s legitimate security needs.

“I do not believe after this [proposed plan] is circulated that people will be able to dismiss the argument that you can responsibly, and at no cost to America’s genuine security, make reductions of over a trillion dollars for what has been proposed for the military budget,” he said.

Boehner Says The Government Should Share Responsibility For The BP Spill

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) suggested Thursday morning that the federal government should share responsibility for the oil spill off the Gulf Coast.

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill, BP and the federal government, should take full responsibility for [the oil spill]," Boehner said during a press briefing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) office claimed that Boehner's remarks signaled his support for using public funds BP to help pay for the damage caused by the environmental disaster.

"House Republican Leader John Boehner ... declared that American taxpayers should bailout the Big Oil giant," a press release from the Speaker's office stated. "House Democrats are siding with American taxpayers. BP should be held accountable."

Boehner's staff told several media outlets that the comments were only meant to reflect that the government should be responsible for oversight, and not the costs accrued by the clean up.

During the briefing Boehner also criticized the amount hearings being held on Capitol Hill to investigate the spill.

"Well, this is congress at it's best," Boehner joked, eliciting laughter from the journalists in attendance. "Why the hell don't we get the oil stopped ... figure out what the hell went wrong, and then have the hearing and get the damn law fixed?"

Today At TRNS

The Washington Bureau will be covering:

Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on "The U.S. China Economic Relationship: A New Approach for A New China."

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.; former EPA Administrator Russell Train; Margie Alt, director of the Environment America; and Jonathan Murray, director of advocacy for the Truman National Security Project will hold a news conference to call on the Senate to reject Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) Environmental Protection Agency disapproval resolution.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, will hold his weekly briefing.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.; Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking Republican Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., will hold a news conference to introduce the "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010," which will modernize the government's ability to safeguard the nation's cyber networks from attack and bring government and industry together to set national cyber security priorities and improve national cyber security defenses.

The Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents will hold a briefing to introduce a new bipartisan Congressional initiative to encourage the pro-democracy movement in Iran.

The Free Gaza Movement will hold an event where participants will voluntarily make themselves available for arrest at the offices of Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., following Sherman's public call to "prosecute any American involved in what was clearly an effort to give items of value to a terrorist organization," with regard to the flotilla delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza, which was attacked by Israel on May 31.

Jobs Bill Will Help Reverse Deficit, Say Senate Democrats

The Senate continued to look for ways on Wednesday to muster the votes needed to pass a jobs bill filled with tax breaks, unemployment benefits and aid packages to states.

With the House having passed a jobs bill before the Memorial Day recess, Senate Democrats this week have proposed making changes to their bill, such as restoring $24 billion in Medicaid funds, money that was dropped from the House’s package. Additionally, in a move designed to court moderate support, the Senate bill now features a softer approach on taxing investments than does its counterpart legislation.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) called on both parties to put aside their differences and bring relief to folks struggling to make ends meet.

“Families are going through an emotional roller-coaster...and everyone knows around here that nothing is done in the Senate anymore without a filibuster, or two or three...It’s pretty outrageous.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) said the bill would extend provisions within other bills -- most notably the Recovery Act -- that have “already changed the direction from a huge hemorrhaging of jobs...to several months of job growth.”

"We’ve gotta keep the pedal to the metal, we can’t now pull back,” Reed added.

At stake are several programs that need funding legislation to stay alive. In addition to the Medicaid dollars for states, there are matching $23 billion initiatives to prevent education layoffs and to reimburse physicians that accept Medicare. Stabenow said she supports the so-called “Doc-Fix,” and added that she plans on putting forth an amendment to extend COBRA benefits for the unemployed. She also downplayed concerns that the bill, totaling over $100 billion in cost, would add to the nation’s already-massive deficit.

“The reality is that this legislation is part of turning things around and I would argue lowering the deficit,” she said. “When people are working, they are paying taxes...and that’s part of how you lower the deficit.”

Republicans, however, say Americans should be skeptical of Democratic attempts to spark economic recovery and take on the ballooning budget. In an email to Talk Radio News Service on Wednesday, Parish Braden, a spokesman for the RNC, took aim at Reed, calling him an irresponsible steward of his struggling state.

“Senator Reed isn’t up for reelection and has the luxury of not having to match facts to his rhetoric," Braden said. "It’s odd that the Senator would hold a news conference on the Democrats’ efforts to cut taxes and create jobs seeing as Rhode Island has lost over 18,000 jobs since the ‘stimulus’ became law and unemployment has jumped from 9.9% to 12.6% in the same period.

According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor, Rhode Island and Michigan possess two of the nation's four highest state unemployment rates.

Republicans Say EPA Is Overreaching Boundaries

By Robert Hune-Kalter
Talk Radio News Service

Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were joined by other GOP members for a press conference on the upcoming vote on the Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding disapproval resolution. Murkowski is putting forth a resolution that would prohibit the EPA from regulating carbon emissions.

“The overreach that we see by the EPA is truly unprecedented in terms of overreach into the legislative branch by the executive. The EPA intends to take control of climate policy, take it away from Congress,” said Murkowski.

Alexander said he was not happy that the EPA wants to impose regulations on any emitter of more than 250 tons of carbon.

“This means one-fifth of our restaurants, one-fourth of all of our schools, two-thirds of all hospitals and doctors offices, one-tenth of our churches, and millions of small businesses, in effect such a broad rule would run millions of jobs overseas looking for cheap energy,” said Alexander.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he believes that the EPA regulating carbon output by businesses would be a disaster because the agency does not have the tools Congress has for regulation. While he said carbon regulation would be a job killer, he added that it is a goal to work towards.

“When it comes to carbon pollution, I am in the camp that believes all the stuff being spewed out of the cars and trucks and the plants is not good for you, but I would like to find a business-friendly way to regulate carbon,” he said.

Murkowski’s resolution will be debated in the Senate on Thursday.